The Official NaNoWriMo Discussion Thread

[Pixelmage]

Oh the despair! Who here is planning to take part on the madness?
Anyone has plans about what to write? Has taken part before?

Topic to discuss the insanity that is writing 50.000 words loaded with meaning and emotion in just 30 days! Also while trying to keep track of fictionals so the world still exists and our own works of fiction have a place to go to in the other side of The Wall!

[narrativedilettante]

I've done it before, but I won't be doing it this year. Best of luck to all those who plan to participate!

[Dryunya]

Well... now I at least know it exists. I don't think I'll participate.

[agoraoptera]

I don't know if I should.. Considering that I have my O'Level examinations coming up in, well, TWO days and I've been spending the past week or so on this ARG. On a side note, I have a novel that's kind of half-finished, but I've got this feeling that I wrote myself into a dead-end. I really need help with it, any kind soul curious enough to look at 25000 words and comment?

[Pixelmage]

I don't know if I should.. Considering that I have my O'Level examinations coming up in, well, TWO days and I've been spending the past week or so on this ARG. On a side note, I have a novel that's kind of half-finished, but I've got this feeling that I wrote myself into a dead-end. I really need help with it, any kind soul curious enough to look at 25000 words and comment?

Hum... I could have a look, but I'm not the best analist so... General tips for dead-ends: Do you have any Checkov's you can pull off? Can you derail the plot with a Contrived Coincidence to give you a few pages to catch the pacing again? You porbably already looked into that stuff but...

On a related note... I want to participate, but being a brazillian I have two big problems...
First one, I'm most confortable thinking and writing in english! I don't know whether I should join with a portuguese novel (better grammar, more familiarity with expressions used in conversation) or screw it and join with english (familiarity with literary constructs, as all my literature and lit study material comes in english, I already think in english all the time)...

The second one, brazillians such as myself have no sense whatsoever of word count. I only learned about such a concept after I started ignoring the crappy and limited material found in portuguese and started studying in english... Over here text lenght is measured in number of lines (and people cheat by forcing bigger handwriting) and number of pages (where people also cheat by tweaking spacing, margin and minor details to get more volume). That said, when they set the rules as "50.000 words", well, judging by "full lenght novel" I have my estimates, by I can't really visualize the magnitude of that milestone...

When I think about that I feel like I have no idea what kind of mess I'm getting into...

[agoraoptera]

Thanks a lot! I've just PMed you. Well, since you're more comfortable in English, you should probably do it in English. And I sympathise. Even though I work in word count all the time, 50 000 words is really hard to imagine anyway. In fact, I don't think I've ever written that long anyway. I'm an amateur. Don't worry about the mess you'll be getting into, just think about the storyline

[Victin]

I don't thik I'll participate, but I'm looking foward, so, maybe someday

[Pixelmage]

I don't thik I'll participate, but I'm looking foward, so, maybe someday

Someday is next November 1st. Stop being lazy! <-- Talking to myself?

Well, Opt, I have to say I'm suprised about your WiP. Didn't read everything yet (just 10 pages to get a feel for it), I'll PM you when I'm done... But on word count...
26.202 in 41 pages, Times New Roman 12.
Rounding that,
50.000 in 80 pages.

My estimatives were quite a lot off the mark... I was expecting something along the lines of 120 pages... I mean, only eighty pages? That's something I'm quite used to reading in a single session when I don't need to stop to do anything else... Looks like I'll be able to write the 50.000 words after all!

[ningyou]

I'll be participating this year. I've participated in the last two and did not finish either time. But this year will be different. Oh, yes. This year will be different.

[Sicon112]

I don't know if I should.. Considering that I have my O'Level examinations coming up in, well, TWO days and I've been spending the past week or so on this ARG. On a side note, I have a novel that's kind of half-finished, but I've got this feeling that I wrote myself into a dead-end. I really need help with it, any kind soul curious enough to look at 25000 words and comment?

Hum... I could have a look, but I'm not the best analist so... General tips for dead-ends: Do you have any Checkov's you can pull off? Can you derail the plot with a Contrived Coincidence to give you a few pages to catch the pacing again? You porbably already looked into that stuff but...

On a related note... I want to participate, but being a brazillian I have two big problems...
First one, I'm most confortable thinking and writing in english! I don't know whether I should join with a portuguese novel (better grammar, more familiarity with expressions used in conversation) or screw it and join with english (familiarity with literary constructs, as all my literature and lit study material comes in english, I already think in english all the time)...

The second one, brazillians such as myself have no sense whatsoever of word count. I only learned about such a concept after I started ignoring the crappy and limited material found in portuguese and started studying in english... Over here text lenght is measured in number of lines (and people cheat by forcing bigger handwriting) and number of pages (where people also cheat by tweaking spacing, margin and minor details to get more volume). That said, when they set the rules as "50.000 words", well, judging by "full lenght novel" I have my estimates, by I can't really visualize the magnitude of that milestone...

When I think about that I feel like I have no idea what kind of mess I'm getting into...

Judging by your RP posts and your contributions to this forum, you are TOTALLY capable of that. I sorta knew you were Brazilian cause you mentioned it a few times, but honestly I don't associate you with someone who learned English as a second language. You're that good.

As for me, I probably won't join. I could do it, but I have this awful habit of never finishing stuff I write. I have like seventeen really amazing half novels/fanfics stored on my computer, and I'm pretty sure NONE of them are ever going to get finished. Oh well...

[Guyshane]

I plan on trying but I don't have especially high hopes

[Pixelmage]

Judging by your RP posts and your contributions to this forum, you are TOTALLY capable of that. I sorta knew you were Brazilian cause you mentioned it a few times, but honestly I don't associate you with someone who learned English as a second language. You're that good.

As for me, I probably won't join. I could do it, but I have this awful habit of never finishing stuff I write. I have like seventeen really amazing half novels/fanfics stored on my computer, and I'm pretty sure NONE of them are ever going to get finished. Oh well...

I plan on trying but I don't have especially high hopes

DO IT!
Well, to everyone thinking about entering or not entering... What do you guys have to lose? It's not like the novel is lost if you don't manage to reach the 50.000 words. Worse possible end: You spent some volume of time improving the very vital skill of written communication!

[Victin]

Wait...
WAIT...
Why don't we get together and write a story? Or that is angainst the rules?

[Pixelmage]

Wait...
WAIT...
Why don't we get together and write a story? Or that is angainst the rules?

Be the sole author of your novel. Apart from those citations mentioned two bullet-points up.
You can write in group, but the submission is single author only. Since there is a certificate given to everyone who completes the milestone, only one in the group get's it... So it's not a very appealing proposal, unfortunatelly.

[IslaKariese]

Wait...
WAIT...
Why don't we get together and write a story? Or that is angainst the rules?

Be the sole author of your novel. Apart from those citations mentioned two bullet-points up.
You can write in group, but the submission is single author only. Since there is a certificate given to everyone who completes the milestone, only one in the group get's it... So it's not a very appealing proposal, unfortunatelly.

It would've been fun, though... *sigh* oh, well.

[Victin]

Wait...
WAIT...
Why don't we get together and write a story? Or that is angainst the rules?

Be the sole author of your novel. Apart from those citations mentioned two bullet-points up.
You can write in group, but the submission is single author only. Since there is a certificate given to everyone who completes the milestone, only one in the group get's it... So it's not a very appealing proposal, unfortunatelly.

It would've been fun, though... *sigh* oh, well.

We don't need to write for the milestone though.

[Pixelmage]

It would've been fun, though... *sigh* oh, well.

Oh... It'll still be fun. You'll join won't you Kariese? Right? You will? I knew you would!

We don't need to write for the milestone though.

Why would you not try for the milestone? I mean, sure we'll still have a story even if it does not reach the milestone, but as long as you're there, why not?

[Victin]

It would've been fun, though... *sigh* oh, well.

Oh... It'll still be fun. You'll join won't you Kariese? Right? You will? I knew you would!

We don't need to write for the milestone though.

Why would you not try for the milestone? I mean, sure we'll still have a story even if it does not reach the milestone, but as long as you're there, why not?

Wait, I meant, the prize.

[IslaKariese]

It would've been fun, though... *sigh* oh, well.

Oh... It'll still be fun. You'll join won't you Kariese? Right? You will? I knew you would!

Oh. Oh dear. *shifty eyes* Uhm... thing is... I've never done NaNoWriMo before... and I don't have the attention span required to finish such a big project... It's not for lack of trying, I'll tell you that much...

[Pixelmage]

It would've been fun, though... *sigh* oh, well.

Oh... It'll still be fun. You'll join won't you Kariese? Right? You will? I knew you would!

Oh. Oh dear. *shifty eyes* Uhm... thing is... I've never done NaNoWriMo before... and I don't have the attention span required to finish such a big project... It's not for lack of trying, I'll tell you that much...

If it helps, this will be my first one too. And I sound like I'm part of the staff trying to recruit new members.

Wait, I meant, the prize.

I'd feel it to be awfully unfair if I got the certificate alone on a group work, and someone would have to submit it...
Now, I'll post an insane idea here... Read at your own risk...
We can't delay the NaNoWriMo as it is a set event beyond our control... So, we just take part there as normal... Now, If we like that idea of a collaborative novel... Why not make it in our very own WallNoWriMo in december, the load would be spread around everyone so that it won't be as high pressure as the lone writing of november and we still get to have our fun!

[Victin]

It would've been fun, though... *sigh* oh, well.

Oh... It'll still be fun. You'll join won't you Kariese? Right? You will? I knew you would!

Oh. Oh dear. *shifty eyes* Uhm... thing is... I've never done NaNoWriMo before... and I don't have the attention span required to finish such a big project... It's not for lack of trying, I'll tell you that much...

That's why I suggested we making something together.

[Guyshane]

[Victin]

Oh... It'll still be fun. You'll join won't you Kariese? Right? You will? I knew you would!

Oh. Oh dear. *shifty eyes* Uhm... thing is... I've never done NaNoWriMo before... and I don't have the attention span required to finish such a big project... It's not for lack of trying, I'll tell you that much...

If it helps, this will be my first one too. And I sound like I'm part of the staff trying to recruit new members.

Wait, I meant, the prize.

I'd feel it to be awfully unfair if I got the certificate alone on a group work, and someone would have to submit it...
Now, I'll post an insane idea here... Read at your own risk...
We can't delay the NaNoWriMo as it is a set event beyond our control... So, we just take part there as normal... Now, If we like that idea of a collaborative novel... Why not make it in our very own WallNoWriMo in december, the load would be spread around everyone so that it won't be as high pressure as the lone writing of november and we still get to have our fun!

Well, I'm not going to participate in the NaNoWriMo, but the WallNoWriMo seems great to me. I already have a few rules in mind.

[Pixelmage]

Opt! FINISH THAT BOOK!
Just PMed you with my thoughts.

Guyshane:
Brace yourself. Not that it'll help much.

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

Well, as I mentioned in the cake thread, I'll be doing it. It'll be my... fifth year.
And don't worry, everyone, there are lots of ways to cheat! Legitimately.
(my first year: include lots of "encoded reports" (read: unrelated stuff I wrote for school, with the words scrambled and random words added in when I got desperate); get rid of all contractions, use the word processor's thesaurus to find the wordiest way of saying everything.)
(my second year: write a novel about someone doing nanowrimo. Include his attempts at his novel-- even if it means showing the same one, every time he opens the document and reads what he's written. Also include his pathetic attempts at cheating, such as writing the numbers from one to four hundred.)

And even though the rules say you have to be sole author... it's not really enforced. There's no monetary value to the prize; no one reads your novel, it just gets run through a word count validator. The prize is just an online certificate you can download and type your name in (so multiple writers, using one account, could each get a copy of the certificate).

Of course, I'm all for winning without cheating, which I've done for the past two years. But anything to get more people to join the madness! (You can find me on the nanowrimo forums with the same name as here.)