50,000 words!

Definite congrats are in order. I never thought I'd ever be able to write 50,000 words for my first Nano. I failed the first two trys. Last year, I was determined to organize my thoughts and be ready for 2008 Nano. One thing you also receive from writing with a predetermined word count is the ability to really see and feel words as an author. I am getting so much better at editing as I go. But, the best part? Short Stories are a breeze now.

How can you write 50,000 words long stories? I can't even write 5,000 words long. My longest story what has no end is in a moment 3,574 words long and i don't have any idea. But I start so many stories that some of them might reach 5,000. Hopefully.

I wish good luck to you, KarenChii, and hope that i will reach as many words as you.

3 short stories finished
over 10 stories unfinished

"Now I've been followed by rocks. Never had that before." - Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow in "Pirates of The Caribbean: At World's End"

It's in the spirit of NaNoWriMo to write an obscene amount of words in a short amount of time, and it's almost magical the way it works.

It's a while until November, so maybe you could try doing your own pseudo-NaNo novel. Just try to write a certain number of words a day (whether you know what you're going to write or not) and the words rack up very quickly.

If I can do it, then I know you can! I'm a Computer Science major, and I never write short stories. I think determination is more important than talent or ideas. You just have to not care if you write crap, then your writing will get better, you'll have a lot of words, and a lot more good stuff than if you didn't do it at all!

I really think NaNoWriMo has strange magical powers to give you a first draft. The magic is in the arbitrary deadline.

I also have trouble coming up with 50,000 words worth of ideas (twice now I've run out of ideas before 50,000 words). But if you put in a lot of dialog, thoughts, and keep asking yourself "what if", then you could do it too! A lot of people come into NaNoWriMo without any plot at all!! You just have to write for the sake of words. My first novel was mostly crap, but I got better so my second one isn't as bad!

Writing will make you a better writer, even if it's crap. So I say, go for it, and try to write 50,000 words!

Congratulations Karen. Keep up the good work.

I know what you mean about the deadlines giving something to strive for. It helped me. And as a Computer Science graduate I ever wrote short stories either. I'm determined to finish my first novel and I'm at 112K, and believe me most of it is crap but I'm just letting myself write and seeing what falls out of my brain and gets smeared on the page. Most of it will get chopped in editing but I can always use it later in other stories.

Once I've finished this first novel I'm going to go back and finish the other two that I started in the past and just sort of left behind.

kittycornelia, just keep putting a word at a time on thr paper and they soon add up.

Congratualtions again Karen and I look forward to seeing your 60K shout out post.

Matt.

I'm interested in how you're balancing a career in Computer Science and novel writing. Is your dream to be a novelist, and you're a Computer Scientist until you can support yourself on your novels? Or is a Computer Science job what you want to do, and novel writing just a hobby?

Personally, I've always been unsure of what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew I needed something stable. I only found out about NaNoWriMo (and my love for novel writing) in November. I think my dream now is to be a novelist, once I've saved up some money from a Computer Science job. Also, that will give me some time to get better at writing novels.

Karen, balancing a career isn't that dificult because at the end of the day its just a job really. I work in IT, that's pretty much it. Like everyone with something else on (school or a job) you just have to find time. The two positives of the job are you don't have any homework and you get paid. I try and do a bit of writing before I start work in the morning. Do some at lunchtime and then do some more at night. (I work away from home in the week, so my spare time is spent writing as i don't really know anyone outside of work) The one thing I don't do is write a first draft on the computer. After looking at computer screens all day the last thing I want to do is write at a computer which is why I handwrite on notepads. Plus I can write anywhere, except the shower because the pages get wet and the ink runs.

I'd like to write novels but to be honest i'm probably not good enough to get anything published. I've yet to finish any story that I have started. And I haven't been writing forever, just this past few years off and on - the first half of two novels and my Nano is all I've got. I've also never shown what I've written to anyone either. I keep going because I hope to get better. Writing is just something I enjoy, I'm not fussed if I ever make any money out of it. Even if I did sell one, I don't think that it would be enough to live on, so I'm going to need the job to tick over anyway, maybe the advances in the US are more than in the UK, I'm not sure. I'm doing Frenzy in April just to see if I'm any good at it. Scripts look fun to do, so I'll give that a bash.

Maybe one day I'll come up with a good idea and sell it for millions of dollars but that isn't very likely so its always good to have a backup plan. Personally, and this is just me, I wouldn't give up my job until I had sold something and was on my second a two-book deal or something more. Plus I get ideas from talking to people at work in the kitchen and I enjoy trying to make them laugh and then seeing if I can adapt the joke to what I'm writing. With IT, you have to keep your hand in and stay current because if you take a break you may find it difficult to get back in.

Well, that's probably not exactly exactly what you asked me. If it isn't relevant I apologise. But if you want to know anymore of my "wisdom" (haha) just let me know. And let us know how you get on.

Matt.

Never think you're not good enough. Let other people do that and who cares what they think? How many novels have THEY written?

INCOHERENT FEET 2007 (won)
MORONIC HANDS 2006 (won)
RUDE HAIR 2005 (won)

You're right, but I have to at least finish one story first, and I don't think I'll get it finished in the 2 days that remain before ScriptFrenzy starts, so I guess it will go on hold until I finish that.