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Well, this is it, NaNoWriMo 2003 is just about to kick off. Get the coffee on, grab a bag of 'power' sweeties, make yourself comfortable and away we go!
We have a group of brilliant, motivated and talented writers here at the AH, about to embark on the adventure. Even if you aren't actually doing NaNo, please feel free to drop in here from time to time and give us all and any words of advice and encouragement, or even a good boot up the bum.
This group is now 22 strong, and the table below lists all of us, in alphabetical order. If any of your info is missing, please feel free to PM me, and let me know the details. I'll be updating the table every two days or so, with our on-going word counts. I'd greatly appreciate it if all participating AH authors could PM me with an up-to-date word count every 48 hours.
http://www.psyche-erotica.co.uk/images/nano/nano_table.jpg
Here's a few tips and pointers, to help us on our way. Mike (Otherdarkmeat) said most of this in his first post in the other preliminary NaNo thread, and I know he's happy for me to repeat them here:
1) You are only competing with yourself. This is not a contest, it is a challenge. The challenge is to show yourself that you have the initiative, creativity and discipline it takes to write under a time pressure. Even if you don't finish the 50K by November 30, you'll still have gained something from the attempt.
2) People can and will cheat, don't let them discourage you. Last year we had a guy sign up on November 29 and brag about how he was going to get the winner icon and certificate by copying and pasting a sentence repeatedly until he reached 50K words. He only cheated himself. It did ruffle quite a few feathers but I was able to ignore him because I was too caught up on the thrill of my own personal victory. Don't let idiots like that discourage you.
3) Don't edit as you write. Don't seek perfection. Just write. You'll probably be surprised at some of the things that will pour from your mind during a challenge like this. My NaNo project from last year was a steaming pile of dung by the time I was done, but I enjoyed every second of writing it. And I'm still pulling rough gems out of it to be polished into short stories. And some of the other participants I kept in touch with are finishing up editing their projects from last year (they started the edit/rewrite process post-November) in time to start this year's.
4) You can do as much prep work as you want. You can outline. You can create character profiles/sketches. You can plot your whole novel. Just don't begin writing the actual novel until Nov 1 (see point #2). On the flipside, you don't have to do any prep work at all. When I started I had a working title, and that changed at the last minute.
5) Don't limit yourself. Any and all genres, concepts and plots are welcome because no ever has to read it, unless you want them to read it. My project last year was a graphic erotic horror story, and I'm amazed at some of the perversity that spilled from my mind. Write what you want.
6) Just do it.
And, the most important point of all...
HAVE FUN!
I know none of you need it, but I'm sending you all a big, fat good luck kiss anyway.
Lou, Chief Whip.
We have a group of brilliant, motivated and talented writers here at the AH, about to embark on the adventure. Even if you aren't actually doing NaNo, please feel free to drop in here from time to time and give us all and any words of advice and encouragement, or even a good boot up the bum.
This group is now 22 strong, and the table below lists all of us, in alphabetical order. If any of your info is missing, please feel free to PM me, and let me know the details. I'll be updating the table every two days or so, with our on-going word counts. I'd greatly appreciate it if all participating AH authors could PM me with an up-to-date word count every 48 hours.
http://www.psyche-erotica.co.uk/images/nano/nano_table.jpg
Here's a few tips and pointers, to help us on our way. Mike (Otherdarkmeat) said most of this in his first post in the other preliminary NaNo thread, and I know he's happy for me to repeat them here:
1) You are only competing with yourself. This is not a contest, it is a challenge. The challenge is to show yourself that you have the initiative, creativity and discipline it takes to write under a time pressure. Even if you don't finish the 50K by November 30, you'll still have gained something from the attempt.
2) People can and will cheat, don't let them discourage you. Last year we had a guy sign up on November 29 and brag about how he was going to get the winner icon and certificate by copying and pasting a sentence repeatedly until he reached 50K words. He only cheated himself. It did ruffle quite a few feathers but I was able to ignore him because I was too caught up on the thrill of my own personal victory. Don't let idiots like that discourage you.
3) Don't edit as you write. Don't seek perfection. Just write. You'll probably be surprised at some of the things that will pour from your mind during a challenge like this. My NaNo project from last year was a steaming pile of dung by the time I was done, but I enjoyed every second of writing it. And I'm still pulling rough gems out of it to be polished into short stories. And some of the other participants I kept in touch with are finishing up editing their projects from last year (they started the edit/rewrite process post-November) in time to start this year's.
4) You can do as much prep work as you want. You can outline. You can create character profiles/sketches. You can plot your whole novel. Just don't begin writing the actual novel until Nov 1 (see point #2). On the flipside, you don't have to do any prep work at all. When I started I had a working title, and that changed at the last minute.
5) Don't limit yourself. Any and all genres, concepts and plots are welcome because no ever has to read it, unless you want them to read it. My project last year was a graphic erotic horror story, and I'm amazed at some of the perversity that spilled from my mind. Write what you want.
6) Just do it.
And, the most important point of all...
HAVE FUN!
I know none of you need it, but I'm sending you all a big, fat good luck kiss anyway.
Lou, Chief Whip.
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