NaNoWriMo Support 2010
 

Who is writing a novel in November during National Novel Writing Month? The support thread here last year was very helpful to me, counteracting the many food-based conversations on the NaNoWriMo forums. NaNoWriMo 2008 was a contributor to my weight gain that year, but NaNoWriMo 2009, with help from here, went along with a 2.5 pound weight loss for the month. So, come on, who wants to write a novel AND lose weight in November?

I do! :D

I'm looking forward to NaNo this year. I honestly haven't a clue of what I'm going to write, but I decided that I'll just play it by year. If my novel sucks, then it sucks, but--hopefully--it will at least be finished!

I've done NaNo... three years ago, I think? I only was able to get a quarter way through it, but even that much was a huge accomplishment to me, and I was so incredibly proud of myself and my novel.

I can't decide if I want to do it this year, or not. It's going to be a VERY busy month for me and I really need to be spending my free time reading for school... but NaNoWriMo is so much fun!

I love NaNo and have done it 3 times but I can't participate this year. Good luck to all! It's grueling but it's awesome! :D

I haven't finished the novel I started last NaNoWriMo. To participate officially, it has to be a new novel.

I've decided to work on my present novel as much as I can in October, and if I finish the rough draft (possible, but unlikely) by October 31, then I'll participate in NaNoWriMo officially. If I don't finish the novel then I'll participate "in spirit" to finish the novel I started last year.

i wanted to do it last year but then it was just so overwhelming i chickened out. i'm thinking about it for this year. we'll see what happens.

Count me in! Although I do write, I've never done NaNoWriMo before. I've read about it and know what it is but just never made the time to do it. I really have been wanting to give it a shot and try to turn some of the ideas in my head into a novel. So I'll gladly join you all for this one! :)

Wild Vulpix: Yay for trying again! One of the beauties of NaNo is that the result at the end of November pretty much has to suck. But it's a real draft that can get better with editing.

fatmac: we'd be happy to have you if you decided to go for it!

Rochester: Thanks for the support -- we can use some cheerleaders!

kaplods: we're happy to have you here, whether you're being official or a "NaNo Rebel."

lizziep: You can do it! It's really a fun and satisfying adventure.

CourtneyDaisey: Glad you're joining us! It's definitely a challenge but with a lot of companionship on the journey to make it easier and more fun.

I did some world-building over the summer and some character sketches this fall. What I really need right now is a plot!

Does anyone have ideas / recipes for getting some food prep done in October that will make healthy eating easier in November?

I clicked on this thread out of curiosity, and I am so glad that I did! This sounds so awesome. I had never heard of National Novel Writing Month before, but I am now registered as an official participant. Yay!

What sorts of novels have you written in the past/will you be writing next month?

I've never been an official finisher of NaNoWriMo. I've signed up every year for the past...7? 8? (Since like junior year of high school, so, yeah). Finishing is definitely a goal of mine, but I'm just not sure this year is going to be the year. I'm definitely going to sign up, and start, but I kind of feel like I need to be realistic.

Although, the more I think about it, the more I feel like I will put effort into it this year. Gah! Sorry for the rambling! Count me in :)

Nienna: Welcome! I'm so glad you found us. I write what I read -- romances with paranormal themes or urban fantasy tendencies.

fatmac: yay! I think you can do it!

I had a couple of ideas for my plot yesterday, even though I wasn't really working on it. It helps just to have this in my mind so random thoughts pop up during the day.

I tried last year, but honestly I didn't find out about it til the day before it started, and all my ideas seemed like crap. I have some time this year, so thinking about giving it a go.

Ohhhhh I want to join you guys! I am determined to make it through this year and combining weight loss and NaNo chat together is genius. I used to be just a fiction writer but now I write for a living and fiction has taken a backseat. I am so excited to bring it back into my life.

I hope this thread takes off, having NaNo buddies that understand the weight aspects that go along with it will be so awesome.

CanadianCutie: it will definitely be easier this year with some time to think about it before you start!

Purplefirefly: Glad to have you! I really like how NaNo lets me devote just a bit of my writing to fiction.

I made and froze (in ice cube trays) some pesto with basil from my garden -- that will help me make quick pizzas and flavorful salad dressing in November!

I'll join too! Like purplefirefly, I used to write fiction, but now I write for a living (medical writing and magazine articles), so I don't do much fiction anymore.

Sounds like fun!

gardenerjoy, I love the sound of your pesto ice cubes! Inspired. When I need to prepare meals in advance, I like to make several large batches of different soups and stews and then freeze it all in individual portions. They keep a while, taste great, and reheat very quickly. Actually, freezing is just great in general. I like to do the same thing with cut up fruits so that I always have small snacks and/or desserts on hand. Eating frozen fruit makes me feel like I'm getting away with something very naughty on the calorie front, for some reason.

Now that I've got part of my food prep plan figured out, it's off to do a bit more background research for my novel. My ideas are a bit vague at the moment, which is ever so slightly worrisome.

I'm in.
I joined last year and had to drop out at about day 20 with 23,000 words. I just couldn't keep up anymore.
This year I pulled a plot out of my :censored: at the start of October. I'm still trying to flesh it out on paper with a plotline. I haven't even thought it names yet, but that's okay because I'll use "Stand-in" names until I find one's that are just right. (I'm very very picky about my names)
I'm worried about my weight this month but only slightly as I have a very active job so I don't exercise much anyway. Getting fed is another issue altogether, my BF is demanind that I take part in NaNoWriMo so I demanded that he has to feed me and himself for the whole month, as I can't afford to take time off from the computer during this time.
I think I'll stock up on frozen meals @.@

:fr: I just decided today that I was going to even do this again so I have NOTHING so far. Better get to thinking up something or pulling out some old notes of inspiration. I can never stick to a plot line anyway because the story changes itself along the way so I figure it doesn't matter if I don't start without one..we'll see!

pokeycactus: welcome! Glad you're here!

Nienna: great idea about freezing soups and stews in individual portions. We haven't made our vegetarian chili yet this fall and it's about time!

Sakai: Yep, names are important and you may know more about what the perfect name is after you've written much of the story than you do now. Great plan to have BF do the cooking (and to have frozen meals stocked up in case that doesn't work as well as hoped!).

Purplefirefly: Yay! I'm glad you decided to join us. I think NaNo is great for the times when you need to write to find the idea.

My brother and I have been getting together most Wednesdays for several months to work on our ideas for NaNo. I hope we get together today because I really need some help with my plot!

I am a character driven writer and yesterday a great one walked into my head and I banged out a great plot idea (seed, it's always just a seed) and then came up with some general direction for chapters 1-7 in the middle of the night. I am tired today but excited...this is why I had to put fiction on the back burner to make a living with nonfiction stuff...fiction overtakes my brain and I can't resist running to make notes and telling everyone else to shut up, my character just came up with something good.

*sigh* this one has already taken up residence in my head and feels like an old friend who i desperately want to help, so I wish Nov. 1 was tomorrow....and my hubby is glad he's a truck driver and gets to leave home tonight :lol:

Folks, I am curious if you already have a plot in your heads for your novels or if you're going to start on day 1 by deciding on a plot then. (And no, I am not asking you to share your plots! LOL!)

I have a plot in my head. I honestly keep a little notebook in my dresser and whenever I have an idea that I think would be neat for a book I write it down. I am going to look through there and choose one of those as the plot for this novel.

I want to do it this year! I missed it last year and this year I want to get my writing mojo back because then I have to write a thesis and I won't have time for this... :)

Purplefirefly: yay for characters walking in at just the right moment!

CourtneyDaisey: this will be my third NaNo and I have done progressively more preparing and plotting for each one. But lots of people start on November 1 with nothing or the merest glimmer of an idea. So, either way can work!

Rana: NaNo should be good practice for getting the words out quickly. Something you'll be able to use when drafting your thesis.

During my meeting with my brother last night, I fleshed out my plot a bit more. My goal is to have a list of a hundred scenes by November 1. I'm up to 53, so I have a ways to go and might not make it, but it's motivating me to keep thinking about things.

I have a plot, but I let my characters determine things so what I plot in the beginning never comes out exactly in the end. Things will change, but I at least have a good idea of the basic storyline. I have rough sketches of what will happen in the first 7 chapters, after that I'll be winging it. Really, beyond that I will be wasting my time as by then the characters will take over and things will be different anyway!

Purplefirefly: That sounds like plenty to start NaNo with!

Today I'm going to try to work out a food plan for NaNo -- something where I have the virtually the same breakfasts, lunches, and snacks every day and the same dinners week to week -- Tuesday is homemade pizza, Sunday is grilled chicken, etc. I hope that will help streamline shopping and food prep in November.

This is a really good idea. I think I will try the same thing.

Purplefirefly: Hope it works for you!

My planning went well yesterday. Today I bought a lot of stuff at the Farmers Market. Most of it is too fresh to last until November, but I bought a bag of "seconds" apples and will make applesauce today, freezing some of it to use in November.

I know I'm not cut out for NaNo, or maybe I'm just a pansy; but one of my bosses at the library I work at attempts it every year, and she's my hero :D I have school to focus on in Novembers, too. Excuses, excuses.

But one site that's been helping me write a lot more (19,000 words in 23 days! It's unprecidented for me!) is 750words dot com. The set-up is really simple--write 750 words a day, every day, and rack up points and winning streaks--and according to the blog, the owner is thinking about doing something special for people who hit 1,667 words a day? It might be worth checking out for motivation.

Hey all! ^_^ I love NaNo, I'll be doing it this year as well! If anyone has a NaNo account on nanowriomo.org, add me (account: Jadeon). This year I'll be attempting a psychological thriller, what genres is everyone else writing in?

Account: kaplods

writing in urban fantasy (or more accurately, suburban fantasy).

I've discovered a way to participate this year without having to start entirely new. I won't use any of my written material from last year, and instead I'm going to tell the story from a different character's viewpoint. After NaNoWriMo is over, I can either keep both story lines entirely separate (resulting in two novels covering the same events from different points of view) or incorporating them into a single novel after NaNoWriMo is over.

I'm going to avoid writing about the incidents/scenes I've already writtent so that it's technically all new.

I like the idea of ending up with two novels from different points of view. Possibly the Villain and Hero could even be switched in each book (each narrator being the hero of their own story and casting the other as the villain).

I read two romance novels once that did that. Each of the two books were written from the point-of-view of a pair of sisters. In each book the other sister was the villain.

I also read a short story version of Snow White in which Snow White was the evil one (a vampire) and the stepmother was the hero.



Now I only have to wait 8 days to start the actual writing. I could work on the "old" version, but it would mean more scenes to avoid writing from the new perspective. Maybe I'll do some more plot work. I was really excited today because I not only did well on the plot outline, I even worked out three distinct subplots that mesh really well with the story line. Subplots and foreshadowing usually don't come easily to me, and when I've tried to write them in the past, they've been (or seemed to me) pretty lame.

Thanks, sobocin! I've been using 750 words for a couple of months now and it's really increased my confidence that NaNo will go much more smoothly this year. We'd love to have you if you decide another 917 words is doable for you.

Welcome, Jelbelle! A psychological thriller sounds great to pull you through the month! I'm working on a paranormal romance. My NaNo name is WriterJoy.

kaplods: that sounds like an excellent plan to retell a story from a different viewpoint -- you should learn a lot about your characters and plot that way. My brother was telling me that he recently read some Larry Niven stories that were retellings of his old stories from new viewpoints.
I'm glad you're joining us because last year you were an inspiration to me.

Speaking of viewpoints, I started yesterday to do a plot outline for just one of my characters and it helped me identify and plug some holes with new scenes. I'm going to try that with a different character today.

I've had two short stories of mine published before, but can never finish a novel. I always start them: outline, notes, everything, but something always happens to get me stuck. I think I will try it, though.

Serval87: Welcome! I started probably a dozen novels and never got beyond the research and a chapter or two. Doing NaNoWriMo is the only way I have ever finished a draft of a novel, complete with beginning, middle, and end! I highly recommend it as a way to get to The End (nowhere near perfect, but done!).

I toasted some pine nuts for a dish last night and, then, went ahead and toasted all the pine nuts and all the pumpkin seeds that I had in the house. I like them in salads. I probably have enough pre-toasted now for every salad I'll eat in November!

kaplods and gardernerjoy: I added you both to my buddies list on Nano =) looking forward to hearing more about your pieces!

gardernerjoy: I think it will be a compelling change from what I'm used to it ^_^ hopefully it will keep me involved enough to let it all unfold. I'm usually a literary genre buff, I also like romance a lot, I include it just about everywhere. A paranormal romance sounds awesome, good luck with it!

Thanks, Jelbelle -- I put you and kaplods on my buddy list, too. I can't wait until November 1 when I can watch the word counts of my buddies start building!

Yesterday's prep for NaNoWriMo project was stocking up at Whole Foods. The goal is to not go to Whole Foods at all in November. Besides that it's not terribly convenient and, therefore, uses a lot of time, it's also a fairly challenging place for my healthy eating. My devil voice says "It's Whole Foods -- it's healthy stuff!" Of course, a lot of it is, but not all of it, and certainly not in the quantities I used to eat. I don't want to be there when my resistance is weak either because I am frustratingly behind in my word count or because I'm all caught up and feel I deserve a break. So, I've got enough organic ketchup, soba noodles, and tempeh for the duration!

Ooh, add me! I'm heathermccauley (so original, I know!)

Still don't have a good idea of where to begin, but I've been kicking around some characters in my head for some time.

I added you! =) A character is a good start, you still have a couple days to mull around with it.

i made a decision- i'm doing it. i have an outline started and i'll be writing up some character sheets in preparation- i will be ready come the first. hopefully i can maintain this year! definitely will be more prepared.

Glad to have you on board =D we're all gonna need the extra support and encouragement =P

I can't wait! I'm itching to get started, but I've forbid myself from jumping in yet. I'm so exciteddd for this plot!

Hi everyone! Funny I should see this here. My username there is WolfGrapes.
I've got my novel mostly planned and my main characters ready; super excited about November 1.