Got your genre/plot/characters yet?

Thanks for that link!

My genre is historical supernatural thriller. I have my characters sketched out and am currently plotting.

Another technique I've found helpful and actually used back the first time I did NaNo was this one:

Notecarding Under Pressure by Holly Lisle.

It's good to use if you find yourself in a crunch.

Thanks for the links. They should prove quite helpful in the coming future.

I've already got the basics plotted out in my head. The big characters are there. The conflict is there. The general direction is set, and I've even got an ending. The tough part comes from getting everything to flow together in a smooth manner.

I already WROTE the bugger once. (Swearing -- are we allowed to swear? Not sure I can do this thing otherwise.) This isn't a second draft --more like a second shot at a first draft. On that first try the plot went out of control and the characters turned into Lego people.

It's pretty confusing, having a bunch of stuff already written. I know my book's going to jam up and sputter if I try to use it all, but I don't want to just junk everything either.

Since I'm planning on writing part two of my novel from last year - yeah, I have my characters although I'd really like some new ones to come into play and do something unexpected.

Or I could throw it all to the wind and create a new and completely different story on November first. If I'm so inclined I have the ghost of the two MCs and the vaguest outline of plot. We'll see.

Genre, yes (MG science-fiction). Plot and characters, not so much. I had planned to work on it this past weekend, but getting the flu took care of that.

Genre, yes (MG science-fiction). Plot and characters, not so much. I had planned to work on it this past weekend, but getting the flu took care of that.

Wow - the level of structure and planning those links advocate gives me the heebie-jeebies.

That said, I've got far more structure and planning than I do most years. An off-hand comment in one of my other novels gave me an idea for a prequel for that one and another one. So, I've got a well-established setting, two familiar main characters, and a situation - but then I'm just going to boot them off the cliff and see what happens.

Well, I have a sort of plot.
My genre is historical fiction; however, that in mind, I really have no set of characters and only have an entire setting and some events. Not really a set plot. (: OH well. I do, however, (this being one step up from last year) have a main character all set and ready for some action. It's amazing the wonders having a main character already set before Nano can do!

I like everybody else's plots and genres so far!! Good luck to you all!

2008 - Somewhere Down the Crazy River - 50,088
2009 - The Autobiography of an Imaginary Friend

I've got a general plot and some characters, and it's definitely going to be a fantasy, but I actually havent delved much deeper than that. Everything else will develop in the next month, I hope.

I have the genre (light sci-fi), characters (two main characters and a little bit of a few more), and plot. The big stuff, I'm good at. It's the tiny details, the actual WRITING of a story that always gets to me.

For instance, right now I'm having the biggest problem with POV. I'll be writing in third person limited but I'm waffling on who's POV to represent. I'd started out by wanting to do it from the POV of one of the two main characters, the one with the weird "ability". After drawing up a basic plot, that changed to bouncing between the two characters. The more I work at it, though, I find myself trending towards just writing from the view of the more "normal" character. Really, this will probably just have to be worked out as I'm writing, but it's the stuff like this that keeps me from writing.

I don't have the plot/characters down. And I'm just guessing on genre and title. However, I copied the links given here because I think they'll be helpful and have "No Plot No Problem" from a former year to help with the kick start. All in all, I PREFER to begin November 1 in the morning. It's like a ritual kinda thing I hope to keep up ... well... forever maybe.

Of course, I also have the experience of failing twice: usually within ten days. This time I will probably try to do some outlining AS I'm working this new novel. But that's because I think it will help me write my story better. It's not the fear of writing that will stop me this time around. I can write "junk" just to get the story going because I am a blabber. What I fear is stopping while I'm blabbing before I get the storyline itself worked out to where I know not only that it will go somewhere, but how it'll get there, too. I think that will take more discipline than I've shown previously. Because I want the thing to work out, too.

And, yeah, I KNOW it probably won't happen to really work out all that well. But this time, as I'm blabbing, I also plan on doing plotting and so on AFTER I get my word counts in. That way I'll feel like the efforts really paying off for me. Blab and plot and blab and plot and so on.

Just my view, is all. It's hard to keep writing what can seem like nonsense when you enjoy a good book as well as any other wannabe author. So my seasoned advice to anyone out there willing to listen is: to just keep going no matter what until you get there. And when the editor comes calling from within, use her/him well: let 'em out for a bite or two of plot and planning and scenery piecework production. Do the piecework as/after/during you blabbing. I think it will keep the editor hounding you firmly at bay until D-day. At least I know it will for me.

Happy plotting!

"I just ... wanna write my first novel."

Well, have characters, some scenes in mind, and a general plot. I need to learn to blab more!
I do best with a story-boarding approach - at least for my 20 page short story it worked (yet to get published, a few minor problems like not getting my MC into deep enough trouble to suit me).
We'll see. Re: getting enough volume in: I'm thinking of trying to write 2 pg in the early a.m., 2 at lunch and 2 at my favorite time: 9 p.m. Anyone have any experience with that kind of approach?
Looking forward to meeting some of you tomorrow!
jb