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So what is NaNoWriMo? quote:National Novel Writing Month, is an annual, Internet-based creative writing project that takes place during the month of November. NaNoWriMo challenges participants to write 50,000 words from November 1 until the deadline at 11:59PM on November 30. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to get people writing and keep them motivated throughout the process. Where can I register for NaNoWriMo? https://www.nanowrimo.org This is where you declare your novel and its genre, update your word count, get cool badges, (yes you can min-max NaNoWriMo) friend people with the Writing Buddies feature, talk on forums, and plan physical meet ups with other people in your city so you can get together and prod each other into writing. So why should I do NaNoWriMo? This answer is sticky and varies for everyone. The stated purpose of NaNo is to gurgle out enough words and sentences that, lined up end to end, form a novel-length text. Then the follow-up months are dedicated to editing the vomit into something possibly coherent. But NaNo is really about creating the all-important writing habit, Butt In Chair. If you want to beat NaNoWriMo then you need to sit your rear end down every single day and poo poo out enough words to carry you across the finish line with their cumulative weight. The goal is to hammer home the fact that when you're writing your first draft it is only a first draft. If you want to publish something than you need to have a first draft to work off of. And you need to accept that it will be pretty lovely. NaNo is about letting go of that earthly attachment to your ego. If you want to beat that word count than you need to utilize self-discipline, write every day, and not worry about whether it's "good." What am I allowed to write during NaNoWriMo? Technically this is for novels but you can really write anything. Lots of poetry and non-fiction happen during NaNoWriMo. Okay, fine. But how do I write the thing? There are many tools available to write the thing. * Google Docs - ever venerable, available on any internet-ready device that pulls a charge. * Focus Writer - comes with sound effects in case you wanted that special cluster headache from using a typewriter. * WriteMonkey - combines text editing with a side panel for outlining. * LibreOffice Writer - another free alternative to MS Office, and let's face it, who the gently caress wants to pay for Office 365? * iA Writer - available for Apple computers and tablets/phones. Also, Dropbox enabled. * ZenWriter - I've heard good things. * A pen and paper Okay but is there anything special that will help me plan stuff? Friend, you are in luck! magnificent7 posted:SCRIVENER has a NANOWRIMO free trial that'll run until 12/7/2016, instead of the 30-day trail. But I don't want to pay for anything. Then use the free version of Scrivner, yWriter: http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html Recommended for PC users. If you're less into menu-based battle systems than the free program Free Mind is available: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page I haven't used it but I've heard good things about it's ability to map ideas quickly and easily. Okay, ummm, sounds good. What do I do if I want to edit my stuff without talking to people? Hemingway is a free browser application that uses bright colors to highlight grammar mistakes, adverbs, and passive verbs. It's pretty nice: http://www.hemingwayapp.com/ Then there's also EditMinion which does something similar but has more detail: http://editminion.com/ But don't try editing while doing NaNo. The entire point is that you're trying to churn out as many words as you can. Quantity over quality. Okay, I'm interested. Now what? Now we use October to plan, think, cry, bitch, sleep, and drink coffee while the counter ticks down to D-Day. This thread can be used for all things NaNoWriMo 2016. Ask questions, bother people for attention, get help, fret about your word count, brag about your word count, get yelled at for having a higher word count than other people. Now with added Pokemon flavor!: http://thousandroads.net/fanfic/nanowrimon/ You're out of excuses, now go write! 2016 NaNoWriMo Winners! Finisher1 Devorum Logicblade its no big deal Pikestaff CantDecideOnAName Nethilia Stuporstar ConanThe3rd Ser Pounce magnificent7 LionArcher CaligulaKangaroo a friendly penguin Rhymes With Clue LucyWanabe Congratulations! HIJK fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Dec 7, 2016 |
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Oct 11, 2016 06:56
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no goku option in poll voted 1
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Oct 11, 2016 07:10
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who is goku
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Oct 11, 2016 07:12
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Oct 11, 2016 07:22
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mods?????
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Oct 11, 2016 07:23
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flerp posted:mods????? 
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Oct 11, 2016 08:34
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I'm in as Amelia Longstoneworthbottom. http://nanowrimo.org/participants/amelia-longstoneworthbottom
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Oct 11, 2016 14:07
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http://nanowrimo.org/participants/kenesque i might write a totally different book because im on track to finish this one but w/e im on track to finish by eom lets do this poo poo.
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Oct 12, 2016 04:19
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http://nanowrimo.org/participants/tyrannosaurus-imua I still haven't looked over at what I wrote last year.
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Oct 12, 2016 04:34
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I did this last year. I managed to finish at 54,000 words, finishing only a day before the deadline. It was a super fun experience, and knowing that all the other people participating in this are producing just as much garbage as you helps put your own work into a healthy perspective. It's easy to look around and see all the other writers as these great, accomplished people who have a natural talent and seem to be able to produce creativity and prose without effort, but in NaNoWriMo, everybody sucks.
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Oct 14, 2016 09:29
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Yep I'm in. This will be my eighth year in a row and God willing also my eighth win in a row. I'm not ready to break my streak yet.  I think I'll be okay though, I have an idea which is more than I can say for some years.  http://nanowrimo.org/participants/pikestaff edit: quote:Lifetime Achievement: Total NaNo Word Count 
Pikestaff fucked around with this message at 10:28 on Oct 15, 2016 |
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Oct 15, 2016 10:22
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^^That thought of all the suckitude happening this month really does help. Cuz this gonna be ugly. http://nanowrimo.org/participants Really hoping I can make it happen this year. November is hard and that's why it's perfect. a friendly penguin fucked around with this message at 17:18 on Dec 1, 2016 |
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Oct 15, 2016 18:24
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16 more days!
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Oct 15, 2016 18:39
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Time for the hell to start http://nanowrimo.org/participants/nethilia don't look at my lifetime word count it's embarrassing
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Oct 17, 2016 07:14
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Nethilia posted:Time for the hell to start drat and I thought I was over here doing good with mine   mad props, honestly
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Oct 17, 2016 10:16
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http://nanowrimo.org/participants/torny-zang I've written some novel length stuff before but I've never done Nano. Never had any faith in my ability to. Still don't but I might as well jump off the deep end with no ideas tally-ho
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Oct 18, 2016 03:19
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I created an account for this last year, hopefully something will actually come of it this time. http://nanowrimo.org/participants/baronash Ya'll ain't got poo poo on me: quote:Lifetime Achievement: Total NaNo Word Count
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Oct 18, 2016 10:06
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http://nanowrimo.org/participants/militarygrade I'm in. Let's do this.
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Oct 18, 2016 12:22
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I was debating taking part this year, but now I think I'm gonna go for it. http://nanowrimo.org/participants/jmart1
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Oct 18, 2016 23:58
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I won for the first time last year. Now I'm back to do it again! http://nanowrimo.org/participants/urbanspaceman23
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Oct 19, 2016 08:59
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I've been doing warmups this time around, trying to get up to 2,500 words per writing session. I'll be writing on the bus ride to and from work, that's an hour each way, so I feel like I'm set. Another thing I'm noticing is that I've been out of shape as far as consistent writing goes. I still spend too much time looking for the right words for the most common poo poo: - The back row seats in a van? benches? row seats? Van seats? - The smell of old car exhaust: oily? burnt rubber? metallic? And these two are just from this morning, where, prior to settling on the word, (bench seats, burnt oil) I spent two or three minutes just in a complete blank. "Wait, I know it's not seats because those are individual, it's not a bench because that's a park bench, rows? No that's not a seat at all, pews? No that's at a church." I poo poo you not. Good times. For the past two years, (maybe three?) I've abandoned my stories 1/3 of the way through with over 18,000 words to each dead in the water project. I'm good at that, talking myself out of a story because it's become exactly like that book/movie everybody knows. Apparently this is a common thing called SELF DOUBT, but I prefer the term CREATIVELY BANKRUPT. It just has a more depressing vibe to it. Edit - it also totally helps motivate me, that Thunderdome Avatar. So here - provide your tips on how to keep writing a story when you hit that moment that your idea is poo poo, your writing is poo poo, and nobody, not even you, will read this crap when you're finished.
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Oct 19, 2016 13:51
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When I hit that wall I stop writing whatever it is and jump into something else, anything that catches my interest. It's difficult to write from a place of frustration and exhaustion. It may also mean that you've been hacking at one thing too long and that you need to take a break and do something to fill up the creative tank.
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Oct 19, 2016 14:22
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magnificent7 posted:So here - provide your tips on how to keep writing a story when you hit that moment that your idea is poo poo, your writing is poo poo, and nobody, not even you, will read this crap when you're finished. I just force myself to keep writing. If I think the overall idea is OK but the current scene sucks, I let it suck and tell myself I'll fix it later. If I realize that the entire idea sucks then I just keep on sucking because may as well. Last year my ~serious fantasy~ wasn't working the way I wanted it to so I turned it into an absurd parody about half way through and ran with it. It ended up being better than I thought it would be on re-read so it worked out. Pikestaff fucked around with this message at 15:27 on Oct 19, 2016 |
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Oct 19, 2016 15:25
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Yeah, I'm similar to Pikestaff. I tend to just push through and finish poo poo, even if I know it's terrible. Going back and reading through stuff tends to clarify for me what a work is really about, rather than the dumb concept or idea I wanted to impose on it. I think it's a lot about trusting your subconscious to be way cleverer than your conscious mind ever will be. Plus I somehow find it easier to finish something, look at it, and say "well that's irredeemable, on to the next thing" than to stop with it unfinished.
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Oct 19, 2016 16:21
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I'm still on the fence about attempting NaNo this year, but I've developed a few tricks that have at least kept me in the 15-25k range per month. 1. Calling my initial shitstream "draft zero" has helped me get over trying to edit my first draft. Draft zero is a horrible hybrid outline/first draft with huge chunks of exposition, which get pulled out as notes as I figure my story out. In my mind, a first draft has to have all the scenes fully written out, using approximately the right words, whereas draft zero can skim over poo poo I haven't figured out yet with a couple sentences to keep myself from stalling. It also keeps me from worrying about the words itself because I know I'm going to rewrite it all from scratch anyway come time for the "proper" draft. 2. Jumping to whatever scene is hottest in my head keeps things moving. I have enough stories I need to get out that something's always brewing on the backburner, so when I stall out on one, I jump to one I have figured out. This does mean all the books in the series I'm working on are all in various states of not done, but they're getting done, and in the process I've been able to outline the whole giant arc and iron out all the inconsistencies. 3. When I get stuck, I go away and do something mindless, like the dishes. Giving my subconscious time to mull on poo poo usually unsticks me. If I end my last session on a question (gently caress, what is my character going to do about X?), a half hour break is usually enough for the answer to well up. When I'm completely stalled, I try to force out as much as I can before bed, and wake up with most of the answers in the morning. I often have a fantastic writing day make up for the lovely one if I try to force the writing for at least half an hour before giving up and going to bed. If all that fails, I go to step two—find something on the backburner that's unstuck to work on instead.
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Oct 19, 2016 19:00
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I've never done Nano, so my deadlines for finishing are "whenever" and that means I tend to just dump something and come back to it when I feel less burned out on it. I'm actually doing Nano to try and break this habit, which means I'm fretting over trying to pick a good idea that I won't get super bored or frustrated with. How do you guys pick a goddamn idea? I have so many.
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Oct 20, 2016 02:22
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CantDecideOnAName posted:How do you guys pick a goddamn idea? I have so many. Personally I'd go with "which one has the longest legs to last out the month before I run out of ideas for this particular concept." I do NaNo every year so I spend the interim year letting various ideas percolate in my head and then usually by autumn one of them has sorted itself enough that I know it's going to be my project when November rolls around. Pikestaff fucked around with this message at 10:24 on Oct 20, 2016 |
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Oct 20, 2016 10:21
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In a similar vein, I wish I could come up with something I want to write that isn't historical fiction, high fantasy, or similar. I can't imagine trying to write that in a month without getting bogged down in minutiae and world building.
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Oct 20, 2016 10:26
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Baronash posted:In a similar vein, I wish I could come up with something I want to write that isn't historical fiction, high fantasy, or similar. I can't imagine trying to write that in a month without getting bogged down in minutiae and world building. Yeah, I do write those for NaNo sometimes but I usually do some basic planning beforehand. I can't imagine jumping into a sprawling new world on November 1st with no planning (that said, I did do that once and it ended up being salvageable after a lot of editing, so I guess it is possible)
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Oct 20, 2016 12:46
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Baronash posted:In a similar vein, I wish I could come up with something I want to write that isn't historical fiction, high fantasy, or similar. I can't imagine trying to write that in a month without getting bogged down in minutiae and world building. Ugh, I might have put myself in your shoes with the idea I picked (semi-historical fantasy) but I figure as long as I get the rough idea of the time period I'll be happy. Besides, since I only have to write about 1700 words a day to be on goal, that leaves me a little bit of time to do some research.
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Oct 21, 2016 01:09
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If anybody is writing fantasy (whoa there buddy, goons doing fantasy for NaNo? That's a pretty big 'if'), Inkarnate is a pretty good mapmaking tool.
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Oct 23, 2016 02:21
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In for the... sixth? Yes, sixth year in a row. I no longer have a job where I can write on the clock, so this is going to be rougher than previous years... but let's see how it goes. http://nanowrimo.org/participants/thearchimage
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Oct 23, 2016 07:25
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One week left to go!  How are you guys going on planning? Or are you going to wing it? I usually do somewhere in the middle and go off of a rough (but far from comprehensive) outline.
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Oct 25, 2016 15:04
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I used to be in the habit of participating in Nano every year, but more recently it's been every other year. 2016 is an on year. It should be pretty fun, and nothing feels quite like curling out a month-long turd. I like to plan obsessively, ideally down to what part of the plot I should be writing on any given day. I like a schedule to keep to. I also bring this thing back each year because some people seem to get a kick out of it: http://www.nanonumbers.com http://nanowrimo.org/participants/skids234
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Oct 25, 2016 20:43
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I'm "plantsing" or whatever that is. I want to have a rough outline with room to explore. Now I just wish I had people to babble at, I'm super bad at ironing out ideas.
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Oct 26, 2016 00:30
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mfcrocker fucked around with this message at 17:27 on Nov 1, 2016 |
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Oct 27, 2016 14:52
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http://nanowrimo.org/participants/ratzkaiser I finally finished something for the first time in my life last year but it wasn't anywhere near wrapped up so now I have to read it again to remember what it was about and try to write the second book in the series.
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Oct 27, 2016 20:21
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Also throwing my hat in: http://nanowrimo.org/participants/hijk I had to make a brand new account just so you goons didn't discover my slash fanfiction profile. IT ALL STARTS TUESDAY
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Oct 27, 2016 22:33
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Last year was my first time completing Nanowrimo, and I want to make sure it happens again. Disappointed that I didn't keep writing. I spent awhile on a plot summary before Nanowrimo, and it ended up being 3 pages long. But the summary only lasted 20,000 words, so I had to expand the story extensively. The plot summary really helped me stay focused, and not give up early on. I started with a single line, expanded that to a paragraph, expanded each sentence in the paragraph into its own paragraph, etc. And I still don't know what to write about. Already got a bunch of goon friends.. http://nanowrimo.org/participants/jonharb
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Oct 27, 2016 22:55
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HIJK posted:I had to make a brand new account just so you goons didn't discover my slash fanfiction profile. Man, I've got no shame at this point. I commend anyone who actually wants to seek out my horrid fanfiction. I feel like I should be doing more planning for this but... video games 
Pikestaff fucked around with this message at 00:11 on Oct 28, 2016 |
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Oct 28, 2016 00:08
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