Just wondering how everyone's early NaNo is going? Are you off with a bang, did you hit the ground running? Or has your novel already hit the ground with a depressing thud?
I had planned to start writing at midnight, Nov 1st, but got too busy partying. . . ha ha. Had to sleep that off most of the next day. Then about 9:30 pm on the 2nd, started writing with still only an inkling of what my novel would be about, other than that it would be a western. Now, I'm over 4,000 words into my story and havin' a blast. Even made the supposedly fatal error of rereading and editing what I wrote. Was not disappointed, and in fact, ended up adding words while I edited.
Well, that's my little NaNo kick-off story, now what's yours?
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35,142 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 11 48
I too started off with no idea what I was going to write about...I wasn't even too sure of what genre I was going to do! So far, so good! I'm really enjoying this!
21,152 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 15 44
I scrapped my whole outline at the last minute and began writing yesterday with a title and two notecards of possible chapter titles. No kidding. So far MY NOVEL IS AWESOME!! I have a prologue (never written a prologue before in my life), I have multi-dimensional characters, I have cliffhanger chapter endings, and I pulled it all out of thin air yesterday.
There's no way I'm going to be able to maintain this kind of momentum...but I'll take it while I've got it. :D
102,837 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 16 09
I'm glad you all are doing so well! It's inspiring.
I think I started my novel with a BANG...THUD! THUD! THUD! Like shooting bullets into wood blocks.
----------Thirteen Deaths At Knife Point: A mix of lovestruck, poetic prose and paranoia-induced, bloody visions.
Cluttered Noises: Experimental Modernism.
3,889 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 17 51
Well, I started writing my story at 12pm, right as it started. Spent about an hour writing 1,000 words, realized it was total crud...so I started again, completely new story. I got about 1000 words again, and I like this one, so we'll have to see how this one goes. Haven't had much time to write since then, but I got myself up to 2,300 words today, and I'll probably write a bunch tomorrow. So, mine was kind of THUD...Small bang? I guess. : )
----------11,235 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 20 09
A BANG. I've not done NaNo before now. I've wanted to do it for a few years now, and this seemed like the perfect year. I had no idea the morning of the 1st what I'd write. Lots of post-it notes stuck to walls, great brainstorming phone session with a friend, and bingo, there it was.
I've been cruising along pretty well. My feathers ruffled a bit today at a normally quiet non-chain coffee house. I was on a great roll. Had cranked out 15 pages and feeling like I'd just hit my stride....when a gentleman sat down next to me and conducted business on his cell phone, loudly. Now, I know, everyone is allowed. Coffee houses encourage business meetings. But, I was there because it was the quiet one.
Enough of my whining. On to writing.
50,721 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 20 43
My kick off story?
Let's see. The youngest had a nightmare and demanded I sleep with him. My eldest wanted me to stay up all night watching Ghost Hunters and then Paranormal Activity, although the movie has already scared her to tears twice. THEN one of her friends started getting really, really nasty, to the point I was tempted to take corporal action against the child. Serious corporal action.
FINALLY started to write, only the characters refuse to talk to me, so I'm way behind where I want to be.
38,818 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 21 36
No thuds, really, other than neighbors who are somehow making noises sound like they're coming from my attic. (2 weeks past Paranorman Activity. And it's still working!) No bang, no whimper, except to mention that my ten world per minute rate is well below average. On the plus side, I'm pretty delighted. Characters are already gettin uppity on me, creepy little foreshadowings signifying something, I hope, keep stopping by. I wandered into this with no characters, plot, settings or voice. Nothing other than the story's first five words.
50,151 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 10 59
Surprisingly a bang! When I hit the point that had caused me hang ups in the past, I flowed right through it and didn't stop! It made me so happy!
Now I've just gotta silence the doubts that I have enough story to get to 50k. >_>
----------03: Lost / 04: Won / 05: Won / 06: Lost / 07: Lost / 08: Lost / 09: Here's to breaking a losing streak!
60,966 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 19 04
So...I read the Bang or Thud title and I was thinking does something make a bang or a thud. Not whether the writing kicked off with a thud or a bang.
Nerf.
Dumbness = Me
----------24,529 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 00 33
I thought I'd not be a NaNo pirate this year and work on a single novel that was fresh.
In the week leading up to NaNo I got some awesome ideas on adding subplots to a short story I'd outlined earlier. Went to the library and checked out a half-dozen books on Scottish history and mythology, and started reading. Found maps and other resources online, downloaded, saved, and organized them. And I even bought a DVD of a quirky little movie about the same subject matter (inspiration).
October 31st and midnight approached. I had nothing but disjointed pieces. I couldn't think of where to start or how. On the 1st I ended up banging out four pages of fragmentary outlines. And on the 2nd I just stared at my computer screen and pushed files around my hard disk.
On the 3rd I thought, "Screw this. I'm a NaNo pirate." So I dug out my old novel-in-progress and three more short stories-in-progress, set up a spread sheet so I could keep track of the words added during NaNo 09, fiddled with my manuscript files, and started writing.
Thursday night my writing buddy convinced me the 789 words of outlines I wrote on the 1st should count. And I manged over 1,800 words each of actual novel on the 4th and the 5th and even managed to finish a section of my novel-in-progress on the 5th. The 6th at work I got to thinking about my finished section and realized it was missing some stuff. Yaay for editing when it adds hundreds of words.
Anyway, a thud of a start, but I'm at just under 5,000 words at the moment--about half of what I should have.
3,741 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 10 11
A big, fat THUD! Disappointing, since I was (foolishly) hoping that the small family vacation to Florida would give me some extra good writing time (having managed to forget just how LOUD my abuela's house is, maybe because I've never tried to write a novel there before).
Normally I start off with a bang, a lot of excitement and productivity that results in me being ahead at the start. I've never before had this bad a start to NaNo. Hopefully the end will make up for it :P And this weekend will be a big catchup time, and the "new" big bang beginning I'm used to...I hope. It'd better be! ;)
I've always been lax about enforcing the no-editing thing myself, but then again I've also always been one of those people with a terrible penchant for adding words when I edit. Lots and lots of them, sometimes. ;P NaNo is about the ONLY time and place that comes in handy, lol.
----------"As G.K. Chesteron said of fairy tales, the important thing about stories like that is not that they tell us dragons are real, it's that they tell us dragons can be slain."
-- Ursula Vernon
18,754 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 20 11
This is my first NaNo and it started off most horrifically! I got a deadly virus on my laptop about a week before Nov 1st. So bad that it wouldn't start in safe mode nor in regular mode. Everything was taken over! Was out of town Oct 22-Nov 2 and only just now got my computer fixed and running. I had planned to start out on the 2nd with a real bang but reality was something else. I feel really behind but that only motivates me to push even harder!
Here goes everything! :)
----------To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour
-William Blake