NaNoWriMo - what's it all about?

[Twine88]

I know roughly the idea behind it, but I wondered if anyone had actually taken part and had any thoughts to share?

My novel is already in excess of the 50k but, is still all over the place and needs much editing.

Any thoughts appreciated, even if you considered it and decided no.

[Witchend]

Costuming going slowly at present.
I've made one fairy costume, one prince costume and altering/ordering various more. We do have a fair amount of stock (although someone seems to have "borrowed" some of the nicer dresses and I suspect we won't see them again.

My family isn't fully supportive at present. I was voted out with cries of dismay when I suggested the costumes hung round the lounge would do instead of Christmas decorations, nor were they keen on the idea of leaving the cut out sparkly fabric on the floor as an alternative, dd2 says "yuck" every time hers is mentioned, ds has asked three times if he has to wear tights this year (although he is rereading "Swish of the Curtain" for the third time) and Dh refused to model the dame's dresses which I'm sure must be written into his contract as spot light operator as part of his duties.

I enjoy writing far more than I enjoy editing so it tends to put me off starting that.

[JosBoys]

Your house sounds fab Witch costumes are much better than decorations

I haven't started editing. I think I need to finish the first draft first and it looks increasingly unlikely that I'll have finished it by Christmas. But all the strands are slowly starting to come together.

[BiglyBadgers]

I'm on the last chapter! My last to chapters were supposed to be just one, but they did include the big battle and death of level one baddie, so it proved a bit too much going on for one chapter. This last one is definitely just one though. Really.... definitely....

[JosBoys]

Bigly that's so exciting! Well done! and to celebrate.

[Witchend]

Well done Bigly. Be done for Christmas!

[BiglyBadgers]

Hey there everyone. I think I have finally finished my first draft.

It stands at 95253 words.

Now I just have a whole world of editing and revising to do. Blooming hell.

[MrsFionaCharming]

That’s amazing Bigly! Well done!

[Witchend]

Amazing! I thought I did well to hit 50k, and you've done nearly double.
Do you expect it to go down much on editing?

[BiglyBadgers]

I've made a start editing and it's gone down about a thousand or so where I have cut a few bits out and rewritten some. I think there are other places it will go up again though as I have to explain the world a to make sure things make sense. It's not actually huge for epic fantasy, which has a habit of producing massive books, which then end up turning into a humongous series of massive books. I'd like to keep it below 100k, which is reasonable for the genre.

How's panto going?

[Witchend]

I haven't really read much adult fantasy, so I can't really comment on length, my dsis was into that far more than me. Are you seeing it as part of a series? I think creating a realistic world must be so hard to keep consistent, do you keep notes etc?

I've done a bit of editing. I decided to bring it in line with the other one I've written, so I've altered it that way. I also knew that I'd been inconsistent with prosthesis so I've tried to adjust that to work better.
I might give it to the children to read over the holidays. Problem is they tend to like what I've written whether it's rubbish or not, so I don't really get any further on editing with them.

Panto is slow at present. I have two jobs basically chaperoning (looking after kids) and costumes.

I do the former because it's needed (we need about 6 per show and, although we have some amazing parents, a high proportion think it's something they drop the kids off and come and coo at a performance or two.) and the costuming because I like it, but this is the first year I'm on my own and we have a new director who has very definite ideas.

I like the definite ideas, but it is slowing me down as I see something and really need to get an okay before I get it because if his idea is totally different it won't do. Sometimes I've had something I think he'll love and he hasn't liked it at all, and other times there's something I'm not sure about that he's been delighted with. He's not brilliant at getting back to me, which is fine in some ways; he works shifts and I don't think can have his personal phone at work, so I don't expect an answer straight away. However I hate chasing because I feel I'm nagging him, when he's got plenty of other things he's trying to juggle. I've got about 3 outstanding questions that I could do with the answer to, and another couple I'd like to ask, but seems pointless when I'm still waiting for the earlier ones.

I'm sure he won't mind in my head, but then I go to ask him again, and I think he's thinking I'm being a fuss pot, and don't send it.

[BiglyBadgers]

Wow, that sounds like a lot of work Witch! We go to the local panto on New year's Eve. It's our wedding anniversary and has become a family tradition. Love it!

I'm actually enjoying the editing much more than I expected, though I am having to rewrite lots. It's fun going back and putting more definition around the characters and world now I know them better. My perspectives and points of view are all over the place. I just ended up rewriting half a chapter that had suddenly slipped into a minor character's viewpoint for no good reason at all.

This book is definitely the start of a series if I carried on. I have trilogy in my head, but as I'm just winging it who knows. I do keep some basic character notes as I go (I have a lot of characters and am bad at remembering full names) and I have a really badly drawn map that I am on version 4 of.

I've sort of maintained long running fantasy stories in my head since I was a child. They would go on for years and years. It was a sort of escape from a chaotic childhood I guess. Even though I've never written anything down of this scale (it always felt too personal in a way) I think I've had lots of practice at keeping world's and storylines in my head.

[Witchend]

I like maps in a book. That's where my user name comes from: "Mystery at Witchend" which has a map I think all the series books. I guess that probably helps with keeping it consistent. Are the different versions as you add things?

Is the story you're writing one you've lived in your head or a new one? It's strange because dh hasn't an ounce of imagination and doesn't understand living a imaginary world. One of my dc definitely does live in an imaginary world, sometimes too much, and I suspect the other two don't. The one who does is the best fiction writer, although not as good technically as the other two.

I tend to live a story in my head a while before I write it down, although it changes as I write a bit. The NaNoWriMo was different in that I started writing without really thinking about it, as I only decided at the last minute to join, and I hadn't really got one in my head when I started.

[BiglyBadgers]

I love a map too I keep having to redraw them as I add in new places or realised that some of it isn't really possible.

It's not exactly the small world and story I have had in my head before, but if heavily influenced by it. A few of the characters have been in my head before and some of the ideas have been mulling about for a while. It feels far too personal to use my imaginary world, so I wanted to do a new one. It's interesting what you say about your kids. I think I am much better at getting the imagery than the technical writing, which is what worries me about this story really.

I also find it changes when I write it down! I find it interesting how sometimes in my head a character happily does one thing and then when I start to type it they just refuse and do something completely different. I find I have to get the balance right and not go too far ahead in my imagination as I end up finding myself in knots when it come to writing. I'm getting better at that though.

How are you finding writing without working it out in advance? Do you prefer it or find it harder?

[BiglyBadgers]

Small world = same world...it's actually rather large

[Witchend]

Yes, I've had it where a character changes when I write them down.

It's very different writing under the pressure of doing 50k words in a month. I did it reasonably easily in the end, but I wasn't sure I would.

Problem I had was normally an idea comes to me and I think about it for several weeks, adding bits to it. I then get to a point of writing a plan, and thinking how it will hang together, maybe writing a few scenes down long hand.

What I did this time was really start writing without knowing where it was leading. The first few chapters are a bit waffly-I've cut quite a bit from there, as I was feeling my way to find what was happening.
But I did find each night, as I didn't have time to plan it out in my head if I was going to make 50k words in a month, I was sitting down not knowing what was happening or where I was aiming for which did make it interesting from a writing side.


Altogether I think I prefer planning it, although I'm not sure dh says the same as he says I go waffly and retreat into a dream world when I'm planning and writing usually. He hasn't forgotten the time he came home to find I'd forgotten to pick the shopping up and we only had eggs in the fridge. (the rest of us like scrambled egg, so we were fine) I don't think I'm that bad, I just spend a certain amount of time thinking about it while I'm doing something else.

[BiglyBadgers]

Merry Christmas writers!

Hope everyone is having a lovely day. I am sneaking in some rewriting between stuffing my face. I just can't leave it alone.

I have really problems with planning in the past witch. It stopped me writing for years because I kept reading about how you had to plan and work out characters and all the complicated techniques for crafting a story. I just couldn't do it! I didn't know my characters until I had written the story and if I worked it all out in my head in advance I always sort of got bored of it before I got to write it.

It was only when I stumbled across a book called 'writing into the dark', which is basically abut pantsing that I got my confidence to just sit down and write. I started doing short bits and bobs, just for fun but this is my first time doing anything longer than a few thousand words. I've found I have had to do a bit of planning and stuff as I go, but not too much. I'm probably more pantser than planner still.

[Witchend]

Merry Christmas all!

I think my issue with not planning is probably all those English teachers over the years who insisted you wrote a plan (in pencil) before starting to write.
Tbf I often used to write the essay then do the plan afterwards after one English teacher marked me down in the exam for changing the ending from my plan.
So maybe actually I don't work best from a plan, thinking about it.

[BiglyBadgers]

I used to do that too Witch

I treated myself to a years subscription to prowritingaid yesterday. I felt I really needed some help with my editing and couldn't afford to get a professional to do it. I'm also not ready to share it yet, so not up for sending it to a friend. So far I've found it pretty helpful. I've not followed all it's recommendations as I think some of them suck the nuance out of the writing, but it's been good for getting me to look at my writing in a new way. Also helped pick up some grammer and basic style stuff like overuse of a particular word.

Has anyone else tried any other online editor tools?

[Witchend]

I haven't tried any editing tools. I have put it through some of the free readability websites. It comes out as roughly year 6-7, which is about where I'm aiming it at. I'm not sure whether to be pleased that is right without too much effort at trying to adapt or insulted that my natural writing style is not above the end of primary.

I'd love to try Cornerstones or something to see if what I write is at all publishable, but they're eye wateringly expensive. Pretty much a month's salary for me!
I don't think I've any friends that would be honest-and also if it is really bad then I would never be able to look them in the eye again.

Made two costumes today, started on a third and one arrived via post. So a good day.

[BiglyBadgers]

I used to write and edit web content for a living and I assure you that you should be very proud of your readability score. It is far harder than people realise to write clear, readable prose.

I am pretty much exactly in the same position with mine when it comes to getting feedback. I have never really shared my writing before, only a small story or two with DH and a close friend. With over 90k words sending it off to someone who knows anything about it would cost a fortune. I have a feeling it will end up just sitting on my computer unread until i die, when my epic fantasy series will be uncovered by future generations.

[IHateYourCarpet]

Thought I'd revive this thread, seeing as it's nearly February!

Has anyone started reading or editing yet?