Here's a few "types" I've observed around the forums. Well, exaggerated for effect of course, no one person is an exact version of one of these types. Heck, some of us go from being one type to another each day as the month goes one. So don't take offence - add your own! :D
Drama Queens: People who revel in how difficult it is and how much coffee they've drunk and how they've had no sleep since Nov 1st and their laptop just ate their novel and they are 10k behind and are thinking of giving up (they've been thinking of giving up since 1st Nov.)
Easy Peasies: People who knock off two thousand words a night, every night, from their meticulous outlines despite the fact they have five kids, two jobs, seven cats and their in-laws are visiting. They don't drink coffee. They get eight hours of sleep a night. My alternative names for these people can't be used in an all ages forum. ;-)
Fretters: People who fear that everything they write is breaking some kind of carved in stone NaNo rule and they won't be able to validate. Or that it's a big problem that their WP program is different than the NaNo word count. Or that they can't validate because they can't scramble their text. Or that they can't validate because they don't use Word or... you get the picture.
The Frequently Asking Questioners: People who ask questions that are covered in the FAQ, in stickied threads, in the About NaNo page, in the next post down in that forum...
The Genre Fretters: They don't know what genre their story should be in. And they fret about it. Related to general Fretters, just more "single issue".
The High Word Count - Just Not in the Novellers: People who write hundreds of words a day on the forums, their blogs, in emails and IMs about how low their novel word count is and how hard it is to find the time to write.
The Latecomers: It's 21st of November. They just heard about NaNo last night from some guy at a party. Could they still get the 50k? Everyone tells them yes, sure you can! They do. Grrr... I mean - HOORAY!
The Thankful: Everyone outside of the US who is not missing an entire weekend of writing because of Thanksgiving.
And of course:
The Overachievers: Anyone with a higher word count than yourself. ;-)
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186,352 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 06 40
love it!, great work :)
----------I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.
-- William Butler Yeats
77,000 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 06 45
Thanks. Heh, you're definitely an Overacheiver. To me anyway. :D
And I know taking the time to sit and come up with that lot puts me in the 'High Word Count - Just Not in the Novel' category.
186,352 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 06 51
I am sure heaps would call you an Overachiever too!
Going for more than 50k what are you got no life?
giggles kidding
as for mine, thanks I try to hide from the 300k plus people
----------they scare me
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.
-- William Butler Yeats
77,000 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 07 14
I won't class myself as an Overachiever until I beat last year's total of 62,596. And I have to do that by the 24th to beat last year finish date. I could be another type: The Over Competitive. ;-)
52,538 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 07 45
Haha, great :-D
What about the Fun Seeking Wrimos
The opposite of the Drama queens.
They can't wait to make funny posts about disasters like exploding laptops. They sit hiccuping behind their computer about their own and everyone else's typos.
The first threads they check is the Nanoisms, followed by the Sporks, tissues and You Know Nano Ate Your Soul...
They find their own story too boring and rather hang around here.
(yes, guilty, guilty, guilty XD)
----------Though leaves are many, the root is one.
W.B. Yeats
50,245 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 13 08
Good list! I think about this kind of thing too. How about:
The Non-Participating Participants - NaNo veterans who remain at 0 / 50,000 all month but who cannot resist the energy of NaNoWriMo and the call of the forums. They might even start some of their own threads in Character and Plot Realism Q&A... because when else do you have nearly 100,000 other knowledgeable writers at your disposal?
The Ahead-of-Themselves Worrywarts - People who are *way* too worried about what publishers will accept, and whether they're going to get in legal trouble for some part of their story. Can I use names of real people? Is it okay if my character blows up a McDonald's? Can I use X word in my YA novel? (We've had no fewer than 3 separate, well-trafficked swear-word topics on the YA forums this year.) Seriously, folks, just write the story. It's a rough draft, so this version of your story is never going to be published anyway. If you get to the eighth draft and still have that exploding McDonald's scene, then maybe it's time to do some research on libel. But until then, just enjoy the process of storytelling.
The Thanksgiving Marathoners! - Those of us lucky U.S. WriMos who have no Thanksgiving travel, work, or responsibilities beyond contributing a batch of mashed potatoes to Thursday's dinner (and profiting in leftovers). We sit in our pajamas from Friday through Sunday and add masses of words to our blue bars as we race toward the finish line. (This is me, every year. It's become a tradition.)
------------
NaNo '01 - '04 - occasional winners, occasional brilliance, but mostly unfinished tripe
NaNo '05 - Number Zero (50K)
NaNo '06 - The Babushka Lady (60K - draft 3 and almost finished!)
57,727 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 13 41
The opposite of the Drama queens.
They can't wait to make funny posts about disasters like exploding laptops...
They find their own story too boring and rather hang around here.
(yes, guilty, guilty, guilty XD)
There is another similar type: the CareFree WriMo--someone who decided to do this just for the heck of it. The CF type has no conscience qualms about abandoning the housekeeping chores to other family members who are not doing NaNo this year. Because of this, and because his or her standards for "what makes a 'real' novel?" are ridiculously low, the CF has no trouble getting a lot of writing done. This WriMo doesn't worry about ANYTHING--whether it's shamelessly drawing people and incidents straight from real life (including real names, locations and dates--such details can be very therapeutic for a WriMo who is trying to make sense of his or her muddled life by doing a massive journaling experiment disguised as a novel), or maintaining some kind of recognizeable plot line. They snicker to themselves when anyone asks, "Do you think you'll ever publish this?"--WriMos in this category not only don't plan to publish their work; they may not even plan to edit it. It is nothing more nor less than 50K words of fast-paced writing practice for them.
But, the fun of the experience is what I was looking forward to anyway, so I've gotten that.
"The world is a lot more fun when you approach it with an exuberant imperfection." --Chris Baty
----------"If a teacher is just a frustrated actor, is an actor also a frustrated teacher?"
50,382 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 14 51
Not hundreds of words. Not as such. Just tens of words really.
Lots and lots of tens of words...
I love all these categories :)
50,232 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 19 01
The Silent Wrimos
They join, they type their novels, and they rarely post anything. They frequently win.
The Shoutout Superstars
----------Everything they type warrants a shoutout thread. 500 words! 1000 words! 2000 words! 26,319 words! Let's make another thread about word count! And then let's make ANOTHER!!! Because if there's anything better than a shoutout thread, it's a HUNDRED shoutout threads!!
50,383 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 19 23
The I'm Not Seeing Myself So There Must Be Another Type (and sorry, I don't know how to bold that)
plugging away at almost exactly 1667 words per day. That must be a type!
57,727 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 20 19
plugging away at almost exactly 1667 words per day. That must be a type!
Hmmm, what if you called this type the Pace Yourself WriMo?
How you "bold" the words: Use HTML tags! You'll see this on the page where you post your comment, just above where it says, in red, "More information about formatting options;" here, it's called "strong." You type the word {strong} using pointed brackets, like this <>, instead of the curly ones I used, just in front of where you want the bold words to start; and at the end of the section you want to make bold, you type {/strong}-- the same only with a backward slash. I have no idea what those other HTML tags mean...probably very useful things.
"The world is a lot more fun when you approach it with an exuberant imperfection." --Chris Baty
----------"If a teacher is just a frustrated actor, is an actor also a frustrated teacher?"
50,040 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 20 40
Haha, I love the thread!!! I'm definitely a Easy Peasy / Silent WriMo and proud of it!
How about the Speedsters ? Those who reach 50k within the first 5 days much to the disbelief of everyone else (disbelief and jealousy I might add!)
----------------------------------------
NaNo 2007: "1666"
53,058 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 20 58
Awesome! But what about the:
People Who Have No Real Life, But Still Are Only A Tiny Bit Aheaders: These are the ones that manage to get a few words ahead of the daily word count, but they have absolutely no life, so they should be a lot more ahead, but they're not, for whatever reason.
That's me. I should have way more words than I do now. I don't have anything else to do.
----------"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing noise they make as they pass by"
-Douglas Adams
Please read my blog? http://weirdnamewriting.blogspot.com/
55,232 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 21 36
^^^ That is SO me! All of my characters are named after person they're based off of... Well, all of them but Miley, which is an anagram to the person she's based off of, Emily.
----------2006: Dance of the Mamed (about 18000 words)
2007: Project I-12 (WINNER AND FINISHED!)
Cups of caffinated drinks consumed: Too many to count.
If it's in the forum, and it doesn't make sence, then I probably posted it.
55,232 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 21 44
Wow... I am quickly cateragizing all of my WriMo friends... friend #1 is a Drama Queen WriMo b/c she won't stop talking about how her parents confinscated her keyboard so she can't type anymore.... How bout this new type?
The I WOULD do NaNoWriMo, but I want to put REAL thought into a story This wrimo-er isn't exactly a real wrimo-er! You tell them about NaNoWriMo, and they say 'Oh, I would LOVE to, but I want to put real thought into my novel.' They watch your wordcount increase and they might read your NaNo, then you might get it published and it might become a bestseller, but that story that they wanted so badly to put tons of thought into just never seems to get on paper.
----------2006: Dance of the Mamed (about 18000 words)
2007: Project I-12 (WINNER AND FINISHED!)
Cups of caffinated drinks consumed: Too many to count.
If it's in the forum, and it doesn't make sence, then I probably posted it.
42,463 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 21 49
Haha, that's definitely me.
I don't do much except for college, and it's not like I study at all (still an A student anyway, bwahahaha)... but I'm still only teensy bits ahead when I could be doing so much better.
----------wordcount widgets
50,087 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 22 02
Definitely a Fun Seeking Wrimo.
----------Proud member of the Trebuchet Club.
NaDruWriNi participant.
User of many dares.
Plot has jumped the shark.
Gratuitous sex, alcohol use, violence, and comedy (most often at the Trebuchet Club Apartments, the complex with the trebuchet in the courtyard!).
Spend entirely too much time on the forums.
2k behind, so I'm getting the characters drunk again.
[witty description and request for free coffee go here]
55,232 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 22 36
I just joined this year wrimoer These are the people who think that they're royalty just because they're new this year. Can you say big headed? They'll clog up all of the wrong forums with "omg im new wtf do i do" when they already HAVE their oen forum to clog up!
----------2006: Dance of the Mamed (about 18000 words)
2007: Project I-12 (WINNER AND FINISHED!)
Cups of caffinated drinks consumed: Too many to count.
If it's in the forum, and it doesn't make sence, then I probably posted it.
50,358 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 22 45
Voyeuristic Guests They are not technically NaNoers, bur more NaNoWannaBeish. They sit at home, lurking on this site, anonymously laughing, crying and poking fun at our collective triumphs and woes. More than likely, they are cutting and pasting these threads together to make one heck of a novel.
----------~Lex
61,251 / 50,000
Nov 24, 2007 - 02 22
The Successful Procrastinator: Those who spend what seems to be their entire time procrastinating, making forum post after forum post, making sure they're up to date on everything in real life from homework to their job, barely spend much time writing at all, yet somehow are days or weeks ahead on the word count, or have been finished for over a week already.
----------"The cure for writer's cramp is writer's block." Inigo DeLeon
19,240 / 50,000
Nov 24, 2007 - 02 45
The Vitriolic Rule Monger. There aren't many of them, but several of them scared me on the forums in October. Their responses to people are along the lines of "if you don't follow the rules exactly you should not be on the forums or waste the nano resources by, horrors, daring to vaildate your word count!" Plus snobbery and holier-than-thou attitude.
Once I started meeting people at the write-ins I realized most people are more flexible and encouraging to every one who is writing whether they meet all the rules or not. And ain't that the whole idea behind nano?
65,923 / 50,000
Nov 24, 2007 - 03 02
There is a new person's forum? o.O I haven't found it yet. Although I usually lurk in the NaNo Tips and Strategies section. And I am not this type at all. I don't think I've asked a single question. Although watching my friend do NaNo last year might have helped with knowing what to do. I'm not sure.
I still am not quite sure how I got to this word count though, with all the other stuff I end up doing, which I think makes me fit in this category. Although writing 9,000 words last Sunday probably helped.
----------NaNo 2007: Broken -- 65,922 / 50,000
77,000 / 50,000
Nov 24, 2007 - 05 44
Heh, I go to bed and when I get up I have a stack of subscription notifications! Maybe there's a Not in a US time zone type. We miss all the excitement and come along when it's all over and everyone has gone to bed.
50,087 / 50,000
Nov 24, 2007 - 04 34
I think I have my own type that's a mix of a few of the others. I'm the Lazy Carefree Procastinating Fun Seeking Fast Writing But I Do This All The Time WriMo
I don't care much about writing time, things that get in the way (like being out of sight out of mind for more than a week in early November). I spend more time procastinating that working on my novel, offering up helpful little pearls of wisdom on the forums or, you know, just reading every goddamned thread. I do NaNo because I think it's fun to have a lot of other people to share my woes with. It's a little less fun now because my partner in crime gave up after a couple of weeks. :0(
Whenever I do write I'm fast and I work in little burst of creativity, writing my novel in 5-10k installments instead of going for the slow and steady. I predict it will be done on Monday. And for the last point, I do this all the time. I write A LOT of short stories of about 10-30k and a 30k story takes about 7-10 days to write between my full time job, various social obligations and the copious amount of time I spend chatting to my friends online, reading Livejournal flist and making pointless little posts to my blog.
It kinda irks me that I could totally be one of the people that finishes NaNo in a week, I just can't be bothered. :0P Because the truth is, I'm lazy. I rather dally around and do whatever I please, writing when the inspiration strikes instead of forcing it to happen. I set out to do NaNo and finish with a product I'm proud of and hey, I'm almost there. ;0)
27,500 / 50,000
Nov 24, 2007 - 07 18
What about the it's November TWENTIETH already? novelist? The one who doesn't update at all for the first two or three weeks then goes into a frenzy trying to get his or her wordcount back on schedule.
Or the Anachronistic WriMo, who insists on writing out their novel on paper before typing it and therefore has to first write fifty thousand words and then type them all in order to get validated. This person can usually tell you exactly how many words can fit on the average college ruled piece of paper.
---------------
NaNoWriMo 2007- The Januarian: 27,500 words
Screnzy 2008- The Mad Scientist of Brightwell Road: 100 pages
52,538 / 50,000
Nov 24, 2007 - 07 35
And what about the Social WriMo
Is always comforting others, handing out sporks and tissues, pep talking and helping out others with new plots
----------Then he or she realizes the month is almost done, their word count is still pathetically low and there are no plots left.
But...they can always write a NaNo Selfhelp book
Though leaves are many, the root is one.
W.B. Yeats
50,163 / 50,000
Nov 24, 2007 - 09 53
The Shoutout Superstars
Everything they type warrants a shoutout thread. 500 words! 1000 words! 2000 words! 26,319 words! Let's make another thread about word count! And then let's make ANOTHER!!! Because if there's anything better than a shoutout thread, it's a HUNDRED shoutout threads!!
Haha, me! *waves hands in the air* Me! I really need that little celebration when I cross a line ;)
----------wordcount widgets
---------
ANNA
+ SF 08: Paragon for TV, WIN!
+ NANO 07: The Block, WIN!
+ SF 07: untitled, no win
+ NANO 06: Paragon, no win
52,321 / 50,000
Nov 24, 2007 - 11 26
I'd say that I'm definatly the CareFree WriMo! I'm planning on never showing it to ANYONE!
---------------------
"Either a writer doesn't want to talk about his work, or he talks about it more than you want."
- Anatole Broyard
500,343 / 50,000
Nov 24, 2007 - 12 08
I guess that's me :D
--------------
2005: won!
2006: won!
2007: won!
http://kateness.wordpress.com
52,929 / 50,000
Nov 25, 2007 - 17 44
Gah! Kateness... you terrify me. O.O
I'm going to call myself the Pleasantly Surprised Returning Wrimo
This is the wrimo who has done this before and, expecting the battles and hardships of writer's block, found themselves pleasantly shocked when... miracle of all miracles... the story cooperated and came along easier than ever before.
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