I have a novel that's been cooking for about a year, including several drafts. However, I recently wrote an outline for it (yes, I know that's backwards) and discovered that I need to completely re-write it. Would this qualify as 'starting from scratch' for the purposes of Nanowrimo? What do you guys think? -- MK
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Don't believe everything you think
0 / 50,000
oct. 10, 2008 - 10 40
Nanowrimo isn't really about the rules and the only one who would really know is you. If you think it is starting from scratch, then it is. :-)
50,026 / 50,000
oct. 10, 2008 - 12 49
I agree with Cricket. I think rewriting an existing idea is completely in the spirit of NaNoWriMo. After all, the point is FINISHING something, anything! I'll be working in the same vein as you and finishing an existing idea, complete with totally re-writing some chapters I've already made a draft on.
I think that as long as you're actually putting words on the page, you can write whatever your heart desires!
Peace,
- K -
53,819 / 50,000
oct. 10, 2008 - 13 13
Hey, as long as everything in this version of your novel is written in November, I'd say you aren't even fudging.
I really need to figure out what my novel this year is going to be about - all I have is a title: Blood and Kittens . I dare anybody to ask for the story behind that! (But his name is Artemus and he bites my ankles worse than Tiny Badger *Hi Marta!*)
----------Silver
'03 - The Socratic Dilemma *
'04 - Murder Limited *
'05 - Tissinambra
'06 - Binder's Art *
'07 - Quest for the Silver Smelt *
'08 - Blood and Kittens
* Winner
5,024 / 50,000
oct. 10, 2008 - 14 58
I'm doing the same thing this year... dusting off an idea that I began to write several years ago. I had written a portion of a draft, but I am scrapping all previous work and approaching the idea afresh. As far as I know, that counts for NaNo, and I'm certainly counting mine!
----------Burgerlicious
NaNo 2007: An Autumn Sacrifice (Winner! Yay!)
NaNo 2008: Towers of Silence
999,999 / 50,000
oct. 10, 2008 - 16 47
I've got that same problem: times three.
See, I'm looking for four novels/plotlines (one of the tricks I use to boost my wordcount into the stratosphere). And three of the four are plots that I've either already done something with and now need to completely rewrite or something that I roughed out years ago, but never committed to writing. I found an old writing notebook of mine from 1999, which is where I'm pulling most of the ideas from.
The last one is going to be tough. It's actually nothing more than a diary. Well two diaries. The theme is that an apparently happily married couple can be very much more than that below the surface, and this is a transcript of the diaries of each of the people. The only problem, of course, is that I've never been a woman, so that aspect may be very hard for me to write.
Maybe I'll ask my wife to collaborate. But not until December.
----------97,613 / 50,000
oct. 10, 2008 - 17 25
The last one is going to be tough. It's actually nothing more than a diary. Well two diaries. The theme is that an apparently happily married couple can be very much more than that below the surface, and this is a transcript of the diaries of each of the people. The only problem, of course, is that I've never been a woman, so that aspect may be very hard for me to write.
Maybe I'll ask my wife to collaborate. But not until December.
Oh that is interesting C!
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All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney
2006 - Leaving Despair - 250+k words - Winner
----------2007 - Continuity - 425+k words - Winner
2008 - CMOACS - Please let me finish this year
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[img]http://www.sufferinstudios.com/nano/Lushguinsig.jpg[/img]
All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney
2006 - Leaving Despair - 250+k words - Winner
2007 - Continuity - 425+k words - Winner
20
58,095 / 50,000
oct. 10, 2008 - 18 31
This is the official ruling from the FAQ:
Yes.
This sounds like a dumb, arbitrary rule, we know. But bringing a half-finished manuscript into NaNoWriMo all but guarantees a miserable month. You'll care about the characters and story too much to write with the gleeful, anything-goes approach that makes NaNoWriMo such a creative rush. Give yourself the gift of a clean slate, and you'll tap into realms of imagination and intuition that are out-of-reach when working on pre-existing manuscripts.
Outlines and plot notes are very much encouraged, and can be started months ahead of the actual novel-writing adventure. Previously written prose, though, is punishable by death.
Although this is true for everyone, hatchlings should especially take this to heart.
----------ML Captain of Capital Ideas
Austin, TX Municipal Liaison 2004-2008
NaNoWriMo Winner 2002-2008
0 / 50,000
oct. 10, 2008 - 22 26
Yes.
This sounds like a dumb, arbitrary rule, we know. But bringing a half-finished manuscript into NaNoWriMo all but guarantees a miserable month. You'll care about the characters and story too much to write with the gleeful, anything-goes approach that makes NaNoWriMo such a creative rush. Give yourself the gift of a clean slate, and you'll tap into realms of imagination and intuition that are out-of-reach when working on pre-existing manuscripts.
Outlines and plot notes are very much encouraged, and can be started months ahead of the actual novel-writing adventure. Previously written prose, though, is punishable by death.
Although this is true for everyone, hatchlings should especially take this to heart.
I guess I qualify as a 'hatchling,' having never done this before. I suppose I will just have to see how it goes. I've joined the 'rebels' forum, and if the book doesn't feel 'new' after this re-write, I won't submit it. However, in the spirit of the thing, I will definitely be starting from scratch, with a mental clean slate, and am looking forward to that! From the outline I'm working on, it's already clear that the main character is going to be substantially different, and I can't wait to see what she'll do.
MK
----------Don't believe everything you think
50,616 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2008 - 07 15
Last year I did a novel from scratch, but I just passed the 50,000 mark (somewhere in the realm of 52,000 before it was said and done) and although I was pleased with the finished project, I felt guilty because it was so short. I attribute this, in part, to the fact that it wasn't really the novel I wanted to write at the time - just the one I knew I could finish.
My plan this year was to pick up a novel I started twice and never got more than halfway through the first of three parts. To keep it fresh and avoid retreading stuff I already wrote, though, I was going to pick up this novel at the second of three parts, in the hopes that maybe I would get through parts 2 and 3 and this would give me the push I need to finish part 1.
But I haven't made up my mind yet. And reading this, it makes me wonder if coming up with another fresh idea would be a better way to go.
Any thoughts? This is only my second year of NaNoWriMo, so I appreciate any advice from the seniors here. Is it easier to start from scratch, even if there's another half-finished idea in your head?
50,424 / 50,000
oct. 15, 2008 - 12 20
But I haven't made up my mind yet. And reading this, it makes me wonder if coming up with another fresh idea would be a better way to go.
Any thoughts? This is only my second year of NaNoWriMo, so I appreciate any advice from the seniors here. Is it easier to start from scratch, even if there's another half-finished idea in your head?
I've always come to November 1st with whatever idea seems to have the most possibility in my mind at that time. If you're looking at something you've previously written and feeling narrowed down with regards to characters and plot, then I vote drop it and start something new. However, if you believe they still have endless possibilities, then I say go for it.
I think the true spirit behind the "no previously written prose" rule is that it is limiting in almost every case to walk in with a story that has already "been somewhere" - has a history, a past that can force its future twists and turns. BUT that's not always true and only the author knows whether his or her imagination is truly being limited or not. If you know for sure that you can write 50K on the idea presently considered, then run with it!
Just remember that there's (almost) nothing worse than reaching day 10 and deciding that you have to start over completely. And that sometimes there's nothing better than forcing your characters to act out of character in response to a challenge or prod from your fellow Nano'er. Sometimes the best stuff in a book gets written on challenge alone and you discover something of real depth in your characters or plot, simply because you didn't know where else to go with them!
----------I just want to mention that I DID donate - I donated in October - and never got my halo. I'm not a schmoe!
0 / 50,000
oct. 15, 2008 - 15 55
I recommend a fresh idea. If you've already worked heavily on a novel, why do a crappy nano-style 30-day draft at this point? Subsequent drafts deserve more attention than speed writing would provide it.
Dale
5,024 / 50,000
oct. 16, 2008 - 19 55
I can see a point to it. Sometimes, you gave something a good try, but it puttered out and you couldn't complete it. Trashing the first attempt, you put the idea on the back burner for a while, and then one day down the road, you think, that was a pretty good idea, but maybe I'll tweak it a bit here and there and give it a different approach. So, starting back at the beginning, you write it again. You're not using anything that you wrote before, and your goal is just to get the idea transformed into one entire story on paper... which would still be more successful than the first attempt was.
----------Burgerlicious
NaNo 2007: An Autumn Sacrifice (Winner! Yay!)
NaNo 2008: Towers of Silence
58,095 / 50,000
oct. 17, 2008 - 06 19
On the other hand, if you have tried the same idea over and over, isn't it about time to give it a rest? NaNoWriMo isn't about eating your vegetables -- it's about taking a wild romp with your imagination. Wild romps require freedom. Why drag yourself down with an old idea when you could soar with a new one?
Honestly, I have your best interests at heart. Everyone thinks they can do this - but I have seen far too many folks return to a previously written novel (even when they don't reuse any words) and peter out part way through the month. Choosing an idea without all that history gives you room to explore and take chances you won't if you're sticking to something you know too well.
----------ML Captain of Capital Ideas
Austin, TX Municipal Liaison 2004-2008
NaNoWriMo Winner 2002-2008
50,243 / 50,000
oct. 25, 2008 - 05 17
I dunno. My first year, I tackled a story that I'd tried to write a few times, but I could only manage to get maybe 10 chapters in before it just goes kaputz. I kept getting bogged down on all the details, on going back and rewriting older chapters while working on newer ones, etc.
Come NaNo, I just kept the concept, the characters, the basic overall outcome goal, and threw everything else out and started from the ground up and just started writing.
The ending result was wildly different than how I thought it was going to go, how I'd tried to make it go before, and... it worked. Way better. It came off the page, it was breathing, the characters developed unique twists and complexities, and it didn't go the way I'd planned, but it went better. The plot came together on its own once it was free from me trying to make it fit into the outline I had for it.
I think it all depends on exactly what someone's doing as far as a rewrite goes. I kept none of my previous scenes- in fact, I don't think anything I'd written before even fit in anywhere once I was done. If someone's trying to follow the same course as they've tried before and stick to the same plot and follow the same principles and they've finished writing the book before but didn't like the outcome, yeah, that's stickier and I wouldn't consider that starting from scratch.
If you can't get more than a few chapters in before it dries up and just goes stale, and the biggest problem is getting bogged down in bitty details and losing the grip on the larger picture, and you toss out everything except the basic foundations, then IMHO, that's starting from scratch. It's like, you have an idea that not only never got off the ground, it barely even left the hangar, and you've got to do a major overhaul on the craft before it can even be seen as maybe flightworthy.
----------"There is a technical term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The term is 'idiot.'"
-- S.M. Sterling