Nanowrimo 2009: or 50,000 words is more than I thought. - Page 4

Rimbo · 11-03-2009, 01:01 AM

Drugs are good, and I'm feeling well enough to write a few pages:

5600 words, ladles and gentlemints!

That's like, 11% of the way there in two days. Yay!

Yeah... I'm a swooper. But I tell you, ladles and gentlemints, that this is something that can be learned or trained. You can become a swooper too.

It helps to have a kid in the house demanding that you tell him stories while he poops every. Single. Day.

Brad Grenz · 11-03-2009, 02:02 AM

Nice. I think my 6 year old nephew may be working on a nanowrimo project, too. The other day my sister asked him how his day at school went and he said a rocket hit the school, killing a boy named Oscar. This made everyone pretty sad all day.

alexlitel · 11-03-2009, 02:59 AM

I think I'm changing my focus to something wildly incoherent - purposely nonsensical and Dadaist.

jason · 11-03-2009, 03:41 AM

A tip for people who can't stop from editing themselves as they write. Don't delete, mark things in italics or use strike-through if your writing program supports it and then move on. You wrote the words, they won't count if you delete them.

Miramon · 11-03-2009, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexlitel

I think I'm changing my focus to something wildly incoherent - purposely nonsensical and Dadaist.

Good luck maintaining that for 50k words. I think it's probably harder than writing a conventional narrative.

Matt Bowyer · 11-03-2009, 12:53 PM

And there's my first stretch where I wrote it, didn't like it, and am now FORCING myself to continue and ignore it. It's just a bad transition, I'll sort it out later.

This is hard!

Creole Ned · 11-03-2009, 01:53 PM

Yeah, I stopped at a blah point last night (something I try not to do in any of my writing) so picking it up today will be tougher. In the end I think the pressure of the deadline will ultimately make it easier because you get into that "eh, I'll just fix it later" mindset.

Tracy Baker · 11-03-2009, 01:59 PM

Definitely getting into that mindset now. Looking back over what I've done today it's starting to read like a play -- tons of dialog punctuated by sparse scene descriptions that I figure I'll go flesh out later.

I generally work best when I plot something out beforehand but I dove into this one blind. Plopped two guys who don't like each other much in the middle of a road and just started writing to see where they'd end up. It's something I've always wanted to do, just let the characters control the flow of the story, but I don't know if they're going to play along for 45,000 more words.

Jeff Green · 11-03-2009, 09:23 PM

I made the big mistake of reading back the past three days writing--which constituted chapter 1--and boy does it suck. Ugh. Need to remind myself not to do that anymore. Until I did that, I was being quite successful at just plowing through without worrying about anything (like plot, character, word choice--ya know the little things!). Now that I see the results of that...I want to go back and rewrite or scrap it all. BUT I WILL NOT DO THAT. I WILL SOLDIER ON. I SHALL OVERCOME.

Calistas · 11-03-2009, 09:59 PM

Damn it, I need a better name than "digital nomad" to describe homeless people loaded with weird technology, especially because the abbreviation "dinomad" sucks arse.

Rimbo · 11-03-2009, 10:27 PM

Also, saying "dinomad" instead of "digital nomad" costs you a word every time you do it, Calistas.

Anyway... UP AND AT 'EM YOU LAGGARDS! GET TYPING! 8,442 words now, bitches, and plenty more where that came from. I WANT TO SEE ONE OF YOU AHEAD OF ME BY THE TIME I WAKE UP TOMORROW MORNING! If I don't, there'll be hell to pay.

I'd better not be the only QT3er who finishes! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU WILL FINISH! Quality be damned, just get your editor open and TYPE. Type stupid things. Type random ideas. Go on weird tangents. WRITE LIKE YOU POST ON THE INTERNET! Go go go go go!!!

XtienMurawski · 11-03-2009, 10:47 PM

Wow Rimbo. You'd better have the goddamn common courtesy to give all of them a reach-around.

-xtien

Rimbo · 11-03-2009, 11:07 PM

Once you give up on silly notions like "quality," all kinds of options become available to you.

It DOES help to have some good idea of where you're going with the plot. I recommend pulling an off-the-shelf plot with standard characters from Central Casting.

Creole Ned · 11-04-2009, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rimbo

Anyway... UP AND AT 'EM YOU LAGGARDS! GET TYPING! 8,442 words now, bitches, and plenty more where that came from. I WANT TO SEE ONE OF YOU AHEAD OF ME BY THE TIME I WAKE UP TOMORROW MORNING! If I don't, there'll be hell to pay

Done. I am up to 8,552 words as of tonight. I will probably write for a few more minutes before turning in, so that will bump up slightly to 8,700 or so.

Rimbo · 11-04-2009, 12:44 AM

Yay Creole Ned!

Creole Ned · 11-04-2009, 01:11 AM

Okay, packing it in for the night. Final word count for today: 9,109.

My motto is: Books are better by the pound!

Rimbo · 11-04-2009, 01:18 AM

gonna have to get over this flu so i can step it up

candide · 11-04-2009, 05:08 AM

I used to write short stories when I was young, so I'm not totally new to this, but I'm really struggling. My critical voice is really vocal. I think I will follow Rimbo's advice and just pretend I'm posting on some forums

Matt Bowyer · 11-04-2009, 06:03 AM

Up to 6,000 this morning, not done yet, and there is no way in hell this is going to be a full book. I'm not even to the climax of this chapter yet, and I'm at 6,000 words! I'll be lucky if Popular Anarchy comes in under 150K.

It's kinda fun to design weird fantasy creatures on the fly. Reminds me of running tabletop role-playing games. "It's a gorilla! Only... seven feet tall, with a weird twisted unicorn horn and it can punch fire! Yeah!"

It's currently called, creatively, a Fire Ape, because later I can do a find/replace on that and give it a name that doesn't suck. It's also formed out a magical mutation that twisted the forest that my heroes are in.

This is why writing fantasy novels is fun. "Here's some random shit!" "That doesn't make any sense. It's just random shit. How would the ecosystem support that?" "It's magic!" "Oh, well then. Carry on." Plus, the editing phase is for making things make sense.

MikeSofaer · 11-04-2009, 12:51 PM

I am sucking. 1931 words. I seem to write about 600 words in a solid hour, which seems terribly slow. I need to step up the time-at-keyboard or I'm not going to make it.

KWhit · 11-04-2009, 01:39 PM

What idiot decided that NaNoWriMo and the release of Dragon Age should be in the same month?

Jeff Green · 11-04-2009, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KWhit

What idiot decided that NaNoWriMo and the release of Dragon Age should be in the same month?

Man, I hear you. Burning the candle at both ends right now as a result.

Rimbo · 11-04-2009, 07:09 PM

And GSB, to boot.

THAT'S NO EXCUSE YOU SLOBS! Get typin'! Here I am sick with fever, doing a full-time job and raising a kid and I'm still ahead of you varmints! TEN THOUSAND OR BUST! You hear me, maggots?

MikeSofaer · 11-04-2009, 09:33 PM

3,039 words. Rimbo, you aren't helping.

Rimbo · 11-04-2009, 11:00 PM

11,370

Calistas · 11-04-2009, 11:08 PM

Man, my lack of any ideas - not helped by a newborn, is really kicking my ass!

Creole Ned · 11-05-2009, 01:22 AM

12,704 words as of tonight. I wrote longer than I was planning and after some stop and go got past the blah part and into the first "the shit is hitting the fan" part. Looking forward to tomorrow! Er, later today.

Rimbo · 11-05-2009, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Creole Ned

12,704 words as of tonight. I wrote longer than I was planning and after some stop and go got past the blah part and into the first "the shit is hitting the fan" part. Looking forward to tomorrow! Er, later today.

Aww man. Just when I think I've put something down that'll stay ahead of you, you sneak past. And hell, that's not even sneaking past, now. I hope I don't get boatraced here...

MikeSofaer · 11-05-2009, 04:24 PM

I had no idea what was going to happen next, so I cheated and did an editing pass that got me up to 4815. If I can get to 6000 tonight I will start to feel like I can actually do this. Unfortunately I still have no idea what's going to happen next.

Creole Ned in on track for National Novel Writing Fortnight.

Arioch · 11-05-2009, 04:29 PM

Yeah, I am totally stalling. Can't concentrate, can't focus, don't get anything done. But I got a week of vacation ahead, and I will give my WLAN-USB-stick and the power cable of the 360 away for the time. And then I am gonna kick all of your asses.

11-04-2009, 11:00 PM	#115
Rimbo 6th Grade Spelling Bee Loser World's End Supernova Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Xbox Gamertag: Rimbosity Posts: 20,260	11,370 Last edited by Rimbo; 11-04-2009 at 11:09 PM..

11-03-2009, 01:01 AM	#91
Rimbo 6th Grade Spelling Bee Loser World's End Supernova Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Xbox Gamertag: Rimbosity Posts: 20,260	Drugs are good, and I'm feeling well enough to write a few pages: 5600 words, ladles and gentlemints! That's like, 11% of the way there in two days. Yay! Yeah... I'm a swooper. But I tell you, ladles and gentlemints, that this is something that can be learned or trained. You can become a swooper too. It helps to have a kid in the house demanding that you tell him stories while he poops every. Single. Day.

11-03-2009, 02:02 AM	#92
Brad Grenz New Romantic Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Salem, Oregon Posts: 8,704	Nice. I think my 6 year old nephew may be working on a nanowrimo project, too. The other day my sister asked him how his day at school went and he said a rocket hit the school, killing a boy named Oscar. This made everyone pretty sad all day.

11-03-2009, 02:59 AM	#93
alexlitel Social Worker Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: California, America Posts: 3,658	I think I'm changing my focus to something wildly incoherent - purposely nonsensical and Dadaist.

11-03-2009, 03:41 AM	#94
jason Mad Chester Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 1,122	A tip for people who can't stop from editing themselves as they write. Don't delete, mark things in italics or use strike-through if your writing program supports it and then move on. You wrote the words, they won't count if you delete them.

11-03-2009, 12:53 PM	#96
Matt Bowyer Social Worker Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Overland Park, KS XBL & PSN: Kid Socrates Posts: 3,582	And there's my first stretch where I wrote it, didn't like it, and am now FORCING myself to continue and ignore it. It's just a bad transition, I'll sort it out later. This is hard!

11-03-2009, 01:53 PM	#97
Creole Ned Social Worker Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Vancouver Posts: 4,216	Yeah, I stopped at a blah point last night (something I try not to do in any of my writing) so picking it up today will be tougher. In the end I think the pressure of the deadline will ultimately make it easier because you get into that "eh, I'll just fix it later" mindset.

11-03-2009, 01:59 PM	#98
Tracy Baker Social Worker Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 2,341	Definitely getting into that mindset now. Looking back over what I've done today it's starting to read like a play -- tons of dialog punctuated by sparse scene descriptions that I figure I'll go flesh out later. I generally work best when I plot something out beforehand but I dove into this one blind. Plopped two guys who don't like each other much in the middle of a road and just started writing to see where they'd end up. It's something I've always wanted to do, just let the characters control the flow of the story, but I don't know if they're going to play along for 45,000 more words.

11-03-2009, 09:23 PM	#99
Jeff Green Social Worker Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 2,059	I made the big mistake of reading back the past three days writing--which constituted chapter 1--and boy does it suck. Ugh. Need to remind myself not to do that anymore. Until I did that, I was being quite successful at just plowing through without worrying about anything (like plot, character, word choice--ya know the little things!). Now that I see the results of that...I want to go back and rewrite or scrap it all. BUT I WILL NOT DO THAT. I WILL SOLDIER ON. I SHALL OVERCOME.

11-03-2009, 09:59 PM	#100
Calistas New Romantic Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Wellington Posts: 5,840	Damn it, I need a better name than "digital nomad" to describe homeless people loaded with weird technology, especially because the abbreviation "dinomad" sucks arse.

11-03-2009, 10:27 PM	#101
Rimbo 6th Grade Spelling Bee Loser World's End Supernova Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Xbox Gamertag: Rimbosity Posts: 20,260	Also, saying "dinomad" instead of "digital nomad" costs you a word every time you do it, Calistas. Anyway... UP AND AT 'EM YOU LAGGARDS! GET TYPING! 8,442 words now, bitches, and plenty more where that came from. I WANT TO SEE ONE OF YOU AHEAD OF ME BY THE TIME I WAKE UP TOMORROW MORNING! If I don't, there'll be hell to pay. I'd better not be the only QT3er who finishes! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU WILL FINISH! Quality be damned, just get your editor open and TYPE. Type stupid things. Type random ideas. Go on weird tangents. WRITE LIKE YOU POST ON THE INTERNET! Go go go go go!!!

11-03-2009, 10:47 PM	#102
XtienMurawski Dingus Social Worker Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 2,642	Wow Rimbo. You'd better have the goddamn common courtesy to give all of them a reach-around. -xtien

11-03-2009, 11:07 PM	#103
Rimbo 6th Grade Spelling Bee Loser World's End Supernova Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Xbox Gamertag: Rimbosity Posts: 20,260	Once you give up on silly notions like "quality," all kinds of options become available to you. It DOES help to have some good idea of where you're going with the plot. I recommend pulling an off-the-shelf plot with standard characters from Central Casting.

11-04-2009, 12:44 AM	#105
Rimbo 6th Grade Spelling Bee Loser World's End Supernova Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Xbox Gamertag: Rimbosity Posts: 20,260	Yay Creole Ned!

11-04-2009, 01:11 AM	#106
Creole Ned Social Worker Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Vancouver Posts: 4,216	Okay, packing it in for the night. Final word count for today: 9,109. My motto is: Books are better by the pound!

11-04-2009, 01:18 AM	#107
Rimbo 6th Grade Spelling Bee Loser World's End Supernova Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Xbox Gamertag: Rimbosity Posts: 20,260	gonna have to get over this flu so i can step it up

11-04-2009, 05:08 AM	#108
candide Goodluck!! Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 109	I used to write short stories when I was young, so I'm not totally new to this, but I'm really struggling. My critical voice is really vocal. I think I will follow Rimbo's advice and just pretend I'm posting on some forums

11-04-2009, 06:03 AM	#109
Matt Bowyer Social Worker Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Overland Park, KS XBL & PSN: Kid Socrates Posts: 3,582	Up to 6,000 this morning, not done yet, and there is no way in hell this is going to be a full book. I'm not even to the climax of this chapter yet, and I'm at 6,000 words! I'll be lucky if Popular Anarchy comes in under 150K. It's kinda fun to design weird fantasy creatures on the fly. Reminds me of running tabletop role-playing games. "It's a gorilla! Only... seven feet tall, with a weird twisted unicorn horn and it can punch fire! Yeah!" It's currently called, creatively, a Fire Ape, because later I can do a find/replace on that and give it a name that doesn't suck. It's also formed out a magical mutation that twisted the forest that my heroes are in. This is why writing fantasy novels is fun. "Here's some random shit!" "That doesn't make any sense. It's just random shit. How would the ecosystem support that?" "It's magic!" "Oh, well then. Carry on." Plus, the editing phase is for making things make sense.

11-04-2009, 12:51 PM	#110
MikeSofaer New Romantic Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Palo Alto, CA Posts: 5,715	I am sucking. 1931 words. I seem to write about 600 words in a solid hour, which seems terribly slow. I need to step up the time-at-keyboard or I'm not going to make it.

11-04-2009, 01:39 PM	#111
KWhit Spinning Toe Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 516	What idiot decided that NaNoWriMo and the release of Dragon Age should be in the same month?

11-04-2009, 07:09 PM	#113
Rimbo 6th Grade Spelling Bee Loser World's End Supernova Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Xbox Gamertag: Rimbosity Posts: 20,260	And GSB, to boot. THAT'S NO EXCUSE YOU SLOBS! Get typin'! Here I am sick with fever, doing a full-time job and raising a kid and I'm still ahead of you varmints! TEN THOUSAND OR BUST! You hear me, maggots?

11-04-2009, 09:33 PM	#114
MikeSofaer New Romantic Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Palo Alto, CA Posts: 5,715	3,039 words. Rimbo, you aren't helping.

11-04-2009, 11:08 PM	#116
Calistas New Romantic Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Wellington Posts: 5,840	Man, my lack of any ideas - not helped by a newborn, is really kicking my ass!

11-05-2009, 01:22 AM	#117
Creole Ned Social Worker Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Vancouver Posts: 4,216	12,704 words as of tonight. I wrote longer than I was planning and after some stop and go got past the blah part and into the first "the shit is hitting the fan" part. Looking forward to tomorrow! Er, later today.

11-05-2009, 04:24 PM	#119
MikeSofaer New Romantic Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Palo Alto, CA Posts: 5,715	I had no idea what was going to happen next, so I cheated and did an editing pass that got me up to 4815. If I can get to 6000 tonight I will start to feel like I can actually do this. Unfortunately I still have no idea what's going to happen next. Creole Ned in on track for National Novel Writing Fortnight.

11-05-2009, 04:29 PM	#120
Arioch Spinning Toe Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: The Slough of Despond Gamertag:SpielerDrei Posts: 542	Yeah, I am totally stalling. Can't concentrate, can't focus, don't get anything done. But I got a week of vacation ahead, and I will give my WLAN-USB-stick and the power cable of the 360 away for the time. And then I am gonna kick all of your asses.

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Nanowrimo 2009: or 50,000 words is more than I thought.