Hampshire

Hi,

I'm in the sunny south of the county.

Is your username a clue to the type of book you're going to write?

Well I have a great interest in gothic architecture so I'm sure it'll most probably filter into whatever I try and write yes! How about you, got any idea what you'd like to aim for yet?

Yes. I'm currently editing my first novel, I intend to write the first draft of the next one. The plan is to use the same characters, and locations (Portsmouth mainly) I'm having a different mc this time round, so the book will be quite different to the other one.

I've been writing for quite a while, but this is my firs NaNo - how about you?

I'm nowhere near as accomplished as you sound - I'm more of an enthusiastic amateur and write purely as a hobby. This will be my first serious attempt at the NaNo - I was registered here a couple of years back but got side tracked by a family crisis and never completed it so I'm very much hoping things will be different this time around. I'm not overly familiar with Portsmouth but given it's history, it sounds a superb setting for your book - I imagine there are lots of opportunities to elaborate characters using the city as a backdrop?

Do I sound accomplished? Cool!

My writing is mostly for fun too, I've written loads of short stories (even got some published in magazines) and had a bash at one novel. I found that once I got going, I had more ideas than I could use. I think NaNo will be great for me, because by the start of November I'll be itching to start writing new stuff (editing isn't as exciting as writing) and as it will kind of carry on from the last one, I should be able to get straight into it.

Oh dear, I haven't left myself any excuses for not completing the challenge! Hopefully neither of us will have a crisis this time and we'll stick with it.

Yes, Portsmouth is a great backdrop. There's loads of scope for setting all kinds of stories there.

Have you got ny ideas for yours yet, or are you going to 'wing it'?

Well more accomplished than me that's for sure! Never had a thing published in my life but ummmm I've never submitted anything either lol. It looks now as though neither of us have left ourselves any leyway for not at least trying to struggle to the end huh?

I shall probably just wing it truth told although a short break in Northumberland last week has given me a few ideas that I might mull over for a while. I picked up a biography of a female Victorian artist in Barter Books that has potential as being the basis for writing a hopefully interesting piece of fiction.....and then of course there's all the beautiful ruined castles along the coastline that are just begging to be woven into some kind of tale.....methinks that there just might be an historical gothic fantasy waiting there to be unleashed here!

Artist & ruined castles? - sounds as though your book will live up to your name!

If the biography and the coastline and the castles have caught your imagination, then I think they're a great basis for a novel. I reckon that if your subject interests you then there's a better chance you'll write something that other people will want to read.

The Garrison Church in Portsmouth, (the one without a roof), is brilliant inspiration.

I suspect quite a lot of people on NaNo are far more accomplished than me, but I found last year that half the fun is seeing how other people write.

I've got a few ideas on what I might write, all of which sound a bit George Orwell-ish...

[b]"Some win will,
Some will lose,
Some are born to sing the blues"[/b]

You're right about that church Estayen! (It features in my first novel and is likely to get included in the next one)

GothicBohemian, if you're ever in Portsmouth, it's worth a look - I think you'd be interested in the font cover.

It sound intriguing, I shall make a point of seeking it out next time I'm down that way!

Hey, a fellow resident of Portsmouth? Good to see Pompey being used as a setting for a story. It's such a fascinating city. I think the only time I've ever seen it mentioned in a book was in C.S Forrester's Hornblower.

Anyway, good luck with the story this year.

Hi Ash-pox, yes Portsmouth is a great location for stories. I have read others set there - June Hampson's series is based in Pompey, but it doesn't seem to be used as much as it deserves.

I haven't heard of June Hampson. What genre does she write?

'Gangster Saga'

Hi, I am in Basingstoke and trying this for the first time.

Hiya Marks,

Not too far from me then. I registered last year but then life got in the way so I've decided to give it another bash this year. I think the thing to remember is it's supposed to be fun.......though I've heard week two can be a bit heavy going sometimes!

Hey there everyone!
I'm Florentyna and I'll be completing (or at least attemptong to complete) my second NaNo this year. :)
Somehow - not sure how - I managed last year and I'm going to use the same characters with a few more and minus a few (they died in the first book).

Yey! It's so good to know of more crazy people in Hampshire attempting NaNo. Hehe.
I'm about half an hour down the A3 from Portsmouth - in a little village near a town called Petersfield. Anyone heard of it?

Are all you Hampshire-ians looking forward to Thursday?

Hiya Florentyna,

I was in Petersfield on Saturday so yep, I've heard of it!

Congratulations on completing everything last year.....what's your book about ooohhh and any tips on how to keep going or refraining from self editing as you go along would be greatly appreciated!

Not sure whether I'm looking forward to Thursday or not to be honest.....part of me is excited, and part of me is dreading it! :-)

Yep, I've heard of Petersfield!

I'm using characters I've used before plus some and less some who died! This is my first NaNo though.

The NaNo deadline has already helped - I wanted to finish the stuff I'm currently working on before I started - and I've done that. That makes me think I might achieve my NaNo target - which is to get down a rough draft of my next book. I'll aim for the word count, but I'm less worried about that. As long as I get down something I can work on, I'll be happy.

Hi! Yey - people in the know of Petersfield!

Tips for getting through without self editing? - Don't look back. It's easier to boost the word count if you let your mind basically flow onto the page and don't even think about what it sounds like. You'll probably find that, if you do that, you'll be quite amazed at what you come up with.
Obviously, you'll re-read a couple of things - not everything 'cos you won't have time - so a few changes to the odd sentence won't hurt but, if you're busy with life in general and then try writing 50,000 words, you honestly won't have time to re-read and edit!

Oooo, not long to go now! I've been so edgy to get on with writing it feels like Christmas is about to arrive and I can finally write again!!

Has anyone got any particular music that they can write to? Anything upbeat for recommendation?

FloFlo,

I'm going to try to remember it will needs LOADS of editing later, so it's not that I'm not doing it as I write, just that I'm delaying that bit.

I prefer to write without background music, but I know some people like to listen to stuff to get them in the mood - if they're writing something set in the past, they listen to music from that time for example.

*waves*

Another tip I've heard, is to change the font colour to white (or whatever the colour of your page), or to turn the font size up - from the drop down menu, fonts usually only go up 72 I think, but you can type your own in the box, and make it size 200 or something.

If you can't see it because it's white, or you can only see the last sentence because the fon'ts so big, you'll be less inclined to read back and edit.

Hope this helps!

BFS goals - http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/1075131

Hello from Hampshire's southern tip *also waves*
Good luck and 'happy halloween'. This sure is an exciting time of year for many reasons! Just reading about the characters; is anyone using characters (albeit highly edited and morphed) who are versions of people they know? Nic.

Hiya Sammy and Nicky Leigh!

Great idea about the colour font change methinks - I've found in the past that if I write with a white font on a black background, my mind is tricked into thinking it looks more professional and I therefore take it more seriously.....not exactly sure why but it's almost as though I can think more clearly with it like that! As for music, I find that if I write listening to something with lyrics, I tend to start focusing on what's being sung rather than what I'm trying to write so on the whole I tend to avoid it. As for writing about people I know, yes I've done it on a couple of occasions.....and in one instance pick and mixed characteristics from two or three associates and melded them together into one character! Another thing I've found useful is to start 'storing' images which capture my imagination on my computer somewhere. I've been trying to psyche myself up all week by looking at some of them and have even uploaded a few to a LiveJournal account I've set up to record stuff related to nanowrimo - I imagine there's going to be rather a lot of frustration spilling out there in the coming month!

Is anyone registered with LiveJournal btw? There seem to be rather a large group of nanowriters on there with lots of support groups springing up all over the place......

I'm in Fleet and on my second NaNoWriMo - hoping to actually do better this time and complete the 50K. I would be interested in any meetings around the county.

Hiya - another Basingstoker, here. This will be my first nanowrimo. Someone told me about it back in September, and I realised this morning that it starts tomorrow, so I've just signed up before I changed my mind. Bloody crazy stuff! YIKES - just seen the time, got to get my daughter from school - laters!

Everyone has a book in them - so where do I buy my book laxative?

Hiya again.

Another bizarre tip to avoid self-editing that could work for all short-sighted people is to write in the dark with your glasses off. It's great - I literally can't see what I've written. Only works 'cos I can touch type reasonable well and am short sighted enough not to be able to see what's on the monitor right in front of me ... but thought this idea may be of use to some.

Nic.

Hi!

Yet another Basingstoke writer here. Found NaNoWriMo through comments on WWdN and thought I'd have a go. I'm surprising myself that I've written this much already :-)

Good luck everyone, keep going!

David

Hi everyone!

I'm from the Basingstoke area too! looking at the number of words that you've written I think I'd better get cracking ...
At the moment I'm writing scene by scene, sometimes not in order, with the frantic hope that somehow they're all going to come together.

Keep writing everyone - it's going to be fun reading excerpts (if you post any!). I'm going to post my first extract at the weekend, hopefully I'll have reached 10,000 + words.

Nicki

xxx

I'm doing pretty rubbish - I've just got down the barest of outlines for the first few chapters - better than nothing at all I suppose.