Everybody post once here...

Not a surprise:
(a) My novel is still not finished
(b) There is a huge mound of washing up in the sink

Surprises:
(c) I can see roughly how the story is going to end (at last! - this is the third volume of a nano trilogy)
(d) I beat my record for the number of words written in a November

What I learnt:
(e) I should always write fast - and fix things later
(f) Doing nano gets both easier and harder: easier in some ways, harder in others
(g) the boy and girl who, at the beginning, were destined for each other went their separate ways, and found different partners
(h) The original story idea turned into just the backdrop to the real story, which only emerged during this month
(i) I should probably cut Vol 1, written in nano2005. Which might mean the further I got away from the original idea, and the more into the story, the more interested I became in it. But that first third isn't wasted: it's all essential - just not necessarily as part of this story.

Sorry - this is getting a bit serious - but it is about writing, and I've now got my "editing" hat on. I'm going to finish this novel, tidy it up, and then do something with it. But the first thing I'm going to do on it is sit down and try to write a summary of the Story So Far, so I can untangle the plot, and unravel all the loose ends. No, that's the second thing. The first thing will be to sit down and read it all! Some of it is quite good, though I say so myself. Well, I like it anyway! LOL

Chromomancer
P.S. Hope to see some of you at the TGIO on Sunday.

This year's nano was a difficult experience. I was writing fairly quickly but trying not to produce the complete rubbish of last year. As a result, there is a fairly coherent first draft but it was really hard work.

One reward is the feeling that I am improving in some way. I enjoyed the engagement with a historical time and place about which I previously knew very little (europe/north africa/middle east in 1926). My research has introduced me to Fitzgerald, Waugh and Hemingway - 'The Sun also Rises' and 'Decline and Fall' were particular highlights.

The best thing though has been the chance to chat about writing and lots of other things with fellow Wrimos, both on the forums and in person. I like the solitary nature of writing, but it's good to have the chance to talk about it at least once a year. And I love to hear about how the plots of my fellow writers are unfolding.

This year has been a struggle. I really didn't engage with my plot - the story is still rambling along with only a bare sighting of the dragon I was intending to introduce at about 25,000 words.

The "overuse" of my wrists which kicked in at 23,000 words meant I reverted to pen and paper, which actually I found I preferred, but I think that means the cash I've spent on cups of coffee and weekend lunches in cafes has gone through the roof.

I definitely learnt that I have a preference for writing dialogue and people interaction - I've been avoiding action scenes like nobody's business!

Well, I may have only (!) managed 30k this year, but - unlike last year - there seems to be some kind of vaguely coherent narrative, some decent characters, and nice little twiddly bits. That's ignoring the ludicrous quantities of plot exposition, of course, but still.

My procrastinating has become worse in the course of the last year, not just in regard to writing, but also in a more general sense. Probably ought to find some way of kicking the habit...

And, apart from the middle weeks, have had an unexpected amount of fun doing it.

This was my first NaNoWriMo and I'm frankly amazed that I completed it ... well, I haven't finished the story yet but it's not far off.

The main plot has gone exactly as I expected it to, though some of the sub-plots that suddenly appeared out of the woodwork were quite a surprise. Since the main plot is a whodunnit I've had to know exactly who did what to whom and when from the word go otherwise there would have been no way I could insert clues for the reader. If I've written it right, the reader should be screaming at the main characters to wake up and smell the damn coffee by about now. Though actually I secretly hope that they in fact won't get it but will go "D'oh! How did I miss those clues?" when all is revealed.

I've had a few surprises along the way but they've all been logical extensions of the background, just subconscious extensions.

And I learnt that I can write a novel ... and that's a massive surprise to me.

Enjoyed the process, which produced dross. However, it made me go back and look at what I wrote in 2005. To my delight, that manuscript is not bad and I'm thinking about turning it into something publishable. You never know what's in that bottom drawer!

Well I made it, despite getting the dread lurgy and finding myself bedridden for a while as a result. This year's novel is frankly awful and I missed the forums and get-togethers a lot, but it was either write or have fun and I opted to write. Next year I shall have fun ...

I got there - just. I pretty much hurled myself at the finish line earlier this week, as I knew that I wouldn't have any time to do any writing as it got towards the 30th. I learnt that I can actually produce stuff if I tell myself I have to, and that plot can happen out of nowhere if you throw enough red herrings into the plot early on (it turns out to have been handy that the main - dead - character of my story was disgustingly rich, because it allowed me to locate loads of the plot in and around his house, and made it more plausible if I needed to invent a maze or a cellar complex or whatever).

I also learnt the value of a bit of research* - both to make things plausible, and to give you ideas for what might happen next, and realised that possibly without meaning to I stay away from writing romantic subplots and sex scenes.

I had fun, and also just found out about Script Frenzy (another Nano initiative which takes place in June) which I'd like to have a bash at.

But I suppose most of all, I realised that when you read a novel you're just looking at the finished thing. Before I did this, I'd tried to write things that were finished as I went along, like knitting: now, I'll try to approach writing more like building a house, and not be afraid of the scaffolding as it goes up.

Finally, huge thanks to Tiel and Alabaster for propping me - and everyone else - up along the way... see you at the TGIO party! :)

* because I didn't do any

Novel went ok, was a bit sketchy in the beginning but I got there in the end! Story & characters need a lot of work but I'm determined to get back to it once I've got through the pile of things to do I've been ignoring for the past 30 days...woops!

I managed to write my first ever sex scene (eeeeek), which was amusing mostly written on the train and at work - very hard to concentrate and write that in those situations....I've got a bit of a plot mess to clean up thanks to forgetting what I wrote earlier in the story but it's nothing serious thank goodness. Just some polishing. :)

Hopefully once I go off on maternity leave (end Jan) I will have the time to sit on my backside and get the story finished and start editing - hope to get as much done as possible until baby comes along and steals all my time!! ;)

Unexpecteed surprise was that I finished really - didn't have much hope in that last week as I sunk futher and further behind, but I pulled it back - woohoo!

The plot seemed to come from nowhere. I started from a single idea and from the first chapter all sorts of things were happening that I hadn't expected. I sat down each day at the computer thinking. 'I wonder what's going to happen next!' It was all most enjoyable, and except on a couple of days, the plot seemed to construct itself of its own accord. I have gone on writing after I reached 50,000, and I still don't know exactly how it will end.

I think the most valuable thing I have learned is to turn off my inner editor and just write. There are all sorts of inconsistencies: I have changed the names of characters and places in mid-flow, and left in mid air sub-plots that weren't working. But I know what these are, so I can edit it all when I've finished.

I'm looking forward to reading the first draft to find out what I actually wrote!

Like Kay, I came down with the lurgy and spent most of the last week in bed, but I crossed the finishing line, and the novel is taking shape. I've had loads of ideas for sub plots, and twists, so I'll go back to square one and re-do it all, but at least I know what I'm re-doing now.

I've been pleasantly surprised at my ability to sit down and work work work in the evenings, even after a day at work. That's a valuable one to (hopefully) stick with now November has passed - being at work all day is no excuse to do nothing in the evneings.

Also, I realised how little the people around me (non-nanoers) seem to understand this strange obsession
"You're writing a novel?"
"Yes, trying to."
"Is it any good?"
"Well, not really,"
"Then why are you doing it?"

The number of times I've heard that question is quite irritating...

Finally, I've learnt I need creativity and creative, soulful people in my life, perhaps more than I previously thought.

Truly a month of useful lessons learnt.

I can sustain a story over more than 3000 words.
It is fun to have a lot of words to set a scene with.
A first draft should be seen by no-one else but yourself.
'What if?' and 'why not?' are great assistants.
I'm looking forward to editing my story. I know exactly what needs to be done. I have something very concrete to work with, and against.
Any creative act is about whittling the endless possibilities down to one thread, and this nanowrimo is a great help to get you on the road to that.

This year was certainly more of a challenge than the last two years. Partly, because I was doing something "serious" (at least in concept... I went off on plenty of nonsense tangents in the name of word count, of course)... partly because I was quite a bit more busy with work, and the regular travel to Brighton killed my momentum each week.

The novel didn't turn out too terribly, considering. There's a lot of stuff that wouldn't stay in a finished product (some chapters were done almost entirely because of challenges), and some fairly major plot difficulties that would need to be worked out. At the beginning of the month, all I had was a basic idea (MC = immortal) and a very loose structure (consisting of three parts - the first bit, where we don't know the MC is immortal, the second bit where we do, and the third bit where everyone else is dead and he tries to travel to parallel universes). The third bit ended up being a lot shorter than I originally intended - mostly because I found it more difficult to write... a lot more room for creativity, but it was hard to get started without a familiar setting.

There's definitely some bits I'm pleased with, though, and that's the important thing.

I'm a bit disappointed that I let myself fall behind in the middle of the month. And I'm quite proud that I worked my tail off the last four days to get to 50k. All in all, another good experience.

Surprise
1) that I got to the finish line
2) that having more time to write does NOT make the process easier!

Still, having said that, I can't wait till next year...