Alkorri's NaNoWriMo Motivator Machine!

[Alkorri]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with writing "the sky is blue" and powering ahead with the plot. There are no rules, no judgments! That is the beauty of NaNoWriMo

For those who are thinking of starting late, go for it! If you look here (the NaNoWriMo forums feature tons of support and tips by the way), you'll see folks who started on the 20th, and still made it.

There's also an awesome Facebook group where folks challenge each other with daily writing challenges any hour of the day. Loads of fun

 

[Paladin-Cleric of Awesome]

You ever start a story and be absolutely convinced that it's what you wanna spend the month working on... only to have what seems like an even more awesome idea in a totally different genre with totally different characters... I hate my imagination sometimes.

and now I'm finding it hard to write the story I've chosen!

 

[Harmill]

I know what you mean but not in terms of writing. I'm pretty good at staying focused with the story I'm telling, but when it comes to making a game, I'm exactly as you described. I'm always finding something part way through that excites me more than what I'm currently doing so I never finish the games I start.

I don't finish my novels because I get to to the 80% mark and then I realize how much it doesn't make sense!  Plot holes! Plot holes everywhere!

 

[whitesphere]

@PaladinCleric

There's an easy solution to this:

Stop the story and start the new one.  There are no rules to NaNoWriMo.  That's the great thing about it, as Alkorri says.

When it comes time for your word count, just make sure to add in the word count from the first story.  And when you go to submit for your final word count, just append the first story to the second one and submit the combined text.

I think it's quite fair, since you legitimately wrote the part of the first story during this year's NaNoWriMo writing time.

 

[Alkorri]

LOVE YOUR IMAGINATIONS. Embrace it ;D Feel free to go off tangent if you think the story demands it. Or even start a new one. As long as you keep hitting those daily wordcount goals

Haha, Harmill, I sympathise. It helps if you've got a rough outline planned from start to finish, and have a friend to objectively point out the holes you might have missed before writing the novel.

 

[bgillisp]

You ever start a story and be absolutely convinced that it's what you wanna spend the month working on... only to have what seems like an even more awesome idea in a totally different genre with totally different characters... I hate my imagination sometimes.

and now I'm finding it hard to write the story I've chosen!

Yep, this happened to me during the IGMC contest. Resulted in me starting my game over on June 10th. Probably not one of my brighter ideas in hindsight...

 

[Harmill]

So how is everyone doing at Day 6? Myself, I've got lots of overtime at work, giving me very little time to write during the week. However, I did nothing but write last weekend, so my strategy will to make the most of weekends while doing what I can on a week day. I write during my lunch break, so I can get anywhere from 500-1000 words during that hour.

Currently, I'm at 17,489 words. Compared to last year, I ended Day 6 at 16,870 words, and so I'm still ahead of last year. I'm still at work right now (8pm) but if I can get home around 9:30-10, I can hopefully get in another hour and breach 18k.

So, anyone struggling to find time? Who's behind their own goals and needs a motivator? Who's flying through their goals?

 

[whitesphere]

I'm at 14,455 words right now.  It's going smoothly, more or less, and I'm writing for around 2 hours a day.

Last year, the entire novel flowed more easily, since it was a futuristic sci-fi world, and I've written those before.  This year, it's a fantasy/sci-fi combination world (think: Dragonflight --- science backstory, fantasy current world) which is interesting but takes me more practice to visualize it and write down descriptions for it.

Interestingly, my writing style this year is a lot more descriptive.  This novel has real "slice of life" sections in it (one woman 'accidentally' poking her head in when someone she likes is mostly dressed from his bath) and I think I'm doing a lot better job at showing the world, rather than just jumping from action scene to action scene like Speedy Gonzales.

But every time I do NaNoWriMo, my writing skill always improves in some way.  That's one of its big benefits.

 

[wallacethepig]

So how is everyone doing at Day 6?

Sittin' pretty at 6.5K. I should be at the 10.5K mark by now, but Wednesday and Thursday are my break days (I write half a chapter on those days and 1.3 chapters on Friday, Saturday and Sunday). You guys already broke 15K? Congrats!

Meanwhile, I'm in a bit of a rut. My current chapter is around 1.2K words, and I need to stretch it to 2.5. The only problem is, how? (Before you respond, I think I've got a way to do it. We'll see. And it doesn't have to be exactly 2500 words; just somewhere in that range.)

Comparatively, I'm behind, but screw that. I'm working at my own pace, and so far I've only had one slip up. If the stars align for me, I'll be set. We'll see what the weekend brings...NaNoWriMo is Goliath, and I am David. Let's just hope I packed my sling, yeah?

-Wallace

If you guys want to see what I have so far you can check it out here...right now, I've only got around 5000 words. More are on the way, though!

 

[Alkorri]

I like that we're checking up on each other Congrats on hitting 15k+, Harmill and whitesphere. 

wallacethepig, I'm sure you'll get there eventually. Just power on ahead! What I'm a bit surprised by is... why does a certain chapter have to be a certain word count? If the chapter is short, just leave it be. You only need to give it as much as it needs

 

[Harmill]

May I ask why you feel all your chapters need to be ~2500 words? My friend was saying how he tries to make his chapters around 2000 words each, and I explained to him that chapters don't need to be a specific length. I linked him to this article I had found and I think it might be worth linking it here just in case anyone has strict ideas about how long a chapter should be: http://allwritefictionadvice.blogspot.ca/2012/05/chapter-novel-lengths.html

So if your current chapter is 1.2k words because that's how many words it took you to write that scene, then I'd say, don't feel like you need to "stretch" it to 2.5k. Let the chapter end where it feels right, and then move on to the next chapter. Maybe in the revision process, you'll find a way to extend it another 400 words or whatever, but part of the challenge of NaNoWriMo is putting you under enough pressure that you can't afford to spend extra time over stuff like that. Deadlines! Rawr!

 

[wallacethepig]

May I ask why you feel all your chapters need to be ~2500 words? My friend was saying how he tries to make his chapters around 2000 words each, and I explained to him that chapters don't need to be a specific length. I linked him to this article I had found and I think it might be worth linking it here just in case anyone has strict ideas about how long a chapter should be: http://allwritefictionadvice.blogspot.ca/2012/05/chapter-novel-lengths.html

So if your current chapter is 1.2k words because that's how many words it took you to write that scene, then I'd say, don't feel like you need to "stretch" it to 2.5k. Let the chapter end where it feels right, and then move on to the next chapter. Maybe in the revision process, you'll find a way to extend it another 400 words or whatever, but part of the challenge of NaNoWriMo is putting you under enough pressure that you can't afford to spend extra time over stuff like that. Deadlines! Rawr!

I read the article, and I'd have to say I agree with it. The only problem is, I've decided my chapter is going to be 2500 words because that's what it needs to be.

I've got a short summary for all 20 chapters in the story I have planned. And because maths, 50,000/20 = 2500. So, on average, each chapter should be around 2500 words. This makes it easy to set a daily (or in this chapter's case, bi-daily) goal: 2500 words. That way, I have a little breathing room.

Now, I understand that each chapter won't be exactly 2500 words. My first chapter was closer to 2700 or 2800, and my second was closer to 2600. While I could count that as 300-400 words that I can have "in reserve" as a buffer if a chapter isn't 2500 words, I'd rather have it the other way. That way, even if I don't finish the story by the end of November, I've reached my 50,000 word count.

I'm working around it, though. The bulk of the chapter was in the first 1,000 words, so I'm devoting the other 1,500 to character development. I definitely need some, I can fit it into the chapter I'm working on right now without too much trouble, and I'll reach my chapter quota. Everyone wins!

I know, I know, I shouldn't "bulk up" the story with needless information. But, I've come to the conclusion that I need to develop the main character here, so I will. No hard feelings; in any other situation I probably wouldn't have this problem in the first place. I'm not trying to disagree with you; I just have a schedule that I've made, and I plan on following it.

-Wallace

(I spent too much time replying to this, I've gotta go write stuff now. )

(Oh, and if you want, I can PM you my chapter summaries. Because it's more of a guide for me than anyone else, some stuff in it might not make sense, but you can still read it if you want.)

 

[Alkorri]

That's an awful lot of math, wallacethepig It sounds like you're more a procedural sort of writer You could simply write more words in the other chapters, but whatever works for you.

And yes, write!

 

[Harmill]

Don't worry wallacethepig, I won't try to change your approach.    Just as there are no rules regarding how long a chapter needs to be, there are no rules saying you can't make all your chapters a predetermined length.

Now, I just had a very productive hour and a half of writing. Got home from work around 9:30, didn't start writing until 10pm, but in that hour and a half, I managed to get 1600 words written. I am closing November 6th with 19,032 words. Good night and good luck with everyone's writing tomorrow!     

 

[whitesphere]

I agree that each chapter doesn't need to have a specific word count.  It's not like we're writing essays where the essay must be 500 words.

Currently, I'm writing separate scenes (these are independent entities in Scrivener --- so I can arrange them into chapters later), each of which is exactly as long as it needs to be to reach a significant stopping point.    Some of the scenes are a page, others are a few pages long.

So far, I'm at around 16K words, but the day is young! 

 

[Paladin-Cleric of Awesome]

So... up all night with the cough from hell and I totally managed another 1000 words! Yay! All while watching the counjuring.

Man I need some serious sleep.

 

[Alkorri]

That's great! How is everyone else doing?

 

[Harmill]

I am working both Saturday and Sunday so I didn't get the burst that I had hoped for. Spent a couple hours watching Seinfeld episodes because my mind is just looking to take a break right now. Sitting at 22,290 words. Depending on how long I'm at work for tomorrow, I might still be able to get some writing in. I might just wind up watching more Seinfeld, though. 

Contributing to my slower pace, is that I feel like all I'm doing right now is writing one big conversation after another and it's taking a long time for some motion to happen. I'm also still unsure of all of the mythology that some of my characters refer to so I can only imagine how confusing it probably sounds to any one who tries to read it. The inspiring idea for my story is taking more and more of a backseat... or at least, it's taking a long time to build up to it. It was originally mean to be the principle plot line, but writing the set up that makes that possible is going to take me 30-40k words alone! But I spend so much time focusing on conversations between characters that I feel like I'm too sparse in developing the culture and lifestyles that the protagonist participates in. Which means that in a second draft, this Part One, as I'm calling it, will be even longer (though I'm sure there are ample parts that could be cut or shortened, too, so maybe it will even out in the end). So if you've ever wondered how a series that was originally meant to be 3 books turns into 7 (Song of Ice and Fire, for instance), it's actually quite easy for something that starts out as a simple idea to turn into something much more complex. /ramble

 

[Alkorri]

Hey, as long as you're plowing ahead. Remember, people want to lose themselves in a story, not a history lesson

But don't worry about the slow build-up, and go with whatever is fun or keeps you motivated. I'm sure you'll get around to fleshing out the world eventually. The story doesn't have to finish at 50k words either

 

[whitesphere]

So far, I'm at 20.5K words.  Spent awhile figuring out what to do at a key plot point, but now have a lot more ideas.

Unfortunately, apparently I decided to get sick around this time.

Fever, aches, fatigue and all fun stuff like that.