NaNoWriMo 2012? - Page 2 - OG Myth-Weavers

Notices


Creative Corner

Post your creative works here and show off your talent!


NaNoWriMo 2012?

   
Quote:
Originally Posted by dauphinous View Post
And always remember: a gratuitous graphic sex scene can pad your numbers by as much as 2500 words! Or more! Wheeeeeeeeee!
Bwahahaha, I'll have to remember that one! But the suggestion to use games for reference isn't such a bad one... I have a couple characters in my stable that never made a game or are in an early one I don't mind re-treading... Thanks man!

Tomorrow! It starts tomorrow, which means today is the day to get your mutant half-vampire fiendish dire ducks in a row. Before you head off to bed tonight, I recommend the following:

1. Know how you're going to start. Even if you have no idea how you'll end, you'll just stare at a blank page if you aren't ready to get going. Figure out the basics of what's going to happen on the first two pages. If you're using 9pt Arial (in English, I have no idea for other languages), that's about 2000 words, which is a little more than your daily word goal.

2. Set up your document how you want it. Set it to a font you like, adjust the margins and indent, change the background color, whatever will make you happy as you write.

3. If you can, leave the document open (but saved) and put your computer to sleep instead of shutting down. If not, put the document on your desktop.

4. If you don't have one, pick up a thumb drive to store your novel. Use it to back up your work every night before you give up for the day. Alternatives: email your novel to yourself, use an external drive, toss it to another computer on your home network, slap it in a GoogleDoc. If you think you might need it, make yourself a post-it for a reminder to do the backup. The NaNo people say once a week, but I strongly recommend every night. Just in case.

Happy NaNoing!

I'm with you, Dauph. I'm thinking of giving it a shot this month. I haven't seriously done it since 2009. I finished, but had much more time. The novel was close to done when 11/30 rolled in - I don't believe in the Infinite Monkey principle vis a vis writing. Will be looking for you!

I am in it to win it this year! I have even gone so far as to recruit coworkers and start my own writing group for support!

Find me under the same username as on here if you want another buddy!

Quote:
Originally Posted by dauphinous View Post
We're gamers. Use that to your advantage.

Use your games as source material.
Do you have any characters that either didn't get picked for a game, or the game you got into went kaput right away? Then you have a protagonist.
Steal plot from a module.
Pull out minis or character images and stare/mutter/shout madly at them until they reveal their secrets.
Write FR (or whatever) fanfiction.

The point is to write without worrying about whether it's good or original. It's to enjoy the craft of writing without allowing your filters to stop you. Will it suck? Oh yes, it will mightily suck, like a Hoover (either kind) made of a black hole. (Incidentally, if it doesn't, I hate you.) Ah, but there will be nuggets of awesome in your pile of manure. New ideas will come from the horse puckey splattered on the screen. Relax, have some fun, let your fingers be free, FREE!

And always remember: a gratuitous graphic sex scene can pad your numbers by as much as 2500 words! Or more! Wheeeeeeeeee!
This quote needs to be framed and sent to everyone working on it. Especially the last bit

I'm going to be giving it a try; assuming no major disasters I should be able to get out 50k+ words fairly easily.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mercutio361 View Post
The whole point of NaNoWriMo is to go against the grain to get a novel draft written. I usually plan out my stories well before I start actually writing them. However, for NaNoWriMo, the whole point is to just write, and let your creativity take you where it will. The only goal is to create something tangible with a 50K word count. If, at that point you have something that you feel is credible and great, then that is the point where you go back and edit it into just that!
I know that's the goal, but... that presupposes you can write when you don't know where you're going. I've never been able to. If I don't have a very clear picture in my head of what this scene's supposed to be, then I don't know what this sentence is supposed to be. I could go one scene at a time, but to keep that up for 50k words I'd need a large buffer of scenes in mind ready to write – hence the preplanning. The problem being that I haven't preplanned this year.

Much as I love the craft of writing, I don't seem to be a natural storyteller (at least not yet; I've been trying to practice). Ideas – any ideas at all, even awful ones – don't simply arrive in my brain whenever I look. It's not just writing: I'm uninventive in maths, too, which is my field of study. Heck, I have genuine difficulty picking what to have for lunch.

...That's all supposed to come across as self-analysis, not pessimism. If I were pessimistic, I wouldn't be checking in on this thread and feeling so eager to try it anyway.




 

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Last Database Backup 2024-03-28 07:20:00pm local time
Myth-Weavers Status