Right you lot!
(Why am I starting to feel like the Sergeant-Major in It Ain't Half Hot, Mum?)
Those of you who've been here before know about the buddy thing. For the newbies: you can buddy up with one or several people, and said buddies, once formally linked, appear on your profile page.
(You have all found your profile pages and filled in the boxes, haven't you?)
Good.
Buddies support you, cry with you, laugh with you, and encourage you to stop surfing/eating/cleaning the house and get back to writing. They can help with plot disasters, wordless mornings and i've-just-deleted-the-entire-day's-writing moments.
Anyway, there are no formal rules for buddying - it's not compulsory, and the forum is always here for chat and support if you need it. But if you feel you'd like to have more direct nanomail contact with one or more people, now's the time to speak up.
Post here if you'd like to go for it, maybe with a note of the genre you write in and how often you're likely to be in touch (useful for your potential buddy to know if you have broadband or have to go to your mate's one evening a week in order to log on). If there's anyone here that's under 18, could you please let myself or Alabaster know, as well, for two reasons; sometimes we meet in pubs and we might need to ascertain their age policy beforehand (Kay's 'no under 23s' pub experience in Dublin sounds very alarming - not having kids, that sort of stuff doesn't cross my radar), and if you want to buddy with someone closer to your age (or not) we can point you in the right direction.
Once we've got a few people signed on, Alabaster and I can get on with hooking you up. Please also know if you've already buddied independently, so we don't tread on toes.
You have until Wednesday evening.
Ready...set...GO!
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The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of your pants to the seat of the chair - Anon
61,091 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2007 - 17 11
Jane Austen wrote, as the opening line of Pride and Prejudice[*] that:
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single person in composition of a nanowrimo novel, must be in want of a buddy."
This now, alas, applies to me, since my current/former buddy has succumbed to the wily machinations of her boyfriend-now-husband, who I blame totally for her pregnancy. But for him, it seems doubtful that she would now have a 3 month-old sprog. And, whatever other delightful characteristics of said sprog, she is hardly likely to be conducive to the production of great works of nano literature, nor buddying either.
Thus, I declare myself most likely in want[**] of a buddy. OTOH, not just anybuddy will do: a super-rich, millionaire buddy who will pay me £1 per word would be an ideal incentive to write lots of words ... :-) [Ok, my former buddy didn't do that - she just encouraged me. Which I found very encouraging, nevetheless, despite the absence of £50K.]
For my part, I don't promise to be any use at all.
Oh, my genre:
I dunno. Currently there's:
(a) A 17 year old human boy, who is being pursued by a lovesick elf maiden, but who really fancies:
(b) A 16 year old human girl, who is now an acolyte of
(c) An omnipotent, omniscient Goddess, incarnated in a Secret Temple
[(c) is quite a difficult character to write -- I don't have a lot of experience of omniscient[***] goddesses, although I've met a few people who seem to think ... er, where was I?]
(d) An elven general, head of the elven secret police, who is on a mission to locate and eliminate a band of pirates (actually, he's the dad of (e) who is
(e) A half-elf maiden, who has a crush on (b) (who is quite straight, BTW, and not sure about this at all)
etc.
But all this might change before the 1st November, and I might write something interesting instead. :-)
Chro.
[*] Probably not a good idea to use this quote in homework.
[**] In the Jane Austen sense of the word.
[***] I.e. "know it all"
3,900 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2007 - 02 32
I'm up for a buddy who's also writing historical fiction....please...
Jane
50,026 / 50,000
Oct 30, 2007 - 03 07
A buddy would be good... My November is already looking decidedly manic... I obviously didn't check my diary when I signed up this year...
Someone to help cope with the sleep depravation that comes with writing a fanatasy novel... :-)
42,344 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2007 - 07 42
For the record, buddying up is what got me through last year, or at least with time to spare. So I have to tell all of you that buddying is a great idea. Whether you sort it out through us or just start nanomailing someone and asking if they fancy a race (or a shoulder to cry on depending on current performance levels).
But yeah, last year, me and my buddy ended up racing to the finish, only to decide to cross the line holding hands simultaneously (whilst listening to chariots of fire no less).
I actually cried, and it was one of the most surrealistically beautiful electronically mediated experiences of my life time.
So yeah, everybody who's thinking about it should go for it. Newbies can latch onto an old hand (or to each other, depending on just how scared they are right now).
For the record, I'm a confusing mess generically speaking, and I'm likely to be manic and busy all November even before I start novelling. But if anyone wants a buddy with sleep deprivation at four in the morning every morning, who then rushes to work only to rush back and carry on typing. I may be the one.
Anybody with any sense should probably flee.
4,205 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2007 - 11 01
I'm in. Last year the only reason I finished was that I was dragged kicking and screaming through about 15k (and bribed with much vodka). It seems like a sound idea to repeat it this year.
As for me and my Nano: I have broadband and will be online as long as the net is behaving. I expect to be at a few of the meetings (although not all). I also have a Nano friendly house. My novel is extremely cliched fantasy of the bizzare kind (half chipmunk anyone?). I also expect that the last 15k will be written in the last 3 nights (as it was last year).
31,202 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2007 - 06 43
Hello
Being a nano-newbie I'm feeling quite confused about all these side-bits, never-mind writing the actual novel, so a buddy would be fantastic. I have no idea how I'm going to be able to pull this off since November is turning into the busiest month on record, so any support would be wonderful. I have broadband so connection is pretty constant.
As for genre, goodness... The tale I'm attempting to tell moves between East Germany just after the war and rural Sweden in the 70s.
Is this all I need to do?
637 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2007 - 07 27
Cheers from the colonies!!
Have friends in B&H and am keen to be in UK often... Would love to buddy up with whomever. Newbie, so be gentle!
Dana [male version
42,615 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2007 - 12 41
Hmmm.
The newbies are writing historical and the oldsters fantasy (to make it less complicated I'm just going to stick 'all-genre' novels under the umbrella of fantasy. It couldn't happen for real, it's not scifi, therefore its fantasy.) (I can feel the arguments building...)
we might need a bit of compromise here.
Forget the match-genres idea, it's clearly not going to work.
I'm going to have a stiff gin and come back with some buddy suggestions. These will go out via nanomail. If, in the meantime, you want to get on and contact each other, go ahead. Multi-buddy scenarios are allowed...
50,072 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2007 - 13 23
Hi
am also a newbie and don't have a clue, my idea revolves around a middle aged mumsy medium with an extreme goth sidekick, the medium's powers are real... the goth sidekick is sceptical, Sculley to her Mulder. not sure if this makes it fantasy as no wizards involved (at this stage, who knows uif they might show up later on when i get desperate!)
a buddy would be good, am near preston park station if geography is relevant....
coo (female)
13,522 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2007 - 13 54
I wasn't going to sign up for buddying as I am (a) too far away and (b) probably too busy to be of use to anyone anyway.
However, I would like to make Tielserrath an honourary buddy of mine on account of her/him being a fellow acloholic...
42,615 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2007 - 14 11
One should always check the profile page of one's fellow alcoholics before referring to them as her/him.
(Hic!)
50,054 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2007 - 15 21
Sounds like a plan, stans.
As a new kid, I'd definitely like some hands to hold through this.
I'm writing what I think would constitute as mainstream, though has the potential to turn into a lot of pretentious rubbish, so you might have to bear with me on that and steer me away from getting completely terrible. I havn't planned because I don't think it would help me, it'd probably all go out the window when I start (and I've been just too damn lazy) and only picked a name for my MC on October 30th. Really not sure what I'm letting myself in for, but I'm up for a challenge and something to make my brain tick over faster than usual.
Anybody able to tell me to stop making excuses and write, listen to me ranting from time to time, and in turn allow me to offer any help I can, (even if it is escorting you to the pub for some liquid soothing) would be most welcomed. (I'm 18 by the way, in Horsham)
13,522 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2007 - 06 26
Oops... I forgot these things can have photos - and that some people actually put photos of themselves in there!
(In my defence, I can think of many MSN Messenger contacts who have photos of their girlfriends rather than themselves in their profiles. But ours is not to reason why...)
25,621 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2007 - 06 44
I'm attempting this for the second time with a novel about global warming. It's set in 2036/7. I'm not very experinced with forums etc. and would love to buddy up with someone.
50,597 / 50,000
Nov 10, 2007 - 04 36
Well - a buddy might provide a few smiles during long hours at the keyboard. I'm old (lots of life experience), slightly lame (NOT due to a sports injury), and was born in America but my passport says 'British'. I love the underdog, and question why I'm doing all this writing with no hope of making a pin! Perhaps that's part of the underdog thing.
Anyway, if you can put up with a jaded old woman with a penchant for developing the subtle art of procrastination - let me know. I'll check you out.