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haute ecole rider
Have any of you ever tried this?

National Novel Writing Month (fondly known as NaNoWriMo) is a challenge to writers everywhere (international, not just in the US) to write 50,000 words in 30 days. It doesn't have to be perfect. If it's crap, it's okay. They're not interested in what you write so much as challenging you to just simply write.

I have to agree with the concept. Just write 50,000 or more words in 30 days or less. There's time later to go back over the material and make it better.

I heard about it last year, but didn't join. This year I've decided to take the plunge. I'm wondering if any of my fellow writers here on Chorrol.com have tried this. If not, I'd appreciate encouragement from you! If so, please share your experiences - I'd love to hear about them!

For those of you who are curious about it, here it is:
NaNoWriMo
SubRosa
Goth Girl Danielle from the Beth forums did this. Her story there (Valkyrie?) was her entry if I recall. I thought about it when she mentioned it, but it is not for me. I do not like the short deadline, and the lack of time to do proper revisions. I know they claim that is supposed to help your writing by making you be more radical and 'edgy' with your writing. I cannot say I agree. To be honest, the lack of revising is one of the biggest problems I see with most brand new writers (and I will be the first to admit I was guilty of myself).

You can improve your writing simply by listening to feedback from others, giving yourself goals (such as to write more dialogue, to concentrate more on setting, to try something from a different perspective than you are used to using, simply reading what other people write, etc...) A long time ago I was part of an APA where we did all those things in a very structured manner, even using forms to critique every facet of a story such as setting, characterization, plot, grammar, etc... It improved my writing tremendously. Forums like these are something similar, although less formalized.

Perhaps even more importantly though, I can only write when the inspiration takes me. Right now my inspiration is with Teresa, I am not going to just put that aside and try to start writing something else from scratch that does not inspire me. That is the reason I never entered anything into those writing contests that Darkom organized at the Beth forums. I still have a lot of Teresa to write, and I need to stay focused on that if I am ever going to get it all down on pixels.
treydog
On the first paw, I agree with SubRosa. I just don't write that way. My pace is glacial. I write after letting things "cook" for some indeterminate time. I work on one story at a time. But- that's me.

On the other paw, as a former teacher and a person who loves writing, I want to do everything I can to encourage others to write. One of the early exercises I did involved "object-oriented free-writing." I would produce an object (football, jar of peanut butter, etc.) and tell my students to write for 30 minutes, using the object as a focus. No worries about grammar, structure, etc.- pure ideas. The point was to show that almost anything can provide an idea- and when you are in the "idea" stage, all that other stuff (revision, editing) not only can, but SHOULD wait.

Ultimately, I would encourage anyone who wants to participate in NaNoWriMo to do so.
haute ecole rider
As I understand it, with NaNoWriMo, no one reads the story you write but you yourself. The point is to get as much written as possible. As it says on the website, December is for editing. Its main purpose is to get people writing.

As I often have so many story ideas bouncing around in my head, it would be good for me to give it a go. Currently I have ten open stories that I'm writing down as the inspiration strikes me - just scenes and character development, no real plots at this point. I'm just getting them down while the idea is hot, so to speak. I figure plenty of time later to go back over them and see which one is worth developing into a real story.

I've done it before - written a novel-length story in less than two weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing what I come up with.
jack cloudy
I tried it before, three times actually. First one was one big mess, second never even got started and the third was my second attempt at the big mess with similar results. All in all, I don't think it is for me, writing in general and not just nanowrimo. Dreaming up settings, plots etc is no problem. It is when I actually sit down and try to write stuff that I lose focus. Most often, I spend two hours sitting in front of the screen and in the end I realize that I've done nothing but work out plotholes and stuff but haven't written a single word. indifferent.gif

But meh, I'm gonna try again this year. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
mALX
After reading that link, I finally found out why the stories posted on the forums that had been written for the NaNo were raw, rough drafts - I didn't know that is how it was supposed to be. So your work isn't actually supposed to be finished and judged, the goal is the required number word count?

Chorrol.com had a writing contest back in the spring a year ago, I wonder if they'll do another?

Haute, you always hold my respect as a writer, and you have my backing. I have no doubt you can produce the required amount of words, but knowing the perfectionist in you, yours will probably be a finished work and not a rough draft in that same amount of time. HUZZUH !!!!!!!
Destri Melarg
I�m glad you posted this. My first time hearing about NaNoWriMo was in December of last year. I remember thinking then that it sounded like something that I should try this year, but I promptly forgot all about it. Now that it has been brought back to my attention, I find myself remembering what intrigued about it in the first place.

The problem I have in my writing isn�t coming up with ideas that feed my passion. No, the problem I have is that very often I don�t think that my craft is sufficient to execute those ideas. So I procrastinate . . . a lot! With NaNoWriMo it isn�t about writing �The Great American Novel�. It is, as I understand it, a chance to get some of those ideas you have floating in your head onto the page without the old internal censor interfering.

So what I guess I�m trying to say, hautee, is this: If what you are looking for is someone to say unequivocally that you should do this, consider it said. If what you are looking for is the friend that the website suggests roping in to do it with you then I think you have found one. smile.gif
haute ecole rider
Thanks very much mALX and Destri.

I had already registered - I have a month to come up with an idea. That's not the problem. The problem is holding off long enough to start writing it on November 1st!

I was just wondering if anyone else had tried it. I heard about it in October of last year - the developer of the writing software I used is one of the sponsors and he announced it in a newsletter to all of us registered users last October. I toyed with the idea, but at the time my inspiration was lacking due to stress from work, so I didn't look into it further.

But this year things are different, and I found myself looking at the website and thinking - hmm, I could do this. . .

Maybe you and I Destri can root for each other!
mALX
WOO HOO!!!! Both you and Destri doing it? Where's Rachel? I'll root for you both !!!!!!!
haute ecole rider
Well, today's the first day of NaNoWriMo, and I've picked out my story idea (from a bunch I've digitally jotted down over the years) and started it. I figure if I shoot for 2000 words a day I should have no trouble making 50,000 words by November 30th. After my first pot of spiced tea, I've already got nearly 1,000 written.

I'll try to keep you guys updated on my progress as I go along! Wish me luck!

And I'm off!
treydog
QUOTE(haute ecole rider @ Nov 1 2010, 11:51 AM) *

Well, today's the first day of NaNoWriMo, and I've picked out my story idea (from a bunch I've digitally jotted down over the years) and started it. I figure if I shoot for 2000 words a day I should have no trouble making 50,000 words by November 30th. After my first pot of spiced tea, I've already got nearly 1,000 written.

I'll try to keep you guys updated on my progress as I go along! Wish me luck!

And I'm off!

You certainly have my support. If the product does not seem to "fit" here, please let us know where (or if) we can see it. You know I will happily read anything you write.
Acadian
You go, girl! Best of luck. biggrin.gif
haute ecole rider
Thanks, trey and Acadian!

The idea I picked to write for NaNoWriMo is completely original, so it won't quite 'fit' here. At this point I'm not sure what's going to happen to it, so I'll likely won't be posting it online anywhere yet. I've been toying with the idea of getting published for some time, and I don't know if this story will be worth publishing.

So it's bedtime here, and I've got 3425 words written so far. Off to a pretty good start, if I may say so! I just hope I keep hitting my goal every day and succeed in getting this written.
haute ecole rider
Day 4 and 8953 words written so far. smile.gif

It's good that I'm getting ahead of schedule. Thanksgiving is in three weeks and I may not get much writing done then! kvleft.gif
Acadian
Your cookin'! Almost 1000 words ahead of schedule so far! goodjob.gif
treydog
QUOTE(haute ecole rider @ Nov 4 2010, 07:27 PM) *

Day 4 and 8953 words written so far. smile.gif

It's good that I'm getting ahead of schedule. Thanksgiving is in three weeks and I may not get much writing done then! kvleft.gif

Outstanding! It would take me 4 weeks to get there. biggrin.gif

Keep us posted!
haute ecole rider
So I may be crazy -

The story I started last week wasn't as inspiring as I hoped it would be. There's got to be a reason I haven't written it for three years . . .

Anyway, I hit a brick wall Saturday and couldn't go further. The passion just wasn't there.

But I'm not giving up!

New inspiration hit me Friday. Based on prior experience, this one is good for 50,000 words or more. So I started writing the new one yesterday. I'm proud to report that I'm up to 11,769 words as of now. I'm a little behind schedule, but I think another 5,000 words tomorrow will get me caught up.

So here I go again! I hope I don't have the writer's version of ADHD! laugh.gif
mALX
QUOTE(haute ecole rider @ Nov 8 2010, 11:13 PM) *

So I may be crazy -

The story I started last week wasn't as inspiring as I hoped it would be. There's got to be a reason I haven't written it for three years . . .

Anyway, I hit a brick wall Saturday and couldn't go further. The passion just wasn't there.

But I'm not giving up!

New inspiration hit me Friday. Based on prior experience, this one is good for 50,000 words or more. So I started writing the new one yesterday. I'm proud to report that I'm up to 11,769 words as of now. I'm a little behind schedule, but I think another 5,000 words tomorrow will get me caught up.

So here I go again! I hope I don't have the writer's version of ADHD! :lol:



GAAAH !!!! But this one sounds much more inspired, like it's flowing out of you !!!!
Acadian
I hope your course correction helps your inspiration! Good luck! smile.gif
Olen
Best of luck with the new one biggrin.gif

And 11+k words since yesterday?! That's some going.

QUOTE
There's got to be a reason I haven't written it for three years . . .

Interesting point, I'd always assumed that if an idea stuck around it must be good... but then I see much more logic in this.
haute ecole rider
mALX, it is running like a rip tide right now!

Acadian, that course correction saved me from the shoals!

And Olen, I'm proud to report I'm now up to 22,705 words.

I don't regret my decision to scrap the first attempt. The main character in that one just wasn't speaking to me. But the three in this one certainly are!

On reflection, I realize that I've always written romances - they're just disguised as historical/adventure/sci fi/etc. But I always end up with the main characters falling in love with each other.

So this one is proudly a straight up romance with no pretenses at being anything else. It's contemporary, and I decided to try setting it in a foreign country (ROK), though I've never traveled outside the lower 48 myself. I've been studying South Korean culture, history and life for a few months now, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I'm trying to avoid the clich�s that make me groan the rare times I do pick up a romance novel (look at this for a hilarious discussion), but there's always one or two that creeps in (the bad boy, the smooth operator, the feisty heroine - yeah, it's a love triangle!). So the challenge for me now is to keep the clich�s from being too, well, clicky!

Already my main characters are doing their own thing, which tells me this is a hot one! The smooth operator was supposed to be the kind, gentle man, but instead he turns into a manipulative SOB. The bad boy was supposed to be a tortured artist type, but no, he's an impatient, self-absorbed a-hole. He even introduced himself two chapters early and made quite the dramatic impression on the feisty heroine by literally jumping onto the boat and promptly falling on her! Not quite the way to impress this lady! And she is supposed to be recovering from a really bad relationship years ago, and her encounter with Mr. Smooth Operator didn't help her recovery, and now Mr. Bad Boy just confirms her private opinion that all men are British boats.

Does it sound like I'm having fun with this? No? How about this - I'm at a point in the story now where the fireworks are going to start between Ms. Feisty and Mr. Bad Boy. She has been scrimping and saving for three years to buy her deceased grandfather's home (abandoned by the succeeding owner and loaded down with back taxes), she figures she has a year left to go before she has enough $$ But she finds out the lawyer who is supposedly helping her has absconded with the money, and now she is about to find out Mr. Bad Boy actually bought the house (paid in full, so Mr Slick Attorney has now absconded with 1.75 times the value of the house). Ms. Feisty is telling me she will not take this lying down. She won't be meek and submissive like so many romance heroines are. I'm afraid she's going to start swearing like a sailor. Oh no, I know she will!

So I'm almost halfway there, and my fingers are still hotter than this laptop! But I'm stopping for the night. I'll pick up tomorrow. And yes, I'm ahead of the curve right now. Yay!
Acadian
I'm so pleased that you are making good progess and seem to be enjoying it! Thanks for the updates, and good luck! goodjob.gif
treydog
You know, I think that may be part of the concept- to get you to latch on to an idea that really works. In any event, I am still cheering you on to the finish line, Haute.
haute ecole rider
Thanks, Acadian!

And treydog, I think the concept is to get us to ignore our inner editors, as Destri and I were discussing. There is actually a thread somewhere where people describe their inner editors. Right now this month mine (a male - I'm very straight biggrin.gif ) is in a gimp getup (leather harness, chains, handcuffs, gag, and full face mask) and I'm the one holding the leash! Usually it's the other way around, though I don't make a very good sub. Come to think of it, HE'S not being a very good gimp, either, but tough luck, bud. wink.gif

No, BDSM is not my thing. But there are times when I feel like my relationship with my inner editor is right out of those dom/sub slash mags! blink.gif huh.gif tongue.gif laugh.gif

Oh, and I'm over 30,000 words now, and still have one more chapter (probably another 2000 - 2500) to write before I'm done for the night.

Guess I feel like bragging to someone who cares. wacko.gif One of the folks on the NaNo forums has over 168,000 words already! Yikes, did she ever sleep?
Acadian
Yay! Well over half way there! You go, girl! Team Rider!

Thanks for keeping us updated. I'm delighted that it is going so well. I find myself quite chuckling along with you over your mental antics and enthusiasm. tongue.gif
treydog
Um actually I think the person who started talking about telling the monitor function to shut up in that other thread was... me. I don't believe I described it in such--- vivid--- terms, however. tongue.gif

Regardless, keep smacking the gimp around- it's good for him. One of my favorite quotes to paraphrase is from Barbara Hamby- one of her characters said, "To be a mage, you must be a mage." So you can substitute any avocation for "mage," including "writer."

I am quite impressed by your continued productivity- I think the most I have ever been able to sustain in one session was around 5000-6000 words. And then I had to go lie down...



Linara
Congrats Rider, sounds like you're doing great! I found out about NaNoWriMo a few days ago, so maybe next year...Anyways, good luck and keep it up!
mALX
GAAAAAAAH!!!!! I have an old habit and it's dying hard...er... I mean, it's hardly dying...er... DRAT NANO!!! It took our Naughty Haute away!!! (although her inner editor sounds quite naughty as well)
haute ecole rider
VICTORY!!!!
panic.gif excl.gif excl.gif

Just finished Chapter 22 and I'm at 50,080 words! As the two main characters haven't even kissed yet (though they got verrrry close in Chs 20 - 22), it looks good for another 50,000! At least!

Not bad for ten days' work, huh?

And I'm off to write Chapter 23! Thanks for the support, everyone!

Oh, and I think Julian is enjoying this one too much to tell me the rest of her adventures. Like me, she is a closet romantic.

And the gimp is still sulking. Too bad.
Olen
Wow...

That's a lot of words produced fast. Excellent work, certainly a productive ten days! Congratulations, I think you have every right to be proud of that achievement.

There's still another two weeks too, looks like you'll have written an actual full length novel by then!

And though I didn't comment I laughed rather hard at your... unusual... imagery involving the internal editor biggrin.gif

Seriously though that's some impressive work.
mALX
You did it! Congratulations, you should be very proud of your achievement. Very impressive !!!

Acadian
I'm proud of you also, Rider. Not only did you meet your target, but it is clear that you are thoroughly enjoying yourself. Please say hi to dear Julian. I hope you two are enjoying your break from OHDH, and I am anticipating Julian's return. smile.gif
Linara
50,000 words in 10 days! I wish I could write that fast...Congrats Rider, sounds like you're having fun smile.gif
Destri Melarg
QUOTE(haute ecole rider @ Nov 16 2010, 01:25 PM) *

VICTORY!!!!
panic.gif excl.gif excl.gif

goodjob.gif cake.gif salute.gif Hug_emoticon.gif

*Destri threw his own PC out of a window.*

And the woman who finished 168,000 words needs to be taken outside and severely beaten! dry.gif

CONGRATS hautee!!!
treydog
Outstanding, haute! So Julian has a hidden weakness for "bodice-rippers"? (The novels- not the would-be rapists- I have a feeling they would find themselves, ah- "unequipped" to try their trade ever again if they accosted a certain Redguard).
haute ecole rider
Trey,

I'm not sure Julian cares so much for the 'bodice-ripper' romances. She's just a bit strait-laced that way. Heck, she's still blushing over my description of my inner editor!

As for the rapists, well, I'm sure they'd take one look at our Julian and run as fast as they can in the opposite direction! It's that hard glint in her eye - it takes a man with real balls not to quail at that. wink.gif

Speaking of internal editors, Olen, I'm glad I could brighten your day!

Thanks to every one else for your encouragement!

I may not update this again until the end of the month, but if anyone wants to keep an eye on my word count, feel free to do so! Oh, and the partial synopsis and the second chapter under the novel information chapter.
mALX
QUOTE(haute ecole rider @ Nov 17 2010, 03:36 PM) *

Trey,

I'm not sure Julian cares so much for the 'bodice-ripper' romances. She's just a bit strait-laced that way. Heck, she's still blushing over my description of my inner editor!

I may not update this again until the end of the month, but if anyone wants to keep an eye on my word count, feel free to do so! Oh, and the partial synopsis and the second chapter under the novel information chapter.



I'm still blushing over your description of your inner editor!!!


I liked what I see so far. Kang Jin is becoming an interesting character, and Han Min and Jae Won seem total opposites! - GAAAH!!! It ended! When do we get to see the rest? ARGH !!!

Do we get to read the novel when you are done? ARGH !!!


*
haute ecole rider
Okay, here's the eleventh hour announcement (yes, it's literally the eleventh hour - 11:10 pm my time to be exact).

I not only broke 100K this evening, but I also went on to complete the novel. 104,189 words to be exact. Forty-five chapters in all. And a pretty good feeling about this entire venture.

I am actually considering editing this story with an eye for potential publication.

Julian and I are also talking about picking up OHDH once again. Maybe in the next week or so . . . cool.gif

I've gotten used to keeping my inner editor as my gimp, but he's going to be so relieved to get out of his ridiculous getup. Maybe he'll be more sympathetic to me in the future - nah. wink.gif
Destri Melarg
QUOTE(haute ecole rider @ Nov 30 2010, 09:12 PM) *

I not only broke 100K this evening, but I also went on to complete the novel. 104,189 words to be exact. Forty-five chapters in all. And a pretty good feeling about this entire venture.

*That sound you just heard was Destri's computer hitting the sidewalk*

Congratulations, hautee! 100k words in (less than) thirty days is amazing!! Especially when you consider that you scratched a novel after the first week blink.gif! Knowing the quality of your work, I have no doubt that it will find a publisher. goodjob.gif
mALX
Holy crap !!! How many keyboards did you go through? I hope we get a peek at it!!! (more than the cliffhanging teensy bit on the NaNo site, too !!!! )
Acadian
Congrats Rider!! goodjob.gif
treydog
Most impressive. Please do polish it to your satisfaction (not the gimp's) and let us know where it might be found.
SubRosa
Impressive, most impressive.
Olen
That's a full blown novel in a month. Very impressive.
mALX
She wore herself out now, and has disappeared off the face of the Chorrol map !!!!


Hello? (Hello, hello)
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me...
Is there anyone at home?
Thomas Kaira
Come on
Now
I hear you're feeling down
I can ease your pain
Get you on your feet again

kvright.gif kvleft.gif biggrin.gif

We all look forward to your eventual return Hautee.
mALX
Relax

I need some information first
Just the basic facts
Can you show me where it hurts?

There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying


We'll serenade you till you return, Naughty Haute!

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