Nanowrimo winners...

[rikaaim]

I was very curious about the Nanowrimo contest, but have no information about it other than the little winner pics that some people have. I know several of you have won, and some multiple times. Any advice you could give me on how to enter, where to go for general information, and how to stick to a good novel idea would be most appreciative. I would like to start writing some longer stories and this would be a great motivation.

 

[yui]

I was very curious about the Nanowrimo contest, but have no information about it other than the little winner pics that some people have. I know several of you have won, and some multiple times. Any advice you could give me on how to enter, where to go for general information, and how to stick to a good novel idea would be most appreciative. I would like to start writing some longer stories and this would be a great motivation.

Hi Pasha!

Here's the link. The nano site is still up.

 

[rikaaim]

Hi Pasha!

Here's the link. The nano site is still up.

Thanks Yui. I may be too late for this year. I'll go check the link and see.

Any advice on actually finishing the story would be great too. I could write forty thousand words of pure dribble, but I don't think that would win.

 

[yui]

Thanks Yui. I may be too late for this year. I'll go check the link and see.

Any advice on actually finishing the story would be great too. I could write forty thousand words of pure dribble, but I don't think that would win.

No problem. It's a great site! The forums were a blast when everyone was going nuts in November. There are lots of how-tos, definitely worth a look. It doesn't matter what you write, they just do a word count. You're really only competing with yourself.

 

[rikaaim]

No problem. It's a great site! The forums were a blast when everyone was going nuts in November. There are lots of how-tos, definitely worth a look. It doesn't matter what you write, they just do a word count. You're really only competing with yourself.

I kinda gave the homepage a quick look over. It's in November. That gives me a lot of time to think about some ideas. Is the point to write out the novel now and clean it up in November, or wait until November and write the whole thing in a mad flurry?

 

[minsue]

Mad flurry. Heavy on the mad.

 

[yui]

I kinda gave the homepage a quick look over. It's in November. That gives me a lot of time to think about some ideas. Is the point to write out the novel now and clean it up in November, or wait until November and write the whole thing in a mad flurry?

Can't start it until Nov. 1.

 

[rikaaim]

Can't start it until Nov. 1.

Right.

I'm not...typing...*cough*...right now...ermm.....



*runs away with half finished novel*


SUCKERS!!!

 

[yui]

Right.

I'm not...typing...*cough*...right now...ermm.....



*runs away with half finished novel*


SUCKERS!!!

The mad dash is part of the fun. That way if you produce garbage (see my attempt) then you can blame it on the rush. The idea is to get the words down and polish it after you finish.

 

[rikaaim]

The mad dash is part of the fun. That way if you produce garbage (see my attempt) then you can blame it on the rush. The idea is to get the words down and polish it after you finish.

Polish after I finish? I thought polishing involed some sort of lube, in which case I have been polishing just before I finish and simulataneously as I finish. Hmmm...

 

[neonlyte]

Rikaaim

Plenty of time to prepare for Nano 2005.

The programme is aimed at getting you into a discipline of writing. You are essentially competing against yourself. The only checking is a word count, NOT a reading of your story.

I did Nano in 2003, ended up with 50k+ words of a half finished story. For 2004 I took another approach and finished a story that stood on start date at 70k plus words - I used Nano to push the story to completion. This draft stands at at about 140k words and is tucked away on disc until I'm ready to begin the rewrite. This is not technically in accord with Nano rules BUT you are only competing against yourself. I found the discipline of writing during November crucial to maintain the drive to push the story forward, though I doubt whether much will survive the rewrite other than the overall thread and linkage of events that bring the story to conclusion.

 

[Guest]

Rika, National Novel Writing Month always happens during November, and it is a self challenge, and a challenge it is. The aim is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. It's also a lot of fun, especially when you do it with a group of other writers and get support and encouragement from them.

I've done it for the last two years, and I plan to again this year. The one thing it has taught me is discipline - to sit down and write 2,000 words per day, something which I almost always achieve now. I'm currently well into my fourth novel, and I treat each one as if I'm doing another NaNo.

Here's links to the two support threads I started up here each year, which will give you an even bigger insight into how we all found the experience.

LitWridoNaNoWriMo - The Support Thread (2003)

LitWridoNaNoWriMo 2004 - The Support Thread

Lou

 

[pop_54]

Rika, National Novel Writing Month always happens during November, and it is a self challenge, and a challenge it is. The aim is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. It's also a lot of fun, especially when you do it with a group of other writers and get support and encouragement from them.

I've done it for the last two years, and I plan to again this year. The one thing it has taught me is discipline - to sit down and write 2,000 words per day, something which I almost always achieve now. I'm currently well into my fourth novel, and I treat each one as if I'm doing another NaNo.

Here's links to the two support threads I started up here each year, which will give you an even bigger insight into how we all found the experience.

LitWridoNaNoWriMo - The Support Thread (2003)

LitWridoNaNoWriMo 2004 - The Support Thread

Lou

Not only that Rik but if you sign up for one of Tatelou's nano threads and don't tow the line, she comes round your house with a big whip to sort you out, and it's lovely Lo LouLou

Go for it next year Rik, and as the others said no point cheating, you're only cheating yourself, you will see some word counts reaching the high hundred thousands on the winners board of nano, I think they cheated, but that's just my opinion, I made over 70,000 last year and it nearly killed me, I think 80 to 90 thou would be the max anyone could achieve writing a real story not a series of repeated words for nano.

 

[snooper]

... I made over 70,000 last year and it nearly killed me, I think 80 to 90 thou would be the max anyone could achieve writing a real story not a series of repeated words for nano.

As a full-time novelist I write 5000 words on a good day, but they are few and far between. Some days are just Oscar Wilde days "I spent the morning putting a comma in, and the afternoon taking it out again." Looking at my notes, I seem to average about 2000 a day, which is 40,000 a month, but not all of those are fit to publish. Perhaps 1,000 acceptable words a working day is nearer the mark, so the "novel in a month" means writing a lot faster than I achieve.

As to the pressure to finish on time, try a publisher breathing down your neck, closely followed by a bank manager.

 

[oggbashan]

Perhaps 1,000 acceptable words a working day is nearer the mark, so the "novel in a month" means writing a lot faster than I achieve.

Nanowrimo is not about producing 'acceptable' words but ANY WORDS.

The 50,000 words can be gibberish or unconnected episodes for something that will eventually be much larger (or smaller if you discard the rubbish).

Editing takes place after November.

In 2003 I knew that I could produce 50,000 words in a month. I set myself a harder target - to produce 50,000 words that were comprehensible and have them POSTED ON LIT (not submitted to) by the end of November. My Flawed Red Silk story in 12 chapters was submitted by the 19th of November and everything was up on Lit well before the end of the month.

I didn't take part in 2004 because of important events in real life.

Whether I will take part this year? I don't know. I know I can do it. Do I want to sacrifice other activities to writing NaNoWriMo? Perhaps. The only person you are competing against is yourself. If you cheat - the only person you cheat is yourself.

I think it is a great idea to do once; a great way of making a real start on a larger work; a good discipline if you are a reluctant writer who finds displacement activities too easily.

Once you have done it, do you need to do it again?

Og

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Not only that Rik but if you sign up for one of Tatelou's nano threads and don't tow the line, she comes round your house with a big whip to sort you out, and it's lovely Lo LouLou

Go for it next year Rik, and as the others said no point cheating, you're only cheating yourself, you will see some word counts reaching the high hundred thousands on the winners board of nano, I think they cheated, but that's just my opinion, I made over 70,000 last year and it nearly killed me, I think 80 to 90 thou would be the max anyone could achieve writing a real story not a series of repeated words for nano.

Um, I love ya pops, but I finished 50K words before midnight my time on the last day of the first week. Theoretically, I could have completed 100K words had I kept at it and not out run my story idea

 

[rikaaim]

Thanks everyone for the advice and information. I wouldn't really cheat at it. I'll just be thinking of ideas. I'm just popping in before I head out to work. I'll be back on later and check out Lou's links and boards. I already write about two thousand words in a day. That's not the problem. Like Og said the problem is making them quality words. I guess that's half of the battle. Write about seventy-five thousand words and take out thrity thousand and there's the story.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

As the Lit's Queen of Drafts, may I also recommend that you plan your novel thouroughly. I entered in 2003 with just an idea and a title, and once I reached 17.000+, I gave up. Just couldn't think of anything else to write.
Last year, I entered again, but with a comletely different approach. I planned a whole month ahead. I printed out character sheets that asked you to fill in every character's favourite colors and least favourite music and why they felt this way about their physical appearance and what childhood memory had affected them the most and what did they do one week before the story itself actually started, and...
I wrote an outline for the entire book, sort of a resume if you want, describing to myself what I would write about and in what order things would happen. I even drew the characters so I would know what they looked like!
Hell, yes, I even did several inqueries among friends and strangers on what type of motorcycle the hero should drive, and I investigated the history and technical details of that vehicle!!!

I was wired up come November 1st. I was wired up all through November. I hid from the world in mum's cold sewing supplies storage, to be alone to write, write, write. I wrote on the bus, I wrote in bed, I wrote while I was eating lunch in restaurants. People could hardly reach me through the haze. It was as intense as illicit sex!

November 30th, by 11PM, I was done. I reached exactly 50.000 words.

It was easy. I knew what episode to write every day, I knew how I'd get from Start to Finish, and I found myself feeling giddy as I grabbed my pen (I wrote the whole thing with ink on paper. The stains are still in the bed linen, though I've got them out of my skin by now.), and I had FUN writing, the words just flowed, and I wrote more than just my plotline; I found myself adding scenes I'd never thought of before, they just came to me as I wrote, and I wrote the ideas down so fast that I didn't know how the idea would end, it was as if someone was dictating the story to me!

So, ehm... yeah. Plan ahead.
That's my advice.
Plan ahead.

 

[rikaaim]

So, ehm... yeah. Plan ahead.
That's my advice.
Plan ahead.

To be honest, that's exactly what I was thinking for my approach. It only seems logical to get everything in order before writing the enitre thing. That's how I was planning on writing any novel. The only thing is that I need the motivation to do all that research and planning. Nanowirmo should help with that. In the future needing to make money from my words should help with that.

 

[Liar]

Um, I love ya pops, but I finished 50K words before midnight my time on the last day of the first week. Theoretically, I could have completed 100K words had I kept at it and not out run my story idea

That's just because you're supernatural and the rest of us are mere mortals.

 

[snooper]

That's just because you're supernatural and the rest of us are mere mortals.

Talking of supernatural writers, Barbara Cartland published 723 books in her lifetime, and at the time of her death had 160 unpublished novel manuscripts. She died when she was 98 so I make that something like ten completed novels per year (depending on how old she was when she started writing).

 

[Guest]

To be honest, that's exactly what I was thinking for my approach. It only seems logical to get everything in order before writing the enitre thing. That's how I was planning on writing any novel. The only thing is that I need the motivation to do all that research and planning. Nanowirmo should help with that. In the future needing to make money from my words should help with that.

Rika, also bear in mind that such stringent and meticulous planning can leave you somewhat restrained.

I write novels in the opposite way to Svenska, and rarely plan anything. I just write and let it take me wherever.

But, that works for me. Planning loads works for Svenska. We are all different. Find a way that works for you.

Most importantly: just write. We could all spend our lifetimes talking about writing a novel, and the best day to do it. Don't wait for NaNo. Join in NaNo, by all means, but you could write another novel between now and November. Two, even.

Now, stop talking about it and just do it.

Lou

 

[Guest]

Polish after I finish? I thought polishing involed some sort of lube, in which case I have been polishing just before I finish and simulataneously as I finish. Hmmm...

Actually proper polishing has nothing to do with lubricant.

Polishing requires abrasive elements and strength to rub out the imperfections.

And yes I mean that in the literal and philosophical contexts.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

That's just because you're supernatural and the rest of us are mere mortals.

I think it's just cause I am long winded to begin with

 

[matriarch]

Talking of supernatural writers, Barbara Cartland published 723 books in her lifetime, and at the time of her death had 160 unpublished novel manuscripts. She died when she was 98 so I make that something like ten completed novels per year (depending on how old she was when she started writing).

Have you ever READ a Barbara Cartland novel???
The same storyline regurgitated, book, after book, after book.
She simply changed the character names, the place, and the method of misunderstanding. But basically she wrote the same book every time.