My view is that if you don't need the motivation, NaNoWriMo doesn't have that much to offer. I see its primary use as breaking perfectionist barriers, and its secondary use as just getting you to write. If you're writing, neither of those uses is, well, useful.
That is what I was thinking, but one never knows. I have been wrong before. Plus I had such hype all year about it. As it got close I sort of realized I was over hyped. lol
It is fun. I'm probably going to do it. But then, I need the motivation. I haven't been reliably writing lately. I will probably be a "NaNoWriMo rebel", though, and work on something that I've already started.
I joined and have a really vague novel idea but will probably be a "pantster" . I'm not sure how to link my Nanowrimo account to this one on Writing Forums so I'll just copy and paste my link: http://nanowrimo.org/participants/jeff-countryman Cheers all! Here's to a great November!!! Hope to see yas there . . . .
I'm in, but no inspiration yet. October should be for mapping out, but I don't even know what I'm writing yet.
Not sure how i'm feeling about it, never did it before but seems like its something fun to try. Although, I write incredibly slow when put under pressure... So let's just hope all goes well.
@Jeff Countryman - I found you! I requested to be your writing buddy, because you're from here and whatnot, but don't feel pressured if doing this with other people isn't your thing.
Thank you! I've decided to venture into the world of Children's literature. I realized that a very old story of mine would be better served as a children's middle-reader, since the plot was so juvenile. It requires reducing the ages of the main characters and adjusting some themes, but there is greater potential for the story doing that than in its current condition. So I'll be cannibalizing the devil out of the thing this month so that when November begins, I'll have everything in place to write the new version. By the way, both of your supernatural crime dramas look very compelling, @ManOrAstroMan. If you need a beta reader, I'm intrigued.
I'll be aiming for the 50,000 words, but I won't be starting a new project. I want to be making solid progress with the story I'm writing right now. I'm not sure if I should join the NaNoWriMo website, seeing as I'm not planning on doing things "properly".
Thanks, Lyrical! And I can understand your point, Moth. I was pretty tempted to do the same, but succumbed to the siren song of doing a fresh project. If, however, you are still going to accept the challenge of cranking out 50k words in 30 days, you can still join to make use of the motivational tools and advice the site provides. You could even kinda cheat and call it a "part two" novel.
If there are a few people doing this this year we could perhaps start our own chat room if anyone's interested.
http://nanowrimo.org/participants/movieman My approach is to try to hit 1666 a day during the week, and do a few thousand at weekends. Ideally staying at least one day ahead. That way, if I can't write for a day or two, I don't get so far behind that I can't catch up.
That's the plan for me, as well. Some things I've found helpful for me? Writing out longhand first, then transcribing onto the computer later. Using a different color of ink for each paragraph as I write, with black reserved for notes and corrections. Writing in a graph paper composition notebook, because the grids are helpful in keeping things sorted and organized. Using a notepad app on my phone so I can write at work durimg breaks. Then I can transfer the text into my typed story file. By the way, I love that title.
A few years ago, I attempted my first novel with NaNo but stopped after a few personal events occurred (family members getting hospitalized, an argument that ended a childhood friendship). The events cast a long shadow and I don't know if they still somehow continue to affect me. I'll probably sit this year out again.
Aw, Ed, I'm sorry to hear that. I can understand the unpleasant associations. One might suggest writing as a way of bleeding out the poison, but sometimes you do have to let things hurt for a while.
The "hell no" menu option isn't perhaps the wording I'd choose, but I don't want to write anything long right now. I think that NaNoWriMo is a good idea. Lots of luck to those who are doing it.
Yeah, I just need to actually finish some of them . Wow, I just saw the new total word count thingy they've added. I guess that's right, I really must have written over 450,000 words in those stories alone... getting close to that 'magic' 1,000,000 we're supposed to write before anyone wants to read it .