NaNoWriMo

[EmpressOfTheGoldFlames]

Hello

Is anyone doing NaNoWriMo this year?
I'm going to start it at least & hopefully finish it. I've got characters swirling around in my head at the moment & some glimpse of a possible plot...

[Engelsemama]

Haven't shown mine to anyone. I did wave it in DH's direction last night and he didn't seem that interested but since he's not really much of a reader (and when he does he usually reads in Dutch rather than English) I'm not sure how much help he'd be.

I'm a secondary school teacher, so I always worry that my writing sounds too "teenagerish".

Up to 4212 after a short session this evening as well.

I am SO going to make 50,000!

[KinkyDorito]

I'm on about 2500; DD on 7386 and still going.

My writing is entirely teenagerish for the same reason Engels. Any literary capability I might have had died about a decade ago thanks to C/D borderline.

[Engelsemama]

at C/D borderline

Bringing back memories of when I used to teach in the UK (and given all the English GCSE ho-haa this year am very glad I'm not anymore).

I'm done for the day...looking forward to nap time tomorrow (though DH will be around to get in my way)

[Alameda]

only 615 words so far

they're good though, in a sort of 50 Shades of Sicilian Schlong way (haven't read 50 shades but it can't be worse than this!)

[Alameda]

oh goodness, I need to multiply it by 10 for Sunday? mamma mia . . .

[Alameda]

I will be lucky if I have a short story by the end of the month. Or even a limerick. :(

But I just broke the first thousand word barrier, hooray! And I am making myself laugh a lot as I write. And smoke.

[FlyingAardvark]

I've managed to get up to 4381 today. Mainly as had no one to bother me for about 4 hours.

I won't be showing anybody mine either, my DH just isn't interested, though he does encourage me to write. And my mam has been so critical of any of my writing in the past that she puts me off. She once read a poem I'd written about my PND for a course and she said 'it's a bit gloomy, can't you write happier things'.

Hoping to get a lot more done over the weekend.

[Alameda]

Oh wow, well done! I decided to send mine to a friend after all, apart from anything else I don't trust this app to save it properly and at least that backs it up and makes it retrievable.

Have you read yours through so far, are you pleased with it? Sorry your mum couldn't be a bit more supportive, or think of something encouraging to say.

[WearingGreen]

I've got 1231 words all of them shit.


I've written about 8 beginnings. I can't decide on 1st or 3rd person, I can't decide if I want it to be the main character reminiscing and sort of looking back or if I should just start at the beginning and go through to the end. I need want some sort of narrative/story telling device to run through it and I don't know what that is. It was going to be a 2 way convo between the main character and a therapist, then I thought maybe some sort of reports (there is a murder so pre sentencing reports or parole board reports or something) then I thought maybe letters to the main character. I just can't fix on anything.

Oh, and I haven't figured out who is going to commit the murder and who it is , if anyone, who going to get done for it. It might be a set up, she might get away with it. Who bloody knows?

There is only 3 proper characters and one of them dies, it isn't complicated, I'm just being pathetic.

I think I might explode if I can't churn out another 1000 words before bed.

[Alameda]

You've got a plot, you are winning!

Really I will be pleased if I manage to Do Some Writing every day, whether it joins up or not mad whether I hit the word count or not. I couldn't set my sights any lower without withdrawing from the challenge entirely

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

I would like to do Nanowrimo - as I need to reignite the book I have been working on this year - only up to 15000 words and I keep going back and rewriting which is getting me nowwhere.

Did anyone see the Guardian 'how to write a novel in 30 days' supplement a week or so ago? I was pplanning to use that as my guide this month but I have totally failed the first two days as the children have worn me out and I have resorted to wine and boxsets insteads of writing totally pissed right now which is not good will have to make it up at the weekend. I do have a plot of sorts but I am stalling on a chapter and need to look at the whole story from a different angle.

Good luck to all who try this.

[LoopyLoopsOlympicHoops]

Thanks Antoinette, could you PM me your email address please? Be brutal.

[Wilding]

Managed a whole other 700 words yesterday... really need to try and get my speed up! I'm not even working full-time at the moment so I've got no excuse really

[KinkyDorito]

Really I will be pleased if I manage to Do Some Writing every day, whether it joins up or not mad whether I hit the word count or not. I couldn't set my sights any lower without withdrawing from the challenge entirely

Same here

[AntoinetteCosway]

Have PMd you Loopy :)

[Alameda]

1327

exactly like blood from a stone

funny how easy it is to make impulsive decisions, be heedless of the consequences in most other areas yet writing without editing makes me feel like I am going to DIE

[SolidGoldYESBROKEMYSPACEBAR]

Oh dear, bit of a fail last night as went for a drink to celebrate DS' Dad's birthday, which (as we are broke) involved epic bus journeys so back very late and knackered and, er, only 190 words.
Still, going to get some in tonight and tomorrow I might even cart the laptop off to Abbey Mills and work there...

[Engelsemama]

DS has been in bed for 15 mins already and I haven't started writing yet must get off MN

I'm only writing as an alternative to marking essays

nano is finally giving me the excuse to get some dieas down on paper even if they're all shit.

bigmouth I used Ready.Set.Novel! to get myself prepared and generate ideas to work with. You're supposed to do it over 4-5 weeks to get started (but I only signed up to Nano 10-11 days before it started so condensed it a bti!)

I am nto doing any re-writing at all, just ploughing through. Did you read the Nano pep talk from yesterday? "Even if you are the worst writer in the world (whihc you are not) if you have actually done some writing/Nano, you have evidence of being the worst" (or something like that!)

[Engelsemama]

Not yesterday's pep talk, the one before.....

"Padgett Powell, who was once my professor, told me often to embrace failure. He wanted me, even if the story didn?t amount to much, to dig into the writing and know that failure was possible, even probable, but to always look towards the moment when the story ended and I was left with those pages. ?Even if you are the worst writer in the world,? he would say, ?at least you?ll have the evidence.?

[castlelough]

I've finally made a start this morning!
507 words!
It all needs developing and drawing out at a later stage, but at least it is a start!

[KinkyDorito]

What I don't understand is why it is so hard. I'm not great, but I don't think I'm awful either. I have a thousand story starts and lots of ideas. I do often think what I'm writing isn't very interesting/gripping though. I don't understand why I can't just sit down and get on with it.

It is weird.

Am I worried about failing? Am I worried it will be a huge amount of time with little to show at the end of it?

I really don't know what stops me.

[FlyingAardvark]

Alameda I haven't read it through yet, mainly as I think I would think it's a pile of crap and want to start over again. About 70% of it is drivel as I find beginnings hard and usually write loads of irrelavant stuff while getting into the main character. So a lot of it will be edited out after Nano has finished but right now it all adds to the word count

I found it very hard to do drafts before I did my first Nano 2 years ago, I would edit as I went and get sick half way through. I took it as a challenge to get the words out in draft for Nano and I've got the hang of it now. Still hate editing though. I have corrected spelling and grammar every 1000 words though, I can't not correct my spelling as tend to write quick and have loads of red lines.

KinkyDorito I get all those doubts, the only thing I have found to make writing easier is to just keep practising, even if it is drivel just go with it, don't be frightened to change direction in the middle. I often change POV and have them go through endless conversations for pages and pages. Yes it will never be a story but there'll be something in there to develop into something else. And once you've hit that 50000 it'll feel a lot easier to do it again. My writing has improved a lot just doing this the past coule of years.

[KinkyDorito]

Have you ever published anything Flying? Or do you write for yourself?

[FlyingAardvark]

No I've never been published, never had the guts to send anything off yet.
I've made a deal with myself that when I finish my degree in 2 years, I'll give myself a year to write up and edit at least one of my drafts and see how it goes. I don't have a lot of time to work on editing and everything but I enjoy writing and find it relaxing so I seem to be building up a pile of drafts, most of them without and ending!

[Alameda]

so this is the third nano for you flying? You must have lots of material already from previous years or is it a fresh project each time?

I had a look at my work so far and it's so difficult not to erase it all, but I sent it to my friend and she was great, said it made her laugh (it is supposed to be funny!) and only had lots of positive things to say. She's a literary agent so it's useful feedback, we have worked (written) together and she can be blunt when necessary. So I'm encouraged! Although I did say I was writing for personal enrichment and not publication it was helpful to hear that it's in a quite good state for submission already, if I wanted. (Not to her, still have an actual agent.)