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SIgnups are on Monday 10/5 when they roll out their fresh new website. (A complete copy/paste from last year's thread, courtesy of screenwritersblues) screenwritersblues posted:I came here looking for the thread, but it seems like no one has made it yet. Since it's officially the second day of October, I might as well create the official thread. Quick personal note: I've participated three years in a row now, and the MS from my second year was published last week on Amazon Kindle, it's my first published book and it took a lot of work to get it from that first draft of nano into the final product, but it all started at Nano. If I can do it, anybody anybody can. magnificent7 fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Oct 2, 2015 |
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Oct 2, 2015 21:46
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Is this the place where we  for completion? 'cause I'm going to make those 50,000 words on the same topic in November ().I need more daunting, intimidating uphill struggles in my life. Unsarcastically, the pride and sense of accomplishment from completing things that are way beyond your capabilities is exhilarating. And NaNoWriMo will likely be more creative words than I have ever written, even in aggregate. I'm already nervous. I should probably bust out the index cards now.
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Oct 4, 2015 19:17
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I do a lot of mapping and character backstory and anything I can think of to get me ready for Nov 1, so when I sit down to write, I'm able to focus on what I'm writing towards. Some folks like to just let it flow, but when I do that, 50% of the MS ends up being, "why am I even sitting here this is making no sense I should start over but then I'd lose my count." Best of luck!
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Oct 4, 2015 20:08
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This time of year again already? Goddammit. I've never won a NaNo, but usually they help me get a lot more words in than I would have done otherwise. There are a few book ideas I've had rolling around in my head that I just need to sit down and start, so maybe this is the push needed to do that. Best of luck, everyone! You are going to need it (and lots of coffee).
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Oct 4, 2015 21:31
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In again for 2015. I'll save my toxx for the LW November topic, though. Write more words, goons!
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Oct 4, 2015 21:33
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http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/2051298-October-Nano-Prep-2015-Calendar Great idea for doing your nano prep. Tried doing it last year with a complete lack of prep and utterly failed.
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Oct 4, 2015 23:16
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Oh lawsy, here we go again. I've won a few times. Last year, though, I flamed out way early. Now I must restore my honor. ... I give myself about a 45% chance.
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Oct 4, 2015 23:16
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Well. It's been a few years since I attempted this, but I just realized that my very first NaNo was ten years ago so maybe it's a good time to give it a shot  I was sixteen years old, learned of its existence on Livejournal about five days in, sat down and farted out something wretched and cranked out word #50,000 at about 23:58 on November 30. Pretty sure I cheated like hell, too. Ah, what the hell. Let's do this thing.
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Oct 5, 2015 02:59
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Lansoc posted:http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/2051298-October-Nano-Prep-2015-Calendar Using this. My prep skills are poo poo. Last couple years I've been pantsing it, and the last couple years I've been losing.
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Oct 5, 2015 06:15
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I'm in, committing to write a total poo poo story for the joy of it. Participant name bootysnatchers Novel name: Killer Clown Clown Killers. Blurb: As the circus train pulled away, the blood, guts, and squeaky oversized shoes on the tracks made one thing quite clear; another clown was dead. http://nanowrimo.org/participants/bootysnatchers/novels/killer-clown-clown-killers Slapped together an amazing cover. I'm pretty sure this book will write itself. 
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Oct 6, 2015 19:28
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Oh yeah. My Nano username is the same as my SA username, so let's be ~pals.~
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Oct 7, 2015 14:01
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I look forward to this every year even though my batting average is less than stellar. This time around I haven't even settled on an idea yet.
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Oct 10, 2015 09:50
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I write a nano and a half worth of content every month for my job, so I'm sure heaping on two nano projects simultaneously this year won't come back to bite me, right? My word count between work writing and fiction is up to 775,000 and I'm hoping to crack 1 million by the end of the year. http://nanowrimo.org/participants/Nighthand add me if you haven't already in past years, I have like 90 of you already.
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Oct 11, 2015 23:00
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I think I'm in. I'm not sure I could do a whole novel, but I was thinking about doing a collection of short stories centered around a theme. So something like 20 2500 word stories. I'm a new writer so I figure that would be a good challenge for me.
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Oct 12, 2015 02:46
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I tried two years ago and failed horribly, so, uh, time to take another stab at it! This time, I've actually noticed well in advance that NaNoWriMo is happening, with the result that I'm now working on an outline. Maybe that will help - last time I was trying to make it up as I went. I certainly feel more confident this time. Feel free to add me: http://nanowrimo.org/participants/tayacan
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Oct 12, 2015 04:05
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Be my NaNo friend: http://nanowrimo.org/participants/urbanspaceman23 I've got two ideas I'm kicking around. Next sunday my writing group (and home region) is having a brainstorming meeting, so maybe I'll narrow it down by then.
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Oct 12, 2015 06:27
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I tried it in 2012 and managed to get out 50,000 words of garbage. I'd like to see if I could do the same this year but with less garbage and more good writing! Be my friend! http://nanowrimo.org/participants/sia
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Oct 14, 2015 11:39
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For those of you wanting to read some stuff on storytelling, (vs writing words) this is a great blog I found the other day, I've been soaking it up and feeding the ideas into my story. GOT the link from the screenwriting thread, but the articles are about stories... characters, plot, stuff like that. http://channel101.wikia.com/wiki/Story_Structure_101:_Super_Basic_Shit
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Oct 14, 2015 19:04
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OH yeah, let's do this. http://nanowrimo.org/participants/cthulhucarl This one will be fun because I nuked a setting I'd been using for my first NaNos. Of course, I haven't done anything with those and they were all irredeemable crap, so nuking will probably be good for them.
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Oct 16, 2015 03:23
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In it to win it http://nanowrimo.org/participants/omnikin
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Oct 17, 2015 01:36
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'Bout that time, eh chaps? Righto. http://nanowrimo.org/participants/thearchimage I'd feel a lot better about winning the last four years if I had gotten any writing at all done outside of November. This time I am starting with nothing; no plot, no characters, no setpieces, no premise. I never had much of a plan in previous years either, but... well, we will see what comes of it.
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Oct 19, 2015 23:05
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I have never done NanoWrimo before always forgetting or being very busy in the month, but now I wanna join in on the fun. Thinking of just going with my "dumb fun don't care if anyone reads it, I wanna write it" idea which is gettin me all firrrreeed up. Now I've gotta prep in a week!
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Oct 23, 2015 18:30
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Has anybody already started plotting out their story? Characters? Or are you just going to pants it? I can't do that. Half my MS would be, "why am I doing this jesus I should go back to sleep." over and over. I wrote 2,000 words today, just world building, characters, key events, you DO at least have your start and your ending, right? At least that way, you have a vague idea of what you're working towards. It really helps when you get stuck. Four years ago when I signed up, I had no idea what I was doing, except that I was going to redefine the world of literature. And I totally did; at least as far as my own perspective. There is a huge gaping difference between telling a story and stringing 50,000 words together. A painfully huge, boring, confusing chasm.
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Oct 24, 2015 00:28
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magnificent7 posted:Has anybody already started plotting out their story? Characters? Or are you just going to pants it? I can't do that. Half my MS would be, "why am I doing this jesus I should go back to sleep." over and over. I already have mine pretty well planned out for what I'll be writing each day. And most of the characters are named except for a few essentially interchangeable suits (And a genetically modified squid).
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Oct 24, 2015 01:29
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I have kind of a vague idea of what I might do maybe, as well as the three main characters for the ~adventure~. Which is better than most years. I've done a lot of writing stuff since my last Nanowrimo, and have cranked out upwards of 3-4k words per day sometimes, so I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. Of course, I wasn't employed or doing school things at the time, but I'm just going to ignore that because reality is for quitters. Sidenote: I really wish we could change our usernames on the Nanowrimo website. I would pay real dollars for the privilege of taking away the stupid username I made as a teenager.
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Oct 24, 2015 01:54
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I've got a very loose outline at this point. Haven't decided all of the central actors yet. So basically I have a beginning and an ending, but I'm still in ???? mode about the middle.
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Oct 24, 2015 14:56
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I've got a good lead on the meaty bits but plan on spending a day or two in the next week fleshing out the plot. I've never written this many words before so it's kinda terrifying thinking about November
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Oct 24, 2015 17:49
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RedTonic posted:I've got a very loose outline at this point. Haven't decided all of the central actors yet. So basically I have a beginning and an ending, but I'm still in ???? mode about the middle. Omnikin posted:I've got a good lead on the meaty bits but plan on spending a day or two in the next week fleshing out the plot. I've never written this many words before so it's kinda terrifying thinking about November Think of the basic three act structure: Act 1: Here We Are Act 2: Wait Some poo poo's Happening Act 3: All Hell Breaks Loose and Needs To Stop. For your beginning, (first part of Act 1) you're introducing characters, locale, day-to-day events, and probably some foreshadowing of the stuff that's coming up in Act 2. Your ending is the back half of Act 3, where the bombs have exploded, the dust is settling, and that's the story folks. The rest - Act 1, pt 2, Act 2 and Act 3 pt. 1, is where you carve your story out of a block of wood. There's no rules or strict guidelines, but it's best to know what you're working towards. I prefer to go granular on that poo poo, so when November comes, I've got the story, the sequence of events, the secrets that my characters are keeping, the monster hiding in the shadows, etc. Once I'm sitting in front of my laptop, I can focus on the conversations and the action of the story and where it's headed next. Otherwise, I lose track of events, (wait isn't she supposed to be in a coma already?) and character arcs, (I'm pretty sure she's not taking poo poo from that guy by now, she's grown as a person), and most importantly, I've mapped out my pacing; I know (very roughly) how many words I'll need for each event, or else things will run too short. Running too long doesn't matter in your first draft, that's what revisions are for, but god help you if you're at the end and your word count is 40K. All of this is what works for me. I've tried writing by the seat of my pants and invariably I lost track of every thread. Other writers - more experienced ones for certain, love to sit down and see where the story takes them. I hope I can do that one day, but not today.
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Oct 24, 2015 18:54
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Im in again! Fourth year going, hoping to be the third year to win. (I only lost last year because I got too busy writing for my day job... Aka publishing super romance on Amazon...) Also, this year is crazy because I will finally be publishing the thriller I wrote the first year of nano during the middle of the month...
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Oct 24, 2015 19:40
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I've got a fairly thorough outline by now. A few parts are still sketchy - I know, for example, that my main character needs to gain a certain piece of information at a certain point in the story, but not how this is going to happen. Actually, let me just show you what I made today:  Each card represents a scene. An orange post-it means that it's an action-y scene. PoV characters are highlighted in different colors (orange is the main character, obviously). Also written on the cards are what characters are present, what the mood of the scene should be like, and some free text which is just whatever I felt was relevant. It's incomplete - there's less than 30 scenes so far, which probably isn't enough, but I expect that many of the almost-blank ones will be expanded into multiple scenes. This is mostly the crucial plot-bits. Right now it's sort of organized in a three-act structure - act 1 is the first column, act 2 gets the next three, and act 3 is the last two. Act 2 is split by major setbacks, act 3 is split just after the final battle - the last two scenes are just winding down and tying up loose ends.
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Oct 24, 2015 20:52
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Tayacan posted:I've got a fairly thorough outline by now. A few parts are still sketchy - I know, for example, that my main character needs to gain a certain piece of information at a certain point in the story, but not how this is going to happen.
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Oct 24, 2015 23:15
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magnificent7 posted:drat that's good. Thanks! Last time I tried NaNoWriMo (which was also the last time I tried to write any kind of long fiction), I was woefully under-prepared, so this time, I'm trying the other extreme. It has proven useful for spotting places where there's, idk, too much of the same thing, I guess. Like in act 2, I had a long bit that was just the main character going about her business, not interacting with the other two viewpoint characters at all. And I only noticed it after laying it out like this, with the colored highlights and stuff. So I decided to add a scene with the other two, showing what they're up to in the meantime, which I think will actually end up being a fairly important characterization scene. And if you look at the 4th column, there's no action at all there - I might change that tomorrow, or I might just decide that it's fine. But at least I'm aware of it now.
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Oct 25, 2015 00:05
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Throwin' my hat into this poo poo for the 4th time: http://nanowrimo.org/participants/fujiko_k If anyone is in the Northern Va area, drop in for our write-ins. We're a a real inclusive group and we have a lot of fun. I don't know why the forum doesn't include wins from before 2011, but I've won 4 years, not three. 
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Oct 25, 2015 03:05
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I haven't ever won but I'm taking it more seriously than ever before: http://nanowrimo.org/participants/seagullsandtrawlers I am even deactivating my social media accounts to retain focus, having publicly announced my intentions in the hope fear of humiliation will spur me on. Decided to spend this week planning, currently have zero ideas on what I'm even going to write 
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Oct 26, 2015 12:02
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Oh yeah, should've probably linked my profile. Here you go. Gone from no ideas to bouncing around a couple of 'em. Gonna set aside some time this week to bite the bullet and pick something. I don't tend to plan too far ahead, but I typically need something to get started.
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Oct 27, 2015 08:43
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Technically I'm cheating a bit because the novel I'm writing is going to have the first two chapters done before November due to needing them for an assignment for my advanced fiction class, but I'm throwing my hat in with that novel because holy poo poo I need to start making serious progress on it. http://nanowrimo.org/participants/cascadebeta
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Oct 27, 2015 13:14
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First time in the fray. http://nanowrimo.org/participants/dictatorialship It'll be fun to write with goons.
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Oct 27, 2015 14:22
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http://nanowrimo.org/participants/tequilajesus Looking forward to this. Though I must say I'm also looking forward to FYAD's annual thread mocking us, too.
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Oct 28, 2015 04:22
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TequilaJesus posted:http://nanowrimo.org/participants/tequilajesus That thread is solid gold every year and honestly some good mockery can help you get better at avoiding the dumb poo poo people do as bad writers.
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Oct 28, 2015 05:03
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RainbowCake posted:Sidenote: I really wish we could change our usernames on the Nanowrimo website. I would pay real dollars for the privilege of taking away the stupid username I made as a teenager.  Yeah I deleted my original account because I wanted to change my username. I didn't really have any information I wanted to keep saved from the original account anyway. Never finished a book, etc.Anyway I had a story all plotted out but I realized it's pretty flimsy so I've been trying for a few weeks now to figure out how to make it stronger or a new direction but I'm not having much luck. Maybe I should just write what I have and try to fill in the gaps later on or something. In any case this is the one year I've done some preparation and I feel better about it. Though I am shamed by Tayacan's post. Good luck everyone!
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Oct 28, 2015 13:21
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