National Novel Writing Month

ShadowSky · 11-03-2009, 04:12 AM

Current word count is 3,183. Didn't write a much as I wanted to today, with school and all. Bright side? All 1200 words I DID write were done in half an hour.

... now my fingers hurt. Night all!

Aran · 11-03-2009, 06:16 AM

I had 100 words. Then I got bored of my premise.

Then I had 400. Same thing.

Meh.

Ayanla · 11-03-2009, 06:21 AM

I did over 2,000 words in first person. Then switched to third person. I'm thinking of making the first person part a diary entry, so I kept it. The story makes no sense reading in the order it's written so far, because of the perspective shift, but that can be fixed in editing.

Faerunner · 11-03-2009, 03:55 PM

If you don't meet your goal in Write or Die, it doesn't do anything at all, I think. I don't think I've ever -not- met the goal though!

Since I started using it last year I've had a lot more fun writing, that's for sure!

I'm at just over 4,000 - 1k more to go for day 3 in order to stay on track, but I didn't write at all after hitting 2.7k on the first, so I had to play catch-up today!

I will say that writing with a puppy takes twice as long, because I have to get up and take her for walks, treat her for behaving every so often, redirect when she barks at the cats, and chase after golf balls that roll out of her reach when she's leashed to my computer chair for supervision! I can't imagine having a kid at this time of year and trying to write...

Ayanla · 11-04-2009, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faerunner

...
I will say that writing with a puppy takes twice as long, because I have to get up and take her for walks, treat her for behaving every so often, redirect when she barks at the cats, and chase after golf balls that roll out of her reach when she's leashed to my computer chair for supervision! I can't imagine having a kid at this time of year and trying to write...

Tell me about it! I used write or die last night and between the two puppies and two kids, I think I spent 30 minutes of the hour I wrote listening to the stupid car horn sound. But I did get to 5300 words yesterday, so I'm still on track. The story has gone nowhere, and has already had a perspective shift, but there are words....words that can later be shaped to maybe make something presentable, and that's what's important.

Xeph · 11-04-2009, 10:23 PM

I gave up already

Now I'm just writing to write.

RaeganW · 11-04-2009, 10:38 PM

Somehow my plot ended up in Alaska. I'm not entirely sure how (although this does solve at least one plot hole); bring on the gratuitous sled dog scenes. My protagonist had a name change. A supernatural element injected itself in.

I came up with a better title though! "When Did I Go" which is really a super clever pun when you get to the end.

Word Count: 1418
Waaaay off schedule, but this is the longest I've stuck with it and morale is pretty high. I'm not going away this weekend like I thought I was, so hopefully I can make some good progress.

Faerunner · 11-05-2009, 12:24 AM

Go Raegan! Loving the title, too. Mine is "The Brilliance of Sun on Dandelions", which is long to be printed on a book cover, but I figure any words I can add to the top of my page will add to the word count!

I'm definitely going to be writing a lot this weekend! Weekends are great catch-up times, especially when you're working during the week.

I'm at 5k, so 1k behind where I should have been as of 5 minutes ago (midnight!) but I've got plenty more to write, so I'm not terribly worried.

Xeph, as long as you're writing, it's all good! I don't consider myself as having given up until I quit typing.

Xeph · 11-05-2009, 01:42 AM

Mine is called "Mirror Image". I find that it fits really well with my story, which surprises me because I'd never come up with a title before now, even though the story has been in my head for years.

I've been looking on the forum for help with some things, but I find it very hard to avoid being demotivated when i see people with 20K on day freakin four. You have got to be kidding me :-/

Ayanla · 11-05-2009, 10:27 AM

I'm just over 6300 words as of last night, so about 300 from yesterday's daily goal (I write in the evenings). I'm not too awfully concerned, but I do intend to catch back up and then some tonight if all goes well.

My current working title is "Natural Born Human", but I'm not horridly stuck on that. My story is set in a dystopian future where cloning is the preferred method of procreation and natural borns are rare and ostracized. Jasper Romeo, a shy, socially awkward, man becomes a reluctant champion for natural-born rights as natural birth is deemed illegal just as he decides to start a family.

There's lots more to it than that, but that's a general idea.

Xeph, don't stress over what other people are doing. Some people write so often that they set a goal of 100k or more for Nano. I'm only competing with me and my general tendency to lose motivation after less than a week. Think about it. If you'd normally write zero words in November, then anything more than zero is a win!

Xeph · 11-05-2009, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Xeph, don't stress over what other people are doing.

Heh, easier said than done.

I was talking to another WriMo on AIM, and we both have the same issue. The evil "I must be done FIRST!" problem.

You know the one. The one where you sit down for a test with 24 other classmates and you just HAVE to finish the test first. You don't really know why, but if you don't finish first you think you'll just die, so you rush through it. And you find that even if you've failed, if you were the first one to finish the test you're satisfied with the result.

ShadowSky · 11-05-2009, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xeph

Heh, easier said than done.

I was talking to another WriMo on AIM, and we both have the same issue. The evil "I must be done FIRST!" problem.

You know the one. The one where you sit down for a test with 24 other classmates and you just HAVE to finish the test first. You don't really know why, but if you don't finish first you think you'll just die, so you rush through it. And you find that even if you've failed, if you were the first one to finish the test you're satisfied with the result.

I know exactly what you mean. Whenever I go on the NaNoWriMo forums I have to try not to look at wordcounts ... not that that ever works lol. I saw one person who had like 35 k!

I just have to assume some people have WAY too much time on their hands!

Faerunner · 11-05-2009, 08:53 PM

I know someone whose word goal last year was 750k. She made it, too. Boy was it disheartening seeing her username in the chat with "350k!" after it, the second week in... yikes!

Luckily there are plenty of people who still haven't even started their novels, let alone hit 10-20k, or higher. You can always feel comfortable knowing that no matter how low your word count is, someone else's is lower. No one can really "win" and validate till the end of the month anyway, so it doesn't matter how soon we hit our goals, except to ourselves. I know it's annoying not being first, but you can still be first in your family, neighborhood, write-in group, etc... XD Just gotta find someone who you can compete with!