Introductions

Hey folks. I'm John and this is my fifth year doing NaNoWriMo. (Sounds like we're "writers anonymous" or something!)

My birthday's exactly the same date as Lottie's (which means I'm 38 soon, too) and was trained as a molecular biologist. But beyond that we're not identical at all, oh no. :-)

I work at in the Education Group at Cambridge University Press, where I'm Managing Editor. I may have enticed a couple of colleagues to join in the madness this year (hi guys, if you're out there!).

I tend to write SF or urban fantasy. This year, it's a love-amidst-rebellion-and-war tale inspired by the story of poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

See you all at the meets!

John

I'm Hilary and in for my second year - writing murder again I suspect :-)

Hi all,

I'm Dave (or yoda, entirely up to you), and improbably this is my sixth time doing NaNo, hoping to bump my 80% success rate up to 83.3% with this year's effort. This is my second year with the Cambridge group having done a jaunt in the south west and three (Word War Winning) years in Oxford (remember, I'm potentially still a traitor for that).

I tend to write 'Michael Bay' novels - lots and lots of pretty 'splodey bits with not much in the way of a plot - this is probably a testament to the sheer amount of films I watch/own. Although once Steve in Oxford accused me of writing something halfway decent (Dreamweaver). I do still need to finish that off though, so it could go The Way of the Bay in the end.

This year's NaNo will be one of several choices, which will be made sometime before the kick-off party. Possibly. Likely suspects are:
1). Life Cycle - the novel adaptation of my ScriptFrenzy project from April (also unfinished but with definite plot)
2). Drunk Tank - possibly set in the future, centres around an alcoholic ex-cop detective trying to solve a murder
3). Emissaries - definitely sci-fi/fantasy - about a futuristic race of peacekeepers trying to stop a war between two races on the planet they've landed on/been exiled to.

Less likely suspects are:
4). Untitled Zombie Project - I've never done a zombie project and after OD-ing on 'The Walking Dead', 'Zombieland' (next week!) and many other similar books, films, etc. this year I'm half tempted to just go for one.
5). Blizzard - idea that's been kicking around since a school project about a town suddenly becoming trapped in winter with the arrival of a hooded stranger (to be played by 'Jim Carrey' in the school project...)
6). Wing 17 - sci-fi again - my version of Battlestar Galactica, but the bad guys are aliens. More like Titan A.E.

Not much more to say but see you at the meetings:
Pub meets - I'll be one of the drunk ones
Write-ins - I'll be the sleeping one*

yoda

*except on the last day, when having already finished in the early, wee hours I inexplicably can write 3,000 words in two hours without trying. Mental blocks, I have them.

----------
2004: Merging of Worlds: The Rising Darkness (32K)
2005: 8-I (51K)
2006: Dreamweaver (53K)
2007: Timeshift (51K)
2008: 8-I: Second Iteration (53K)
2009: Emissaries (??)

Hi,

I'm Rod, I'm going to be risking life and limb by trying nano again this year.

I work for the NHS as a tech guy, probably because the full job title goes of the end of the swipe card.

I tend to write SF, although I haven't quite decided what I am doing this year yet (there's a whole month to do that!)

Rod

Hi,
I'm Ann. This will be my second go at Nanowrimo. Last year's was a sort of high gothic historical romance. No idea what this one will be like yet.

howdy -

I'm Anne-Lise. This is my sixth NaNo, my third as official Municipal Liaison (did some unofficial MLy stuff beforehand).

From Lottie's Welcome message, you've probably gathered that I'm a student at the moment! Taking a bit of a career break to retrain in something completely different following nearly a decade in the City....

My stuff tends to be towards the SF end of the spectrum; I seem to specialise in 130K+ beasts with no dialogue, named characters, or paragraphs (occasionally handwritten). This year I have grand plans to produce something that involves people, with names, talking to one another! ;-)

See y'all at the meets,
A-L

Anne-Lise [ML for Europe::England::Cambridge]
2009: valkyrie
2008: penumbra: the mighty scree
2007: the umbran alliance
2006: adaptation
2005: a life in the day
2004: trinity

Hi, I'm Sarah. This is my second year of Nano. I got to 50000 words last year, but didn't finish the novel. My aim is to actually finish the one I write this year :-)

Currently chasing plot butterflies.

Hi, I'm John. This is my first time doing nano. I've written a lot of short stories in the past but I've never finished a novel, so I'm hoping nano will help me to finally do that. I write mostly science fiction. I've got a couple of ideas I'm choosing between for the novel subject, but I'm leaning towards one about space pirates.

Hi all,

I'm Andrew/Slowbergine/various other mildly pejorative epithets. I can't remember how many years I've done NaNo, but it's more than once. [Edit: Apparently, thrice!]
I'm going to be writing about zombies, time travellers, and beards, with a cameo planned for our favourite Dromaeosauridae.

Hi,

I'm Caroline, and this will be my third attempt at Nano. I have won the previous two years, though I only just scraped through the first time.

I had been planning to write a sequel to last year's fairytale style novel as I had loads of fun with that, but following a conversation in the chat room earlier this year, I might go for 'ultra-violent chick lit' instead. I'll have to decide when I'm about to start. The fairytale is already planned in my head though, and the violent chick lit type thing will require totally winging it.

Also, very unexpectedly, this year I've managed to actually get a bit of a life (as in a real one, not just the made up one in my head) so I might struggle to fit it all in this year...

Caroline

2007: Fulfilling Destiny - 50k (unfinished)
2008: Frozen 81k
2009: Fire

Hello, I'm Martha, this is the fifth time for me, and I'm going to pretend that I'll be writing literary fiction for now.
My method has always been to plan scantily if at all, and it's worked previous years. I'm more excited than I care to mention about being in the jolly super duper land of Scrivener this year, and also having an alphasmart Neo. And also having my sleep back at night as my second( and last) baby is nearly three years old.
I love the outsidey bits of books as much as the insidey bits, and I'm a book artist when I'm not writing.

I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters.
Frank Lloyd Wright

Banish the Guilt Monkeys

Hello NaNoers,

I don't share my real name on the inter-web, so feel free to use Prof.Becket (not a professor, by the way; it's a combination of a teacher's nickname for me and an ancestral surname) or a shortened version that you're particularly fond of, if you so wish.

I'm a university student, studying Optometry. The upshot of this is, I'm now in Cambridge during the day, so I might actually be going to some of the events during my third year of NaNoWriMo! If you still want a non-NaNovelling NaNoer there, that is...

hi everyone,

My name is Jami and this is my third nano. I finished nano for the last two years and now trying to revised the stories.

I have a couple Ideas on what I want to write but haven't narrowed them down yet.

I hope to make it to more write-in this year. I have upgrated my computer and hope it works.

Take care,
Snarfgirl2007

Bad decisions make good stories.

Hi, I'm Anne (obviously), not to be confused with Anne-Lise - for a start I write books with dozens of named characters and lots of dialogue! ;)

This will be my fourth year of some kind of involvement in NaNoWriMo; previously I participated under the username redfox1593. The first two years I did it by-the-book, with shiny new stories written from scratch, then last year I did a totally unofficial one, editing a big chunk of the 2006 mess! I also write the web code for the UK Regional Word War online scoreboard, which makes our MLs' lives a bit easier by automated the number-crunching.

This year I'm doing a technically unofficial stint, because I want to rewrite the second half of that same book from scratch - and that will need at least 50k. It's an alternate history fantasy set in Elizabethan England, and you can read all about it (including an excerpt from Chapter 1) on my profile. Note that the excerpt is heavily revised and polished - there is no way I would inflict my shoddy first drafts on the public!

When not writing, I'm a senior web developer (soon to be web production manager) on the Ensembl genome browser. If you watched the recent BBC series "The Secret Life of Twins", you will have seen my work very briefly - the chromosome diagram with red and blue triangles marking genetic changes was generated by code written by me and my team :)

Hi, I'm Ian. Feel free to call me Yoz, either is cool. :)

I'm a software developer (now also release manager) for a small software company in Ipswich. This is my third year at NaNo, my second with Cambridge. I have no idea what to write this year, but my previous two years have both been fantasy (in fact, same universe, same story timeline). I have no minions this year, but do have more hair to make up. :P

Apologies for just disappearing last year. :P Looking forward to seeing you guys again. :]

- Yoz -

2007: The Dust on the Wind - 50K
2008: The Rise of King Drust - 50K
2009: Terrebus Rundstadt: From Child to Lord

Hey, I'm Tom, and this is my third NaNo. I had an interminable epic fantasy trilogy that took me through 07 and my unofficial 08 stint, but I'm ditching that this time round in favour of horror-fantasy fun in a "Ray Bradbury meets Little Britain with a side of Charmed" type way. Only more detective-fictiony than that.

As for me I'm mostly unemployed and looking for work, and interesting in a number of other ways you'll have to talk to me about in person :) Here's hoping I don't find a job till after Nov!

Heya! I'm Larilie (like it says on the tin-bar-wodjamacallit-thigy up there,) I'm 16 (17 when NaNo starts, though! making myself feel older. Weird. Ok!) This is my first NaNo, so I'm sort of wondering what the flip I'm letting myself in for! I don't actually live in Cambridge (But it's as close as we're going to get!) And I use brackets (oh so much) (Too much) (as you can see) (unless you can't see)

Listen, three eyes, don't try to outweird me, I've had stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal

Hello there!

I'm Gill and this'll be my third Nano - I got nowhere near winning the first year, but last year thanks to a lot of epic word war support from all my Cambridge Nano buddies I made it to the end. Woot!

At 25 I've hit the first of what I'm sure will be many "mid-life crises" (read: excuses for being irresponsible and having adventures) and I spent the first half of this year stomping round Africa and will spend a good bit of next year stomping round the Philippines. I'm working for an education charity in the meantime, which unfortunately means I will be spending most of November in Morecambe where we have a big project going on, so I'm not sure how often I'll be able to make it to write-ins or the pub :-( But you'll certainly see me at the parties!

I've got a couple of ideas that I might work on - both sci-fi, and both with strong anthropological flavours to them, although I may opt for something less serious as I tend to have more success in Nano with outrageousness.

Hopefully see y'all soon!

Gill

2007 - Faerydust (23k)
2008 - Black and White (51k)
2009 - No Sign Of Life (?)

Wow, so many people replied already! So good to see you. It would take far too long to greet you all individually so forgive me for not doing so.

If you've done Nano before, welcome back. It's great to see that we didn't manage to scare you off last year.

First-timers, welcome to Nanowrimo, I really hope you enjoy it and that you get everything you want from it. Please take a good look around the site, I know it can be a little overwhelming at first, but there's lots of useful, and possibly interesting too, stuff around to look at.

I'll be starting up some threads about meets and other things over the next couple of days, in the meantime, feel free to start up threads of your own if you want to. Also if you have any questions and are too shy to ask them on the forum (or simply think they don't merit the size of the audience) please don't hesitate to PM me or e-mail me via the link on the contacts page.

That's about it for now, if you notice anything wrong with this forum or the rest of the site - ie something doesn't work properly for you - please let me know and I'll pass it on to the powers that be.

Lottie

I'll sleep when I'm dead.

What-ho!
I'm Rik, second year at Nano. Been writing for years, but never as rapidly as I did last year, and after hitting the target 50K I went on to finish the first draft 125k novel by mid-January. That one is still being edited, but I'm hoping to get another one up and running this year. Same world, different characters.

Hi Im tracy_tp ( my web name!) and im a newbie!!

Ive just started a creative writing course with the OU. I found out about this thru the power of twitter, so here I am!

Im a sci fi geek so thats what ill be writing...how far i get tho...we will have to wait and see!

I also dont live in cambs, but about 15 miles away...

Any tips gratefully received!! and good to meet you all!!

A215 - creative writing - open university
www.twitter.com/tracy_tp

Hello everyone,

I'm Valerie and this is my second NaNo, but I've been writing for a very long time now, though mainly in the fan fiction realm.

I work at the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute down in Hinxton on genetics research, though I live in Cambridge itself. I'm originally from Belgium but learned English in the States, so I'm the one with a Germanic tinged American accent.

At this point I'm thinking of writing a crime novel, the idea for which is already vaguely sketched out, but between now and November, I may still change my mind and go with something more sci-fi or fantasy related, which is my usual style. I just want to try something new and I really like the idea I have. Whether or not there's enough there to get to 50,000 words, though, is what I need to figure out in the next few weeks.

Val

2008: Artificial Angel - 66,126 words
2009: We Were Brothers -

Hey, I'm Callum, third year materials science undergraduate, first time NaNo (although I've lurked the forums for the last two years!). Anyone else here at/near King's, or involved with the materials department?

I'm sure I'm not the only one who'll have stress coming out of their eyeballs with uni work and NaNo at the same time. Plenty of write-ins etc. I know, but anyone feels the need for a break, NaNoMail me, for I have access to all the drinks of the King's bar :)

Hi guys, I'm Marcus, or Mark, or whatever seems appropriate to you at the time.

This is my second NaNo, and it's going to be more difficult than the first in every possible way.
Firstly, last year I had a very clear idea of what I was going to write, down so far as having chapter synopses. This year I haven't the foggiest.
Secondly, I've just started university (at Reading - I know I'm further away from you guys, but Reading doesn't have a group and London is big and scary). This means I've actually got to be getting on with work and when I'm not getting on with work I'm going to be expected to be going out. "Sorry guys, I'm staying in and doing NaNo..." Hopefully not, but we'll have to see xD
And thirdly, I have hardly written ANYTHING since I finished my novel in February.

Expect a prequel or a spin-off from someone seriously uninspired at the moment!
Marcus

"The greatest gift bestowed on a human is not beauty, intelligence or wealth. It's the ability to make a story live."
- Jeremy Clarkson

"If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it."
- Albert Einstein

Hi everyone,

I'm new to NaNoWriMo, although I've been writing bits and pieces since I was teeny. I'm now 24, living in Cambridge and working in London with Artichoke Productions, who profuce big arts projects (like a massive spider in Liverpool last year, and currently One & Other - Antony Gormley's fourth plinth thingummy). I mainly write fantasy, and have more experience of writing scripts than novels, but I have an idea that I'd really like to get down without having the luxury of procrastinating. Because I work in London I'll only be able to make some of the weekend write ins. Just a warning - I'm really rather shy when confronted with groups of people I don't know, so please bear with me if I'm a little quiet at first!

Hi, this is my first post to the forums, so I hope I'm doing it right!
I go by the name LuckyBlackCat online because my parents/teachers/other sensible people have drummed it into me not to give out my name online. I am completely new to NaNoWriMo, but am up for any kind of writing challenge. I'm 15, so will have fun doing this at the same time as my GSCE courses.
I've written several fanfiction stories and won a few short story competitions, so I thought why not try this?
I have no idea what my novel will be about. I'm brainstorming and going with the best idea come up with.It's not the ideas I have trouble with, it's working out what the good ones are.
I hope I'll have fun, or if not have something I can be proud of at the end!

Hi! I'm Jimminy, I've been nanoing in london for the past two years (won one, lost one) and I've just come up to study classics. I tend to write slightly depressing stories about people who have their lives ruined and attempt to salvage them only to fail in the end, usually by dying. I think it might be time for a happy ending, but it was trying to plan ahead that screwed me up last year, so I'll probs just go with whatever comes. Definitely looking forward to november!!!

Hello, I'm Sara, I'm 21 and this is my - oh god - sixth consecutive year of Nano. I still haven't made a definite decision on whether I'm actually doing it or not yet since I have finals and a dissertation and probably really really shouldn't be, but Nano is a habit that's hard to break! Anyway, whether or not I start, middle or finish, I'm looking forward to having some great times with everyone doing it.

*waves* Also, to Callum, Hello from Clare college! Fourth year Oriental Studies. Remind me why we're doing this?

Hi all

You can call me Chip or Paul either is fine. :)

This will be the 2nd time ive started NaNo the first i think i fell at the first hurdle....well maybe managed it to 2nd. So this time i want to prove to myself i can do it.

Ive taken a few creative writing courses the last one was A215 with the O.U. and i have been scribling in various forms since i was about 9. I guess like a lot of people i love writing stories whether they be shorts or fanfic or something longer ( hopefully in this case at least 50k)

I hope i can find a few writing buddies to share some ideas with and also to give encouragement to the writers on this forum.

I like sci-fi and fantasy then anything that takes my fancy from Dickens to Stephenie Meyer.

So good luck to you all and hope to get to know you.