November Writing

[HundredAcreOwl]

For anyone who would like to write during November, may have a word target to hit, or would like to write daily, or goes down research rabbit holes, or has other writing challenges... 😊

I haven't heard of that; thanks, will have a look 😊
Although I'm not updating on the official NaNo site, I did do quite a lot of the NaNo 101 prep exercises, and did find them good in developing various aspects - worldbuilding, character etc., also ideas for building a writing community if wanted and finding/making time to write.

Good luck with your bit and a chunk!

Phew - I've met my first objective and just finished the first of my stories. I've written 16,521 words since Nov 1st. Tomorrow I will start on my next story, which will be harder as it's longer and has far more moving parts, but shouldn't be too daunting if I just take in chunks of 1667 words.

How is everyone else's November going?

I've been thinking about buying that Save the Cat book, has it been really helpful for you? I'm not entirely sure whether trying to plan in a structured way is stifling my creativity or whether I'm just rubbish at this writing lark. The book is in my brain, but not much of it has made it onto paper so far, and most of that is random disjointed scenes in no particular order.

That's brilliant! May I ask if that's first draft, or are you including editing including final rewrite? Or perhaps you have another method that works for you!

I'm struggling this time because I'm trying to write pieces rather than number of words, and it's not working for me. Think I'll shift to time-based come Monday...an hour perhaps, quite often when I start I keep going - I'm just not getting started atm!

I've got about 100,000 words written, of which I have put 80,000 into a rough draft. I wrote chaotically in slivers of time so it's all a bit rambling. Lots of good scenes and some storylines but messy like a plate of spaghetti.
Save the Cat has been a useful checklist to approach the "big picture" edit. It's an incredibly detailed textbook and great value for money. There are analyses of different types of novels, in detail.
I am sure some writers would find it easier to start with a storyline and write scenes to fit. You might feel it's easier to write when you know where you are going with it.

Well done @GwenogJones ! Do you publish your stories yourself or is it for a commission?

@HundredAcreOwl i wish i could work to goals - i just do a bit when i catch some time...

I think any words that get onto paper are good - I was told you can't edit a blank page...
I think also we all write differently, some like to plan in detail, some write just from an idea, some are in between (I am.) It may be a matter of playing until you find what works best for you?
To have the book in your brain is brilliant!

@PuddingAunt - It's just fanfic! I only do hobby writing which means there's no pressure other than the pressure I put on myself - and I've been letting it slide and just doom scrolling mumsnet and reddit on an evening. There's some magic in Nanowrimo for me as the accountability makes me knuckle under and get on but it doesn't work any other month! I'm the same with Lent - I can give up all sweet things between Pancake day and Easter no problem but cannot for the life of me do it at any other time of year. I need a clear goal within an externally enforced time parameter for me to achieve anything!

@HundredAcreOwl It's first draft, but I do edit a lot as I go. I'm currently writing my daily 1667, recording it on the website, and then I read through it and add in bits/ clean up typos before continuing writing some extra words if I can be bothered, and logging those. I don't log anything that I insert during an edit as its too complicated (especially as I remove words as well, so I'd have to use a calculator to keep a running tally of where I was up to) .

Placemarking to read later.

Thank you. I haven't written anywhere near as much as that, but I do know how I want it to end, and the synopsis is in my head. It is just a question of sitting down and putting my rambling thoughts on paper!

The weirdest thing is that when I think of it all, I can see the scenes as if I were watching a film.

The book sounds like it will be useful for me, so I think I might get it.

FWIW I had a complete change of plan and, instead of embarking on a completely new manuscript for November, I decided to try to complete the first draft of my existing manuscript which was at 25,000 words. Despite life getting in the way this past week, this seems to be working really well, and my draft is growing by the day. I have high hopes of at least nearing the end of the story by the end of November, when seasonal festivities start to absorb all spare time.

Well done to all the novelist mumsnetters on this thread who were going great guns this month.

@GwenogJones that sounds fab! Fanfic is a great art form.
@WhisperTree that is inspiring, and a good reminder about December being the busy busy month.
@nomorehocuspocus if i am being honest, it has taken me until now to thoroughly read the Save the Cat book. i have done a lot of work analysing and rethinking what i have written. At this point I don't have anything to show (other than pages and pages of notes). Hoping to make some decisions and pull it all into shape in the remaining 14 days (yikes!)

How are you all doing with November word counts?

Things were going swimmingly until DH experienced a major medical event, so now I'm just trying to keep hold of the threads of the story and inch ahead every few days when my brain allows.

DC also off school with a bug.

☕️ 🍰 💐 and gentle encouragement to those who are still participating in Novel November. We can always winter our way through the word count!

Officially I'm about 42k, but realistically closer to half that into my story as I've rewritten and deviated a lot.
I've really struggled to get this far and only really now am feeling the story beginning to come together

No actual wordcount, just lots of different exercises on characters and plots. Well done for getting words down on paper.

I've managed about 500 words all month - I managed over 50,000 last year, though it was small pieces, not a novel ...but it's useful, because it's making me try to work out why, when I do love writing, I just can't sit and do it!