Alkorri's NaNoWriMo Motivator Machine!

[captainproton]

I know I'm only in competition with myself, but that makes it worse because I don't hold back on the trash talk when it's just me.

I think it really was just mental exhaustion the other day, because I just filled four pages of my graphing paper composition notebook with my teensy scribbles. I'll have to check when I type it up tomorrow morning, but i'd say it's a good 2K words right there.

I don't know why, but writing in a graph-paper composition notebook with different colors of sharpie pens has helped me crank out more words than typing.

 

[whitesphere]

captainproton

There's no need to beat yourself up.  My first year, I only did 25K, because I lost momentum and had no idea what I was doing.  But every word you write improves your skill as a writer and helps with your communication skills.

If writing by hand on graph paper helps you write more, then by all means do it.  I much prefer typing but that's the medium I'm comfortable with.  I'm sure some people dictate their novel into speech-to-text programs, and definitely people do hand-write their novels.

Whatever helps silence your inner critic that says "That's not good enough" is beneficial.

 

[Alkorri]

Yeah, one thing about NaNoWriMo is that you have to silence the Inner Editor. The Editor has no place here. There is only the Writer, the Creator, the Wordsmith.

Give birth to words

 

[whitesphere]

Just officially got 51K words for NaNoWriMo.

And the story is finished as well.

 

[captainproton]

Give birth to words

I think I need an epidural.

 

[Alkorri]

CONGRATULATIONS, whitesphere! That makes three, four wins now? 

And captainproton, haha, as long as you don't give up on the baby

 

[whitesphere]

Yeah, I'm just glad my writing skills keep improving.  That will also help me with making RPGs.

 

[Harmill]

Congrats, whitesphere! And nice that your story is finished, too! Do you plan on doing a second draft in the future?

 

[whitesphere]

I'll try revising my novel probably in a month or two.  

I'd attach a first draft if anyone's interested.  If so, what format (PDF, ePub, etc).  They're all pretty small (110 K for the ePub for example).

 

[wallacethepig]

Just officially got 51K words for NaNoWriMo.

And the story is finished as well.

Great job on finishing! I'd love to read what you have (not during November though ). Maybe you could put a synopsis or something up?

Anyway, I'm sitting at just under 33K, and have finished 13 chapters. There may or may not be more than 20 chapters; I'll have to see. Fortunately, I caught a break this weekend, and I'll be booking it (ha ha) to get things wrapped up before it's too late. I'm so close I can almost taste it. 17K more to go...At this rate, I'll finish on time. Here's hoping!

Honestly, I'm doing better than I thought I would. I figured I would have given up by chapter 5, but I'm still running with it. Take that as a lesson, young (or old) writers. Actually, I should take it as a lesson myself; if I hadn't planned the thing out, the story wouldn't be anywhere near as good as it is now.

For planning:

1. Start with a concept: "Billy goes to school and fights a giant alien, saving the world."

2. Use dat logic: "How does he win? Why is the alien around?"

3. Slap on some flesh: "Billy is best friends with Joe, engineering whiz and head of the robotics club."

4. MORE FLESH. Feed your story 'till you're content with it.

5. ????? (Actually, this is just the "write your story" part.)

6. Profit!

I will also say that your story will help write itself. There have been several things that I've added to mine, and I had no idea they were going to be in there.

Keep it up, other NNWM participants! (I don't know how many there are besides me, captainproton, whitesphere and Harmill, but good luck to you all!)

-Wallace

 

[wallacethepig]

'Sup.

A Winner Is Me.

I broke 50K. Juuuuuust barely. But I did it, and now I'm done. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go enjoy my Thanksgiving (and NOT write whilst eating turkey).

Good luck to the rest of you, I believe in you!

-Wallace

 

[Alkorri]

Wallacethepig, CONGRATULATIONS! I know I had nothing to do with your win but I am so happy for you! WOOHOO.

You definitely earned your celebration, and Happy Thanksgiving!  

PS Did you get your badge yet??

 

[whitesphere]

A brief synopsis of my novel:

"The Mobius World"

Genre: Sci-fi (setting), Fantasy (sort of)

The world has Renaissance era tech (with some justified exceptions) backed and bolstered by a peculiar type of "magic" which everyone possesses.

Summary:  While at his forge, Tim's brother Oliver asks if he wants to go to sell his inventory.  On the way to sell it, they get caught up in a series of plots upon which the entire fate of their world rests.

 

[captainproton]

Okay.  I'm pretty much throwing in the towel at 45,150 words.  Yes, I could probably crank out another five thousand words before midnight, but my day started at 3am central time, and just got off work an hour ago.  I am brain-dead tired and wouldn't be able to upload my novel to the Nano site even if I didn't crash out before midnight because my only net access at home is through my phone.  If this happened pretty much any other month except November--THE busiest month for we retail employees--I would not be the shriveled wreck of a man I am right now. 

Now, this does not mean I'm going to give up on this story.  I have started so much stuff and never finished it, and I really feel now that I can actually do this.  I am so totally putting this on hiatus for a while, because ERMAGERD I WERNNA DER ERTHUR THERNGS!  My Nintendo 3DS is about to sue me for neglect. 

But I really want to thank everyone, especially Alkorri and Wallacethepig for their support and encouragement.  You guys are awesome. 

And all of you who did manage to get to 50K? 

Slow clap. 

You guys are awesome. 

 

[Alkorri]

Congratulations, captainproton! 45k is still an amazing amount of words, and I salute you. I'm sure if you were to try again next time, you will get there.

In the meantime, you deserve a celebration!

 

[Harmill]

Congrats captainproton! To echo what Alkorri said, 45k is still a lot and is commendable all the same! You still wrote a ton this month and that's the point!

 

[whitesphere]

45k is an amazing achievement, captainproton.  I'm sure next year, you'll hit 50K!

A little preparation goes a long way.  At least that's what I've found.

 

[captainproton]

Thanks everybody, and congratulations to you all of you on your results!

Admittedly, I did have to take a little time to do some research, mostly on Shakespeare, Spenser, and a little bit of folklore. But, honestly, most of my writing was done on the fly with only a vague idea of the end point. Okay, granted, a LOT is going to get cut once I get back into writing it for real, but I more words out just freewriting in my graph-paper composition notebook with different colors of Sharpie Pens for each paragraph than by typing or trying to work out ahead of time what I was going to do.

What I think would go further than a little preparation is a holiday season which is a lot less nutso.

 

[wallacethepig]

Congratulations, captainproton! I would say that 45K is quite a lot. I probably wouldn't have gotten to 50K if it wasn't for a lucky break that popped up, and you just didn't get that break. That's just the way it goes, I guess. At any rate, 45K is certainly deserving of celebration! Here's to finishing your novel!
 

-Wallace

 

[captainproton]

Is anyone taking part in April's Camp Nanowrimo event?