NaNoWriMo

[crich70]

Originally Posted by jedipencil

The NaNo website and its sense of humor seemed, in my humble opinion, set up that way simply to encourage people who might normally feel intimidated by the idea of writing a book, to just sit down and try it. Being forced to sit down and "put out" is, for some people, a major accomplishment in itself. And then actually finishing it? Major satisfaction.

My day job has let me meet a number of people who repeatedly say - "oh, I wish I could do such-and-such, but life gets in the way." I'd be willing to bet that life gets in the way for nearly all of us here, in whatever we do.

Some don't have quite the self-confidence to actually believe they might finish a big project, and accomplishing that might give them the self confidence they need to do something in another area in life.

I thought the site was fun and good-hearted, and a sense of humor will win me over every time. Just my opinion.

Some very good points. Of course it's also a good idea to have a rough idea of what you plan to write about before Nov. 1st. I still have to go back through my NaNo from 2009 and see if it can be re-written and salvaged. In part that is because I didn't do more pre-writing work I think.

[djulian]

I plan to participate. This will be my first year; I'm already getting pumped--roughing out some outlines and trying to pick a story idea.

[OneandonlyDoc]

Originally Posted by djulian

I plan to participate. This will be my first year; I'm already getting pumped--roughing out some outlines and trying to pick a story idea.

That's usually the best thing to do. All of the projects I actually won Nanowrimo with I did worldbuilding/planning for in advance. It really made me incredibly excited to start on the process. I ended up chronicling some of my world-building work before Nanowrimo on my blog under the "30 days of world-building" tag.

[jaxx6166]

Originally Posted by William F

But vomiting forth 50000 words of stream of consciousness so you can proclaim yourself a novelist is somehow an accomplishment?

If you're a writer, you write and you don't need some sort of manufactured special club to encourage you to do it. If you're not a writer then spend that month doing something else you enjoy.

Most of the people who actually enjoy writing take the time to have some fun and try something new. I think Sanderson wrote the whole of Alloy of Law and a couple of the Alcatraz books during NaNo.

It's a chance to do something and have fun , something "serious" authors sometimes forget to do.

As for the people who "compete" in NaNo every year, some spend the months leading up to NaNo as a chance to world build and outline, so the "stream of conscious vomit" that you're talking about isn't entirely true.

Is it easy to "cheat" at NaNo? Sure. All you have to do is copy/paste The Quick Brown Dog 10,000 times.

It's a judgement free chance to get out there and play.

I've got a couple friends who did the first draft of their books in three weeks and have gone back to the drawing board and expand upon their work to create NYT Best Sellers.

You know, people like Mary Robinette Kral.

If you decide that NaNo is some super special club that you'd rather stay away from, then by all means...be our guest. But this isn't a No Homers Club. Try it, you just might like it.

It's an actual time of the year where people (wait for it) WRITE!

That said, we used to have a special club for the NaNo participants here at MR. It's nice to see some familiar faces coming back out to play (HI FILARK!)

[jaxx6166]

Originally Posted by crich70

Some very good points. Of course it's also a good idea to have a rough idea of what you plan to write about before Nov. 1st. I still have to go back through my NaNo from 2009 and see if it can be re-written and salvaged. In part that is because I didn't do more pre-writing work I think.

I took my '08 NaNo through the cleaners over the past year. I added about 30,000 words to it, an additional subplot, some more world building, and fixed a whole lot of black holes.

I didn't touch it again until this year though. And I'm pleasantly surprised of the additions those next three drafts did to it.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by OneandonlyDoc

That's usually the best thing to do. All of the projects I actually won Nanowrimo with I did worldbuilding/planning for in advance. It really made me incredibly excited to start on the process. I ended up chronicling some of my world-building work before Nanowrimo on my blog under the "30 days of world-building" tag.

The ebook version of the 30 Days of World-Building looks like it will be very interesting and useful for NaNoWriMo prep. Thanks for posting it on your blog.

[OneandonlyDoc]

Originally Posted by crich70

The ebook version of the 30 Days of World-Building looks like it will be very interesting and useful for NaNoWriMo prep. Thanks for posting it on your blog.

Oh, it got turned into an ebook since a couple years ago? Sweet!

I'll admit that I didn't use all of it, but there were sections that were really useful when I was working on The Last Colony and its sequel. Certainly helped me develop the world and history a lot faster than for other science fiction universes I've made.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by OneandonlyDoc

Oh, it got turned into an ebook since a couple years ago? Sweet!

I'll admit that I didn't use all of it, but there were sections that were really useful when I was working on The Last Colony and its sequel. Certainly helped me develop the world and history a lot faster than for other science fiction universes I've made.

Yep if you open the Magical World Building ebook and look at the table of contents the 30 Days of World building seems to be included in the same file.

[Filark]

Originally Posted by jaxx6166

That said, we used to have a special club for the NaNo participants here at MR. It's nice to see some familiar faces coming back out to play (HI FILARK!)

Hi Jaxx!!

Crich and Doc, I think I'll have to look into world building more than I have to date!

My biggest problem with Nano this year is we're celebrating my Dad's 80th birthday over Thanksgiving. Well, that and not knowing what I want to write about . . .

[OneandonlyDoc]

Originally Posted by Filark

Hi Jaxx!!

Crich and Doc, I think I'll have to look into world building more than I have to date!

My biggest problem with Nano this year is we're celebrating my Dad's 80th birthday over Thanksgiving. Well, that and not knowing what I want to write about . . .

Eh, you've still got two months to figure that out. I usually don't know what I'm going to write until sometime in October.

[djulian]

Originally Posted by Filark

Hi Jaxx!!

Crich and Doc, I think I'll have to look into world building more than I have to date!

My biggest problem with Nano this year is we're celebrating my Dad's 80th birthday over Thanksgiving. Well, that and not knowing what I want to write about . . .

Write about your Dad's 80th birthday! Write it with vivid detail, and drop wonderful anecdotes and history into the mix.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by djulian

Write about your Dad's 80th birthday! Write it with vivid detail, and drop wonderful anecdotes and history into the mix.

And make aliens/dragons/unicorns/elves/etc crash the party and get drunk.

[Filark]

Ooooh! I like your ideas!!

I could even write about the real (family history/anecdotes) from the perspective of the unreal (aliens/elves), to make it fun.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Filark

Ooooh! I like your ideas!!

I could even write about the real (family history/anecdotes) from the perspective of the unreal (aliens/elves), to make it fun.

I'd be careful on that one. Make sure that no one objects to it first. You don't want to reignite an old argument over who said or did what on such and such date.

[Filark]

Originally Posted by crich70

I'd be careful on that one. Make sure that no one objects to it first. You don't want to reignite an old argument over who said or did what on such and such date.

Too true! I was thinking of not letting anybody read it: Pretty sure I couldn't describe people without getting someone's dander up, never mind he said/she said!

Perhaps I'll stick with fiction, or at least fictionalize.