NaNoWriMo 2023

[Reynard]

I am curious if anyone is planning on doing National Novel Writing Month this November -- mostly beause @Whizbang Dustyboots mentioned it in another thread and I want to know what he is working on!

I have done it in the past but November is tough for me these days because in addition to being an old fart, I am also a full time Civil Engineering student. School responsibilities ramp up pretty fast in November since finals are usually second week in December, so I don't think i will be able to do it this year. Even so, i thought folks could use this thread to att least get some encouragement. Post your dailies or weeklies, get atta'folks, etc..

 

[RangerWickett]

Man, I'm 80,000 words into the novel I started last November. I need to speed up. I was pretty sure I'd cracked a nut on how to end the book a month ago, and then I got Baldur's Gate 3. I've now set myself a restriction that I can't romance any of the characters until I finish a chapter.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I did it half-heartedly years ago, just sort of winging it and not getting very far. Honestly, what I had in mind was a short story I should probably get back to some day.

This year, my plan, time allowing, is to basically create a fleshed out outline, with vignettes and scenes for a historical novel I've wanted to write forever. There's a writing dictum that "you can't fix a blank page," and my goal with NaNoWriMo wouldn't be to create a finished novel I could send off to a publisher, but rather something I can stick in a drawer and come back to in a year or two and fix up.

But if I'm going to do that, I need to get cracking on reading a history book I wanted to finish before Oct. 31 for background. And, of course, my life is busier than it's ever been, so we'll see.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Man, I'm 80,000 words into the novel I started last November. I need to speed up. I was pretty sure I'd cracked a nut on how to end the book a month ago, and then I got Baldur's Gate 3. I've now set myself a restriction that I can't romance any of the characters until I finish a chapter.

Something like that worked in ancient Greece!

 

[Gradine]

This year, my plan, time allowing, is to basically create a fleshed out outline, with vignettes and scenes for a historical novel I've wanted to write forever. There's a writing dictum that "you can't fix a blank page," and my goal with NaNoWriMo wouldn't be to create a finished novel I could send off to a publisher, but rather something I can stick in a drawer and come back to in a year or two and fix up.

This is basically the ideal way to approach it. I haven't had the time to write in years but I've definitely got a few old half-finished novels collecting dust to come back to someday. There was a stretch where I was re-writing the same novel over and over again with the intention of stitching the best parts together and smoothing out the rest, but that honestly got pretty boring after a while.

Now that I work in a Library I've thought about doing an event, but I'm already running a board game design competition for November so I'm gonna be stretched thin enough as it is.

 

[deganawida]

My wife, best friends, and sisters are all pushing me to write another* novel again. I should probably do so.

*Last one was 25 years ago, very 90s, and almost never mention it.

 

[Reynard]

My wife, best friends, and sisters are all pushing me to write another* novel again. I should probably do so.

If I may be so bold: you should.

*Last one was 25 years ago, very 90s, and almost never mention it.

I got some of those in the trunk.

 

[DeviousQuail]

I've heard of NaNoWriMo, but never really looked into it. 50,000 words in a month is wild. Is there an assumption that people don't do much in the way of editing until after the month is over?

 

[Gradine]

I've heard of NaNoWriMo, but never really looked into it. 50,000 words in a month is wild. Is there an assumption that people don't do much in the way of editing until after the month is over?

Specifically, no editing is meant to occur in the month of November. I mean, unless you finish early, I guess.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

My wife, best friends, and sisters are all pushing me to write another* novel again. I should probably do so.

Do you seriously not have anything to show for Winds of Winter at this point?!