NaNoWriMo - Write 50k Words of Novel in November (This Means You Tafdolphin)

Good job Taf! But were those words better than Luigi’s Mansion 3 and by how many percent?

I have my first write-in tonight and I am bricking it a tiny bit because I’m not sure my editorialing is going to lend itself at all well to try to get the 50k. :dread:

Karl_ wrote:I think we're all wired up differently to be fair. I've heard people say the important thing with Nanowrimo is writing every day though and I can get behind that.

This is very true, and the brains trust frequently plug that point of view. There are also ‘Camps’ in April and July that are smaller events that encourage you to set, and work towards, your own goal. So you might set yourself 15k.

I did this back in 2013, but cheated a bit as I did a substancial re-write of what I had already written over the decade prior. I could go through and work on that again, or do one of the other novels I am part way through!

It took me an entire year to write a 42,000 word dissertation for my masters. I'm not shitting out a 50,000 word novel in a month.

Corazon de Leon

Dig Dug wrote:It took me an entire year to write a 42,000 word dissertation for my masters. I'm not shitting out a 50,000 word novel in a month.

Likewise it took me five years to get to 93,000 on my PhD - no chance I could do half that in a month. :shifty:

Pffft 5 years! :roll:

Any decent PhD takes at least 9 years to complete! (at least that's what I told myself so I could get to sleep at night! :cry:

)

Back on topic - I do still keep a bunch of note documents in the cloud that I add story ideas to semi-regularly, but I just can't see me having the time to convert that into 50,000 words right now.

I might have a go. No way I'll get to 50,000 but I reckon I could easily get to 20,000 if I get into a good grove.

I could write about 20 words.

Did a bit last night but it was pretty terrible.

Back at it again this morning and yeah, this is going to be a strawberry floating struggle. At some point yesterday my brain decided to write in third person present which is an unweildly tense, but now I've got to stick with it, at least for this opening chapter. I've also gone full HP Lovecraft in terms of levity (ie the whole thing is very dour and depressing*) and it's just a pain to write.

Wanna get this chapter finished and see where we go from there.

*as opposed to massively racist

I read The Horror at Red Hook last year. Christ. That said, I did so as a prerequisite before reading The Ballad of Black Tom, which is good.

Lex-Man wrote:Did a bit last night but it was pretty terrible.

That's what everybody's NaNos look like, but at least you have a starting point to work on later!

Unfortunately I am trying to do proper writing this year. I managed 1.4k last night, but primarily because I went to a writing event. It was good!

What are your NaNo usernames, for buddying purposes? I'm Balladeer.

Mine's Rik.Godwin

Finished today's 1666 and I strawberry floating hate what I came up with. I think this is going to be my main problem, the compound disliking of everything I've written making it harder to write each day.

Still. Keep on keeping on.

You can always add in some levity if you think that’ll make it easier to write, then remove it later? Also, have you checked your local regional forum for events and things Taf? I don’t know if making it to things in person is feasible or even desirable, but meeting people in the same boat definitely helps!

The weekends are tougher to write on for me. I’m up to 2.4k and that’s likely to be it for the day, so already 900 behind.

I did this once a few years back. Haven’t ever had the guts to back and reread it since, it was a steaming pile of gooseberry fool. Got it done tho.

I tried it about 5 or 6 times managed the full amount twice, not going to try this year as just really don't have the time. If I learned anything from it though it's that I'm a better short story writer. I tried to go to a local event one time it was in a pub with really expensive horrid coffee and basically no one talked they all sat on there laptops writing, I didn't see the point, I thought the point would be to chat share experiences and advice then write once your back home.

Best of luck to everyone giving it a crack this year .

Balladeer wrote:You can always add in some levity if you think that’ll make it easier to write, then remove it later? Also, have you checked your local regional forum for events and things Taf? I don’t know if making it to things in person is feasible or even desirable, but meeting people in the same boat definitely helps!

Yeah, I'm taking things on a day by day basis meaning I'm not really going to concentrate on making something good and tonally consistent, just on making something.

And I live in France, which means all local events will be...in French! My French is ok, but not good enough to talk about writing and motivation and process with.

Ah.

That would make it tougher. Virtual events maybe? The forum’s pretty good.

kerr9000 wrote:I tried to go to a local event one time it was in a pub with really expensive horrid coffee and basically no one talked they all sat on there laptops writing, I didn't see the point, I thought the point would be to chat share experiences and advice then write once your back home.

Ouch! That’s not how events should be.

In London we have two sets: write-ins, where you write for 45 minutes and talk for 15, and broader social ones where the emphasis is more on talking and the experience. That specific event sounds lousy, but I wouldn’t let it put you off Kerr! Should you ever want to do it again I’m sure you can find better ones.

Skarjo wrote:I did this once a few years back. Haven’t ever had the guts to back and reread it since, it was a steaming pile of gooseberry fool. Got it done tho.

My first NaNo fiction remains on my computer as a warning to myself and to humanity that even clever people can create utter shite. It has no other purpose. I will never read it again.

Day 3 went much better than Day 2, and Day 4 is progressing somewhere in the middle.

Yesterday I sat and was done within half an hour/45 minutes. What came out wasn't amazing but it was better than I expected and I think I got a good handle on the protagonist. Today is expanding on that in a dialogue scene and, although I've always struggled with dialogue in prose, it's going OK. Nothing here is great but it's done, which is pretty cool on its own.

That is very much the spirit of NaNo. It can become great later.

I had my best day yet, getting almost 2k words done. None of it actually contributing to the story, mind - I wrote a bit from before the story began where the characters all play DnD. :oops:

Oh well. Onwards and upwards!

I'm up to 2500 words when I should be on 6800 although I did start a day late. Will keep trying to play away at it.

1322 words this morning, so about 300 words short on the limit. Might try and make it up tonight.

Lot of world building today, a big old descriptive chunk of text talking about the city and mechanics of it all. Not great, again, but its there.

NaNoWriMo - Write 50k Words of Novel in November (This Means You Tafdolphin)

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