Hello all, I just found this site yesterday while looking up information on writer's block. After reading through it and coming to grips with what a unique and twisted challenge it is, I decided to sign up.
It has been years since I wrote a novel...used to write them all the time, in fact. But my last one, attempted while I was in university, collapsed under the weight of its own absurdity. I wrote way too many prep notes (more pages of note than the actual novel itself) and I just let the plot get away from me, started adding too many characters, twists, etc... (it was a fantasy novel, so it was just SO easy to start adding races and places and gods and pantheons of gods....)
So, I guess one of the questions I have for my fellow novelists would be: are you going to come to November with a prepared idea or are you just going to wing it? I am torn on this myself. On the one hand, I think there would be nothing more exhilirating than to start November 1 completely from scratch, with no plot or plan in mind and just see where my mind takes me.
On the other hand, it might be best to come with at least the germ of an idea or an outline and kind of riff off of that. but sine outlining and notes was what killed my last novel, I'm kind of leery...
But what does everyone think? I'd love to hear some other voices on the whole "outline vs freestyle" debate.
And I'd like to welcome everyone to Nano '08! Should be wild!
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Mei 11, 2008 - 16 07
Everybody's different in this regard. Personally, I find that I usually go in with not much more than a very very basic idea -- probably no more than a paragraph's worth. Too much of an outline makes it feel like a chore, and prevents me from going where the story development takes me, but too little outline means I have no idea which way to go when I try to take my first step in the story. So I keep a few vague ideas of what's supposed to happen, with the understanding that I am allowed to change my mind if the situation requires.
And welcome! We usually start meeting some time in early October, and it would be great if you could show up some time so we can attach a face to the name.
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Mei 11, 2008 - 20 55
Thanks! I'll be sure to see if I can fit some in person time with other participants into my schedule.
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Mei 13, 2008 - 08 05
I'm in if my schedule permits it! Keep me posted on meetings and such.
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Mei 29, 2008 - 13 57
This is my first NaNo, so I'm preparing myself over the summer. Maybe next year I'd wing it, unless I write a sequel to the novel I write in '08.
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Jun 24, 2008 - 14 09
I may take a hiatus this year. It will depend on how my little girl will be. A baby is really changing a life!
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Jul 9, 2008 - 09 26
Personally, I'm coming with a basic idea. I know the heroine's name and age and I have a vague idea where she's coming from and where she's going. The fun part will see if she ends up where I want her to. I've never written a novel before although I did kind of start one last year. It's still on the drawing board but I hope getting this November thing done will help me write everyday on my real novel.
Cheers!
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Jul 16, 2008 - 07 45
Hello Nano-ites
This will be my first year, and though I've written extensively and work as an editor in a scientific field (agricultural engineering), I've never written a novel -- translated and generated e-texts of a few, and read hundreds, just never written one. Unlike some who seem to wing it, I'm planning to have a fairly extensive plot outline ready, so as to spend the time telling the story, not worrying so much about where it's going, though I'm sure there'll be plenty of meandering. I guess having a structure derives from the fact that I work in field where structure and logic are paramount.
Actually 50,000 words a month would have been trivial for the dime novelists of the late 19th century. The man I draw my 'pen-name' from, William Murray Graydon (1864-1946) wrote over 400 novels (30,000-80,000 words apiece) -- not mention hundreds of short stories -- between 1890 and 1925, being one of the first to use a Dictaphone device, to speed up his production. At the following link (http://www.geocities.com/ruritanian_muglug/dime.html#art34) you can find an account of how one of these dime novel writers generated a 60,000 word novel in 60 hours! H. Rider Haggard wrote his classic "King Solomon's Mines" in six weekends, on a bet with his brother that he could produce an adventure on par with Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" within that time -- so I wouldn't give up hope just yet
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Jul 17, 2008 - 12 24
I'm definitely in again, even if I'm not in the same country (again)!
This will be my fifth Nanovel and I've finally discovered the approach that works best for me.
See, I'll spend months ahead of time thinking up different ideas. I'll make lists of all the different book titles I have in mind, write short summaries of each plot, and then think up the characters that belong in each. Inevitably, one of these ideas will appeal to me more than the others, and I'll most likely spend that majority of my spare brain time playing around with the plot.
By the time November starts, I'll have enough material for several novels. So then, on the night of October 31st, I take all those notes, characters and think-ups that I'd been working on for the past few months... and toss them all out the window, into a pit of fire (preferably), and start November with a totally clean mental slate.
In doing so, I usually hit the ground running at this point. All the preparation was warm-up, and starting with a totally new plot ensures that I have lots of territory to explore, and will be very excited to explore it. For a nanowrimo novel, treading on previously-explored ground is a waste of time and usually not a very good word-filler. If your plot is new and exciting and you don't know what's going to happen next until the words appear, you can be sure they'll come tumbling out faster than you can type them.
At least, that's how it works for me.