xkcd

by **GhostWolfe** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:19 am UTC

The NaNo forums are reporting an 814-hour delay on getting emails through, so don't forget your password >_>

/angell

by **Jesse** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:31 am UTC

I am signed up and doing this and definitely willing to bounce ideas around with anyone and everyone.

by **Sungura** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 4:54 pm UTC

wow i just started last night...and I got on a roll this morning. Last night I had about 1300 words written. All of a sudden now I have 5600.

Uh...I should study for my exam now.

I'm glad it's allowed to be horrible, because my writing certainly is. I've not written fiction in about 8 years, and nothing longer than about 5000 words ever before.

Also, my novel is silly. Bunny armies taking over the world!
...yeah, I know...I warned you it was silly! I am being so uncreative the main character is named Amy and the organic chem professor is Amanda (my orgo professor) and the animal facility person is Scott (which, he is) and the mean professor is Dr Evans (that I don't know where it came from), my police officer is Officer David (hey...I was watching NCIS...) and then my Pentagon leison is Mr. Brains (instead of Mr. Smart...and he even has a telephone in his shoe but he is actually brilliant so that's why he is Brains and not Smart.)
...
I think I need help.

by **kellsbells** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:00 pm UTC

So, I'm okay so far. 1779 last night. But that gives me no cushion to fall back on, and already my plot's pretty crap. I'm literally writing this with no idea of what might happen next. I guess that might work out okay, though...

I'm taking my computer to classes with me in the hope of getting some written in spare minutes. Wish me luck.

by **thicknavyrain** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:09 pm UTC

I was going to post when I was on 1337 but I passed that yonks ago so...

I WAS on 1337. Take my word for it!

by **Ati** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:18 pm UTC

Whee, I've committed myself to an occupation that I do not even remotely have the time for!

On the plus side, I've got an excellent idea for a book. It's called "The Clocks of Ash Tree Hill," and it starts like this:

The Rules:

I. A DOOR may be established between any two rectangular apertures so long as they are both on the hill.

II. No DOOR may be established more than three hundred and eleven meters away from the geometric center of the hill.

III. One side of the DOOR may exist at any orientation, scale, or time relative to the other.

IV. The DOOR is active only at night, but effects may remain in daylight.

V. Do not assume that the DOOR does not wish you harm.

by **Jesse** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:44 pm UTC

So, two days into this and I have now got the flu.

I hate November.

by **Sungura** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:25 pm UTC

Ooh that'll be my idea for next year! Like the Magic School Bus!

by **kgirlfae** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 4:31 pm UTC

I'm scared this year because I'm actually staying well ahead of my word goals and I'm excited about my novel, and I don't think I'm writing things too horribly. If I hit week three and just crash and burn I wouldn't be too surprised.

This year two of my roommates are competing too, so that's made for some interesting house rivalries, which I'm totally encouraging with calenders and word-goal charts that you get to put a star on when you hit each goal. And of course the most evil method of encouraging writing ever - the winner each day gets a tootsie-roll-pop from my unused Halloween candy supply! Nothing like bribery to keep those creative juices flowing.

Sungura wrote:Also, my novel is silly. Bunny armies taking over the world!

In the nano-forums everyone refers to plot ideas as plot-bunnies! I'm not even a little surprised to see your plot-bunnies are in fact real bunnies!

by **She** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 4:59 pm UTC

5700 today, probably won't write more until tomorrow. It's something metafiction-y that's pretty fun to write, but not that good. But it doesn't have to be!

by **Wolf** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 6:31 pm UTC

Ugh, I'm already behind with a mere 622 words done due to classes being crappy at me, and not really having a plot but having characters I love enough that I need to give them somewhere to go.

But hopefully I'll be able to catch up over the course of the rest of this week/this weekend. And if not, I know what I'm spending my Thanksgiving break doing. (10,000 words in a single day! A few days in a row! It is the best way to spend Thanksgiving.)

by **cephalopod9** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:37 pm UTC

I have been thinking about it, real hard. And um, I bought some notebooks.

I guess I have IDEAS and this could be a good excuse to write some of them down, even tho' none of them feel all that... novel-y.

by **mypsychoticself** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 3:38 pm UTC

Grrr. I started out ahead, but now I'm behind. Can I write 2400 words in a day? I guess I'll find out.

This novel is seriously craptastic, though. I think that half the planning I did in October is now completely worthless. Oh, well.

by **kgirlfae** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 4:57 pm UTC

cephalopod9 wrote:I guess I have IDEAS and this could be a good excuse to write some of them down, even tho' none of them feel all that... novel-y.

Just start writing one out and you'll be surprised where it heads. I did this last year and it totally worked out for me. The trick is to just keep writing through the flat, crappy parts and then when inspiration hits to just write as much as you possibly can. But never let yourself stop writing.

mypsychoticself wrote:Grrr. I started out ahead, but now I'm behind. Can I write 2400 words in a day? I guess I'll find out.

Last year I started 4 days late and still managed to squeak out a win! I think you can do it

by **Jesse** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:59 am UTC

So, despite being feverish and delirious, I'm managing to write really regularly, although the stats constantly show me as behind because I tend to update my word count around 1am. Not only that, but I'm pleased with what I'm writing. The actual words aren't so great, and could do with a month of editing already, but some of the ideas that I'm getting are fantastic. All in all, I like. I just wish I was feeling better.

by **Jessica** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 1:24 pm UTC

me in case you were wondering.
Being unable to wake up yesterday put a major damper on my writing capacity.

I'm now... really really far behind. (3800)

Lets hope I can get some steam going and do a weekend madness this weekend. Or, maybe tonight or something...

by **Sungura** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 1:58 pm UTC

I added you Jessica!

Aww I see you added me already *hugs*

by **AngrySquirrel** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 2:17 pm UTC

Just hit the first of my walls where I start thinking about how absurd this story really is if I think about it and how these things don't really work that way. So things are going quite slow for the moment.

But! I will finish this story. Even if that means I have to hit my head with a really big spoon.

by **Jessica** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:25 pm UTC

I hate that first "this is stupid" wall...

by **Sungura** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 3:58 am UTC

I knew mine was stupid from the beginning. Hence I am making it as insane as possible.
Also, with my huge exam today, good thing two days ago I got ahead two days. I am now only a few hundred behind instead of thousands. It's okay, I'm sure I'll pull out a bunch this weekend. I'm the "be way ahead" sort of person.

Also when describing actions I don't want to jump all around and I'm doing the stupid star thing we do online...here have some excerpts to laugh at:

*Scratch Scratch Sniffle Scratch* Whatever is that noise? Do we have mice again? What time is it? Only 3:00am! Well I may as well just roll over and go back to sleep. Yeah. That’s a good idea. AHHHHHHHH! What on earth?! Get the lights on! What is that thing? Oh, it’s only a bunny. Come here and cuddle Mr. Bunny and let’s get some sleep. *Turns of lights and curls up with Mr. Bunny.*

The first example of Mr. Bunny's abilities (not yet known to Amy hush yes that uncreative i named the main character Amy) Also...I hope I remember how to do dialog correctly or I am making a big fool of myself here. Hey, I'm a scientist not a writer! If it doesn't come with 30+ references it's not a paper![/size]

Oh shoot, I really don’t want a ticket. I bet I was speeding, that has to be it. Ah here the officer comes, I should roll down the window. “Hi officer.”
“Hello miss. Do you know why I pulled you over?”
“I believe I was speeding. I had a really exciting day at the lab, my thesis which has gone nowhere for months I finally started a new one, and got some great data today!”
“Ahhhh you are one of those…”
“One of those, officer?”
“Yeah, a graduate student! My niece is working on her PhD, and she always speeds around when she has good data. I always know how her lab work is going because she either goes five miles under the speed limit or ten to fifteen miles over! Haha!”
“Oh, I see.”
“Yeah, but just like my niece, when she speeds, she breaks the law, and she has to pay. As do you.”
“What if I promise to never do it again?”
“Oh, you will, the next time you get good results,” the officer said, winking. “Oh hey, is that a BUNNY!?!?”
“Yes, officer. He is part of my research project. Mr. Bunny, meet officer…”
“David!”
“Meet Officer David. Officer David, meet Mr. Bunny,” Amy said as she held the bunny by the rolled-down window.
“Awww, he’s so adorable! And soft and fuzzy and sweet! Awww…”
“Yes, he is. He’s part of my thesis work too.”
“No way, really? That is awesome,” Officer David said as he was petting Mr. Bunny. “Well I should really be on my way, you have a good evening miss, and you too Mr. Bunny!” And with that, Officer David got back into his squad car and drove away.

And then of course, my quirky Pentagon liaison, Mr. Brains...

Hours on the phone later, trying to find out who to sell this project too, she landed a lead with the Pentagon, Department 42. This nameless department researched reports of extraordinary phenomena, and some claimed they had a role in Area 51. This sort of bunny-domination seemed right up their ally. The department head, a goofy character who was convinced he had a telephone in his shoe, but actually was pretty brilliant, picked up her call.

by **cephalopod9** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 12:16 am UTC

With the exception that, I think, you're supposed to indent for a long series of quotes, your dialogue looks ok. [not an expert] The *noises* strikes me as informal, but probably not a problem, especially if it's used within dialogue.

I have a similar sort of problem with interrupting action with dialogue, and vice-versa. I just remembered a short story I started a while ago.
Some dialogue I tried to write:

Spoiler:

I have 7 or 8 completely unrelated premises bouncing around in my head, and none of them seem to go very far.

Jessica wrote:I hate that first "this is stupid" wall...

All I can say is if you typically hit it after you start writing, you're doing better than I am...
and for some reason, taking a creative writing class actually made this a lot worse for me. It's this ongoing internal conflict between needing constant validation, and never wanting anyone to see anything I write.

kgirlfae wrote:Just start writing one out and you'll be surprised where it heads. I did this last year and it totally worked out for me. The trick is to just keep writing through the flat, crappy parts and then when inspiration hits to just write as much as you possibly can. But never let yourself stop writing.

Maybe I will learn to do that eventually. Typically tho', things head directly into the ground, and I never want to see them again.

by **She** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:18 pm UTC

cephalopod9 wrote:It's this ongoing internal conflict between needing constant validation, and never wanting anyone to see anything I write.

I get this too.

by **Sungura** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:44 pm UTC

cephalopod9 wrote:With the exception that, I think, you're supposed to indent for a long series of quotes, your dialogue looks ok.

Yeah I should have mentioned that the formatting (lack of) on the forum for indents and such messed that up. Each switch is a new paragraph.

by **GhostWolfe** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 2:12 am UTC

Word count widgets have been activated! Huzzah!

/angell

by **Sungura** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 2:57 am UTC

you have a lot written! I'm only up to 12100! Eesh.

by **Mother Superior** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 1:13 pm UTC

Sigh. I can't help but get the feeling I am going forward too quickly. I want this story to end up being more than fifty thousand words.

by **Wolf** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 4:30 am UTC

Mother Superior wrote:Sigh. I can't help but get the feeling I am going forward too quickly. I want this story to end up being more than fifty thousand words.

Then let it. There's no rule saying your story has to be finished by fifty thousand. Several of mine were only about 1/3 of the way through when I hit fifty thousand in other years. Just go at your own pace and don't worry about finishing the whole story during November, just 50,000 words of it.

by **modularblues** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:32 am UTC

Cheers to everyone going through with this.

My attention span is way too short nowadays...

She wrote:
cephalopod9 wrote:It's this ongoing internal conflict between needing constant validation, and never wanting anyone to see anything I write.

I get this too.

Very true, sigh.

by **GhostWolfe** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 5:42 am UTC

Wolf wrote:
Mother Superior wrote:Sigh. I can't help but get the feeling I am going forward too quickly. I want this story to end up being more than fifty thousand words.

Then let it. There's no rule saying your story has to be finished by fifty thousand. Several of mine were only about 1/3 of the way through when I hit fifty thousand in other years. Just go at your own pace and don't worry about finishing the whole story during November, just 50,000 words of it.

I got the impression that the story is going to run out before the words do, not the other way around.

Pull a Stephanie Meyer. Rewrite entire sections of text from a different character's POV

/angell

by **cephalopod9** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:24 am UTC

You can also always go back and fill stuff out. I kind of prefer things being concise, but things like descriptions and character histories can be embellished in retrospect.

Sungura wrote:
cephalopod9 wrote:With the exception that, I think, you're supposed to indent for a long series of quotes, your dialogue looks ok.
Yeah I should have mentioned that the formatting (lack of) on the forum for indents and such messed that up. Each switch is a new paragraph.

I meant to phrase that in a way that acknowledged the format differences... but I got distracted.

Does anyone want help with ideas? I am really eager to write anything except for things I can think of...

by **Sungura** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 2:20 pm UTC

Well my character is now sequestered in a super secret government science lab center place thing. (Love that description, teehee.) Anyway, I'm going to have a whole bunch of top secret projects down there so I can introduce a few more characters and get some diaglouge and background to the place going that she can learn about (and then eventually there will be another mystery bit where they wonder if they are all being played, etc etc, and ban together to try to take the place down, whether or not the place is really bad or not, I've nto made up my mind.) But anyway...other projects:
- Teleportation - I already have some ideas about this from doogly but more thoughts on what this would be like would be nice. From concept to finished project (it works by implaneted microchips now...)

- Time travel - a work in progress that usually works but sometimes not at this point. Again, how would it work? A history for it?

by **Wolf** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:43 am UTC

Hah, I wrote about 700 words Sunday night and one of my characters surprised me and switched personalities (he didn't have one before now, as he was just introduced) from a sadsack to joking about killing the main character.

Writing is fun.

by **AngrySquirrel** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:47 am UTC

Started on my third day of writers block.

I am contemplating bringing out the red rum.

by **Sungura** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:46 pm UTC

what's your story about? Maybe we could help with ideas?

by **AngrySquirrel** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 2:17 pm UTC

Sungura wrote:what's your story about? Maybe we could help with ideas?

Main problem is that I might have too many ideas. I know exactly how the plot is supposed to go, and I know where I need to go next, I just can't find the words I need to get to where I need to go.

Currently my group has managed to escape some baddies and are flying around at random. I need a reason for them to stick together even thought they don't really like each other and could theoretically go each to their own. I also need a reason for them to go visit one of the characters parents even though it in all ways seems like a horribly stupid idea, and none of them likes them.

by **Sungura** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 2:20 pm UTC

AngrySquirrel wrote:
Sungura wrote:what's your story about? Maybe we could help with ideas?

Main problem is that I might have too many ideas. I know exactly how the plot is supposed to go, and I know where I need to go next, I just can't find the words I need to get to where I need to go.

Currently my group has managed to escape some baddies and are flying around at random. I need a reason for them to stick together even thought they don't really like each other and could theoretically go each to their own. I also need a reason for them to go visit one of the characters parents even though it in all ways seems like a horribly stupid idea, and none of them likes them.

Ok, well then let them all go off on their own, and alone they find out they actually do get their butts kicked by the baddies, so they decide they are best together.
As to why to see the character's parents, have one of them die (or, if that's not part of the plan, fake a deathly illness) so they are guilted into visiting!

by **thicknavyrain** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:56 pm UTC

AngrySquirrel wrote:Started on my third day of writers block.

I am contemplating bringing out the red rum.

This but it's not writers block killing me it's time. Unless I get a hold of bernard's watch, I might start killing people.

by **Wolf** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:58 pm UTC

thicknavyrain wrote:
AngrySquirrel wrote:Started on my third day of writers block.

I am contemplating bringing out the red rum.

This but it's not writers block killing me it's time. Unless I get a hold of bernard's watch, I might start killing people.

Ugh, me too. I've got *just* enough work from random bits of college to keep me from ever having a few hours to just sit down and write. (Why oh why am I doing 18 units that includes being an undergraduate researcher? It all seemed like a good idea at the time. . .)

But I have today off (yay Veteran's Day!), so I should be able to run some catch-up today, thank god.

by **GhostWolfe** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:31 pm UTC

One of the features of MSWord '07 that I do like is the live word count.

Last night, I placed a comma in my sentence and paused typing only to spot my word count was 25,000 exactly. I had to stop and preserve that as my word count for the day.

/angell

by **Jessica** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:51 pm UTC

As you can see, I'm still horribly behind. It's hard to write about this topic sometimes.

But, I have a title. It's not very good, and probably would be changed, but at least it's there.

Gotta do better!!

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