Write Stuff Writers

Hello! I'm one of the confusingly large number of Pauls that Write Stuff appears to have attracted (I think I'm the latest one...)

Right, my weapon of choice for NaNoWriMo (and writing in general) is, as ever, my trusty Powerbook. I haven't decided yet what I'm going to use software-wise - I have a couple of items of software specifically for writing, but I'm not convinced by how well they convert to Word documents, so I might just wind up writing in Word so that all the formatting is fine for the end of the month. The last thing I want is to be at 50,000+ words and not be able to verify it with NaNoWriMo!

This is my first time this year, and I'm doing it because I need the kick up the ass to get me to write - I've been telling people I want to be a writer since February, and I've had this idea in my head for a decade. I need to get it out, and soon.

I'm not sure what genre my story is - I put it down as fantasy, but looking at the fantasy forum description it may not fit. It is set in this world, in this year (in fact during the month of November, by coincidence). But it accepts as very matter of fact reality that angels and demons are wandering about the planet, and that most major events in the world are cover stories to hush-up various battles between the two groups. Perhaps mainstream fiction instead? I don't know.

I think I will be writing at my kitchen table - there is no TV there to distract me, no comfortable bed to fall asleep on, and the kettle is close by for coffee. I don't need anything else!

OK, over to the next person!

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My writing life
My "honestly I do have a life outside of writing" life

Heya Paul! Thanks for writing in so quickly!

Your story sounds fascinating and what a great premise! I hope you'll consider posting excerpts either here or on your blog (more info on that Saturday, October 6 on Write Stuff) because I'd love to see a bit of this world. And I'm so glad you signed up, I really think this "kick up the ass" is what you'll need to catapult you into a full-fledged writing habit. I read somewhere that it takes 45 days of consistently doing something before it becomes a habit. So, if you'll continue to write another 15 days after NaNoWriMo is over, then you'll have developed a pretty hard-core writing habit. (That's what I'm telling myself, anyway. *grin*)

I find that designating a place to write is very helpful. Last year, I holed up in our camper/trailer in our backyard. The hubs plugged in the electricity and it was so peaceful out there that I got A LOT of writing done. But I'm the type of person who has to have it very quiet when I write - I'm too easily distracted. I might do that again this year, we'll see. I will most likely have to actually leave my house though, again, I get too distracted by other things. I might make some trips to the library just to change venues.

Just a word of caution from a veteran WriMo - the forums will be very SLOW for the first week. But when the excitement of signing up has died down, it'll get faster. The same applies for the first week of NaNo. So please, be patient with the site and wait - it'll totally be worth it, I promise.

Again, welcome aboard Paul!

Who's next?

Karen
http://www.writefromkaren.com

Absolutely Karen, I'll be posting excerpts, and readings on the Viddler group.

The slowness of the forums isn't frustrating me - yet. I figured that with everyone rushing to sign up today, it would be a little sluggish. What is frustrating is the notifications - I've not signed up to anything, and I've even changed my e-mail address to a fake one and I'm still getting them!

If you're interested in getting a little sneak peek into the world of the story I'm working on then have a look at my last Fiction Friday entry - it takes place immediately before the start of the story, and gives a flavour of the background story to the lead character Gideon.

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My writing life
My "honestly I do have a life outside of writing" life

Hi! My name is Andrea and the Thursday writer on the Write Stuff blog. This is my first year participating. Karen bullied me into it. JUST KIDDING! I thought about doing it in past years, but never really had the guts to sign up. I do need the extra push to quit putting things off and get some writing done. So, I'm here and I'm looking forward to see what happens.

My tool of choice is paper and pencil. I have enough unused notebooks to do it. I'll transfer it to my computer throughout the month. It's probably more work, but who cares. That's always how I write. There's nothing wrong with doing it the old fashion way.

As for my story, I'm not sure what I'm going to write yet. I know it'll either be in the horror or contemporary genres, but don't know much beyond that. I've always been the type of person who just writes. I let the story unfold itself and do research only when I need to. Anything that needs to be changed can be during editing phases.

I know there are a lot of write-ins associated with Nano, but I'll probably spend the 30 days writing in my bedroom. I would do some writing at our picnic table in our front yard, but I think it'll be too cold by then. I'm just happy I got a new mp3 player for my birthday. Now, I can listen to tunes while writing without giving my brother a reason to complain. You know how teenagers can be.

Andrea

Ghost Stories

I think I'll be giving the write-ins a miss to be honest, unless I'm really ahead of the schedule. I write best in solitude - if there are people around I'll get chatty and disrupt them and not do any work I'm afraid!

Yeah, I'm going to be fun to live with in November....

I still use pen and paper when I'm writing on public transport (long journey to and from work, so good time to mull things over) - takes up less space and no-one is going to steal my notepad! Plus I always use pen and paper for outlining - just can't do it on a computer.

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My writing life
My "honestly I do have a life outside of writing" life

Welcome Andrea. I'm truly thrilled you decided to join in this year. I really think you won't be disappointed. Remember, this is a personal challenge. And though it 's fun to race your fellow writers to that 50,000 word line, it's really all about learning about you and your writing self. Think of this as a self-discovery journey - with a deadline. *grin*

I admire you guys for writing long hand. I simply CANNOT do that. My mind races faster than my hand can keep up and it frustrates me to no end. But you know what? If that works for you, then so be it! Don't apologize, everyone is different. *smile*

Now that the excitement of sign-up is over, I'm starting to buckle down and think about some sort of outline. Is anyone else plotting as we speak?

Karen
http://www.writefromkaren.com

I usually don't have much of a problem with my mind going faster than my hand, but it happens on occasion. For me, I don't know what it is, but I love having a piece of paper in front of me and pencil in my hand. I love running my fingers across the words I have written. It may sound a little weird but that's how I am.

I have a system that I'll be using but I haven't done any plotting.

Ghost Stories

I'm always plotting... Oh, you mean plotting the story - I thought you meant plotting in general.... ;-)

I am plotting using the "Snowflake" method suggested by one of the participants in the Viddler NaNoWriMo group. It's really helping getting the idea out, and I can seem ore clearly where it's going. Beforehand, I was kind of stuck about the middle.

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My writing life
My "honestly I do have a life outside of writing" life

Andrea, that doesn't sound weird at all! I think that's very cool - "running my fingers across the words ..." It denotes a deep passion for what you're creating and I find that very refreshing.

Other than getting too impatient with the pencil/paper method, I find the mere scratching sound irritates the crap out of me. lol But what do I know? I'm an oddball. *grin*

Karen
http://www.writefromkaren.com

HAHA, Paul - always plotting. Good one.

Wait. Hold up a sec. Snowflake method? Is that anything like the headlight method?

The headlight method is when you outline a few chapters, write them, see where they lead you, and then outline a few more chapters based on what you wrote. You know - you can only see so far ahead of you in headlights before it gets dark?

Karen
http://www.writefromkaren.com

The Snowflake method you build up gradually, adding bits. Stage one is a one sentence summary of the whole story.

Stage two is a one paragraph summary. Stage 3 expands that to 5 paragraphs, and as the stages go further you wind up with a 4 page summary and lots of details about characters.

It can be useful before you start, but it can also be used once you've done a first draft to help you edit it, or even during a draft if you are stuck and not sure how to proceed. I'd never heard of it until a few weeks ago (I was always a flying by the seat of the pants writer!) but I'm finding it very useful to get a handle on the plot of this one.

Information is here - http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php

I'm spending October doing this, so I should have a good outline for November, and can concentrate on actually writing the thing!

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My writing life
My "honestly I do have a life outside of writing" life

Hi y'all, this is only my second NaNoWriMo challenge and I want to win for the second time. Last year I just sat down and started writing with no prep and a story and characters just appeared. I did learn the hard way to at least make notes on the characters, I had sisters and brothers in compromising situations because I made their names too similar, oops.

To write the entire novel as one side of a conversation or a conversation and emails may be fun to try. I won't know until I start writing. My mind seems to shut down if I try to plan.

iBook and iMac (If it survives shipping) are my tools -- because my mind races faster than my sloppy handwriting can keep up with. I envy you who can write longhand.

Last year one chapter was typed in the car at the Winery while our son and his wife toured with my husband Thanksgiving week. This year I may be sitting on the floor, we are moving back to Florida and arriving a few days before NaNo starts and only taking my writing desk, an air mattress, and some bookcases with us, not even my desk chair. Should be interesting.

The only other tool I used last year once my brain came to life, was a dry erase board (to keep track of my characters, since I write out of sequence). I may try Write It Now software, last year my hard drive was too full and it kept crashing, so I just wrote it in TextEdit. But that software may be too organized for me.

Karen, hope you have plenty of batteries for that flashlight. It is kind of nice to know others haven't preplanned the entire novel yet.

http://tumbledwords.com
http://shh-speakup.com
http://meeaugraphie.com
http://rvpoetry.com

I'm glad you think so. When I was writing that comment, it started to sound a little like a serial killer admiring their "work".

Besides, that's one of the reasons why I listen to music while writing so I won't have to listen to the scratching sound.

Ghost Stories

Hi Marcia!

I'm glad you found us! I won't EVEN tell you how long it took me to finally bring this up so I could respond to you. I think the NaNo servers are overloaded. :( Hopefully, they will get faster in the upcoming weeks.

I had to laugh at your first paragraph. That's exactly what I did the first year I participated. I just started writing and it was pure and utter crap. Truly. However, it freed something within me and I've never felt more excited about writing in my life since then. I too lost track of my characters and was so confused by the time it was all said and done I couldn't even tell you who my main characters were. lol

I would love to buy an iBook and in fact, I might buy one the next time I need a notebook. I've heard a lot of good things about iBooks and considering I'm so sick of Windows, maybe it's time for me to switch.

I LOVE the dry erase board idea!! I am definitely doing that this year. That will be an excellent tool for me to prop up next to my work station so I can refer to it from time to time. I tried to outline using index cards one time and though that is an excellent idea, I just couldn't keep track of the buggers. lol

I've toyed with the idea of making an outline, but I honestly get bored with outlines, so I think I'm going to do the headlight method once again and just outline the first few chapters, my ultimate goal and possibly the ending and then see how my characters take me there. Though it's a hodge-podge way of writing, it's the method I prefer and I have so much fun when I allow my characters to take me places I never imagined.

My projects are pretty much caught up at this time which means I should have more time to devote to my first few chapters in the coming week.

What about you guys? Have you had a chance to do any brainstorming? Any plot ideas? If you're having trouble coming up with anything, there's a Plot Doctor section here on the NaNo boards that people are using to discard their old plots in. It's quite helpful actually and I've picked up a few ideas from that thread alone.

Let me know if you guys find anymore plot idea resources!

Karen
http://www.writefromkaren.com

Hi everyone! I'm Janie & I'm the Sunday columnist at Write Stuff.

Why am I doing this? I have no idea. Oh, wait . . . yes, I do. Because Karen and my fellow Write Stuff writers are doing it and pressuring me to join in! :-) Frankly, I think I should have my head examined for doing it, but I'll give it a try. After all, since I'm a lawyer and basically full of hot air, 50,000 words should be nothing, right?

I'll be writing at home in the evenings and on weekends. Mostly the latter, although I might spend a few evenings on my laptop when I take my kid to school and hang out in the student lounge while he's in class.

I have no freakin' clue what I am going to write about. I don't write fiction -- never have and am convinced that I have no talent for it. But Karen says that we don't have to write fiction, so I will have to come up with something . . . maybe a fictionalized account of my life so far? I don't think I'll know for sure until I put my fingers on the keys. Literally.

Wish me luck!

Well Janie, WELCOME! I'm surprised to see you here! I knew you were interested but I wasn't sure you'd actually do it. Way to go!!

A fictionalized account of your life sounds like a GREAT idea!! And remember, it's all about quantity, not quality. And you know what? You MIGHT just find that you're quite good at fiction and/or really enjoy it. You never know until you try, right?

This is what the FAQ section says about the definition of "novel":

How do you define "novel?" Does fan fiction count? What if I want to write interconnected short stories rather than a novel? What if my story is largely autobiographical, or is based on a real person? Can I still write it in November?

We define a novel as "a lengthy work of fiction." Beyond that, we let you decide whether what you're writing falls under the heading of "novel." In short: If you believe you're writing a novel, we believe you're writing a novel too.

What a broad definition. The program is more about forcing yourself to write, to CONSISTENTLY write, than about producing the next great American novel. The program is giving you permission to just jump in, with both feet, and start producing something. It's all about "doing" - enough with the "talking".

It never ceases to amaze me the number of people who are nervous and/or scared to try this challenge. If you don't write on a regular basis, then I can see why one might feel that way, but if one writes consistently and has always wondered what it would be like to write a novel (or novella, in this case), then what's the hold up? It's a personal challenge. No one is going to be breathing down your neck to finish. Just do the best you can do. And if your personal goal is to make it to 25,000 words, then that's the goal for you.

Anyway, enough. I'm preaching to the choir, lol. Again, welcome aboard Janie. Have fun with this exercise. Don't censor or edit yourself - just go with the flow and see where this exercise takes you. You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain. And I'm betting you learn a bit more about yourself in the process. *smile*

(I'm making a word count widget for you on the NaNoWriMo WS page). http://www.take2max.com/writing/nanowrimo/

Karen
http://www.writefromkaren.com

yikes! my pearly-off-whites may be a bit chipped by that bullet, but I'm a-bitin' it.

This is ~willow~, the sporadic [Fiction] Friday participant and rare drop-inner at the Write Stuff Forum. I've been sporadic because I've been hitting a wall in terms of getting off my tuchus (or maybe it's getting ~on~ my tuchus I need to do?) and actually w.r.i.t.i.n.g!!

I've had this idea for a book for a while now -- a dark mystery/thriller type novel a la Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden Files meets Neil Gaiman's American Gods -- but am kinda reluctant to start because I don't know much about the subject matter (brilliant, eh? my eyes hurt from all that rolling!), so I'm looking at NaNoWriMo to get me to just spew what I can... then I can revisit, identify the holes (or perhaps the few threads that keep the piece in one piece) and work from there. Otherwise, I can start work on my memoirs, LoL! I guess I'll decide in about 20 days or so ;-)

The writing might take place as I sit/lie/sprawl on the couch, or I may just skip to the typing if the ideas flow well enough - THAT will be taking place at my new desk and new Dell PC (no more borrowing the hubby's iBook or whatever it's called), and as accompanying "music" I'll probably have the Rocky Horror Picture Show DVD playing on tv, my mind going through call-out lines even as I struggle to figure out lines to type in my novel. Ah, self-sabotage, what good friends are we :-)

I'm watching the approach of November with much trepidation, unprepared, really, for the discipline of sitting down daily and churning out about 2000 words a day. But hey, it'll be a fantastic learning experience, so while I cringe, I am also looking forward to all that stress.

Ciao!
~willow~

http://noweepingallowed.blogspot.com/

WILLOW!

Welcome aboard, girl! I'm so glad you decided to bite the bullet and join in the fun.

Hey, you have more of an idea of what you're going to do than I do. (Currently? I'm looking for an idea. I'm not quite in that panic stage yet. However, if I don't find something in the next five days, you'll start to see me sweat - you'll be able to tell how badly by the number of typos I make. lol

What a WONDERFUL idea!! Playing the Rocky Horror Picture show to get you in the mood! Hey, you can't get any darker than the RHP show. (Or more twisted! lol)

And congrats on your new desk and PC!! What a wonderful opportunity to break your new gear in! (And believe me, the keys on that keyboard? Will be slick from use when you're done with this project. *grin*)

Your project sounds intriguing! I hope you'll consider posting excerpts in November on Write Stuff. I would love to read what you've come up with.

Again, welcome aboard, Willow.

Karen
http://www.writefromkaren.com

WILLOW!

Welcome aboard, girl! I'm so glad you decided to join us!

Your novel idea sounds great! And I love how you're going to pop in the Rocky Horror Picture Show DVD to get you in the mood for your dark mystery/thriller. You can't GET any darker than RHPS! lol

Congratulations on your new desk and PC!! What a great way to break your new gear in! Just think how shiny those brand new keys will be on your keyboard when November is over with. *grin*

Don't worry about your lack of research. You still have 19 (SQUEE!) days left until we get started so you still have time to get a bit more research done, if you wish. Definitely don't research during November or you'll get sidetracked. Let me tell you (and everyone else!) a secret: DO NOT FALL BEHIND ON YOUR WORD COUNT. Not even one day. If you must skip a day, then write double the count the day before so you'll still be on track. It's so easy to fall behind, it's so HARD to catch up. Trust me on this. Make your goal 2000 words a day (it's always a good idea to have a cushion) and if you feel like typing more after reaching that goal, go for it. If not, stop and take a break. The bottom line? Keep up or you'll spend the last week doing nothing but writing your fingers off. (Again, trust me on this!)

I've added you, and everyone else who has submitted a profile page through WS, to my buddy list. This way, I can keep track of all of you with one click of the mouse. And if anyone falls behind, count on a personal NaNoWriMo bug letter in your mailbox (located at the top of the page). And please, if I fall behind, feel free to bug me, too!

Again, welcome aboard Willow!

Karen
http://www.writefromkaren.com

WILLOW!

Welcome aboard, girl! I'm so glad you decided to join us!

Your novel idea sounds great! And I love how you're going to pop in the Rocky Horror Picture Show DVD to get you in the mood for your dark mystery/thriller. You can't GET any darker than RHPS! lol

Congratulations on your new desk and PC!! What a great way to break your new gear in! Just think how shiny those brand new keys will be on your keyboard when November is over with. *grin*

Don't worry about your lack of research. You still have 19 (SQUEE!) days left until we get started so you still have time to get a bit more research done, if you wish. Definitely don't research during November or you'll get sidetracked. Let me tell you (and everyone else!) a secret: DO NOT FALL BEHIND ON YOUR WORD COUNT. Not even one day. If you must skip a day, then write double the count the day before so you'll still be on track. It's so easy to fall behind, it's so HARD to catch up. Trust me on this. Make your goal 2000 words a day (it's always a good idea to have a cushion) and if you feel like typing more after reaching that goal, go for it. If not, stop and take a break. The bottom line? Keep up or you'll spend the last week doing nothing but writing your fingers off. (Again, trust me on this!)

I've added you, and everyone else who has submitted a profile page through WS, to my buddy list. This way, I can keep track of all of you with one click of the mouse. And if anyone falls behind, count on a personal NaNoWriMo bug letter in your mailbox (located at the top of the page). And please, if I fall behind, feel free to bug me, too!

Again, welcome aboard Willow!

Karen
http://www.writefromkaren.com

Hi Marcia,

It's good to have you with us. Your novel idea sounds interesting. I think I tried something like that, but in short story format.

The only problem I have with writing long handed is that sometimes I grip the pen/pencil a little too hard and my hand starts to hurt after writing a couple of sentences. I don't know why I do that. It's just become a habit.

Good luck with the move! I couldn't imagine moving only a few days before all this starts. Of course, you're not a newbie like me this year. So, I'm sure you'll do fine.

Andrea

Ghost Stories

Welcome Janie! Glad to have you with us. I thought Karen and I were going to be the only weekly writers joining. Good luck achieving the 50,000 word goal in November!

Andrea

Ghost Stories

I'm here to join up! :D

Superheros are made every day, by the choices they make and the actions they take.

I predict I'll be getting a lot of those personal Nano bug letters. :o)

Welcome Willow! I'm with ya on hitting that wall. I guess this will be an interesting experience for the both of us. Good luck!

Ghost Stories

Hi Square! Welcome aboard.

Ghost Stories

Good morning everyone,

Seventeen days and counting!! Are you ready? Do you have anything lined up and ready to start writing November 1st?

Me? Not yet, but I'm working on it. I caught a trojan ad/clicker virus on my laptop (GRR), so I spent last night reformatting and re-loading all of my programs on it. Even though this stuff is a major pain in the arse, I'm sort of glad when it happens because it gives me an excuse to wipe the slate clean and start over. I plan on using my laptop for 99.99% of my project and I ALSO plan on keeping the network card turned off so I won't be tempted to surf the Internet.

I found last year's NaNo project buried in a folder on my laptop, too. And I must say, I sort of liked it. Isn't it amazing when you run across something you wrote, something you haven't read in a while and it's like, "Did I really write that? That's not bad!" At any rate, it has gotten me excited about writing for this year.

So, let's answer some specific questions - what genre are you writing? Mystery, adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, chick-lit, contemporary? Have you researched that specific market? Do you know how long your story needs to be to fit in this genre? We're going to treat these projects as if you plan on revising them and then submitting them.

Me? I'm seriously thinking about writing chick-lit. I've wanted to give that genre a go for a while now and I think I'll use this as my opportunity. I'm reading "See Jane Write" and "Will Write For Shoes" - two chick-lit how-to books.

I'm going to go through some old topics folders, read some Post Secrets and archive the weird news stories for some sort of plot ideas. My goal? To have a concrete idea of what I'm going to write about by this Wednesday.

At least, that's my goal.

Karen
http://www.writefromkaren.com

Welcome Square1!

Karen
http://www.writefromkaren.com

I'm chomping at the bit! I do have a project lined up. It's a novel I've been working on for an embarrassingly long time. I worked on it for NaNo last year, but unfortunately 50,000 words just wasn't enough to tell the story. It's a fantasy story, and I'm sad to say I haven't done any market research except to read the advice given by the good folks over at Critters . (Love that place!) They generally recommend short stories to break into the market because they are more marketable, but I'm terrible with short stories. I generally have too much to tell, or rather my characters do. So I will be continuing the book that's been started. The chapters from last year are posted on my NaNoWriMo Blog should anyone be interested. I'm psyched!

Superheros are made every day, by the choices they make and the actions they take.

what genre are you writing?

Horror/Thriller

Have you researched that specific market?

Yeah a bit. I have explored some markets for the last couple of months.

Do you know how long your story needs to be to fit in this genre?

Yeah I have some idea. I have some room to work with.

Ghost Stories

Square1 - I have a love/hate relationship with short stories. I really enjoy writing them, but I really dislike reading them. I know. What a strange juxtaposition. But I love writing short stories because I have bursts of creative energy when I can pound out 2,000 words in no time. But then, the story starts to fizzle and I'm forced to stop because A. I'm bored. or B. it's not going anywhere. Which is good, in some ways, because the ending is open ended and that leaves people wondering, but bad because this means I have a ton of short stories - and no place to put them.

I also agree - I feel like it takes a truly talented writer to cram in a semi-interesting plot and a fairly rounded character in such a restrictive format. I have only read a handful of short stories that I thought were actually good; the rest were just jumbled and rushed. And though I enjoy writing short stories, I really enjoy following my characters around like a puppy to see where they lead me.

I really should look into polishing up some of my short stories and submitting them somewhere. But it's hard to take anything I write seriously because they're always just written on the fly, with very little forethought.

I checked out your NaNoWriMo Blog. I like how you have it organized. I've been toying with the idea of starting another blog for just my writing. I'd love to start an online story, create characters the readers will love and then take them on all sorts of adventures. Perhaps I'll look more into that after NaNo is over.

I envy people who can write fantasy/sci-fi. There are SO many possibilities that it would be hard to get bored with such a storyline. But alas, I truly suck at that genre because my imagination simply doesn't reach that far out of my comfort zone. I tend to stick to relationship stories - I don't know, the chemistry between people just fascinates me.

I wish you luck with your project!! I need to get on the ball and narrow down what I'm going to do. NOW.

Karen
http://www.writefromkaren.com