NaNoWriMo 2017

[starlight dream]

Every sentence you write is like a combo punch vs it!!!!!

 

[The Yank]

I did the challenge in October since November is a busy month for me. Whacked out the 50 000th word just before midnight, even though the novel is barely halfway through.

It's definitely stressing and at times you get existential crisis, but I can say that it's definitely worth it since at the end of the month you actually have something to work with/edit.

Good luck to everyone who's doing the challenge!

 

[Parallax Panda]

@starlight dream
In that case I managed to do 29 combo punches, inflicting barely 339 points of damage.. I mean words.
Aw... Not happy with today's performance at all. I admit the perectionist got the better part of me since it forced me to re-write the beginning at least 3 times. I already knew I wouldn't hit my daily goal as I woke up in the afternoon(!), but I did expect to at least manage break 500 words... alas, no, I didn't.

That being sad. My first scene might be the most difficult scene in the entire novel. It's not entirely planned out either so I feel that I'm wasting a lot of time fumbling in the dark while writing it. It's especially difficult since there is no previous writing to use as a foundation. Hoping to be able to speed up starting tomorrow.

This just means I'll need to write ~1713 words each day from now on to make up for today's misfortune. No more oversleeping!

@The Yank
Congratulations! I only found out about NaNoWriMo by the end of October so this is all very new to me.

 

[Sami-Fire64]

Bah, I should be writing, but all I want to do is go back to bed =3= having a little confidence crisis after a warm-up story I started got off to a rocky start. I'm trying to convince myself that it doesn't matter, and I should just focus on writing my real story, but I still feel shoddy.

 

[starlight dream]

@Parallax Panda The perfectionist is stronger in the beginning, because it's used to being bossy. But as you keep whacking it, it'll get weaker and weaker...

 

[TeiRaven]

Beginnings are hard in any case. I just went back and rewrote mine from last year, and I'm still not sold on it. But it's better than no beginning at all. Good news is that the NaNo police won't come after you if you say "AH HECK I'LL DO IT LATER" and go on to the next bit. I had a lot of things like " [Rufus eats all the tea sandwiches, and Karla suggests secret passages, Karel scoffs but Karla is right] " Also very helpful for not losing your train of thought when you leave off for the night!

I love the battle analogy, though, that's fantastic XD Dinner, then time to start. Oh boy. Where to start.

 

[ksilvs_art]

I am! I'm making a comic!

 

[Marsigne]

Well, it felt easier than I thought. I totally expect the NaNo train to hit me later, however XD. Though I think being in a group sprint consistently with a partner and the transition between sprints being slower made it much easier to digest, although more time-consuming. I prefer the current one over the old one any time of the day, though, it feels much less stressful.

 

[Canini]

I have a questions for those that have completed nanowrimo at least once. How many attempts did it take for you to do it? I tried for nanowrimo three years in a row (two times giving up rather fast) before finally succeeding on the fourth.

 

[Marquise*]

Oh no! We are already in Movember!

 

[Parallax Panda]

Day 2... phew... I'm exhausted. I managed to type out 1648 new words today - almost meeting my daily target. In the end it felt like I was just rambling on, writing for the sake of writing though. It didn't give me any joy and felt totally uninspired. It doesn't help that English isn't my first language.

Oh well.... today went way better than yesterday at the very least.

@starlight dream Oh.. I hope that's true. I'm afraid that I might be a little under leveled to go up against this boss. Then again, I guess if my writer stats aren't good enough, I'll have to figure out my opponents weakness and attack with a winning strategy!
After 2 days it's pretty clear though that I'll need to adapt my whole life around this NaNoWriMo challenge this month if I'm to stand a chance at reaching that sweet, sweet 50.000 mark!

...and I desperately don't want to fail!

@TeiRaven
That's good advice. It went a little smoother once I started bashing out dialogue without bothering filling out any eventual descriptions or remarks behind each line. I can always go back and do that later, which is good.
I also know at least a few scenes for which I'll have to write in a few placeholder sentences until I can figure out what it is that I really need to write about.

Also, I can see on you NaNoWriMo statistics that you've been busy since day 1. Good work.!

@ksilvs_art
Nice! Any kind of manuscript is a good fit for NaNoWriMo in my opinion. Do you have a profile on their website as well?

@Marsigne
I'm not sure what you mean with;

I think being in a group sprint consistently with a partner and the transition between sprints being slower...

Do you mean you're working with a partner? In any case, I can see that your word count is great. Actually, it's amazing! I wish I could manage to write as much in a day too! What's your secret sauce?

@Marquise*
That's right. The mental torment has officially begun.Welcome to the party.

 

[esterk]

Probably won't have time to work on anything this week until Saturday. Hopefully I can catch up a bit then to make up for lost time.

 

[TeiRaven]

@Canini , I actually managed the 50k on the first try. But I was unemployed and had all the time in the world to do it, and a lot of worldbuilding (years worth, in fact) backing me up. This is my first year doing it while working and it's definitely a lot harder!

@Parallax Panda , I've been trying XD I'm traveling this weekend and it's put a huge dent in my writing time. I'm about 2500 words behind their "goal" at this point. Dialogue is my magic bullet too--it's so much easier to let the characters talk to each other than it is for me to tell them what to do!

That said, the camaraderie is a huge part of the experience for me. A lot of things keep my interest better when there's someone in it with me, whether it be cosplay, drawing, working on a game, or writing. It's easier to lean on each other for encouragement (or commiserating XD) so it doesn't feel like the end of the world when you don't hit goal.

(And for the record, the customer who wanted an eighth of a yard of 22 different fabrics at the end of the night showed up on day 2. I had hoped it would take a little longer than that....)

 

[Alhandra]

@TeiRaven tells me this is a fun spot to hang out. ^^ I'm new both here and to NaNo, and while I'd love to say that my game will be my NaNo project, it won't. I need to do a lot more research on RPGm before I can really get it going. I've got the barest pieces of a novel and targeting 500 words a day, because I know I can mostly make that. Starting entirely from scratch is hard.

 

[Marsigne]

@Parallax Panda Thanks! If you're the type that does little planning, my recommendation is to either make more planning or to keep however you're going even when you feel it's going stale. I feel it a lot too, and I planned little for this one, while probably having ideas for a day or two worth of writing. However, when my partner reads it, she finds it good, while myself also not finding it so bad after re-reading it. What we might feel is that something's not doing as good as it should, but we have to remember that novels are a long-range story, so sections like extensive dialogue can actually add to character development and enhancing the story instead of detrimenting it. For that, I recommend you to ask: does this dialogue bring anything new to the table? Things like objective telling or new sides from characters are indicators of new things. If the dialogue is not bringing anything new, then quickly think of something that could be added to do so, and do it. Another factor is that you just didn't plan to write a certain scenario and don't find it special. I also feel this a lot too. I don't have much to say other than keep writing xD

I'm not working on a joint project, but I am indeed teaming up when making word sprints. Group word sprints can be a great motivator since you can't really stop them once you input a time and it further forces you to write, coupled being able to see how much word count the others make when it finishes.

@Canini I finished on my first attempt. NaNo's articles really helped my motivation back then, coupled with doing word sprints.

I think I'm already feeling the NaNo train xD Yesterday (the 2nd) I could barely finish the word count for the day at almost midnight, while today I could finish earlier but also had some difficulties. Now I'm gonna make double my usual word count goal because of NaNo's double-up day. @.@

 

[TeiRaven]

Day 5 and I've already resorted to the self-bribery method, oh dear. I'm at the Philadelphia Miniaturia show with my mom and I found someone selling miniature apple-bobbing tubs. And someone else selling miniature clay crows. Yesterday I bought two crows when I hit word count--today I'm going to get the apples if I make it. Apparently this is how I'm beginning my miniature collection, but come on. Crows bobbing for apples. What's not to love?

Anybody else resorted to bribery--I mean, rewards? XD

 

[Marsigne]

@TeiRaven I haven't resorted to tangible self-rewards, but I like to say to myself that the faster I write my words (so there's less internal-editing), the fewer sessions I have to do to reach my goal so I get out of the writing day quicker, and it has been going well.

Yesterday wasn't the best day, I was very demotivated due to a personal situation but decided to write still. I'm glad I did because that could be potentially devastating, considering I wasn't even motivated to participate in the double-up activity. Today things went much better, I think I'm getting adapted to my word count flow since my scenes are getting written smoother and without problems, and my word count per session has been very consistent. Way to go!

 

[Parallax Panda]

Oh god. I've been away for so long. It's been, what? ...3 days? ...and I was already behind on schedule!

My trump card (all my free time) backfired! When you're unemployed you're the first person people go to with their problems and requests and it's hard to turn people away. People usually respect the "I can't, I gotta go to work" excuse but "I can't, I gotta write a novel" or "I gotta do the laundry" doesn't really hold the same weight.
So... without going into to much detail, I had to go and help out my in-laws. I thought it would be less than a day so I didn't bring the laptop - big mistake! I just got home (and I'm tired!).

Oh well, Life's gonna happen. This too is part of the NaNoWriMo experience. @TeiRaven , I think I'll have to start with the bribery too! The gloves are coming off, because I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet. In fact I'm going to keep going until it's over even if I'll not make it. Besides, if I were to somehow force myself into writing at @Marsigne 's pace, I think I could still make it... in theory.

@Marsigne
Thanks for the advice, I'll take it to heart. If there is something I've come to understand it's that I'm not someone who can write well without planning. But, I found out about NaNo less about 3 days before it started so there wasn't really time to think things through this year. I'll definitely start planning early next year though, that's for sure.

 

[Marquise*]

Gah! Times flies too fast I didn't started back and got IRL things that took time to solve

 

[esterk]

Well...500 words down so far, haha. Not much of a dent, but it's something.