Australia & New Zealand :: New Zealand

Blogs!

pterodaustrodreams — Thu, 2 Oct 2008 17:47:00 -0700

Starting this again because it got eatened!

Post a link to your blog - whether you'll be posting your actual writing, or talking about it.

Mine is pterodaustro dreams
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http://www.pterodaustrodreams.org

Australia & New Zealand :: New Zealand

HI AGAIN!

andychilton — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:25:25 -0700

Just thought I'd be first to post to the NZ forums, say hi to everyone and see who is around.

So, are you doing it again this year? Are you a newbie? Let us know your intentions.

I suspect I'll be writing either Science Fiction or Fantasy, though I have no idea what I'll be writing about. Those of you that know me, know that I only decide a few days before anyway :-)

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Andrew Chilton - NaNoWriMo '06, '07, SoCNoC '07
KiwiWriters - have fun writing!
NaNo '08 - Untitles

Australia & New Zealand :: New Zealand

A welcome from your Municipal Liaisons.

angrysunbird — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:14:08 -0700

This thread is for getting the lowdown on your friendly neighbourhood MLs, who we are, what we do and the like. What is a Municipal Liaison? We're the volunteers here on the ground that help organise the meetings, parties and general stuff on the ground that Chris Baty hasn't time to do. We're here to help, encourage and generally threaten you until you hit your goal of writing your novel.

So, since I was here first, introductions. I'm angrysunbird, one of Wellington's two MLs. I'm taking over from Kerrynangel, who after handling things for a number of years is stepping down this year. This will be my sixth year trying NaNoWriMo, and I've won every year (with a few close calls). It is also my second time as a ML, having helped in Sydney two years ago (I've actually done Nanowrimo in California, England, Australia and New Zealand, which has to be some kind of record). I tend to write science fiction, but may try something new this year.

Anyway, welcome. I look forward to helping you in any way I can, so contact me or any of us MLs if you need anything. And I look forward to seeing you all at the launch party!
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2003: St Augustine's Chickens (w)
2004: Arcanagencia (w)
2005: The Exile War (w)
2006: The Exile's Return (w)
2007: The March Beyond Progress

Australia & New Zealand :: New Zealand

should you plot or not? Vote here!

ajkiwi — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:19:33 -0700

From a post in the "HI AGAIN!" thread,

>Xephia: Is anyone else planning their plot before they write, or are you planning on writing on the edge of your seat?

Oooo... there was HEATED discussion of this last year on the forum. Some love plotting as:
(a) it gives you a guide of what's happening, so you can follow it without having to gear up the creative juices every morning when you're feeling demotivated (end of 2nd week! Eeek!)
(b) it tends to hold together narrative coherancy somewhat more effectively, should you be trying to commit Art or Something Readable.
(c) it gives you a chance to cheat - sorry, I mean ANTICIPATE the fun of nanowrimo in advance without strictly breaking the rules.
(d) some people simply can't write without it.
(e) even those who can write without it can find it useful to have some direction, esp when exhaustion kicks in.

Others HATE plotting as
(i) When your characters go off and develop their own personalities and behave in totally unexpected ways and try and push the plot in a new direction, you get crippled by them going "off plot" and ruining your November Masterwork. This can significantly reduce motivation for those who like the structure of plots, and I've seen people reduced to stressed, melting down, writer's block ridden wrecks due to plot derailments.
(ii) It blocks the chance to watch your characters lead the story through their developed personalities - plot is, in the words of Chris Baty in "No Plot No Problem", simply what happens as your character moves through time. Watch them react to stuff, write about it. You've got a plot!
(iii) it reduces your ability to have fun, random events during writeoffs- character exchange programs, pulling plot elements from hat competitions
(iv) it somehow seems like cheating and against the Nanowrimo spirit of "no plot, no problem".

So some like it coz it means they can just sit down and write, others hate it because it imposes structure and stops them from just sitting down and writing... if you see what I mean.

I've swung between plotting (and dying from plot paralysis when the character betrayed me!) and just letting it happen (the year I literally drew events out of a hat every day is the opposite extreme, and mad amount of fun). Nowdays I tend to draft up an outline, a couple of characters, and let it all happen. If things move around and people end up in totally new events, that's cool - I have the 2 or 3 key plot events on cards and just move them around on the whiteboard and write the new bits in between!

YMMD.

What do you prefer? What are you going to do this year? Why? reply below...
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2008: A year of Big Fun Scary Things... and the Top Secret Bloke's Cookbook!

Australia & New Zealand :: New Zealand

Christchurch 2008

Avron — Thu, 2 Oct 2008 19:54:08 -0700

Greetings everyone

I go by the pseudonym Avron online, answer to Gareth in the 'real' world, and am hoping to get ML status sometime in the next week or so. Our former ML has shifted up north so we'll be without the biggest proponent of NaNo craziness I think Christchurch is likely to have had.

I realise that there's not likely to be a lot of people around yet but I figured it made sense to start sounding off as it were. Find out who's taking part in the area and more importantly (to me anyway) to find out who is interested in meet-ups this year. The standard seems to have been the Arts Centre, near the reflecting pool, early on a Sunday afternoon. Of course actual meeting place and time will be dependent on other people actually being interested and available. So, if you'd like to spend a little time with people that won't try and tell you you're crazy for wanting to write a novel, let the rest of us know what you're up to.

And if you know anything about what you'll be writing feel free to share that as well. I can't yet as I'm not likely to have a clue until I start writing.
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Australia & New Zealand :: New Zealand

Palmerston North

Womble — Tue, 7 Oct 2008 02:01:55 -0700

Hi guys.
I'm the semi-co-motivator for Palmerston North. That means that I like to be nosy and turn up to the meetings to drink coffee but I'm not the official ML and haven't been talked into actually participating for a few years (no, that isn't a challenge).

I was horrified to see that Christchurch had a thread and not Palmy (just kidding, Chch is awesome) and thought I should get something started up.

Palmy already has quite a good group ready for the next insane November, but we are always ready to support and encourage new people from the Palmerston North/Manawatu area to join in!

I think our meet-ups have been arranged by email so far, so if you are interested then send a NaNoMail to Phyntosia (the actual ML) or myself and we'll get you added to the mailing list.

Hope to see some new faces!
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Australia & New Zealand :: New Zealand

Hamilton?

llamalady96 — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:26:13 -0700

Any Hamilton dwellers?
-xx
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"In music, you can't just escape when something is beautiful" -Ray Charles

Australia & New Zealand :: New Zealand

New Zealand versus Chicago

cottreau — Sat, 4 Oct 2008 16:13:59 -0700

Hey guys,

One of Chicago's ML's decided to ask us if we would like a word war through November against then.

Yea or nay?

I think it's always fun, so I vote yes.
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---
Nanowrimo 2006: "Precautions" - win
SoCNoC 2007: "New Zealand 3037" - win
Nanowrimo 2007: "The Holy Book of Janus" - win
SoCNoC 2008: "The Holy Book of Janus" (to completion!)- win

Australia & New Zealand :: New Zealand

It's SIGN UP A FRIEND week...

ajkiwi — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:15:45 -0700

Righto, there's around 100 kiwis on here at the moment, and about 3 weeks to go: it's time for everyone to recruit at least one more person who hasn't signed up for Nanowrimo!

Post your ideas to challenge friends, etc, here: I've posted signs in my building, and am going to bet a meal out against a mate to get him in! What are you going to do?
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2008: A year of Big Fun Scary Things... and the Top Secret Bloke's Cookbook!

Australia & New Zealand :: New Zealand

Wellington 2008...?

Axsis — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 20:50:01 -0700

Hi! I'm not an ML or anything as exciting and power-laden, just a Wellingtonian who thought that if Palmerston North had a dedicated thread then surely it was about time we had one. (Sorry, Palmerston North.)

I won NaNo in '06 and didn't start last year. It's great rediscovering the forums and preparing to wave goodbye to my life again! Sort of.

Anyone else from Wellington out there? (Surely.)

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http://terriblyexciting.blogspot.com. Don't let the name fool you, though.

Australia & New Zealand :: New Zealand

Auckland '08

Moose-Mayhem — Wed, 8 Oct 2008 15:38:43 -0700

Anyone there yet?
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Australia & New Zealand :: New Zealand

NZ vs New Zealand

ratesjul — Thu, 2 Oct 2008 23:39:32 -0700

Several years ago I found that I showed up differently on the wordcount lists when I searched for NZ vs searching for New Zealand. As a result, I put both in my location. I'd like to make a suggestion to everyone to do the same - It makes it easier for people to search you and show their wordcount against yours.

This does, of course, assume that the forums and/or author search allow that to happen this year, but nonetheless....
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..... Aaaaaaarrgggh!