PopeyeDoyle's picture
PopeyeDoyle October 24, 2012 - 12:05pm

I haven't written much in the past year and a half...So I'm doing an alternate NaNoWriMo:  Promising to write for at least 30 minutes a day for the entire month.  We'll see how that works out.

newName's picture
newName October 24, 2012 - 12:47pm

NaNo is how I finally finished the first draft of my first novel. I *literally* have been trying to write a book since before I could write--my first one was about hawaii I think: it had a front cover, a back cover, and a single page with crayon scrawlings of an island on it. So...two novels, maybe? lol

Keith Reynolds's picture
Keith Reynolds from Vancouver is reading Twilight of the Elites October 28, 2012 - 2:54pm

Pretty excited for NaNoWriMo this year because it'll be the first year participating.  Hopefully the busy start of the month at work doesn't get in the way and I can turn it out.

Courtney's picture
Courtney from the Midwest is reading Monkey: A Journey to the West and a thousand college textbooks October 29, 2012 - 12:18pm

I'm in WAR, have a side project going on with some other writers, am a full-time student... yeah, I'm definitely putting too much shit on my plate, but do I care? No. Fuck that. I'm just trying to fuck

another window timed out and notified me and that was what I had written. I'm just going to leave it that way.

Courtney's picture
Courtney from the Midwest is reading Monkey: A Journey to the West and a thousand college textbooks October 29, 2012 - 12:29pm

Anyway, I've always been too head strong to let little things like obligations get in the way. Don't follow in my footsteps.

EDIT: I put a widget on my profile. Anyone else going to?

kimberlynotkim's picture
kimberlynotkim from L.A. (currently in Hawaii) is reading my phone October 29, 2012 - 2:06pm

Courtney: Frickin' classic. Love it.

 

Anybody decided what they're writing about yet? I have two ideas and can't settle on one. Possibly I should just finish rewriting the novel I have (the original first draft of which was a 2007 NaNo novel, and is almost finished) before starting a new one...

jay wolf's picture
jay wolf from nyc metro is reading Transmetropolitan October 29, 2012 - 2:19pm

I'm nanoing again this year; I have done it kind of a lot of times but have only been successful at it in recent years. I'm working on what I hope will be the capstone to a trilogy this time out so that I can maybe take a break from it next year. I do find it helpful to have a month out of the year that I can just dedicate to tilting at that windmill. 

I have some friends who all do a "prep" the month before; it gets the gears grinding ahead of time and gets you through a few revisions of outline, etc. I still don't end up with a draft I'd be willing to show anybody right away, but I've averaged about 120k by the end of the month every year that I've done "the prep" so I am feeling pretty confident that i can do this. Next stop afterwards is the final revision of the first book and hopefully getting up the nerve to actually do something with it. :\

JEFFREY GRANT BARR's picture
JEFFREY GRANT BARR from Central OR is reading Nothing but fucking Shakespeare, for the rest of my life October 29, 2012 - 3:55pm

I put a widget on my profile as well. Courtney = such a trendsetter!

Dave's picture
Dave from a city near you is reading constantly October 29, 2012 - 4:44pm

FML, I signed up. Because I don't have enough going on this month. Added the widget, good idea.

Courtney's picture
Courtney from the Midwest is reading Monkey: A Journey to the West and a thousand college textbooks October 29, 2012 - 6:43pm

I did some prep this year -- already had the idea for the novel but scrapped what I'd written and was looking for a way to get this started. Since my new laptop is a little too old for Scrivener, I'm going to have to scramble to either find a version that doesn't make it crash or store my notes in a more organized fashion. Other than that, I'm pretty confident that I'll hit 50k. Whether they'll be a decent 50k is anyone's guess.

Dave's picture
Dave from a city near you is reading constantly October 29, 2012 - 9:30pm

Ive got a pretty structured idea and notes and a semblance of an outline, even a shit first draft is better than no draft. I'm looking forward to it. 

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updated October 30, 2012 - 4:58am

I have no outline, no notes, not even a idea.

Mess_Jess's picture
Mess_Jess from Sydney, Australia, living in Toronto, Canada is reading Perfect by Rachael Joyce October 30, 2012 - 8:09am

Notkim - Like Dwayne, I have nothing. I haven't even thought about it, crazy couple of days, new job and a litreactor class. Farrrrkkk... (Courtney and I clearly will have no sleep this month).

Though, I'm hoping to do an outline today, if I can get to it.  Or at least think about what I want to write, rather than spitting out random thoughts in my head and hoping they come together in some glorious clusterfuck.

Dave's picture
Dave from a city near you is reading constantly October 30, 2012 - 3:07pm

We're a curious lot...I'll be moving this month, waging war, getting another job, and I decided that yeah, NaNo sounded like a good idea. 

What's that qoute about we write because we have to?

OtisTheBulldog's picture
OtisTheBulldog from Somerville, MA is reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz October 30, 2012 - 7:21pm

I've also decided that I was initially whining like a bitch when I started thinking about other responsibilities and all that. So...I'm in. I'm writing a novel based on my Scare Us submission. It's my first NaNo. I have the general story idea in mind, obviously, and I've been brainstorming new characters, plot points, timelines, etc over the past week. I don't have a lot. Just possible chapter names, conflicts, scenes. I guess this is flying by the seat of my pants with a little bit of guidance.

Now to try to figure out that widget thing.

Mess_Jess's picture
Mess_Jess from Sydney, Australia, living in Toronto, Canada is reading Perfect by Rachael Joyce October 30, 2012 - 7:35pm

Otis - My brain clearly can't process too much this week, I couldn't figure out how to do the widget :/

JEFFREY GRANT BARR's picture
JEFFREY GRANT BARR from Central OR is reading Nothing but fucking Shakespeare, for the rest of my life October 31, 2012 - 12:18am

Take the code they give you on the NanoWriMo site, copy just the filename (the http://www.nanowrimo.org/widget/LiveParticipant/jezra.png part) and paste it into the image inserter up there ^

JEFFREY GRANT BARR's picture
JEFFREY GRANT BARR from Central OR is reading Nothing but fucking Shakespeare, for the rest of my life October 31, 2012 - 12:20am

Chuck Wendig has some really good stuff on his site, like this article - it could be useful for lining up some stuff for the nano sprint.

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updated October 31, 2012 - 5:02am

I'm just going to sit down with a pen and notebook of paper and see what happens.

Jay.SJ's picture
Jay.SJ from London is reading Warmed and Bound November 1, 2012 - 4:05am

Lets get cracking, guys!

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updated November 1, 2012 - 10:54am

I did 2000ish so I'm all up on it like couponers on a good sale.

Mess_Jess's picture
Mess_Jess from Sydney, Australia, living in Toronto, Canada is reading Perfect by Rachael Joyce November 1, 2012 - 11:40am

2,200 today. Feels like utter tripe when I can't edit it.

Courtney's picture
Courtney from the Midwest is reading Monkey: A Journey to the West and a thousand college textbooks November 1, 2012 - 12:11pm

Oh, I forgot to mention that I also have a million fucking assignments in each of these five classes I'm taking and I'm SO BEHIND.

 

But instead I'm writing... I'm up to about 1k. I only sat down twenty minutes ago, but this is shit I'd already come up with in my head.

Amanda Tveidt's picture
Amanda Tveidt from San Francisco is reading Old Napkin Poems November 1, 2012 - 1:17pm

 I am doing it!  I am excited. I dont write long stuff- so it should be an interesting experience. 

ReneeAPickup's picture
Class Facilitator
ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 1, 2012 - 6:57pm

I have a lot on my plate for November and the last few days I've been swamped--so I spent the better part of the  day in a panic. I'm trucking along at a good pace now, though. I should hit or pass the goal by midnight my time.

OtisTheBulldog's picture
OtisTheBulldog from Somerville, MA is reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz November 1, 2012 - 8:53pm

Got a late start but in two sessions, I got 2,021 words (two scenes) done on day 1. Not a bad start. I'm aiming for a little more than 2000 a day since there will be some Saturdays & Sundays where I might not get a lot done. Hopefully I can get an early start and go on a binge tomorrow.

I love Scrivner - makes it so easy to just write scenes at random.

Not too long after I got started tonight, my little buddy Karl came in to watch me get to work:

ReneeAPickup's picture
Class Facilitator
ReneeAPickup from Southern California is reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig November 1, 2012 - 9:01pm

I made it! I'm ready for my WAR prompt now, too. Ready to smash the fuck out of some literature.

Mess_Jess's picture
Mess_Jess from Sydney, Australia, living in Toronto, Canada is reading Perfect by Rachael Joyce November 2, 2012 - 9:48am

Done for today. Only 45,921 words to go!

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like November 2, 2012 - 10:28am

I'm announcing the first ever National Novella Writing Month (NaNollaWriMo). There's really nothing else out there like it. You write between 583 and 1333* words per day for a whole month. Then you're done.

* figures based on SFWA definition of "novella"

Renfield's picture
Renfield from Hell is reading 20th Century Ghosts November 2, 2012 - 10:41am

Nearly calling it on the first chap and I still haven't figured out the main guy's name. F something, maybe.

Hetch Litman's picture
Hetch Litman from Somewhere in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest is reading The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O'Connor November 2, 2012 - 12:19pm

11k words so far and have no friggin idea where this story is going. 

Courtney's picture
Courtney from the Midwest is reading Monkey: A Journey to the West and a thousand college textbooks November 2, 2012 - 12:27pm

I have two characters name figured out. There are... seven characters so far? fuck.

Hetch Litman's picture
Hetch Litman from Somewhere in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest is reading The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O'Connor November 2, 2012 - 12:37pm

When you need a break from writing or just want to read something related and funny check out @FakeNNWMTips on twitter.

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like November 2, 2012 - 12:39pm

I love naming characters.

Courtney's picture
Courtney from the Midwest is reading Monkey: A Journey to the West and a thousand college textbooks November 2, 2012 - 12:42pm

That's so fucking funny. I love the ones that are like "In three, kill off a character!" or "Sex scene time!" Also:

"Good writers borrow. Great writers steal. Amazing writers kidnap. Shakespeare had a death camp. #nanowrimo"

and

"The NNWM author's best friend is a thesaurus. It's inconspicuous on your desk and can easily be hollowed out to store cocaine. #nanowrimo"

Courtney's picture
Courtney from the Midwest is reading Monkey: A Journey to the West and a thousand college textbooks November 2, 2012 - 12:45pm

I used to come up with extravagant, awesome character names until I realized how fucking dumb Lindsay Olivia Wake sounded.

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like November 2, 2012 - 12:58pm

Drop "Lindsay" and it sounds good to me.

JEFFREY GRANT BARR's picture
JEFFREY GRANT BARR from Central OR is reading Nothing but fucking Shakespeare, for the rest of my life November 2, 2012 - 1:10pm

Wow, everyone writes so fast. I am also terrible with naming characters. The name 'Hetch' is pretty badass.

Courtney's picture
Courtney from the Midwest is reading Monkey: A Journey to the West and a thousand college textbooks November 2, 2012 - 1:15pm

The thing is, I hate the name Olivia. I only picked it so the initials would be "L.O.W." I think that was what made it so stupid. "Lindsay Wake" is the name of a few of my characters from different, abandoned stories. I usually satisfy my need for extravagant names by using ethnic characters -- Altagracia Medina is the name of a Spanish immigrant, Farouk Mohammed was an Egyptian scientist, etc.

Hetch is a pretty cool name. I like Biblical names, they give a rich symbolism without being overbearing -- John, Paul, Luke. For girls, I like names like Lilith and Mary. Other than that, I usually just pick a fitting one. Margaret or Mildred for someone who acts older than she is, Alyssa for a stereotype, etc.

JEFFREY GRANT BARR's picture
JEFFREY GRANT BARR from Central OR is reading Nothing but fucking Shakespeare, for the rest of my life November 2, 2012 - 1:19pm

That's an interesting take on naming, Courtney, especially the Biblical angle. I can respond to well-done naming, but I can't replicate it. Someone should write up an article/dictionary/lookup table for this.

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updated November 2, 2012 - 8:12pm

I either pick the name of stuff in the room I'm in, or the first name of someone I know, and the last name of someone else; i.e. Jeffery Zoolick (not the real spelling, but real name combo).

EdVaughn's picture
EdVaughn from Louisville, Ky is reading a whole bunch of different stuff November 2, 2012 - 8:08pm

I'm sort of doing Nanowrimo. I didn't sign up at the site but I'm trying to write just using the rules. I did it last year but I got as far as the idea of the story and maybe the first chapter that was it. I wrote yesterday for the first time in about two months. So this is a good way to get me going again.

kah's picture
kah from Ewan is reading everything on al gore's information super highway November 3, 2012 - 8:12am

I'm in (kahscrap).  4k the first day and trashed it. So starting from scratch with a new idea and should be ahead of the curve come Sunday Night Football.

As for the thought that fast writing equals shitting writing, that is what December is for. Obviously no one's work will be ready for kindle come 12/1.  

Trick or Jihad is coming along swimmingly. 

 

 

Courtney's picture
Courtney from the Midwest is reading Monkey: A Journey to the West and a thousand college textbooks November 3, 2012 - 11:25am

Biblical names make character development easier. Jonah is obviously battling demons, Job is trying to figure out what he did wrong. If you use the well-known character names, the reader will have a sense of the character without really knowing why. They'll just get it because that's what they're used to.

I've always been interested in names. They can be used to signify success -- naming a child something distinguished, like initials and a Protestant last name -- or can be used to signify cultural exclusivity, like Shaniqua.We studied names as a cultural thing in my Communications class, so I get it from that point of view, but I'd be interested to see how characters respond to names. I know I hated the name "Margo" until I read "Margeaux with an X."

OtisTheBulldog's picture
OtisTheBulldog from Somerville, MA is reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz November 3, 2012 - 12:01pm

I'm kinda bush league at names. I typically try to make them realistic, so they're relatable, and i try to make them consistent with their time period. But they're not really exciting names.

I like what you're getting at, Courtney. I have a story where i could really use a good name, and Job would be in-line with my character. But I worry that might be a little too over the top. I guess I should look for some resources on names meanings though. Or at least some classic names who opposed or struggled with an antagonist .

And now I bring to you, George Carlin, on the subjects of names:

And speaking of mindless Hollywood cocksuckers, before Charlton Heston became President of these dickless lunatics in the NRA, they had a different guy. He's still one of their major spokesman, and his name is Wayne LaPierre. Doesn't that sound a bit fruitty to you? "Hi, I'm Wayne, I'm a gun person. Bang bang!" You know what this guy's name ought to be? Biff Webster. Spud Crowley, a man's name! Chuck Steak!

 

And I'm getting really sick of guys named Todd. You know? Yeah, it's just a goofy... it's a goofy fucking name, okay? Hi, what's your name? "Todd! I'm Todd. And this is Blake and Blair and Blaine and Brent." Where are all these goofy fucking boys' names coming from? Taylor, Tyler, Jordan, Flynn. These are not real names!  

You want to hear a real name? Eddie. Eddie is a real name. Whatever happened to Eddie? He was here a minute ago. Joey and Jackie and Bobby and Phil. Bobby and Tommy and Danny and Bill. What happened, *Todd*? And Cody, and Dylan, and Cameron, and Tucker. Hi, Tucker. I'm Todd. "Hi, Todd! I'm Tucker." Fuck Tucker; Tucker sucks. 

And fuck Tucker's friend, Kyle.

You know? Yeah. There's another soft name for a boy. Kyle. Soft names make soft people. I'll bet you anything that ten times out of ten, Nicky, Vinny and Tony will beat the shit out of Todd, Kyle, and Tucker.

Renfield's picture
Renfield from Hell is reading 20th Century Ghosts November 3, 2012 - 2:53pm

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updated November 3, 2012 - 6:47pm

@Courtney - Why would Job be trying to figure out what he did wrong? The whole point story was that he is a innocent man suffering. 

pendragon's picture
pendragon from Seoul is reading Memories November 3, 2012 - 6:31pm

Still haven't started...hopefully within the next couple minutes. I'm not sure how to start a pornographic novel, but I'm thinking threesome.

Mess_Jess's picture
Mess_Jess from Sydney, Australia, living in Toronto, Canada is reading Perfect by Rachael Joyce November 3, 2012 - 6:41pm

You're writing porn? Start with the fluffer! Or James Deen standing around having a burrito waiting for the girls to arrive on set. 

pendragon's picture
pendragon from Seoul is reading Memories November 3, 2012 - 7:38pm

I'm not writing about porn. I'm writing pornography! 

I want to write Fifty Shades of Gray but awesome!