Aims of your novel

This is a GREAT post! My aims are as follows:

1. Write a 50000+ memoir (yep, I'm a rebel this year...haha) spanning my high school years, while dipping into eighth grade and beginning of college.

2. Write as honestly as possible. With a memoir, this can be pretty hard. You don't always want to face yourself, and you don't want to hurt your close readers' feelings.

3. Shake the stiffness out of my style without getting arrogant or preachy... Too many YA novels slip into such a haughty tone, which always sends me back to the kids' section in Borders.

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Your novel sounds interesting... What's it about?

Ooh, nice approach. As academic as I'm supposed to be, with a research bent of all things, I don't know why I haven't determined this already. Argh.

1. Write as much as possible in 30 days. 75k is required. 100k would be nice. Over that would be ideal.
2. Practice the chosen narrative style.
3. Spin tangled relationship web after tangled relationship web and try not only to not get lost, but to pull it off.
3b. Avoid the obvious solutions whenever possible.
4. Keep all emotions and motivations as fluid, dynamic, deep, and realistic as possible.

What am I doing still awake?

...Oh wait.

Write at least 15k (If it spans to 50k, yay, but I need at least 15k if I want to sell xD).
Make people feel for the characters.
Educate people on synethesia.

LMFAO, ZoZo, your novel synopsis made me crack up. 8'D

Setting aside the obvious goals (50k and all), my intents are:

1. Give the ultimate evil (the physical embodiment of Sin) a likable personality.
2. Touch on a long list of taboos (homosexuality, bisexuality, eroticism, masochism, occultism, demonology, incest, murder, suicide, rape, and everything in between) in such a manner that makes them not only unavoidable, but understandable.
3. Surprise the reader, surprise the reader, surprise the reader.
4. Offset "eww" moments with "aww" moments.

Everyone has a back story; even the main antagonist. I want people to understand this, and embrace it.

- Kodu

Those are great goals! The third one is especially awesome, because it really gets to the 'show dont tell' advice that writers hear all the time.

Mine would be:

1. Educate the reader without spoon-feeding or sounding overly-preachy (and believe me, I have a *definite* opinion/viewpoint on this subject as well), since my subject is one that not many people north of the Rio Grande know about (Chile in the 1970s, Allende and Pinochet and all of that)

2. Show, don't tell (though I'm kind of already failing at that right now because my writing so far is terrible). But still, show don't tell, the best advice for writers ever, pretty much.

3. And of course, get to 50k (preferably more because I would love even more to actually finish a novel in a month!)

1) Finish it, preferably in 50k or more! :)
2) Write a good story
3) Get my MC to where I want her to be at the end of the novel (Which I think is going to be back where she started.)

Okay, goals, let's get me some goals...

1. Reach 50000 words. This is my first nano so that's a goal in itself.
2. Make my MC grow as a person.
3. Discuss things like homosexuality, mental health and mommy-issues without actually discussing them. Meaning, I want to make my point clear without... well, being obvious about my themes.
4. Stay sane during this month. Or at least relatively sane. Okay, not get myself committed because of nano-obsession.

Nano ´09: After Hours

Why, thank you! 8D

1. 50
2. Tell the whole story -- I'll worry about depth and style come December, for now I just want to get *everything* on paper. Er.... on hard-drive.
3. Never slip into writing about good people!

"This is going to be the worst day of your life. I'm bringing nunchuks." H. Freeman

1. Pull off the use of multiple narrators (i.e. develop a unique voice for each character, making it seem like it's not from the same author) and pull it off well.
2. Utilize stream-of-consciousness to the fullest capacity that my novel can allow . . . I'm going insane on this.
3. Write a passage, or passages, that make the audience cry. I want you to cry, dammit!
4. Actually write literary fiction about something this silly . . . about a erm, hardcore punk band . . .

1. My 50 thousand.

2. Create an MC that is likeable, yet terribly flawed, all while not trying to be too obvious about it.

3. Prod at the idea of stereotypes, feminism and it's potential misuse, and personal growth by dealing with addiction and the hell that which is customer service. Again, I'm trying my damnedest not to make the reader feel like I'm leading them by the hand and showing them all of this.

4. Make the reader laugh out loud.

My goals:
1. 50000 words (obviously).
2. Balance the two somewhat unreliable narrators against one another.
3. Tell the story by exploring two deeply unsure and opposite people—one of whom at first glance seems like a unlikable person, the other of which seems like a quite likable person.
4. Construct a novel in which the two character's paths cross continuously for the first part (1/2 to 1/3 depending on how I play things out) without it seeming awkward and have their meeting seem natural.
5. While doing all of the above, create a host of realistic, interesting background people who not only move the story and keep the reader interested, but stay away from overshadowing the main characters.

It is going to be a tricky month.

In writing my NaNovel, "In Splendor Before His Face", I set myself the somewhat daunting task of portraying a guardian angel as a pure spirit without a physical body (not even an assumed human form).

What he knows about humans, he has learned by observing his charges for generations. Strictly speaking, he does not see or hear them, but rather perceives them through his superior (but not infinite) intellect.

This makes it rather difficult to write dialogue, as my guardian angel cannot actually speak, but only think and reflect. He is clearly directing his comments to the reader, and uses the human expressions he has learned over the centuries.

He does, however, report the speech of his human charges, so there is some dialogue.

Paul aka NovelNo4
2005: Shielded in My Armor (completed ahead of schedule)
2009: In Splendor Before His Face (about 6,230 as we begin Day 4)

To distract myself from the boredom of my real life.
Also to write something I actually like.

- Since I'm pretty sure I'm not going to reach the 50k goal, I at least want to stick with my novel all through November, writing at least something every day.

- Relating to and explaining the above: I'm one of those girls with a nasty tendency to write three pages of something and ditch it. I love this novel idea and I want to stick with it from start to finish.

- Make deep thinking so easy and engaging that my fellow young teenagers(okay, classmates) will indulge in it rather than crap like Twitlight.

- Include at least one moral discussion of sex without incurring the wrath of said perverted classmates.

-Write something I love.

Wow, astrida, mine's going to sound an awful lot like yours.

1. I want a finished story at the end of this. The whole 12 chapters I have planned, word count be damned.
2. I want to explore how a "found" families is created.
3. Write a book about homosexuals without a sex scene (I didn't say without sex, I'm just not showing any of it.)
4. Get into issues like disability, personality disorders, and abuse and really getting at the core of what these do to individuals and those around them.
5. Not ignore my family, friends, or job while writing this.

They all seem relatively reasonable to me.

Chibi Hentai-chan
The littlest pervert on the net!
Proving to everyone everwhere that size doesn't matter

- 50k words

- Explore themes of human interaction based on the events of every-day life conflicting with uncontrollable, overwhelming historical events. Hard to describe, but think along the lines of Thomas Pynchon and metafiction in general.

- Mix elements of mythological and fantastic circumstance with harsh realities. Like I said, hard to explain, but one example is a character who is a vampire and lives a fairly normal life (takes vitamin C pills due to lack of sun exposure, has red lightbulbs in his apartment) but becomes tangled in a maddened scientist's theories about astral projection.

- When completed bears some sort of significance and isn't as ridiculous as this post may make it sound.

Goals! Goals are good things to have

1. 50 000 words or more
2. Keeping my 'nameless' structure; characters don't have real names, only temporary ones based on their characteristics (one guy's already had his 'name' changed)
3. Stick to the philosophy classroom
4. Discuss complex moral and social issues, dualism, etc, with some fun and interesting parts
5. Not fail my university courses
6. Getting sleep occasionally, as well as eating and showering

What more do I need?

So you know what it feels like when you write, and you're all caught up, but then something happens and you get distracted for four days or so then you suddenly realize that you've got over 6 000 words to go before you're caught up? Every week.

I had three goals, but I've whittled it down a bit

Here's my revised Goals List::

Get Enough Sleep between bouts of writing.
Eat well when I take a break from writing
Make sure not to stop writing.

Chance is only Fate using a pen name ~ ej runyon

'01 Your Little Red Book...'02 Treasure Island Vin Rose (win)...'03 A House of Light and Stone (win)..'05 Good People (win)..'06 Subway Tunes (win)...'07 900 miles (win)
'08 Bridge to Story

Strikeouts = nonexistent. 8D

Ahh, goals. I figured them out subconsciously and hadn't given them any thought until I saw this thread.

1. Reach 75,000 words.
2. Include five separate parts in my novel, giving equal time to each part and it's characters. (This is a weakness of mine. I have a tendency to focus on one character for most of a story and then squeeze the others entire stories into a couple chapters, which makes for a terrible read.)
3. Convey a general undertone of morbidity despite an array of characters whom I've been told are absolutely lovable and, God forbid, "precious."

Midnight - 7AM drabbling : 2/6 days
Writing cubbyholes : 3
Most words in one sitting : 1596

Currently listening to : Portugal.The Man

Thanks for starting this thread, developing these had really helped me know where I am going. My NaNo goals are:

1. to write 50,000 words in November

2. to show not tell my readers about the issues I want to explore, which are:
A) what makes a community and holds it together from three different perspectives (leader, follower, outsider)
B) resistance to change and inertia within individuals and communities

3. Use rich visual imagery to convey the importance of sustainability and environmental protection

‘all communities larger than primordial villages of face-to-face contact are imagined’ Benedict Anderson

a) to get it written however badly in this first draft - really difficult for me to turn off the inner editor.
b) to write the novel about the community I grew up in and expose some of its richness and some of its flaws also a little of the career I once had.
c) to try and write from 2 contrasting POVs - just a modest experiment for a novice writer, but it needs both sides of the story.
d) to decide exactly how it ends. Have got to the very last sentence in my head but don;t know yet who the teller is.....
e) to get this book written - its been waiting to get out for sooooo long!!
f) to do this althought I have my 25 year old son (going on 16) staying with me doing my head in as he playing DVDs and slopping around and accusing me of being depressed when I am just thinking....thats how I look when I think?? OY VEY!

In terms of themes and content I want to deal with:
- exploring basic humanistic themes - morality existing in the absence of religion, exploring various understandings of self respect based on internal versus external factors.
- debunking Objectivism (especially pursuit of self-interest)
- playing with the notion that everything in life is basically held together with spit-wads and paperclips (metaphorically speaking).
But ultimately, to get the bugger written is my first and foremost aim.

Goals! Yay ... never been good with goals ... maybe if I write them down ...

1) Write 50.000 freaking words in November!!!!!!!! How hard can that be?!?
2) Manage to finish the first draft in those said 50.000
3) Manage to end the story without making a judgement over the right or wrong of the characters decision but rather let the reader decide for himself.
4)convey the story from not much plot but rich dialogue and inner turmoil
5)manage to make the characters as real as possible, main and secondary
6) write, write, write ... EVERY DAY!!!

Aims-To hit the right keys the first time?
No, how about something like this...

-To show the difference between the real and the actual. Fictional universes are as real as ours, but are not actual. Both fictional and actual universes are valid and epistomal (is that a word?).
-Tie in this novel with my Manifesto on Fictionalism which will discuss the above but in non-fiction terms.
-Show that action and high literary writing can co-exist. Think Graham Greene meets Robbe-Grillet.
-Let the characters decide what the end of the book will be. I have a few things in mind, but want to see how the MC accepts what I put him through and let him make the decision. (this is one of the tenants of Fictionalism, characters have a degree of freedom [especially if they know they are character-see Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author]).

My goals, personally, are...

1. Actually finish a first draft. I've been working on a book for three years with little to know progress, and the biggest draw of Nanowrimo for me is having a bunch of words on paper in a very short amount of time.

2. Show people the difficulties, complications, and complexities of the education system.

3. Vent off frustrations from being a teacher.

1. To reach 50 K words, though I doubt I will, seeing as I am in the thick of college application season
2. To get back into the swing of story-writing, since I'm out of practice.
3. To relieve myself of an emotionally harrowing incident that occured last year. The thing is, there was never any closure or resolution to this incident, and I wanted to get it out of my system and leave it behind me.

NaNo '09 - Playing With Lions

"Art is a lie that makes us realize Truth." - Pablo Picasso

50 000 word novel is the first aim. Actually I might be aiming for the 100k mark in the final manuscript.

That being said, other aims are:

-To show some of the realities of volunteer work particularly when the teams come from different backgrounds.
-To TELL the stories of my fellow university scholars
-To comment on Filipino sociopolitical systems
-To tell the story of a redemption that does not proceed linearly.
-To tell the backstory of my characters in my 2008 NaNo
-To hopefully inspire someone to take action.

Yeah, I think I'm aiming a little high, but so?

My heart, my life, my praise is all for You