Go Team Toronto!

hey team toronto..welcome back on the blog!
Hi Olivia, I'm HIlary
I'm a newby too -kind of...but seasoned..with 1 Nano completed alone, back in May....looking forward to trying it with a group. I wonder if it'll be more difficult with all the social temptations?? hmmm
With the last novel, I had NO idea of what it would be about, up to about 3 days before, and then a character came to me, and she started to grow (initially based on real events) and then the word count pressure just kept forcing new twists and turns...and voila! There it was! A novel! in just 28 days! -214 pages!!
I"m working on the re-writes now, and have set myself a deadline of completing the first re-writes before Nov1~~!! -and I'm off to NFLD for a week in early october....hoping to find a plot for Nov.1 there, while I"m taking photos! :-)
hil

Nice to meet you Hillary.

That's amazing =] I am so nervous about not hitting the deadline but hearing that other people have done it certainly is inspirational. Can I ask what your story was about or what genre you write?

Silvia ici. Bah, so it is my first year doing this though I know friends who have done and won last year so I thought I would try and give it a shot this year. I really don't have a clue on what I'm going to write yet xD

My name is Caitlin,

I've been at this a few years now. The first year I went off on Katimavik halfway through November and I stopped writing to pursue that. I won my second year and last year I got over half done but couldn't balance it properly with school and ended up short - though I wrote all the way through the month so it was a halfway success.

I tend to plan pretty carefully and then it gets all squirrelly as I write and I usually ditch the plan. I like planning - it gets me in the 'mood' for when November rolls around because I've been thinking of story ideas for awhile.

Good to meet everyone :)

There is fiction in the space between.

Nice to meet you both.

What type of stories are you thinking of writing? Or Genre.

Hey guys, just saying hi! This is my third NaNo, and i had a blast doing it last year.. especially the competition with Chicago and New York.

I'm really excited for this year, although i have absolutely no idea what i'm going to be writing about. D:

-no editing AT ALL allowed during the month...-I found the book about it all really helpful "No Plot No Problem"
(I accidentally wrote "no POT" just then LOL)
Anyway, I started with a vague idea of a concept..and just being forced to write 1700 words a day instigated new twists and turns along the way..The new ideas get worked in, and later you can go back and re-work areas where the story changed in the process..
I've been re-reading/re-working my novel this month, (that I wrote in May) and it's really hilarious in places (Its supposed to be!) ...I might try and get it published when I've worked out the kinks...unless the new November one turns out to be better :-)
i have NO idea what I'll write about in November..no idea on the theme, the concept or anything! I"m hoping the trip to NFLD next week (the 6th) will instill me with new creative vigour...
or at least some nice photos :-)
hil

better not to have a clue..leaves the options wide open! :-)
hil

I'm writing a Vampire story! [rawr!]

I've had this idea for 5 years now when a random dream introduced me to my characters. I've had a lot of dreams about them and this story since then so I figure it's about time I get off my butt and write it. Though it's been edited a lot to make it a story with viable plot.

I have a few clues and generally keep my mind working on scenes but I try not to write more down than a basic plot and a little info about my characters. This helps me to keep the story evolving and shaping as it goes, I feel I would restrict it otherwise.

Aisley Crosse
-emancipate your secrets

http://aisley-crosse.livejournal.com

vampires! Very timely...seems to be a popular topic these days! ...I found that having no pre-conceived ideas about expectations, etc on the first novel really helped to make it just a fun project, and I didn't worry about whether it was "good" etc..
The "book" says that if you have a serious plan for a novel already, don't use it because it can bog you down with expectations..
but you can always steer away from your original project in the middle of the month eh? :-)
kill off all the vampires and introduce aliens? :-)
hil

This is my third Nano, I took a break last year because I kept failing! :( Sometimes I think I am not cracked out to write Nano-style, but hope springs eternal I suppose. This year I'm leaving behind my fantasy/scifi tendencies to write some historical fiction. *crosses fingers*

Allo!

Man, I should check this on the weekends.

I usually have a beginning and then an end fleshed out in my head. Then I let it write itself with making sure it stays on direction towards the end. If that makes sense. :)

I'm also writing a vampire novel. A science fiction, mystery novel, where the main protagonist is a vampire.

Science fiction, I can do. Mystery and vampire genres I cannot, so I have no idea what will happen this nano. Hopefully Deej will put up the intro thread so we can introduce ourselves. :D

Hi Toronto gang!

Hope you all have a good nano season this year :D

To answer Kaleidoscope.e's question: this year I have been working on an outline and have about 1/5 of my novel plotted out so far.

This is the first year I've done an outline. Usually I only have a premise and a few scenes thought out. The outline makes for an interesting change.

-----------------------------------------------------
LJ: gruberman.livejournal.com
AIM: NoGuitarMercy

You guys are so organized with your outlines, and your plots, and stuff...

I don't know how other people do them, but I've just been writing out notes for each chapter/scene on index cards.

It's been a great idea generator so far, actually.

-----------------------------------------------------
LJ: gruberman.livejournal.com
AIM: NoGuitarMercy

hey elumir...feeling like I need a hoilday from motherhood so I can get my own life happening...ROLL ON NOVEMBER! I will have the permission I need to block out all other calls !!! :-)
My son will have to do his own homework, his own bedtime stories....
AHHHHH
:-)
I'm going to NFLD next week to have some "percolating time" ...and take some photos..so I can prepare for November...I HOPE :-)
November is usually a month where i do nothing and mope about the grey skies, and turn into a sloth ...or get a job to punish myself for not being productive..
THIS YEAR WILL BE DIFFERENT!
hil

ahh what a challenge! I don't know how I'd go about writing something I didn't know about..UGH RESEARCH??? SOUNDS LIKE HOMEWORK! :-) and I get enough of that with my son's grade 7 pile of work! :-)
vampires...interesting that it's become such a hot topic these days..since buffy??
lol
hil

ugh! OUtlines?? The pressure..
I"m going to stop reading this blog...it's getting me depressed that I'm behind on my novel prep or something..
but I know I didn't do any prep last time, so I hope it will work like magic again :-)
hil

the last one was a comedy novel with some murder thrown in :-0 ..what genre does that make it??
:-)
not sure what this one will be...perhaps more serious since I'm stewing about my son's tons of homework and the pressure of trying to pressure another human being to get his work done..
ARGH! procrastinators drive me crazy! :-)
and he was late being born too :-)
hil

Hi Team Toronto!

Im looking forward to my first nanowrimo!

How many of you out there are published writers?

-Chad

not too many, if I understand correctly..I went to the first meeting last month, ..and I think there was 1...
I'm going to get there though! I HAVE DECIDED! :-)
hil

I'm with you Hil! I promise to get there too. :)

What sort of meeting is it that you mentioned?

It was posted last month on the website before they cleared it for the new season..it was a coffee evening meet the gang night..was fun, everyone was talking! :-) and I felt the energy of group writers at large! Actually I've never met a group of people who live like I do -all creativity no math :-) - so it felt great...like I'd found a new family!
There will be more meet-ups posted soon, I heard...I hope I dont miss them while I'm in NFLD next week!
:-)
This meet-up was at Timothy's on the Danforth....it was for TO downtown writers..
Maybe they have one in Kitchener? Not sure..I"m new around here! :-)
hil

Actually, I had the idea a few years back and wrote it in a Warcraft setting (yes, as in the video game by Blizzard, I wrote fanfic for that). I only got as far as two chapters, and then I scrapped it because mystery stories are hard for me.

So I'm resurrecting the idea and writing it from scratch. The original had the detective as a ghoul, and his 'watson' as a night elf with the client being the dwarven community.

I didn't want to use a ghoul in the updated version, because, well, I needed something that could blend into humanity so I chose a vampire instead.

Last year I tackled a genre I wasn't comfortable with (Fantasy Western. Fantasy, yes. Western? No.) so I figured why not do the same this year. Although I don't plan on writing as many words...

You know, it's fun reading about your first initial impression of us. *laugh*

Of course, Hilary first sat with Lith, and she has energy all right.

There are writing sessions held all the time, and the writing sessions in the EAST END are held usually on Tuesdays at the Timothy's on Danforth near the Carrot Common.

The writing sessions are pretty quiet though, more writing than talking, although I try and change that ratio, and get disciplined by the ML's.

There are other writing sessions, but I only made it to one in Mississauga. The word war captain is from there so there is bound to be a few writing sessions out west. :)

However, I am unaware about Kitchener...

yeh, but those are after nov 1, right?? ISn't there anything/where for us BEFORE the Nov 1 starting post...to help prepare and vent emotions in this no-mans-or-womans-land of pre-NaNo?
:-)
(AKA I just want a coffee evening to chat without typing :-)
hil

Haha; usually I do next to no planning.

It's a fun change of pace.

-----------------------------------------------------
LJ: gruberman.livejournal.com
AIM: NoGuitarMercy

who said planning?? I just want to have a fun chat night again :-)
hil

OHHHH!

Well, I dunno! You have to talk to the ML's about that one! :D

We could always just have an impromptu one and see if the ML's will go and make it official. I also have boardgame nights which I invite Nano people and others to come and hang out at my house for the evening and we play boardgames. :D Of course, there will probably only be one more before November and then I clamp down on doing anything during November.