So...anyone doing it? Have strong feelings about it?
I've tried it a couple times. I'd say I ended up with a pile of words that I didn't love, and I never went back to them to turn them into something better. But that's me.
Anyone do any alternatives?
Also, anyone who's done it in the past have a fun region? Did they do any cool meet-up stuff?
I've done it twice. That's 100,000 words. Did I end up with 2 novels? Well no, but there were some damn good characters, and a quite a few good scenes.
I skipped last year because I was hot on something else. I am wavering back and forth this year. I have two hot things going this year, so not much time for endless typing and no thinking.
There were some meet-ups in libraries and such. I did not do that so I don't know how it felt to sit and type with a bunch of other people. But, it's a cool idea.
There was no communal component that I could see, but then sometimes I see no forest, only trees. I did not have time to read anyones stuff, nor did I want them reading what I had done. I did try writing my first sex scene in the midst. It was not bad.
The something to be said for just cranking it out, page after page is that I am writing every day now , and I did find a writing community. Did NaNo play a role in that? Yes I think so. Maybe. Do I need and want that right now....not so sure, might feel like doing jumping jacks when I want to learn the tango. Still chewing on the idea, but I'm leaning toward my other two projects.
I haven't done it for real. I did write a bunch of shorts & flash last November, getting an idea of how often & for how long I'd have to write to get 50k in a month. I recently started a new story, only wrote a few hundred words so far. I'm planning to work on it in November. Will it be a novel? I don't know yet.
Indeed. This is my fourth nanowrimo. I genuinely love the month of November. I have never went to one of the write-ins but i hear that they can be a grand time. I spend most of my time working and writing and hanging out on the official forum in the Typewriter Brigade thread. This year, once again, I am doing it on my IBM Selectric II. My username is the same over there so feel free to add me if you think that might help. I know that kind of thing helps me. That, being having friends and watching their word count go up.
Anyway,I'm officially closing in on a workable outline for a new Southern Gothic/Grit Lit diddy that goes by the inocuous name of "What Gods Were Found In Alabama.
Good luck all. I'll check back and hope to see some of the usual suspects from litreactors nanowrimo's past.
Just as a sidenote (since we are talking about typewriters haha) http://californiatypewritermovie.com/
That's cool! I've been tempted to try that. I have an electric typewriter too that doesn't get much use. I think it weighs about 25 lbs, but it's very satisfying to hit those keys. I suppose there's still a day to make up my mind...
Thanks for starting this thread. I'd never heard of Nanowrimo and just opened this thread. Too late for me this year, but I hope to participate next year.
I'm doing it, although I haven't signed up to anything. Will just bash out the words. I like the idea of using a typewriter - makes it harder to go back and change things. But I do my writing on the train to and from the office and in a cafe at lunchtime, so I need something more portable...
@V.R.Stone: I have a Hermes baby Rocket that i take when I write at the cafe. One of the best small mobile writers out there. . Mine is a 1954. compact. Portable. Great typer.
@Kedzie : Never too late. Just open a word document and start typing. 1667 words per day for 30 days. play a little gardener for a while and see what you grow. It really is a blast.
Rule No. 1: Lock away your inner editor and don't allow him bread, water, or even to see the light of day until December 1.
Why do people need a declaration and a certain time of year to write a whole bunch? This reminds me of New Years resolutions.
@Thuggish I'm actually more fascinated by why people like you come into threads like these to post stuff like that.
Maybe you're taking it too negatively. Or personally. (?)
Hetch - Thanks for the encouragement.
Sadly, I'm not in any position to do it, if I gotta start today. Recovering from some anti-cancer facial treatments and other medical nonsense that limit my screen time.
Also, am more it edit than create mode right now. Will get back into create mode soon.
But I have made a note of this and will participate next year. I like the idea of having my feet held to a fire. Jeez, that sounds like a story right there. :-)
^
See this is the point I'm trying to make... Can you hold your feet to the fire in January or February? Apparently a lot of the country is not that busy in February (as an example your mileage may vary, let's not get sidetracked on that please), so do it then! Don't wait for next November.
An easy 2277 words on day one. And then today, I decided to break the golden rule and go back to change something (decided a character should be female instead of male), as well as wasting time over choosing names for new characters. It's been a painful grind to 1500. Still got the 30 min train ride home though. From now on, it will be "Detective Number 2" and "Mr A/B/C/D". AND NO GOING BACK. EVER.
Woof. Didn't quite make day one's word count. But maybe we can make it up today...
So far, I've got an office situation where they're doing one of those stupid icebreakers, 1 truth, 2 lies, and a guy brought in 3 jars, one of which is full of piss, the other two mystery liquid. Which jar is true?
To speak to the need for a specific time to do this, I kind of look at Nanowrimo like Valentine's Day. Yes, I can tell someone I love them and buy them chocolate any day of the year. But somtimes it's good to have a reminder that this is a good thing to do. Super-disciplined people can make this happen, but I think most of us could probably be better about doing something nice for our partners from time to time, so having a date on the calendar as a little extra shove isn't a bad idea.
And I think there's a group aspect to it as well. Writing is mostly a solitary activity, but it's a time where you feel a little like you're in it together.
I'm doing it for the first time this year.
Hitting 20,000 words today, and the discipline has been a blessing to help draft out my second novel.
I took Suzy Vitello's Litreactor class, and that pushed me to do an outline--it's been hard going, and I get exhausted after a dozen hours of cranking words everyday, but it is productive.
I think some of the chapters will need more editing than others, but I can already see that I'll do a second draft, and a third.
Wait, do you mean you got up to 20k words today, or you did 20k words in one day?
Thuggish. I knocked out 20,000 words yesterday just before I built a two car garage.
!?
Wait.
Were hallucinogens involved?
I could use some hallucinogens. I'm drowning in it. It's not looking like my year.
I meant 20,000 words in 8 days. There are people who're doing 18,000 in a day, but I'm not one of them. Find it hard to even hit 2k a day, but happy with the progress so far.
That's still pretty awesome, way better than pace.
Who's doing the worst so far? I'm betting it's me. About 2k words so far...
Just passed 40,000. Feeling good about what I have so far even though its only a quarter finished plot wise. How is everyone else finding the writing coming this year? Let's hear some updates
I'm at 33,400, so slightly behind target. But I'm going to be travelling for work today and tomorrow which means time at airports and on planes so I should be able to catch up.
I'm an uber pantser so the story I'm writing now is different from the one I started with. And there is some utter dross from the days where I wasn't feeling very inspired or needed to get from one good scene to another. But I have complex characters and some interesting plot twists - plenty of stuff I can use. I probably have the ingredients for a decent book here - some of is tastes like sugar even if a lot of it tastes like raw eggs. I'll know for sure in about a year and another five or six drafts' time...
@V.R. That is really what it is all about isn't it, getting those ingredients. Having some great characters and a couple well done plot twists is just the icing on the cake. Great news, when all is said and done. I love November.
Interestingly enough I had never heard of the Bradbury Challenge until this weekend. Being that I am a glutton for punishment I will be taking that on after nanowrimo. A short story a week for 52 weeks. That's one way to keep motivated. Who's with me?
^ Holy shit... I'm not...
Good job though, people.
That sounds pretty good. My Nanowrimo project is in the crapper.
I think that NaNo, the Bradbury challenge, or anything that forces you to write can be a very good idea. I spent a long time tinkering with my last novel and then promoting it and stopped writing new stuff.
50,000 words a month, every month would not be sustainable for me. But now that I've done it, I think something like 5,000 words a week definitely is. Now that I'm in the habit of writing again I'm going to make sure I don't stop. For me, NaNo hasn't been about getting a book written - it's been about writing some words every single day.
Well cool then. I started a new tumblr for the Bradbury challenge. I am not very smart at what social media blog sites are the best so if someone knows of a better idea let me know. Regardeless it's here: http://bradburychallenge2017.tumblr.com/ . I'll be keeping it up to date with the essays/short stories/poems I read each day and one a week will post an update about the short story of the week. My email is hetch.litman@gmail.com and if you guys want to stay in touch through this that always helps as you guys very well know. It will be cool to come back here and workshop the good short stories too!
Another thing I was thinking is maybe doing a podcast about it. If anyone would be interested in talking once a week or even just once in a while let me know. I haven't ever started one but Im sure I could figure it out before Jan 1.
Oh, and to stay on topic. I crossed the finish line this morning with possibly the best death scene I have ever written. So there's that.
Let me know what you guys think about the other stuff and good luck on winning nano. Happy Thanksgiving!
best death scene ever?
...
post a paragraph?
@Thuggish: If and when I get around to rewriting the whole novel from the typewritten pages to the computer then I will. At the moment I don't have the time. I'm still working on it. Just crossed 70,000 words and still have at the very least a third to go.
Also working on a short story (Southern Gothic/Grit Lit/Rough South) for submission. This really has been a great November.
@Thuggish: If and when I get around to rewriting the whole novel from the typewritten pages to the computer then I will. At the moment I don't have the time. I'm still working on it. Just crossed 70,000 words and still have at the very least a third to go.
Also working on a short story (Southern Gothic/Grit Lit/Rough South) for submission. This really has been a great November.
70k. dayam...
