Who is signing up for NaNoWriMo 2009?

Oh, ooh, me!

I’ve been meaning to ask this question (I haven’t been on Fluther for quite some time; wouldn’t have known this question was posted if I hadn’t been following Fluther on Twitter), so thank you for doing so.

I’m excited. Very much so.

Me.

I am. This will be my third year. The first year I wrote 50,000 words of crap, and last year I gave up half way through the month.

This year I’m shooting for 25,000 words. That way I’ll actually have a chance at writing something with some potential.

I’m thinking of doing the screenwriter version of this, Script Frenzy, in April.

Good luck, y’all!

I’m doing it!

I’ve never done it before, but I’ve always been interested. I may end up not having enough time, but I think I can write quickly especially if I don’t have to worry about quality which takes so much time.

I’m kinda nervous now that it’s official…I think I can do it, though.

maybe next year, I have too much on my plate this year.

I’m not doing it this year. I’ve been following NaNoWriMo for years and finally tried participating 3 years ago, but got interrupted by a sudden decision by mother to do a monster home renovation. I think I tried again the next year and quit a few days in.

I’d love to try it this year, but I have too many things I need to be studying, reading and doing.

So for those you who said you’ll participate, what kind of books will you be writing?

I keep thinking about it. I’m probably going to go with my usual genre of mystery/weird/surreal, etc. Not sure which story I’m going to go with, though I have many story ideas.

I’m not doing much in the way of preplanning because as I understand it that is inconsistent with the character of the program. But I do have a germ of an idea that I can at least start with. I’d have to say mainstream fiction would be my genre.

@Jeruba

But how am I going to make myself not think about it in bed?! That’s where I plan all my stories. :)

Don’t worry, I’m not writing a single word until November 1st, but I can’t guarantee that one of the story ideas that are kind of always there for me might not be seized and used.

Ooh, tempting. I did it two years ago and enjoyed it very much. Maybe I will go for it again.

Me!

My copy of No Plot? No Problem! should be arriving today. I’m going to finish this year, dammit. Or at least get far enough to be able to really say I even started…

I’m going to write a story called Zuu and the Stormchasers. Fantasy with transhumanist overtones.

Hopefully it won’t turn into an epic 4 book saga like every other thing I try to write.

I’m all in. I’m cyndyha on that site. I haven’t decided what I’m writing this year. Last time I stopped early in and then picked the story back up the next month. This time I hope to actually finish the story within the month.

Fantastic! I want to do it!

i think i might try this year. I actually signed up for it last year and got behind and quit. I might give it a serious go this time.

I’m using it to destress from grad school and not being around @Qingu this year. Wish me luck! And good luck to all of you!

oh, my nanowrimo username is MrBr00ks. I know, I know, shocker.

My username is petethepothead.

I’m glad we’ll all have a friendly Fluther support group to cry to when times get tough!

@MacBean: I found a copy of No Plot? No Problem! in a thrift store over the summer. I was so glad to find it. (I’ve yet to look at it. I’m waiting until November.)

Never heard of it, but I’m definitely going to look into it!

@petethepothead: I’d recommend reading the first half at the end of October. Then you’ll be totally and completely pumped up and ready to go come November. The second half is meant to be read in November.

Here’s the list I’ve got so far:

cyndyh – cyndyha
DominicX – Trillirivos
EmpressPixie
Grisaille – L.Z.Hannon
Jeruba – Archae0pteryx
MacBean – Lycanthropic Lion
MrBr00ks – MrBr00ks
petethepothead – petethepothead
Quingu

That’s a great start! I’m going to invite you all to be my NaNoWriMo buddies.

I’m Anansi.

Oh my god, this means I really have to start writing now, doesn’t it?

I was tempted last month; when I was writing voraciously…

But then I thought, rather than write a novel gratuitously, why don’t I commit to writing something I have been meaning to do for a while now?

So instead I made a commitment to blog every Monday for the coming year, drawing together ideas I have on theatre, tai chi and teaching. I’m also making myself write once a month in Chinese (my Chinese is definitely much weaker than my English), in order to improve my mother tongue.

I’m travelling in November in Europe, which is great for writing, but it’s also much harder to commit to something as structured as a novel. Let me know how things go though!

@ubersiren, did you just-just register? I didn’t find you.

I’m SharkNinja.

Also, if anyone is in Chicago, I may be throwing a milk and cookies write-in at some point.

I did just register. I’m sure I’m not there yet.

Ok, try now. I found me.

If anyone is in Chicago, I highly recommend the milk and cookies write-in. The cookies are divine. (The chef isn’t too bad either, but I called dibs two NaNos ago.)

@ubersiren: It’s much easier if you simply link us to you.

Is that how you two met??

I don’t find SharkNinja either.

@EmpressPixie @Qingu You two are too cute. Makes me want to stab myself in the eyes with hot pokers.

Anywho, I added all of you (I think).

As for genre, subject: it’s a science fiction novel with existential overtones. First person, told from the perspective of an omnipotent A.I. network, tracing from sentience, leading up to demise. Sounds boring, but I have a bunch of nuanced sub-plots that should spice things up a bit.

I just hope it doesn’t end up reading like a Flowers for Algernon carbon copy. Shouldn’t, but still.

Interestingly, I was going to write a transhumanist novel, like @Qingu, but decided that’d be a bit difficult, given the time frame. My inner editor would cry out for sweet release of the time restriction – basically, I’d never finish it!

Currently, I’m dealing with a bit of paranoia; I’m not entirely sure how to tie together some important points. Unlike @Jeruba, I went a bit farther than just a germ of a story and have outlined particular plot developments, their timing with relation to other events, importance of characters with regards to the story arc, etc – somewhere on the site (or perhaps in the bot email they sent out), it was said that you may start to work on it a bit before November, albeit in a limited sense (that is to say, no hard pen-to-paper writing, just gathering thoughts). At least that was my impression.

As others have said, I’m glad we have a bit of a support group here on Fluther. It’d feel rather impersonal if I just hopped on the NaNoWriMo forums and asked a question; I think this thread can serve the important purpose of guiding us through the month of November, together.

Also, this plotting-out point of the event has helped me tremendously in terms of critical thinking, at least in the sense that I’m trying to understand what goes on in a (true) writer’s mind. For example, I ask myself: How does one go about crafting a tangible, flawed character without sacrificing an aura of omnipotence? (the answer to that question was supplemented with a comment my old editor provided; “Two flaws: It doesn’t know anything it doesn’t know – does it rain on planet X? – and it’s not omnipotent where it’s not omnipotent. Unless it controls the dust itself, there are things outside of it. Also, it could lack /desire/ for that. Why should it want things at all? Why do we always imagine that our super future AIs will want the same things we do?” We actually got into a bit of a debate regarding this, as it isn’t necessarily the route I’m aiming for. It still helped me craft the character I am envisioning, in a limited sense, though)

It’s really fun.

I should shut up now. I’ll talk about this goddamn novel and the ideas I have for it forever and ever if you let me.

@Jeruba: It is how we met. And he’s here.

@EmpressPixie, that is wonderful! I am thrilled to know that that is part of your story. Thanks for the link! I was omitting the space. Will you be sharing your username too?

@Grisaille, it does sound like some plotting-out and thinking-through is ok to do ahead. I guess some people are doing whole outlines, but I just don’t work that way. I really only have an opening, not even a germ entire, and I have absolutely no idea where it’s going.

When November comes, we can start a support thread here.

@Jeruba Sounds good to me. :)

@Jeruba: It’s EP. I made it during the great Askville NaNo-ing 2 years ago and wanted the folks there to be able to find me easily. But here is the link

@EmpressPixie : I didn’t realize it was so difficult. My mistake.

Me.

So—update:

cyndyh – cyndyha
DominicX – Trillirivos
EmpressPixie – EmpressPixie
Grisaille – L.Z.Hannon
Jeruba – Archae0pteryx
MacBean – Lycanthropic Lion
MrBr00ks – MrBr00ks
petethepothead – petethepothead
Quingu – Shark Ninja
ubersiren – Anansi

That’s ten—wow! Great!

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/444363

I just created mine. ShanEnri!

Now I’m jealous.

I know what it’s like to be too busy, @drdoombot. Why don’t you try an unofficial NaNoWriWeek just to keep us company through part of it? Then maybe you could sign up for real again next year.

I’m just wondering: is the goal just 50,000 words? Is it okay if we write 50,000 words but the story isn’t finished?

Yep.

This will be my fourth year participating, and you can find me here. I’ve made it to 50k two of the three years I’ve tried, despite working full time and going to school full time—it can be done. My advice is to write everywhere that you are, even if you only scribble a few thoughts down at a time.

Oop. My tour to the UK fell through, so I suddenly have 2 weeks in November… seems like a good time as any to be doing some writing!

Here I am, add me

So just out of curiosity: has anyone planned the plot of their novel yet?

I’ve already got the basic idea for the plot planned out. I haven’t written anything yet (though I’m dying too) but I won’t begin until November.

I’m actually watching mystery movies set in 19th century England to help me make it more historically accurate. (Mine’s set in 1877 in Shropshire, England).

I have bits and pieces. :o)

I know my characters, but not my plot. This is my issue every year.

I haven’t given it much thought (or, I’ve been repressing my thoughts.) I want to start fresh in November.

I have given some thought to my characters though. I don’t think I’ll have much trouble coming up with a plot as I go along, but I do think I’ll be stuck on the first night writing if I don’t know who my protagonist is before hand.

I definitely don’t want my character to be based off of myself. I’ve tried that before, and I just can’t go through with it. So I have to come up with a character, which is a very hard thing to do. I want someone who is likable, since I’ll have to spend so much time with them, but it’s going to be difficult.

Yeah.. I’m curious… what kind of genres are people thinking of writing their novels in?

@lifeflame

Personally, I’m dealing in mystery/horror with a tinge of surreal and of course, a little romance. The thing is, I’m not dealing in gory flashy horror, but subtlety and psychological horror. It’s complicated, but I think I can pull it off.

Mine is sort of a sci-fi drama with plenty of comic relief. It’s epic in my mind… hahaha..

I guess what I’m planning would be considered “literary fiction,” genre-wise.

mine is going to be mainstream fiction.

I am here.

@nxknxk

Okay; I added you. I am here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/510794 (pronounced = trill-uh-REE-vohs – it’s a nonsense “Latin” word that appears in the 13th century anonymous poem Veni, Veni, Venias).

Also, tomorrow is the big day. I’m kinda nervous now… :\

Oct. 31 update:

cyndyh – cyndyha
DominicX – Trillirivos
EmpressPixie – EmpressPixie
fizzycolors –
Grisaille – L.Z.Hannon
Jeruba – Archae0pteryx
lifeflame –
MacBean – Lycanthropic Lion
MrBr00ks – MrBr00ks
nxknxk –
petethepothead – petethepothead
Quingu – Shark Ninja
ShanEnri – ShanEnri
ubersiren – Anansi

Did I get everybody? I can’t follow the links to NaNo names right now because the site is down.

I have two questions up right now to help me fill in two characters. I expect to be back here for help when I get stuck!

Chris Baty himself attended my region’s kickoff party!

My region is kicking off tomorrow—when we could be writing! I want to go, but it’s an hour there and back on top of time spent there. Why didn’t we have it today or yesterday or generally not tomorrow?!

My region is having an all-day write-in tomorrow. There’s a party tonight, too, with a writing session beginning at midnight, but I won’t be there for that.

cyndyh – cyndyha
DominicX – Trillirivos
EmpressPixie – EmpressPixie
fizzycolors – breaunna
Grisaille – L.Z.Hannon
Jeruba – Archae0pteryx
lifeflame – lifeflame
MacBean – Lycanthropic Lion
MrBr00ks – MrBr00ks
nxknxk – nxk124
petethepothead – petethepothead
Quingu – Shark Ninja
ShanEnri – ShanEnri
ubersiren – Anansi

There. That everyone? I’ve added you all as my writing buddies (except ShanEnri—couldn’t find you).

http://www.fluther.com/disc/59895/nanowrimo-has-officially-commenced-care-to-share-your-progress-trials-and/

Me too. I’m taking typing lessons.

I wish I could be a part of this! I miss writing for fun. Maybe in 10 years, time will clear up a bit.

I take back what I said up there.

25,000 words? Fuck that. I can do 50,000.

I’ve been surprised. 1,667 words per day really isn’t much, once you start typing. (That’s what I’m going with now, anyway. I reserve the right to take that back a week from now when I’ve fallen behind on my word count and I’m struggling to get each new sentence out.)

My day one word count: 1.

That’s right, folks. I wrote a word. This is not a good sign.

Now we must know what that word was.

Also go get ‘em @petethepothead.

My first word is “Fuck.” I always start with dialogue, and this time I wanted to start with conflict, too. So I figured that was a good choice. XD

The problem was, to continue on, I needed to use my MC’s name, and it’s the same as the name of the author of the book I’ve been reading. So every time I thought of it, my mind wandered to that book and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I read the whole thing today. Now hopefully I’ll be able to concentrate on my book starting tomorrow.

Emcee MacBizzle?

oh, different MC

I’m lame and tired, shh

I’m tired, too. I’ve misplaced my Tootsie Rolls. I know they’re in this room. Within arm’s reach. But I can’t see them. I think it’s time to turn in for the night.

meerkats are cute

@MacBean, one word is better than no words. Now you don’t have a blank page. Carry on, girl.

…macbean is a woman?!

ffs

Day 2: I’m ahead by 598 words.

Sound great!? Yeah, but I have now written two chapters full of mysterious allusions, references to past events, hints at secrets, an upcoming showdown, complex relationships, and great risks and dangers with a possible high-stakes payoff, and I don’t have any idea what any of those things are. By tomorrow something has to happen with all the wheels I’ve set in motion, and I haven’t a clue what it will be. This is the classic “no plot” situation. I really do not know what to do next. I used to write stories this way, from the top down, waiting to see what would happen, when I was about seven. It really never worked out too well.

However, I have to admit it is an interesting way to tackle a writing project. Brute force is pretty much it.

@Jeruba

Yeah, I’ve done that a bit too. I’ve set up so many things (secrets, references, future plot-lines) that I don’t exactly know what they’re going to turn out to be. What I do, though, is I have a mini-document on TextEdit that I keep open and write down notes about plot-lines so that I don’t forget things. There are a couple things I don’t plan on explaining fully, but there are many things that I simply have to come up with a solution to.

Day 2: I’m about 160 words behind right now and all I have is one main character sketch with back story. I’m not sure how much of that will be in the final document and how much will just be there for me. I don’t usually start with no plot in mind. We’ll see how this goes. :^>

@Grisaille MacBean is female-bodied and does not really identify as either gender but will opt for male pronouns if forced to make a choice. Your use of “dude” in the other NaNo thread worked just fine for me. :D

@Jeruba and @DominicX: You guys are doing better than I am. At least you have back stories and mysterious references. All I’ve got is a flat, linear story line crawling into the unknown.

If the boy naps today, hopefully I’ll get a chance to make up for lost time. :/

I missed ALL DAY yesterday writing because I was working on homework. Ugggg. I suppose that means I have my priorities in order?

@MacBean Yeah, your avatar photo is the same on both twitter and fluther. I assumed. And you kn…

Eh, that joke is long dead

But now I know. :)

Day Four, 8263 words.

Mmm. Just spent three out of the past four days being a full time writer.
It’s been an interesting process—I’ve never tried writing full time before. I wake up at 4 or 5am, write; having breakfast with my brother before he goes off to school at 6.45am (he teaches), do some tai chi; and then nap. Wake up for lunch, write all afternoon. Dinner. And then in the evening I either read or if I still have energy, write a bit more.

It’s such an immersive experience being a writer, because basically, you relive each emotion and image heartbeat by heartbeat. So it’s been really intense. Whether the actual writing is any good and reflects the intensity of the experiences I’ve been having, i suppose we’ll have to see after we give it a bit of distance. For now I put them aside and write on.

I’m also building this novel from ground up. Not knowing where to start, I just started free-writing in response to different Ted Hughes poems in his collection, “Crow.” Some characters have emerged, and I’m just going from there. When I get stuck, I go back to the collection, and free-write from there. I’m counting the free-writes in the word count, which may or may not be kosher, but as it’s not totally yet chronological, heck, who knows what parts of the writing will make it into the final cut or not?

Still at 3,333. I’m aiming to be past 4,000 by the time I go to bed tonight. And then I’m hoping to catch up completely over the weekend.

This is not going as well as planned :(

@ubersiren For me, either. It rarely does. Don’t give up, though!

Typing with the left hand!
Cursive with the right!
At your desk
or coffeeshop

Write! Write! Write!

GO, TEAM FLUTHER!

YAAAAAAY!

That is the corniest awesome thing I’ve ever read.

I love it.

I’m a little behind, too. Going to keep working on it today though.

I just signed up today and began writing today (almost 3,000 words so far). We’ll see how this goes….

My novel now has a title: Caesar’s Garden.
Whoo-hoo! Good for you, Jeanna. Add oil, everyone!

Yep. I take it back.

@petethepothead You gotta keep going! Read Neil Gaiman’s pep talk from a few years back—it’s a good one. It’ll pep you up!

@EmpressPixie: Thanks. I needed that. :)

If anyone else wants to read it, you can find it here.

This weekend I’m going up to the country place. There are a few things that need doing, but stocking the cabin with firewood and fixing the back door won’t take all of my time. I’m going to have a lot of free time for writing. And I’ll be utterly alone with my laptop, and I won’t have access to that pesky distracting thing called the internet. I should be able to catch up then, one word after another.

Nice title, @lifeflame.

Mine is called The Last of James Ponder. To begin with, the title was all I had.

On Wednesday the pools and the libraries were closed so I had a really productive writing day in coffee shops and a pub. If I can do that once or twice more this month (and keep up with the day to day) I’ll be doing really well! I don’t have a title right now, but I’m ok with that.

So guess who’s completely falling behind…and now that I’m in L.A.—I doubt anything is going to happen this weekend…

Luckily, I’m done with mid-terms, so no more test studying. I might not make it to 50,000, but I’d at least like to pass the half-way point.

Day Fifteen, 23311 words.

Hong Kong has suddenly become cold; overnight we’ve had to pull out the blankets and sweaters. At five thirty in the morning, the aluminum of my laptop feels cold at the wrists.

I continue to write, but oddly enough, the story seems to write itself. I don’t necessarily mean this in a good way (though good way, bad way, who knows?) I am quite critical of the an increasing out-of-body experience in my relationship to it. I’m writing about a guy who went bankrupt and had a heart attack and argh, I’m not sure I’m doing it justice.

But I can also understand why too. Much is happening in my personal life…. at the age of 29, I’m in negotiations to buy my first flat. I’m finally moving out from home. All my life I have been rather nomadic- Poland, Paris, London, Philadelphia, mainland China… and now, this act of flat-buying is going to commit my next decade to some sort of stability. I think of the NaNoWri stats graph, and imagine a similar one for my mortgage as I incrementally pay it off. It’s daunting to imagine a graph that stretches over ten years, but at the same time, it feels good to know that the money I am earning is going towards something concrete. I’ve been making a series of commitments this year: first to blog weekly (Sept); then NaNoWri; and now, well, the flat will be another level of commitment entirely.

On Saturday I bumped into a friend on MSN. She’s in Sri Lanka, writing NaNoWri too. Talking to her cheered me up immensely. I think one has the tendency to be lost in the dark forest when writing alone: talking to her reminded me of what is important about the story to me about it. Heck, I realised, I just gave my protagonist a heart attack—if that’s not exciting stuff, I don’t know what is! And so I realise it’s a matter of being with, and being attentive with what is going on. I can take time with Caesar’s rehabilitation. As long as I’m present and alert and believe in it, the reader will too.

> synopsis of the story found under my NaNoWri novel info section

@lifeflame Awesome job! You’re like right on track! So much better than me…

@DominicX Do what you can! I started 10 days late, but I will keep writing even if I don’t hit 50,000; just doing it feels good.