View Full Version : Personal Novel-writing Month.
Okay, so, I'm not actually a beginner at this. I have two novels (survival horror satire and adult fairy tale) written although I've never submitted them for publication in any form. In fact, I've never let anyone read them at all. My boyfriend doesn't even know they exist except in a very vague "I've seen her typing something over the years" sort of way. Every once in a while, I pull one out, re-read and re-edit it, add to it, et cetera, and then promptly put it away again. I have had a few short stories and essays published but they are different animals.
I've also participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel-writing Month) in the past but I've never been able to finish a story in this way. Again, being something of a perfectionist about my work has made me terribly private about it all and I've always made the attempts alone, instead of amongst friends or an online support network like most. Perhaps that's why I've failed.
A well-meaning, if slightly clueless relative gave me a kit written by NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty titled "The NO PLOT? NO PROBLEM! novel-writing kit." I just cracked it open a couple of days ago and today is the start of my kit-aided campaign to write at least a novella fit for publication. Or, at least, fit for submitting for publication in my eyes.
The kit tells me to weight my campaign for success by involving others. You guys, whomever chooses to read this, are it. This involves me giving out "onerosity" coupons (if I don't reach a certain word count in a certain amount of time, I have to do some pre-agreed upon task for you... I can only imagine) and also keeping a public log of word count.
The goal is to churn out a 50,000+ word completed story by March 31st with you guys as my cheerleaders and taskmasters. The kit supplies little extras like a calendar and exercises and a pin that declares me a novelist at the end of the month, should I succeed. So... yeah. Here we go.
Edited to add: If anyone wants to join in, I will be posting the little daily boosts and exercises and ideas along with progress reports.
Kitsun
03-01-2010, 09:22 PM
Ooo oo, I want to read the fairy tale!
AMUSED1
03-01-2010, 09:23 PM
Neat. I'm in!
Latrinsorm
03-01-2010, 09:27 PM
WRITE THAT BOOK! WRITE THAT BOOK! WRITE THAT BOOK!
WRITE THAT BOOK! WRITE THAT BOOK! WRITE THAT BOOK!
Calm down. She wrote two already if you had bothered to read the OP!
Mighty Nikkisaurus
03-01-2010, 09:31 PM
This is awesome Dex!
Cephalopod
03-01-2010, 09:55 PM
If you don't meet your goal, I want to see that pin laying on your naked boobs. K? k.
Awesome, though. Good luck. I'm sure you'll find a lot of us willing to try and give you encouragement!
It just so happens we're starting NaNoEdMo 2010 today, too. Oh, dear.
Today is the start! Here are our goals and our tools.
First, we take two pieces of paper and write what Mr. Baty calls Magna Carta I and Magna Carta II. The first is a list, as vague or specific as you wish, of things that you like in stories. The second is a list of what you dislike, in whatever way. Complete these before starting to write. They can have any number of items on them and you can add to them throughout the month.
Here are mine:
Magna Carta I
the surreal
simple intentions turned to epic ventures
non-human humanoid creatures
tough, gritty main characters
a lyric rhythm to the words
at least one snappy, clever character
realistic good guys and bad guys
subtly defined characters
non-happy endings
length (as in, not too short of a book)
big cities
first person narration
visible evolution of characters
reluctant main characters
Magna Carta II
present tense narration
romance as the focus of the story
dark, brooding men
whiners
too much emotion
talking everyday animals
overly simple puzzles (I'm looking at you, Dan Brown)
ridiculously sweet endings
cliffhangers
religious zealots as main characters
Week One
Minimum word count by midnight Sunday the 7th: 11,669 words. The daily word count goal for March, a 31-day month, is 1,613 words. That is a soft goal with the real, hard goal being the weekly deadline.
Day One Daily Writing Brief
The first day. A blank page. And a slight panic about starting the book off on the right foot. But you know what? There are no wrong feet. Take a tip from freewheeling graphic design guru Bruce Mau on the subject of beginnings: "Not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. Begin anywhere."
So... GO.
Shit. I cringe at thought of writing a high school style standard 5 paragraph essay, but have fun.
Abyran'sa
03-01-2010, 10:12 PM
I think it is a novel idea, good luck to everyone who actually can write! I shall stick to bad jokes. ;)
Latrinsorm
03-01-2010, 10:51 PM
Calm down. She wrote two already if you had bothered to read the OP!Who wants a calm cheerleader?
GO DEX GO! :pom poms:
I will encourage you anyway I can!
First day down. I'm supposed to share very very small excerpts.
"We had choices this time, getting offers for three jobs within days of each other. The first was a witch needing a certain plant from a certain place in Hell. Not an exceptionally hard job or very interesting. The second was your run-of-the-mill widower wanting to find his dead wife and make sure she was in the Heaven side of the underworld. These sorts of trips so often end in tears and additional heartbreak for the client. I hated them. The third offer was to guide a group down to a specific demon to make a deal in person. You can bring a demon up to Earth for a deal but you start out owing them with that method, owing them for making the trip. If you go down to them, you at least have a clean slate to start the bargaining on."
Day One Word Count: 1575
TheEschaton
03-02-2010, 01:15 AM
So what're we supposed to do in our quest to support your writing?
I wrote an outline for a novel, and a first chapter once. Maybe I'll pick it up again, it's not like I'm doing anything productive right now.
I'm supposed to be using people as support and encouragement. The basic idea is that I tell you about this shit and you go, "Yay!" Until my motivation wanes and you say, "Do it now, or else you are the captain of the failboat in the middle of the failsea."
That latter part will be aided by the "onerosity" coupons I give out. If I feel like I'm not going to meet my deadlines, I have to give one out that says I'll do a specific task for someone if I fail by that date. Buy someone some truffles, maybe, or.. *gulp* take pictures in desired ways. Let's make it all within the realm of probability, though, as I'm not going to fly to someone's house and clean the whole place dressed in a French maid outfit.
Latrinsorm
03-02-2010, 02:03 AM
I think it's interesting that you used "underworld" for that concept!
Your style so far reminds me of Robert Crais, who I really really like. His books might be good to read if you end up struggling with parts of your Magna Carta, his characterization especially is excellently suited.
This is a YAY.
Sweets
03-02-2010, 08:54 AM
I can't wait to follow this journey with you! I only wish I could join in. I have three or four manuscripts laying around that I plug away with now and then, but they are no where near "novel" quality. Perhaps when I get into our new house (moving this month, yay!).....
Good luck and thanks for sharing this us!
Kuyuk
03-02-2010, 11:30 AM
I'm supposed to be using people as support and encouragement. The basic idea is that I tell you about this shit and you go, "Yay!" Until my motivation wanes and you say, "Do it now, or else you are the captain of the failboat in the middle of the failsea."
That latter part will be aided by the "onerosity" coupons I give out. If I feel like I'm not going to meet my deadlines, I have to give one out that says I'll do a specific task for someone if I fail by that date. Buy someone some truffles, maybe, or.. *gulp* take pictures in desired ways. Let's make it all within the realm of probability, though, as I'm not going to fly to someone's house and clean the whole place dressed in a French maid outfit.
Lets be honest about a few things:
1) No one would make you wear a French maid outfit while cleaning. You simply wont be wearing anything.
2) I'm working on bartering with everyone you give a coupon to, to make sure that purchasing truffles is part of your punishment should you slack.
3) You're sooo giving out box pics if you fail. Just sayin.
That said. I'm in, I want a coupon! I used to write fairly well, won some short story contest eons ago, however, I Think most of my intelligence has wandered away since, or is at least on vacation.
Your little excerpt sounded good! Yay!
Bah, I've already hit my first snag. I had a great, coherent dream last night that I would love to turn into a short story, especially while it's still fresh in my mind. The two stories are battling it out in my mind, fighting for the right to get written. I'm attempting to find some way to work it into the current story somehow. Maybe if I turn the main character into a man... Damnit. I suck so hard at this month-novel thing.
Day Two Daily Brief:
Writing a novel is like working with clay. You first create a rough shape, then massage that shape into something beautiful, such as an ashtray or a fearsome army of worms. Unlike potters, though, who can simply buy clay at the art supply store, novelists have to pull off the supernatural feat of creating their clay with their minds. It's an amazing accomplishment, really, and it's also why postponing judgment of your work until the end of your first draft is so important. What you started producing yesterday is noveling clay - valuable, essential, and invariably lumpy. Its beauty will grow as you work it.
Latrinsorm
03-02-2010, 10:18 PM
One night, your character is just chilling. A sandbag hits her! She dreams she's Jihna H. Christ with a hard-on, or whatever. This way, you get in both stories! Sensational!
Cephalopod
03-09-2010, 11:31 AM
Good day. I'm inquiring on the status of this product. Is it still available? Can it be purchased in taupe, or is it only available in mauve?
Heh! It's going alright, I guess. I ended the first week at a little over 13,000 words. I just suck at updating. I'd hoped to have more, actually, but since that free trial for GS started at the same time... It's hard to write while playing GS.
Cephalopod
03-09-2010, 01:22 PM
Heh! It's going alright, I guess. I ended the first week at a little over 13,000 words. I just suck at updating. I'd hoped to have more, actually, but since that free trial for GS started at the same time... It's hard to write while playing GS.
Excuses excuses! Glad to see you're keeping up the word count, though.
Cephalopod
03-10-2010, 10:50 PM
Related bamp (http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/), for those so inclined.
I haven't the first clue how to write a script. Although I'd be most interested in writing for a graphic novel.
Someone give me some random D&D-like (but not actually from D&D, of course) names of spells for protection, strength, and/or anything else that sounds cool or interesting.
4a6c1
03-12-2010, 02:41 PM
I dont belong in this thread because I am not creative or crafty by any stretch of the imagination.
Thusly I propose you at some point use "I cast magic missle into the darkness" but not verbatim so that only the hardcores will understand. Actually now that I think of it. Has anyone written a compilation parody of all the cultish geeky things that only cultish geeky types would laugh at? If not, Dex I believe you should absolutely start there if you were to write a novel.
Latrinsorm
03-12-2010, 06:16 PM
What's your theory of magic? Is it the words themselves, are they placeholders that help people with mystic or otherwise non-physical rituals?
You seem to be using a Judeo-Christian-esque framework with Heaven, Hell, and demons, there are a fascinating number of angelic(/demonic) names you could use here (http://loudcry.eu/Binary/books/Gate1/Emenu.html) and here (http://hafapea.com/angelpages/directory.html). Za'afiel is one of my favorites - the wrath of God! You could make a totally sweet spell with that, just for the love of God don't put in lore requirements. The language is Hebrew, I think? Obviously a few of the names have become common (Michael, Raphael, Gabriel), but there are plenty of others.
Za'afiel's Hate
Scorching Whip of Rogziel
Behemial's Love
.
If the magic is more or less in the words themselves, invent your own language! I recommend two-letter combinations for each element of the spell, for instance le could be "shield", da "demon (lower class)", ra "fire", so "ledara" would be shield from lower demons and fire, or shield from lower demon's fire, or shield a lower demon from fire. You could also get fancy with syntax so that the verb was always the prefix, the target always the suffix, and everything in the middle modifies in a specific direction.
.
Or (and this is my favorite) you could take PC handles and mix the letters all up, so MYNKA RUGISK HITUS would be a spell to have huge boobs, or be a good chef or something.
Hm, those are all really good ideas. I might use all of them.
The words for the names of the spells are not important, I don't think. Not important to the magic. They would probably be named by what they do, what they affect, who invented them, who popularized them, some major ingredient or technique needed for them... stuff like that.
The reason I want to include names of things like this is because I'm a detail-oriented person. Details give one a sense of grounding in the world, some recognizability, a frame of reference. The characters could be talking about otherworldly things but they're doing it over bowls of Cheerios, so that's a point of familiarity one could work from. Plus, the more little details I scatter in, the more vivid the world can look.
Actually, the underworld in my book is more closely related in layout and mythology to the Ancient Greek with maybe a little Chinese thrown in. However, given the wealth of culture out there, I decided to take pieces from any of them I felt like because who's to say who got what right.
Latrinsorm
03-31-2010, 06:53 PM
Good day. I'm inquiring on the status of this product. Is it still available? Can it be purchased in taupe, or is it only available in mauve?º
Celephais
03-31-2010, 08:49 PM
Apparently I missed this thread when it first started... I saw the thread title and clicked entirely expecting to find Stewie in the 1st response. I didn't read the OP (yet), but I feel obligated, and a little let down by the rest of the PC (and a little hungry.. a little sleeply).
http://claudiacasper.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/novel1.jpg
After reading the thread:
I'm liking the concept, curious to hear how it's working out for you Dex, don't get discouraged if it's not done, it sounds like this was the motivation you needed to at least get you going, hope you kept the momentum. Oh... and yeah, you can just PM me any pictures you're now obligated to put on the boob page.
Deathravin
03-31-2010, 08:58 PM
It's called "Faster than the speed of love"
I finished. I don't like it, really, but it's finished. Certainly nothing I would submit to a publisher. I don't think I work well with this quick and dirty style of writing.
Mighty Nikkisaurus
03-31-2010, 10:41 PM
I finished. I don't like it, really, but it's finished. Certainly nothing I would submit to a publisher. I don't think I work well with this quick and dirty style of writing.
Shelve it and come back later.
I hated my novel that I wrote last November and even though it has been requiring extensive revision, taking a break from it before editing made me realize that everything wrong with it was very fixable.
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