Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

Is there anyone in/near Chesterifled?

sarmorrow — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:26:59 +0000

I'm a single Mum with 2 young kids and no babysitting and I find it impossible to get to any real life meets.
Is there anyone near me who'd like to meet up for a cuppa or something?
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Sarah
My Business
Read my Nano2009 - feedback always appreciated but may be ignored.

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

Online Meets

Beccalicious — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:16:08 +0000

Hello All

As you know this year I am helping Vicky out and part of that is to take control of the online meets. These meets are going to be ran via MSN messenger and hosted by me.

The point of the online meets is not only to give a chance for people to boast about their growing word count, but also to share ideas, ask questions and have a good rant. The other main purpose of them are word wars.

For those who do not know, a word war is a timed event in which for a set time we all add to our nanowrimo and then once the time is up we will tell the group how many words we have written. Technically the person with the most words wins, but of course everyone is a winner because they’ve boosted that word count!

After a fair bit of deliberation I have decided it will be worth holding two online meets a week. These will be on Tuesdays at 7.30pm to 9.30pm on Saturdays at 5.00pm-7.00pm (slightly earlier so our young writers can join in, and anyone going out has time to get ready and of course those of us who watch the X factor!).

If you all add me to your MSN/ Live messenger service: Beccalicious AT gmail.com (and let me know who you are!). I will invite those online just before the meet starts.

I hope these times and days are okay. If you can’t make it at those times, I expect people will be online for unofficial chats and also if you are on deviantArt.com the #nanowrimo chat room is currently rammed with people who are always up for word wars (hence my word count being high).

Feel free to ask me any questions!

Becca

ps. This does not include tonight!
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http://beccalicious.deviantart.com/
Winner 2008

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

Meets this weekend

Beccalicious — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:03:34 +0000

Hello all

Tomorrows online meet will be cancelled as I won't be online.

Also, Sundays meet at the Quad is still on at 7pm. However, it was suggested last week that we move on to the Llug and Lettuce, which we will do from 8pm.

Hope to see you all on Sunday!

Becca
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http://beccalicious.deviantart.com/
Winner 2008

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

How far behind are you?

Thorsfriend — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:10:16 +0000

Hi.

Well its only day 7 and already I am so far behind its unbelievable, I think I should be writing 50000/30=1667, so 1667 words a day so 7x1667=11669 and have so far only managed to type up 8185, suppose it doesnt help that I have to handwrite my story and then type it up, so everything takes twice as long to do, tried just typing it straight away but wasnt at all happy with what I had written so I went back to handwriting and then typing.

So just thought would see if anyone else was having the same problem.

Ta and happy writing.

Andrea
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Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

Word War Banter Thread

chickenchargrill — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:55:53 +0000

Banter
Participants are encouraged to engage in good-natured banter with participants from other regions in the various Word War Banter threads. Banter should remain good-natured and within the bounds of good-sportsmanship. The use of 'smileys' in messages is actively encouraged.
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mlforderby@googlemail.com

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

Regional Word War Sign Up Thread

chickenchargrill — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:53:53 +0000

Please only post the once to show that you'll be participating.
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mlforderby@googlemail.com

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

"Dares ya!"

Prosody — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:52:25 +0000

I recently found my file from last year of dares to include in the NaNovel and thought I'd rip my favourites from it to start off a new dares thread.

Feel free to add your own new/fave dares :

- your MC helps someone (or something) give birth

- write a paragraph without using the letter 'e'

- 1,000,000 people die at the same time

- A god dies

- A demon is born

- Have one of your characters go through a complete personality change for one (or more) chapter(s) andthen switch back (without explanation)

- Include playdough in your story

- Include the old cliche of slipping on banana peel

- have one of your characters put a fist through a window

- give a detailed description of a character's desk/room, even if they never go there or don't have one

- 2 Paragraphs in second person future tense.

Cheers,
Chris

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Christopher Barker
Derby, United Kingdom
http://www.fictionchris.com

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

Online meets?

firefly. — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:24:59 +0000

Are we having them this year? Just because it makes me sad to think that you’ll all be having fun at the real meets without me :’(

Plus they totally helped last year (even though I only got to 25k).

I’m free any night of the week except Tuesdays
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I thought I'd begin by reading a poem by Shakespeare, but then I thought, why should I? He never reads any of mine.
~Spike Milligan

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

Regional word war? - the canvas

chickenchargrill — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:24:02 +0000

Anyone up for it?

A quick run down of what it is for the newbies...

"... the regional word war is a competition designed to get as many people to 50k as possible, it gives them another reason to keep writing and not drop out, as they'd be letting the team down rather than just themselves. It's all based on an average word count system so the size of the region has minimal effect on the outcome, it depends more on the dedication of the team's members. Every year the competition gets bigger and every year we get a lot of positive feedback from people who really enjoy the element of competition and manage to win due to the extra incentive, so please do consider taking part."

We took part last year and it was a lot of fun. It really did help with keeping up to date with word counts, so all those in favour say, 'Aye!'
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mlforderby@googlemail.com

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

Regional Word War Rules

chickenchargrill — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:54:50 +0000

2009 Rules:
Eligibility
You must live within the UK or Ireland, and be relatively close to the region you wish to represent.
Sign-ups
Your ML will provide a "Word War Sign Up” thread on your local forum to track word count. Participants will post ONCE in the Word War Sign Up thread by 8pm on 10th November stating that they wish to participate. There is a minimum team size of five participants. If less than five people sign-up to take part, your ML has the option of joining forces with another region in order to increase the team size. If your ML is unwilling or unable to do so and you still wish to take part, you may go direct to another region and ask to join their team, but please give your ML time to arrange for the entire team to join another one before you do this.

The Regional Word War
You must update your word count every two days, on the even numbered days of the month, by 8pm. If you are unable to update your count, contact your ML. During the last partial week (26th –– 29th Nov), you must update your word count daily, by 8pm. If this isn't possible, contact your ML immediately.
If you do not update your word count on four consecutive occasions (8 days) it will be assumed that you have given up and you will be removed from the war (unless you already have more than 50k). If you know that you’re going to be away and won’t be able to update, let your ML know so that we can prevent this automatic removal. (The final date that non-updaters will be removed is the 24th Nov, after this date, all surviving participants will remain in the competition.)
You must input your final (verified) word count by midnight on 30th November. After midnight, you will no longer be able to update your count.
Scoring
You may drop out of the Regional Word War at any time up to 8pm on 20th November without affecting your region's count. If you do not drop out by messaging either myself or your ML, you will be in for the remainder of the competition, NO MATTER WHAT!
If, as a result of automatic elimination or voluntary removal, your team falls below five members, your ML will be given 48 hours to arrange to join another team (this may be extended slightly on negotiation with myself, this is the first time we've had this rule and I'm not sure how it's going to work yet) after which the team will be disqualified. Up to 8pm on the 24th of November, any remaining team members who wish to continue to take part can join one of the other teams (with that team's permission). After this deadline all teams will be fixed.

During the Regional Word War there will be a regularly updated leader board on an external web site. I'll post a link to this board to each competing region as soon as I've confirmed it.
Only the official word count from the "Word War Sign Up" threads on the NaNoWriMo web site will be considered when computing the final score.

After midnight on 30th November, I will ask the other MLs from competing regions (or their designated representatives) to verify the figures before declaring a winner.

Results
There will be two prizes:
The city/region with the highest average word count.
The city/region with the highest proportion of winners from the starting participants.
The MLs will compare results, and when all regions agree, the results will be posted on the NaNo boards.

Our God-like powers
MLs decide what "good-sportsmanship" means.
We reserve the right to remove folks from the competition for any violation of the rules and guidelines listed above.
MLs are the final authority in any dispute or question about the rules.

Trophies
Each team member receives a personalised winner's certificate, plus goodies to be determined...
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mlforderby@googlemail.com

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

Sat in the Quad

Beccalicious — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:38:34 +0000

Hello

I just reached 8k so have decided to take a break. I'm actually sat in the Quad at the moment, taking advantage of their free wifi and amazing pots of tea which have lasted 3 cups worth for £1.55! The music is all jazzy and cool I feel like a right pretentious little writer sat in here with my netbook! It would probably be classier if my netbook wasn't bright pink mind!

Anyhow, everyone should have started now and i was just wondering how people are getting on? I have a habit of going into gear 5 in my first week and then slowing down in the middle before realising I still have 10k to finish by the end. I managed a fair bit yesterday as I got up early on a Sunday and just started tapping away. I am now on chapter 2 and starting to slow down already.

Who is coming to tonights meet in the Library? Should be good fun!

See you later

Becca- who is clearly distracting herself instead of writing!
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http://beccalicious.deviantart.com/
Winner 2008

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

Hello Derbyshire!

Beccalicious — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:24:04 +0000

Hey everyone!

Who is here and ready for madness? Last year was my first year and despite the pain, it was totally worth it and now I am actually prepared for round two.

So who is here this year and ready for word wars?
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http://beccalicious.deviantart.com/
Winner 2008

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

Useful software and stuff...

Prosody — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:48:08 +0000

Hi guys,
I thought I'd make this thread to put all the useful software that can help during the month of November.

Report Card Spreadsheets :

Open Office - http://www.polishcat.com/NaNoReportCardv1.3.ods
Excel Format - http://www.truckpoetry.net/search/label/NaNoWriMo%20author%20resources

Q10
Q10 is a simple piece of writing software that is just a single .exe file and as such can be carried from computer to computer on a memory stick.

http://www.baara.com/q10/

Momentum Writer
This software doesn't let you backspace or scroll through what you have written you can only carry on writing, great for NaNoWriMo. :)

http://www.blackobelisksoftware.com/momentumwriter/index.html

yWriter
yWriter is a popular piece of software that lets you write your novel as individual chapters rather than one long slab of text. I think you can then swap the scenes/chapters round easily if needed.

http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html

SuperNoteCard
Similar to yWriter and available for both Windows and OSX

http://www.mindola.com/snc/

Scrivener
Scrivener appears to be Mac only but is very popular, it reminds me of a sort of FinalDraft or Celtx but for novels, there is however a very similar program for Windows called Storybox (next).

http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html

StoryBox
This is similar to the Scrivener app and can be tried for free with just some nag screens, you can buy the software and it will remove those screens too.

http://www.storyboxsoftware.com/

WriteMonkey
Fullscreen writing, no bells or whistles.

http://writemonkey.com/

WritersCafe
Looks interesting but it costs, not tried it.

http://www.writerscafe.co.uk/

WritersTools (Open Office Add-ons)
Useful things if you are using Open Office.

http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/writertools

Mind mapping software
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Temptation Blocker
This allows you to block certain applications from running for a period of time (internet explorer etc), to access the applications before the time runs out you have to type in a long code.
Should make it a bit easier to resist the temptation to surf.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/temptblocker/

There are loads more things out there, anyone has any to share please do so.

Cheers,
Chris

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Christopher Barker
Derby, United Kingdom
http://www.fictionchris.com

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

Plots and stuff

firefly. — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:41:31 +0000

I was just wondering if anyone has come up with a plot yet. I know I said I was going to wing it this year but I came up with something that I decided to go with. It’s pretty silly, but that’s what I was going for because last year it was murder trying to write a proper plot. Plus, while it’s technically sci-fi, I can change the genre whenever I get bored... And I get to use pirates whenever I want.

So yeah, this is my plot synopsis;

“A classic twenty-something loser, Jamie Phelps has been cursed with a life of mediocrity and bad luck. A college drop-out, living out of his parents basement he’s unable to keep a steady job and is terminally repellent to the opposite sex. To say that he hasn’t got an awful lot going for him would be a gross understatement.

So, you can imagine his shock when he accidentally discovers the secret of inter-dimensional travel; a Atari ST, Monkey Island, faulty electrics and a large glass of lukewarm fanta. Unluckily for him, before he can announce his findings to the world, and finally change his fortunes, he’s going to have to find his way back through the constantly unstable and shifting rift in the fabric of realty that he has created.

And so begins the most epic journey that a loser has ever been called upon to make…”

Anyone else got a plot/idea they want to share?

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I thought I'd begin by reading a poem by Shakespeare, but then I thought, why should I? He never reads any of mine.
~Spike Milligan

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

New? Read this first :-)

chickenchargrill — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:45:20 +0000

An official welcome from your ML here. Yet another year of novelling madness is here in less than two weeks.

As you can see, the NaNoWriMo site cover everything from genre specific forums, age specific forums, celebration forums, help forums, writing groups.... So many to choose from when you have a problem or you just want to chat.

So what's this local forum offering?

These are your regional forums (join officially by going to My NaNoWriMo>My Regions> Set home region to Europe :: England :: Derbyshire.

By doing that you will be able to receive emails from me! :) These'll either contain info about upcoming meets or be cheerleading messages urging you on to make it through to 50,000 words with some tips and advice along the way.

Okay, so you've done that? All signed up? So what do you get apart from emails from me?

Well you get the use of this here forum. Here you can congratulate yourself, moan, whatever you want. (Within reason of course, don't forget this is a family friendly forum and any posts with swearing, name calling or anything rude will be reported. I don't like sending people to the naughty step so please play nice while you're here.)

We have an intro thread, feel free to say hi to everyone. A dares thread for when you're stuck for plot and want ideas. A google calander with all upcoming events on. Oh and a picture of me so you all know what I look like.

You want help - ask here.
You want to celebrate some success with your novel - do so here.
You just want to know other people from Derbyshire are doing this too - start up a conversation here.

If we really don't know the answer, we'll know where to point you.

A little about me - I'm the official ML for the region and this'll be my 4th year in this role. Also my 5th year writing a novel, all of which are in drawers, on hard drives or gmail docs. Editing some of it from time to time, but most of all I do this for myself, as the challenge. I also run a writing group in Derby, and to make things simple for myself, the first two of the meets are combined NaNo/Scribes sessions. I'm a freelance proofreader and editorial assistant for a mag. Mum of two and lots going on in life at the mo. Which brings me on to...

My unofficial co-ML this year is Beccalicious. She would be official had we realised there was a cut-off point for MLs signing up for this year. So, apart from not being able to send emails and do the secret handshake, she will be acting as second go to point, helping with meets both online and in person.

I will be adding to this thread with answers to commonly asked questions and such over the next couple of weeks. For now, pull up a chair, make yourself comfy and join in the chat.
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mlforderby@googlemail.com

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

TGIO party

chickenchargrill — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:10:17 +0000

Okay, okay, we've not even started NaNo yet. But we learn from our mistakes so I'm going to tell everyone to choose between Friday 4th December and Saturday 5th for the post NaNo meet/drinks/meal/other.

We'll decide what to do nearer the time, just want to get the date booked.
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mlforderby@googlemail.com

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

Photos from previous years

Prosody — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:43:03 +0000

Hi Guys and Gals,
As mentioned in the other thread here are links to the photos posted on the Derbyshire NaNoWriMo Group on Facebook.

2007
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=69148&id=1410850933

2008 - Metting Number 1
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=76221&id=1410850933

2008 - Meeting Number 2
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=76683&id=1410850933

2008 - Meeting Number 3
http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=1410850933#/album.php?aid=77245&id...

Hope this doesn't scare anyone away. :)

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Christopher Barker
Derby, United Kingdom
http://www.fictionchris.com

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

First two meets announced!!! Intro and Meet 1

chickenchargrill — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:02:01 +0000

Now, just to let you know I have linked both to a writing group. So there will be non NaNo folk there. I've done this for a reason though. Firstly, to make sure that the intro meet isn't just me in a crowded pub waiting for people to try and find me. Secondly, I'm hoping doing it this way will attract more NaNo participants from the area. Please don't let this put you off coming. It will be mostly wrimos past and present. The sessions will be free to NaNo participants, but I will be putting a jar on the table for people to donate to the cost of the room. Room doesn't cost much for the evening so anything raised over that will be donated to the official NaNo fund.

For those of you on Facebook here are the linkies...

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159081646011&ref=share

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=152687305874&ref=share

Intro session -

'Writing a novel in a month'
Date: Monday, 19 October 2009
Time: 19:00 - 21:00
Location:
Derby Central Library - Learning Suite
Description
This session is to tie in with this years National Novel Month. Although I stress you do NOT need to be participating to come to this.

The session will cover ways to get those word counts up and how to get 50,000 words written in one month. Sound scary?

We're talking first draft here, so it's not quite as scary as it sounds.

We'll also be covering how to find inspiration and you'll all be given a pack to help get those ideas down and plan out how to write that book.

Open to all, whether or not you're writing a novel, already in the middle of one, or not quite ready to put pen to paper. Whether you're a Scribes member already or if you only want to come to the NaNo linked sessions.

The session itself will be 2 hours in the library (7-9pm) then we normally head to a pub afterwards for anyone who would like to join us.

Hope to see you there,

Vicky

Date: Monday, 02 November 2009
Time: 19:00 - 22:00
Location: Derby Central Library - Learning Suite
Description
This session is to tie in with this years National Novel Writing Month. Although I stress you do NOT need to be participating to come to this.

This is the second part and an intro to NaNoWriMo for all newbies. Everyone who attends will receive a goody bag full of NaNo goodness.

Map - View Larger Map

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=DE1+1HS&sl...

Entrance to Learning Suite is to the rear of Derby Central Library on Strand.

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mlforderby@googlemail.com

Europe :: England :: Derbyshire

Meets

chickenchargrill — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:27:36 +0000

Good days and places type discussion...

I should be able to get any evening apart from Wednesdays.

Can I have a show of hands from those interested in meets and what days of the week are good for you during NaNo.

Vicky
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mlforderby@googlemail.com