So who has a plot? Who has a 10-page outline? And who's planning on coming into this year with nothing but a title?
I have something resembling what might become a plot at some point. If I use it, my novel will revolve around a small group of soldiers trying to find their way home at the end of a war. Their side may or may not have lost. And I'm trying to decide if I want to do it from the viewpoint of one of the soldier's journals, or something else.
My other idea is going to be some sort of post-apocalyptic, steampunk novel. I actually have a fairly good idea about the world and setting and all that, but I have no idea what would happen or who the characters would be or what. I've considered meshing the two together, but for what I have planned, that doesn't quite work.
One of those two ideas will, hopefully, be what I'm writing about this year.
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Life + Universe + Everything = 42
60,038 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2009 - 10 27
Thankfully, I do have a plot this year. I almost didn't, as the story I was going to write ended up coming to nothing (or rather, I knew for a fact I'd never get 50,000 words out of it). Instead, I went with an idea that's been in my head for years now. I never did anything with it, really, except that every once in a while I'd take it out, dust it off, and add a little bit more to the mental storyline I had going.
Now I just have to hope that I can get it all written out ^_^
----------All writers are crazy, even if they don't admit to it. Who else has a job where you sit around actually listening to the voices in your head?
64,409 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2009 - 11 18
I'm a lot more prepared this year than I was last year ( which was my first time). For last year's NaNo, I divided the book into six sections and wrote down four or five things I wanted to have happen in each section. I finished, but there was very little continuity between the different sections of the book.
This year ... whew! I have five sections with 20 plot points in each section (for a total of 100), 24 characters named and somewhat described, three kingdoms fleshed out with various locales, and before I'm done, I'll have some character profiles done for each of the six main characters. Plus, since my novel is a pretty straight-forward fantasy, I have spent some time doing research and pulling ideas from places and creatures from other countries' mythology to make it more unique.
I have no idea whether more prep work will make it easier to write, but I do know that I will be more interested in refining and tweaking what I have when December rolls around. Last year's effort was just too much of a hodge-podge for me to want to spend any additional time on it.
----------NaNoWriMo 2008 (win): "A Stacked Deck"
40,167 / 50,000
Oct 23, 2009 - 08 56
I did better in 2007 when I went with a story idea that I hadn't really thought out all the way through. Writing it ended up being almost like reading it because I got to find out what happened to the characters as I was making it up.
This year I'm going to try working on a story idea I had back in college 20+ years ago. I had tried to work on it a couple of times through the years but never went very far into it. I should probably come up with a back-up in case this one peters out, though.
51,063 / 50,000
Oct 23, 2009 - 12 21
> So who has a plot?
Nope.
> Who has a 10-page outline?
Nope.
> And who's planning on coming into this year with nothing but a title
----------I have a title (which is infinitely more then my 34,000 word failure last year--a biography of a pool deck chair seemed like it would write itself, no?) AND I have a "concept"--I am working from the idea that the expression "a rolling stone gathers no moss" means something very different to Romans then it does to Hippies. Thanks, David S
Thanks, David S
40,000 / 50,000
Oct 26, 2009 - 11 30
At this point, I pretty much have nothing but a title and a really vague idea. The title would be "The Untimely Death of Brad" but now I'm not so sure if Brad will actually die or what will happen in the story. All I know is that he plays trumpet and is considering moving to Oregon. We'll see!
45,028 / 50,000
Oct 26, 2009 - 11 55
LoL. You're obviously a Five Iron Frenzy fan.
40,000 / 50,000
Oct 26, 2009 - 15 02
Yep. I thought that song would be interesting as a book for some reason.
4,161 / 50,000
Oct 26, 2009 - 16 56
This is my first time doing this, so here goes.
I have a vague idea of writing something semi-autobiographical (but for all intents and purposes fictional) about a young hard of hearing woman.
I was trying to come up with some characters last night, but I'm having a hard time making them uniquely different enough from the real life players. I tend to be good at writing about myself and not very good at creative writing.
I'm considering writing it from the perspective of the character representing myself in the form of a journal? I hate to admit it but I still love the teen series Princess Diaries.
I was an English literature major, not a creative writing major, so I was pretty much trained to write essays analyzing other people's work to the professors' satisfaction, not coming up with ideas of my own.
Any suggestions? Again, this is my first time, and I have no clue if I'll be able to make it to 50,000 words by the end of the month.
----------RM
50,039 / 50,000
Oct 26, 2009 - 19 16
So who has a plot?
I have a vague plot notion based on a plot summary, but I'm not sure which of the 14 summaries I am choosing to write this year. I may just swing for the fences and go with something I haven't written yet.
Who has a 10-page outline?
I am wishing I had at this point.
And who's planning on coming into this year with nothing but a title?
At this point all I really know is that I'm not writing the vampire one, mostly because I am intimidated by the fanaticism of the Twihards. I am actually probably not going to write the werewolf book (it's a paranormal erotica series) for the same reason. I am happy for the author that she is doing so well, and I am sure she is delighted she has some serious diehard fans out there who feel her fiction series changed their lives (sometimes so much they get tattoos honoring her work).
----------Remember, remember the month of November/ Character, setting, and plot!
O! Loud are thy wishes/ That laundry and dishes
Would not just sit there
Forgot.
53,450 / 50,000
Oct 26, 2009 - 22 10
I have a rough plot, sorta. I also have characters, though my two mains (they're sisters) need a last name.
I'm not really an outliner, though, so it's all in my head at this point. Oh well, it works. :-)
----------Orange County South ML
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51,063 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2009 - 09 11
> Any suggestions?
An English Major is killed by a young hard of hearing woman who leaves behind a copy of the Princess Diaries which is heavily highlighted and annotated with in depth analysis designed to please her professor.
After reading this "clue", the main detective in the case looses his hearing and starts reading David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest obsessively. And eating licorice. Lots of different types of licorice (you will likely need to do some advanced googling to fill in all the licorice facts--it is THE major subplot).
Oh yeah, the narrator is a very dark femme fatale type character who has the x-men like ability to always seem uniquely different from the real life players.
Pretty much writes itself, no? Thanks, David S
----------Thanks, David S
4,161 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2009 - 23 43
Riiiiiiiight.
Perhaps I'll just write something less fictional. Hmmmm. Most would say I'm too young to write a memoir...
FYI, I happen to be a young hard of hearing woman trying to make a sort of self-advocacy effort with my writing. Shameless self-promotion alert: http://youngandhoh.blogspot.com
Wait, why licorice? And really, the detective "looses" his hearing? I am an English major. I simply had to point that out.
----------RM
51,063 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2009 - 09 43
> Perhaps I'll just write something less fictional.
Risky.
For me the key to NaNoWriMo is 50,000 words. I tend to take "less fictional" writing way more seriously and thus it goes much slower + I do more self editing. I try to let my imagination run wild during November in an effort to get to 50,000 as quickly as possible. Any editing or clean up will happen in December...
> Most would say I'm too young to write a memoir...
Who would say this? Anne Frank was 15 right?
> Wait, why licorice?
Exactly.
> And really, the detective "looses" his hearing? I am an English major. I simply had to point that out.
Thank you.
The relationship between the phrase "a loose tongue" and hearing is the second chapter of the book, in which a deranged poet escapes from his attic and tries to rescue the detective from a fate worse then death. Thanks, David S
----------Thanks, David S
4,161 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2009 - 20 54
1) I suppose so. I tend to have a hard time trying not to be a perfectionist. People have been telling me for ages just to write like crazy with wreckless abandon and then edit later. It will probably be a bit of a struggle for me no matter the content, but good practice nonetheless.
2) Anne Frank was just a fifteen-year-old girl who kept a diary and just happened to be a Jew living in Europe during the Holocaust. I doubt her diary would have been published had it not been for the horrific/historic atmosphere.
3) You've lost me on the whole weird detective case by now, and again I must point out the grammatical error: "than" not "then" :P
Does that make me a "grammar nazi"?
----------RM
16,266 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 20 17
1 - Yeah, I've got a rough idea of where I want to go. What I want characters to develop into, but I'm thinking the beauty of this event is to wing it on a few things. At 2,000+ words, I've already had to improvise a little and the feeling is pretty exciting.
2 - It's funny, my wife has been getting on me for not having an outline. I understand the point of having these, but for me, it's like placing my ideas into a box. Sure, I could go as planned, but what happens when I want to change a critical part of my outline? IMO, outlines are outdated the second you get a better idea than the first, though I doubt many would agree. I guess, for me, I consider it 'writing without boundaries'.
3 - Funny thing is, the title was the last thing I decided on.