I've written over 50K words in a month many times, but not as part of NaNo. I agree with @ChickenFreak that it's mostly for writers who are struggling with the Butt-in-Chair part of writing. For those who don't have that problem, I can't see why it would be useful.
With Wrimo's forums by age group and by genre it could be a good way to find swap partners. Dunno what your chances of finding a good one are.
I respond to myself with an example of what happens when I "just write" at a speed of a thousand words in thirty minutes: In fact, it all settled down a bit; the aliens put their weapons on the buffet table, and the guests started to drift over and ask the aliens to dance. And then the aliens accepted. And they danced, their three legs doing an oddly graceful skittering thing, until they started to kick, with little alien boots, a sort of country quick-step. A few of the guests offered the aliens their hats, which perched on the alien helmets and added gently to the ambiance, as did the crickets from the field beyond the destroyed back wall of the ballroom.
I've had three offers for betas but haven't swapped with any of them yet so I can't comment on the quality.
I had never heard of it before and yes, I've googled it. But perhaps it would be a good idea to create a sticky thread or something by someone who really knows what exactly this is about and how it works? Who is it for, how do you participate etc.? I can't be the only noob around here ^^
That's quite the generalization there and it's also very inaccurate. There are i.e. several authors, people who live off their writing and nothing else, who participates every year. There are also people who write everyday, and probably hits 50K several months a year, who participates. NaNo is much more than just a month where people who don't write other times of the year gets to aim for 50K. If you don't get anything out of it, that's fine. It's probably not for you. But don't generalize the entire thing into one specific thing that you don't need. In total NaNo had almost 400,000 writers participate in 2013. Are you seriously suggesting that they were all the same type of writer struggling with the exact same thing? That's naive at best.
Well - okay. But I don't really understand how the program would help with anything but getting words down. Can you elaborate on that?
That would just be my own personal experience with NaNo. I can't speak on behalf of other people. I'm just saying your generalization is wrong. If you were right, authors wouldn't participate. But they do, so you're wrong. That was my only point. Elaborating would just be personal for me as I can't tell you what other people get out of it. That would be applying my own experience and what I get out of it to about 400,000 people, and I don't think that's a good idea.
Well, I was right that I can't see why it would be useful for writers who aren't struggling with butt-in-chair, because... I can't see why it would be useful. And you apparently can't help me see why it would be useful, or extrapolate in any way, so... I guess really the only answer you'd like someone to give to the OP is: "We can't answer your question because everyone must answer this question for themselves with no generalizations." I assume the OP was looking for opinions a bit more detailed than that.
Clearly if authors are using NaNo it must be useful for other people as well, not just people who don't write the rest of the year. In other words, you are wrong about your generalization. I do NaNo but I also write a lot outside NaNo. So does thousands of other people. And yes, that's why I believe generalizations are bad in this case because there could be 400,000 different people with thousands of different reasons for doing it. So your generalization doesn't work. The only reason I wanted to point out that you're wrong in your generalization is that I don't want people who are interested in NaNo to see your comment and think that it's not for them, just because they do write outside of November. I don't understand why you keep arguing that you're right about this. Are you trying to keep people away from NaNo? What is it about 'a lot of people who write other times during the year also do NaNo' that you don't understand? It's plain english, isn't it?
It's all getting a bit hostile in here! Most people I've spoken to on there are doing it because they need the motivation to get their word count up. I don't struggle in that area and I would have written the same number of words whether I was doing it or not. ...actually, I'd probably have written more, because I wouldn't have spent time NaNomailing my 'buddies' to encourage them. From what I've seen of the forums and the way people interact, as well as the way NaNo is 'marketed', the focus is very much on hitting the word count. That doesn't mean people can't and aren't using it for other things, but I think it's fair to say that's the main pull.
Did not mean to get hostile the main pull, as you say, is hitting 50k, absolutely ,and it attracts a lot of people who struggle to write for the rest of the year. My point was just that it's not exclusive for those people and you can get a lot out of it even if you write a lot the rest of the year as well. If it's not your thing, thats fine, but it's definitely for more people than BayView claims and I think it's important to point that out for people who are interested
But my generalization was about what I can see - are you reading that part? Like, I'm not saying "NaNo isn't useful to those not struggling to get their butts in their chairs" as an absolute, I'm saying that I can't SEE why it would be useful. Which is true. I can't see why it would be useful. So, maybe it's useful for some reasons I can't see. Fair enough, but I can't see what they would be, and you can't tell me what they would be, so... it's kind of hard to discuss them, right? I'm not sure what the part about "authors are using NaNo" proves, because... who on Earth ELSE would use NaNo, other than authors? Or are you using the word to mean something different than just "people who write"? I'm not sure of any definition of the word that would automatically mean that an author couldn't have trouble getting his or her butt in a chair and putting words on the screen. Lots of writers, of all levels of professionalism and success, struggle to produce more raw words. Saying that I can't see why NaNo would be of use to people who AREN'T struggling with that doesn't mean I don't think NaNo would be useful to a lot of people - it just means I don't think it would be useful to people who are struggling with some other aspect of their writing. This seems self-evident to me. I'm open to having a new perspective explained to me, but I don't think I'm going to be persuaded by you becoming more bombastic about it - I need actual content, not just aggression. So, if you want to try for content, you could explain, without generalizing at all, why NaNo is useful to YOU, even though you don't apparently have trouble getting your butt in the chair. Is that possible?
Your exact words were 'it's mostly for writers who are struggling with the Butt-in-Chair part of writing'. I was too hung up on that sentence so I missed the the rest of that post where you say you, personally, can't see any reasons. So, my apologies. I was a bit too quick to reply. I specified my definition of authors further up. I wrote: "several authors, people who live off their writing and nothing else." That doesn't mean I don't consider other people as authors as well, and that's why I specified my definition for this discussion. Didn't mean to come off aggressive so sorry if I did (a forum post is not ideal for communicating emotions or mood and I'm not a huge fan of smileys...). If you ask any of my friends I don't think any of them will use 'aggressive' to describe me as a person. I'm very peaceful and I hate confrontations! Sure, I can explain why I do NaNo, I just didn't find it relevant before because I didn't think that was what the argument was about. Remember that these reasons are all personal and vary from person to person. First of all, it helps me focus on one first draft for an entire month. I write throughout the year (although not every single day) and I have a hard time finishing 1st drafts. I usually spend a lot of time on something and then I get a bit bored with it and move on to something else. Or I can get stuck plotting or planning characters and never get back to the actual writing. So my goal for November is not 50K; my main goal is to finish a first draft. Whether that's done in 50K, 100K or 83,564 words, I don't know yet, but as soon as I finish my first draft, I'm done. That's my goal. NaNo helps me focus on that goal and it helps me stay disciplined for an entire month writing every day, even when I don't really feel like it, and achieving that goal. Second of all, during the month of November I know I can go to any forum on the NaNo site and ask for help or help others. I'm sure a lot of people can relate to getting stuck while writing, not figuring out a part of their research or so on, so having an entire dedicated forum to help you out is great. And it can also help you get unstuck reading some of other people's problems and try to help them as well or just read through some of the challenges or other people's plots. It's that feeling of 'we're all in this together' which is great. Thirdly you can join your own region, people in your area who are doing NaNo. In my area we meet twice a week, whoever is available, at a café or library and get to know new people and write with someone who enjoys writing just as much as you do. When we're not meeting physically, the chat room for our region is always open I think, both during November and after as well (I believe) so you can always log on and chat, do word wars, help each other out with research, character building, plotting and so on. It's a great little community to be a part of. Fourthly I find it very liberating to do NaNo, to have a goal of 50K (or a 100K in my case) which means you have to write every day and you have no time to edit anything. Most of the time you don't even have time to plot and you kind of just have to go with it. I usually have a general outline–I know what I want to write about, maybe a couple of characters and events–but when I start writing, the story could go anywhere. And since you don't have time to do a week of plotting after writing a chapter or two, you kind of just have to go where the story takes you and that is very liberating to me. It helps me dive into side stories which may or may not end up in the 2nd draft, but it's like your creativity is at a top level because you're forced to make decisions and just go with it. So in a strange way, being under the pressure of 1,667 words a day (or 4K in my case) actually helps me be more creative, take chances and don't get stuck trying to plot what happens next. Fifthly, NaNo is not about hitting 50K. I mean, you need 50K to get a "Winner" banner under your name, but the goal can be anything. Finishing a first draft, 100K, 250K or maybe you just wanna see if writing is for you. Whatever you decide that your goal is, that's your goal. It's personal, it's not to show off or take pride in a "Winner" banner, but it's about achieving something. If you have no problem writing 50K in a month, maybe aim for 150K. If you struggle to finish first drafts, make finishing a first draft your goal. If you struggle to write everyday of the year but would like to, use November to establish a good habit. You have nothing to lose but sleep. Sixthly, entering the name of your novel, a plot and maybe even a cover on your NaNo profile actually helps you stick to it and complete it. It's strange and hard to explain why, it just become more real. Like this is a book already, you just have to write the words to go with the title and the cover art. So, in a weird way it helps you commit to the project and see it through. I could go on but hopefully you got something out of this. I would also like to recommend "25 things you should know about NaNoWriMo if you haven't read it already. http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2011/10/04/25-things-you-should-know-about-nanowrimo/ I also enjoyed and agree with this article on Why NaNoWriMo is For Real Writers:
Sorry, but I have no idea why the entire article I'm linking to shows up in my post.. I used the same Link button for both links so I'm not sure why it's doing that...
I can appreciate the idea of forcing yourself to stick to a schedule and battle through writer's block, but I've attempted this system before and all I create is drivel. It isn't even salvageable post-edits. It takes me an hour to write 2/3rds of a paragraph that I'm actually willing to keep.
The article I linked to, "25 things you should know about NaNo" writes about that so I suggest you read it if you haven't already. To me, and again this is personal and depends on how you like to work, my goal is to finish a first draft. It doesn't have to be brilliant because, like Hemingway said, 'the first draft of anything is sh*t', but I would rather have a complete 1st draft with all the bones in place which I can then start editing. It's like if you're trying to make a sculpture you don't start with one toe and work on that for a long time until it's perfect. You get all the clay you need, lump it all together and then you can start to shape it. That's how I see a first draft. It's far from finished, it's a big lump of clay where you have the structure and the key ingredients for a novel, but come December (or January of whenever) I can then start to edit and perfect. The point of NaNo is in fact to 'save you from editing' before the 1st draft is finished. That's why you have many words to write in a short time. But again, how you work is up to you and if you work a different way, then I understand NaNo isn't for you and that's perfectly fine. Whatever works
I generally agree. But I'm discovering that my "first draft speed" varies depending on the project. There's a speed at which I feel that I'm coming up with decent raw material that I can heavily edit later, and a speed at which I don't even know what should be happening in the novel, so editing wouldn't be sufficient to save what I produce. The project that I thought I'd use for NaNoWriMo turns out to have a first draft speed of about 500 words a day, instead of the 1666 words a day that NaNoWriMo calls for. The sensible thing would have been to decide, OK, I'll write 500 words a day on that project for 30 days, and that will be my NaNoWriMo activity this year. But instead I thrashed around, tried other things, and now I'm debating what to do for the remaining 20 days.
What approximate era and country do they live in? If this is sci-fi or fantasy what general "word" do they live in? Must the name be meaningful? Ex. Is his family name important to the plot? Do you need to be playing words of power with some along the lines of oak=strength/wisdom=duir, etc? Have you considered simply getting drunk and asking him his name?
It's for anybody, although it's targeted at people who have a novel buried inside them but struggle to finish it. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. You're not supposed to edit during the month, it's just a first draft and the emphasis is on churning out words, not perfecting them. In order to participate you sign up at http://nanowrimo.org/, register your novel under your profile, and update the word count daily. There are forums to talk to other writers and pep talks from established writers to encourage you. The website is operational all year round although will naturally be busiest in NaNo month (November).
I'm in, again, did the Nanowrimo several years now. I like to stop myself from thinking and just let it flow. I'm totally behind, just about 10.000 words right now, but I found a new way of "producing" - I started doing the Crawls and love this games. I hate Word Wars and Sprints, but doing it alone to win against myself - I like This year is the first year, I start writing just by knowing the "crucial point" - what the story wants to tell, and knowing (well, not very well ) my MC and several other characters... And I know the place, where its happening, very well, Malta But the November is this year so crowded with dates and dues and work... But I'll finish - I'm sure... how are you doing?
I love the concept of NaNoWriMo, but November to me is always the most inconvenient time... it is when we have assignments to do which, sadly, are vastly more important at the moment. But I suppose when I'm done I'll be able to invest more time into it
