I usually just use it as a way to make a big push on whatever I'm currently working on. This year I've just started a new novel 3500 words in, and my aim is just to get as much written as possible. I'll only be aiming for 30k words, because 1000 a day is a lot for me to write (I'm slow) . If I can get to 33,500 words by the end of November I'd be thrilled
I usually try to write a short story a day in November. 80% of them might end up being garbage, but it's a fun challenge and there's always one or two that are worth polishing up. Not sure if I'll be able to do it this year or not - the beginning of the month is going to be busy and if I get off on the wrong foot I'm terrible about not picking things back up. Gonna try it though!
I've done one 100-word story a day for a couple of Novembers. Not planning on playing this year, too much other stuff to do.
I signed up yesterday, but I'm really not sure what the point of it is. There seems to be a place for me to enter in how many words I get done each day, but who needs a special event for that? I'm already 46k words into my current novel so I was gonna try to use it to get the rest of the story done by the end of November. (about another 40-50K words) Who the hell considers 50K words a full novel anyway?
I'm still debating whether and what to do about NaNo this year, as the hours count down to the start. I definitely won't be doing it by the rules--I did that twice, and it served me well in teaching me how to get my fiction-writing engine started, but I don't need that again. One year my goal was to blog every day, which was all very well, but I don't need that either. I could set a goal of writing a scene a day, allowing makeup work if I miss a day, from the Maybe Novel. This is the novel that I may be forming from three novel ideas that weren't going anywhere--Coriolis Effect, Shuteye, and Tulips and Butter. I'm far from knowing exactly how that novel would work, but writing thirty scenes might help me answer that question.
i am definitely not participating conventionally. My book idea is nowhere near prepared enough for that. I thought about just pantsing for a month, but i think i would just end up dissatisfied and ticked off. I'd rather use the word count as a goal for character development, plot development, idea generation, etc. I like the idea of setting a goal where I read one research article/piece/whatever every day, and use that as a springboard for a new idea. I just want to put words on paper to build up something and then mold it from there. No sense in rushing myself just because of the month.
I have never done NaNoWriMo because November is a bad choice of month for that sort of concentrated writing effort. I've got lots of holidays to contend with that won't happen unless I do them, several birthdays, and the main planning and pre-Christmas prep—including shopping and some baking. A lot of planning. I usually do my Christmas card writing in November as well—a big deal for me as I live overseas, and use Christmas as a chance to stay in touch with everybody I used to know. I moved here at the age of 37, so that's a lot of people—around 50 overseas, that all expect letters as well as cards! And that's not counting the domestic cards as well. In fact, if my cards and letters aren't done by the end of November, I start to get squidgy. Even when I was writing a lot on my novel, November was a month where I tended to slack off. It wasn't that I couldn't squeeze in the time, it's just that my concentration went elsewhere. This year, I'd like to really get cracking on my new novel. So I'm going to try a NaJaWriMo ...and do it on my own, in January. I don't actually share my ongoing writing process with anybody anyway, am certainly not in competition with anybody else, and don't need the 'support' of others doing the same thing. January is a dark, wet month, here in Scotland, and I do need something to get me through to February. So why not? I can't think of a better way to start the New Year right. Around 1500 plus words per day? Sounds not only do-able, but attractive.
I personally have no interest whatsoever, but if it works for other folks I'm happy for them. External deadlines are a serious boner-killer for my muse; writing is the only thing in my life where I get to dictate 100% where and when I spend my time on it. It's pretty much the only thing I want to do that I don't have to do.
Do I get brownie points if all I did was take preexisting work that I've compiled haphazardly over the past several months and started organizing it in my 30-day trial run of Scrivener? Because that's how tonight just went down. Since I was also binging on Stranger Things, I call that a monumental win.
I've never don NaNo before because I'm so busy, but I'm participating this year precisely BECAUSE I've gotten even busier, so I figure goal setting is the only way to keep writing. But no way in heck am I pulling off 50,000 in a month - so my "rebel" goal is a 20,000 word novella.
Pretty much - my plan for NaNo is to finally finish the last 20k or so words of a first draft I've been working on for a little over a year.
I'd kind of hoped to tackle NaNoWriMo this year, by the rules, with a brand-new novel project. But that was assuming my first WIP was (self) published by now and my second WIP had a few more chapters tacked onto it. Neither is true. I like January, too, but if I don't get my novel out of here quickly, that's not happening either. Maybe I should use the November excitement as an incentive to cut about 20,000 words from my novel. Heaven knows, it needs it. [BTW, Jan, wouldn't that be "JaNoWriMo"? ]
After a busy, rocky start to the month, I'm hopefully going to get back on track with day three. Maybe even do a couple make-up shorts November really is one of the worst months to do this kind of thing in, isn't it?
C'mon, I haven't even got the cover art done for my first novel, let alone getting uploaded self pubbed. How in the hell do you expect me to start a new novel and commit to 50k, when I am a little over 40K on my sequel novel?
I've looked at doing it this month and have a lot of planning done and pages here and there of a story that I started Oct 31st. Yet, I just don't see the appeal in gushing out 50,000 words with the aim of it being a coherent shape. I've just set myself a target of starting and finishing a story within the month, and then setting it aside until I can dedicate enough time to editing it. At least it gives me something to do on the way to work as I read my work and red-pen everything. If it helps you get motivated and have time management then that's great, but if you want something with real quality then writing to a clock isn't the way to go about it for me.
I write scripts because I get so confused if I write the traditional way. This means this will be WAY shorter than normal because I'm only writing conversation and some action.
Can never finish what gets started, so yes, guess so. Like someone else said, it tends to be best for getting a big push on a new idea, then stopping and letting it simmer for a couple weeks before going back to it later.
I only use NaNoWriMo based off of hours, not words. If I produced 30k words or 300k words it's the time that really matters.
NaNo Rebel is an interesting idea. I love the idea of NaNo but I never have time time or focus to really get into it like people do. I also think it would be a waste of time to rush through 50k words in a month, 50k words that are rushed and probably unusable (in my case they would be, anyway). I'd rather go slower and write good work that I can use, that I'm proud of, etc. I might try it this year though to see how far I get and to interact with other people who are doing it.
My first and second NaNoWriMos were very useful in getting my fiction-writing apparatus oiled up and running--not unlike starting a car in the middle of a very large and empty parking lot and driving it around just to get used to using the pedals and the steering wheel. But, yes, I find that I can't actually steer at that speed, so I don't do straight NaNoWriMo any more.
Last year I wrote 50k words in November, wrote another 50k in December, and published the 100k novel on Amazon in January. It's only made about $500 so far, but it's probably the best novel I've yet written and still sells a copy or three every week.
