From Switzerland, with love

Hi there Ally

English speaker Marisa from Affoltern am Albis here, a 2008-NaNoWriMo welcome to you too!

I'm not sure what I'll be writing about yet, but this year I hope to succeed!!!

Here's hoping!

Thanks for kicking off the forums, hope to hear lots from everyone in CH.

Best of luck!
Marisa

Hi Ally and Marisa!

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one living in Switzerland for the NaNo this years. The name's Astray and I am a native speaker of French, though I guess it'd be easier for everyone if I stick to English.

I'm from Geneva - so, students from Geneva, get your butt moving so that we might organize write-in! *bounces*

Anyway, I already know what I'll be writing for NaNo: a fantasy novel, with totally crazy characters. Demons, reapers, humans, a little dhampir - I don't know how I came with it all.

I've already made my plot so... I have had it for more than a year but I never finished it. Also, this is my first NaNo... YAY!

Good luck everyone!

Astray

My characters are insane... does it mean that I'm insane too or merely that I have no control whatsoever over my writing...? (The right answer is: Both^^)

Back again!

Hello all - Miz K here, an American in Fribourg and eagerly anticipating my second year of Swiss NaNo. No clue on plot, characters, etc again but that's how it always goes. Maybe this will be the year I actually prepare a little bit beforehand? Maybe not...

Good luck all!

I'm Mabel and I'm a Malaysian who moved to Switzerland to join her French hubby who is working in Neuchatel. English is my first language, followed by Cantonese & Malay and now I'm brushing up on my French. I used to take French classes back in Kuala Lumpur but after a year's hiatus, my French is rusty and at best, broken. So I'm off for classes these days.

I was part of the whole NNWM craze in 2003 to 2005 and won in 2004 & 2005. I couldn't participate in the previous two years because of work commitments as a subeditor with an international publishing firm in Malaysia.

To be honest, I'm a bit scared of jumping back into the whole 50K thing because of my side commitments at the moment - French and my online business (www.eleraine.etsy.com) so I think I'll just wing it when Nov comes. My 2005 story is still incomplete so I might just decide to finish off that one instead of coming up with a new storyline. :)

Hi, I'm Caroline.

First NaNo for me. Been wanting to do it for a while but never found the motivation till this year.
My mother tongue is French but I will probably end up writing in English as for some strange reason it is easier for me...

Oh, and yes I know what I'll be writing. It is in fact a story I've been thinking about for the past 15 years but I guess it (or I) had to mature before I felt confident enought to write it.

Wow, there's more of us that I thought there would be! Awesome! We should definitely organise a meet up or something, somewhere a little bit central (and so far you're all to the west of the country).

And whaddya know? Nov 1 is a Saturday! Is anyone free that day?

Do we have a regional manager?

~Ally~

Well, I think it'd be great!

With a friend, we try to know who in Geneva is up for the NaNo - putting anouncement on the information boards at University. We also made up an email adress.^^ (Yeah, we're insane)

I think it'll be alright for me to go for a meet up on Nov 1st - well, i don't think I'd be able to go too far. I have a car though.

Where would you like us to meet up?

Also, I don't know if we have a regional manager, since i don't know how can one become a manager...

Raven

ps: Aw, forgive my crappy english... My computer crashed last week and I can't even think stragith - let alone type correctly.

My characters are insane... does it mean that I'm insane too or merely that I have no control whatsoever over my writing...? (The right answer is: Both^^)

Hello you guys!

So, here I am as well. No idea what I'm going to write, nor if I'm going to finish anything. It doesn't look good here because I'm backed up with school and that new girlfriend of mine. (Known as of November 1st only as "the timesink"). So, rationally speaking, there's no way I'm gonna make it to 50k this time.

But really, I'm not feeling very rational right now. Last year I made an unexpected 90k, so this year I shall take the 100k on. Take this, reason, I've never liked you anyway!

Go you, FTH! I hit 30k last year before burning out, but I was totally pleased with it anyway because it was solid 30k, not waffly crap. Not that there's anything wrong with waffly crap ...

Well, so far it seems like I'm the furthest east [apart from Marisa - sorry I missed you out, there!], so anywhere west of Solothurn is probably a good idea. We could try to organise something for Nov 1 in, I dunno, Lausanne (or Geneva if it's more convenient for folks). I'm going on a daytrip this Saturday, so I'll have a peek at what's in the centre for meetings - Starbucks, or something. Anyone got any suggestions of what to see there?

Everyon'e writing very good English, so no worries about apologising - and anyway, people on the continent ALWAYS know more English than they assume. Just wait until you hear me chew my way through German or French, HAHAHAHAHA.

~Ally~

Geneva or Lausanne sounds nice - I live in Geneva sooooo... But really, it's up to you guys.

Ally, as long as there is tea or coffee, there's no problem at all. But I don't really know Lausanne so...

As for you speaking German... I don't even speak it myself so I won't be the one making fun of you. (Even if I'm a native-speaker of French, I never laughed at anyone trying to speak it since I know it's an horrible language to learn.)

My characters are insane... does it mean that I'm insane too or merely that I have no control whatsoever over my writing...? (The right answer is: Both^^)

I took French for 9 years, and German for 8 weeks, and y'know what? They're both about as useful as each other in a crisis. BAADFGKLD.

At least my novel is entirely in English. Useful, as it's a fanfic based on a Japanese game. Haw haw. Languages, they kill me.

~Ally~

Ahoi zäme!

ok, this was my last attempt on Swiss German, I promise. Even after 3+ years in Zurich, and being German, I just don't get my tongue around it. Right now, I'm struggling with the decision in which language to write. At first I thought English, hoping it would keep my inner editor in check--and translating it later actually is a great editing device. But then again, I would have to set the story in an English-speaking country, and I'm afraid I just don't know enough about everyday life in the US or Great Brittain to do that. So, it will probably be German. Or maybe bilingual.
Any other first timers around here?

Grace

Grüze! Or however they spell it, LOL.

You could TOTALLY write an English language story set in Germany. Maybe the characters ARE speaking German, and you're translating it. Or maybe they're English/American? Or maybe they're Germans in America, discovering that California really is EXACTLY like you see on TV.

The words are just tools, no matter what the language - you can apply them to anything.

~Ally~

It really shouldn't matter what language you write in. Your inner editor will scream wolf at you the entire time no matter what. The important thing is to just keep writing and ignoring the bastard. Pardon the tone, but he is one :P

Just keep in mind that it doesn't matter what you write, just that you do write, and if it's just you writing "fish fish fish fish" fifty thousand times, so be it! (And you won't be writing fish that many times, it's boring. You'll be *forced* to come up with something more interesting)

Just try to always challenge yourself, don't look at what the others are doing and go at your own pace. As long as your own pace is fast enough, if it isn't, then write faster!

Okay, so that wasn't much help. Still, I wish you all the best of all lucks and lots of fiery, naive determination to get you through!

Ay Ay, Grace, this is my first NaNo too... And I totally agree with Ally: you don't have to speak the same language as your characters.

I'm writing a story withz a friend set in Sydney, Australia, and some of our charas are native speakers of french. But we don't use french and english alternatively - it'd be a pain, honestly. And not exactly logical.

Though it raises an interesting question... Because i don't know which language my charas are supposed to speak - and I sometimes have some difficulties to stick to french while writing.

*climbs on her desk* I swear I'll write my whole NaNo in French no matter how much my inner want to write in English - I have to teach my other self WHO is the boss.^^

My characters are insane... does it mean that I'm insane too or merely that I have no control whatsoever over my writing...? (The right answer is: Both^^)

hi all, thanks for the encouragement, I can definitely use it. For now, I decided to write in German. You are right, the inner editor will scream and kick fulltime anyway, but shouting back abuse will be so much easier in German. Or maybe I will be coldly polite instead. Anyway, I will not let her (or him?) stop me. *strikes heroic pose*
Speaking of heroic: do you actually tell "everyone" you are writing a novel? I do realize it might be a good strategy to keep you from backing out, but I start giggling when I try, it sounds so crazy/presumptuous/insane. Guess I have to go practice:
I am writing a novel. I am writing a novel. I am writing a novel. (repeat 10000 times)

good night, and good luck.
grace

Hi guys,
I'm Sophie, studying in Basel and living in the French border region - but as I'm Swiss I'd rather join this group than the French one :-) This is my first NaNoWriMo and I'm really thrilled - what a great idea that I happened to just stumbled upon while browsing a book on how to write scientific papers. There's been a budding project in my head for quite some time now but I always shoved it back as "there's no time anyway". So this seems like a great opportunity to just jump in and make the time. I'm living not so far away from the canton Solothurn (as it borders France) so if there would be some get-together I'd try to make it there (always a question though, as the family also wants its part of me :-) Looking forward to get to know you all, and have a great week end -
Sophie

Very quickly - Nov 1 is a Catholic holiday, so Lausanne is a no-go for a meetup. If anyone's still interested - how about Geneva? Starbucks opens until 10pm, and it's all Protestant, all the time.

Ally

Grüezi mittenand (or something like that)

I'm Mika, I'm in Nidwalden and I'm British but also speak French and some German. This is my first NaNo, after watching my online friends do it for the past 3 years and always having a good excuse not to myself. This time I decided it was now or never. So here I am, with no ideas or anything. :-)

Grace > I tell everyone - even my grand parents... though they looked at me as if I were crazy.^^

Ally > That'd be just fine with me. (Living in Geneva I should complain... I totally forgot about shops eing closed in catholic countries... )

Also, I speak in the name of a friend of mine who is doing the NaNo too. So you already have 2 Wrimos in Geneva.^^

My characters are insane... does it mean that I'm insane too or merely that I have no control whatsoever over my writing...? (The right answer is: Both^^)

Okay, so I hath returned to the Intarwebz thanks to a teeny internet cafe in Luzern (best city in Switzerland y/y?). What I thought might be good, if the first meeting on Nov 1 goes ahead and is vaguely in the realms of successful, then each Saturday we could organise a meeting in a different city. That way everyone has to travel a little bit if they so choose to.

So what's the interest? If I declared Geneva to be the location of the kick-off party, would anyone come? Dragging laptops/notepads&pens with them, possibly from as far afield as Zurich? It can be a little daunting meeting people for the first time, true, but we're all absolutely bonkers to be doing NaNo anyway, so why not? Can you cast your votes now:

+ YES I WANT TO MEET EVERYONE IN GENEVA AND DRINK COFFEE AT STARBUCKS AND ADMIRE THE PRETTY FOUNTAIN
- NO YOU'RE PROBABLY ALL PSYCHOTIC SERIAL KILLERS WHO WILL BLUDGEON ME TO DEATH WITH YOUR LAPTOPS

Also, I'm thinking of applying for Municipal Liason for Switzerland. Any objections?

Ally

I really like your idea Ally! Honestly - well, I don't if I would be able to come every staurday but I don't think I'll have that much work at university anyway.

+ YES I WANT TO MEET EVERYONE IN GENEVA AND DRINK COFFEE AT STARBUCKS AND ADMIRE THE PRETTY FOUNTAIN

I don't have any objection regarding you being our Municipal Liaison as you are working pretty hard for us. (I will even vote for you if votes are required.^^)

My characters are insane... does it mean that I'm insane too or merely that I have no control whatsoever over my writing...? (The right answer is: Both^^)

I'm in Lausanne, a fourth-time nano-er. I'd love to meet up, but can't travel far. If someone organizes a write-in in Lausanne (formally or informally) I will come!

Oh, and IF anyone is interested in meeting in Lausanne, I was going to suggest Manora as they don't mind loiterers and the coffee is affordable. Let me know!

Hi from Interlaken!

I just sent in my ML application form (talk about cutting it fine), so hopefully we'll get goodies for finishing! If I get the part, I'll also be able to email you guys directly about meetups and such.

Bandanna - can you come to the first meeting in Geneva? That's not TOO far down the road.

Astray-chan - yay! I'll see you there! We'll have to work out details a little bit closer to the time.

Everyone else - are you coming or not? Geneva's the first week, but the week after we could do Bern or Zürich or somewhere else that's much less westerly. We'll all have a chance to pay a fortune.

Ally

Guess I won't have the time to come to meets. I'm swamped up with projects to begin with and probably shouldn't even think about doing this...

I can probably make a meet-up or two! Don't give up, FTH, I need you around for competing against again this year!

Hehe, give up. That's funny. No matter how much work I have you'll stand no chance against my massive onslaught of words, Miz K. I shall crush you with my new romance novel!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeew! ;-)

Ally:

- NO YOU'RE PROBABLY ALL PSYCHOTIC SERIAL KILLERS WHO WILL BLUDGEON ME TO DEATH WITH YOUR LAPTOPS
(Not that I object to this behaviour per se, but I do have a family to think of.)
Nice idea though.