My NaNoWriMo 2014 attempt

Well last year's attempt didn't go so hot, so I'm trying again this year. The idea has been sitting in my head for almost a year and has gotten a little bit clearer, so hopefully I'll make it this year. I'm currently behind, though I hope to change that over the next few days.

Anyone wanting to follow along can check the progress here, though I warn you that it's unedited, raw, and largely stream of conscious writing at this time.

Word Count: 13544

 

Keep it up Ianguard! I'm at 15,368 words. Just try to hit that goal every day!

http://nanowrimo.org/participants/jscrawley/novels

You can be my writing buddy Ian!

 

By the Virtues, you are a machine! I had a little bit of a rough start over the weekend, but I think I'm hitting my stride now. We'll see what my word count is at the end of the week.

And writing buddy added

 

Not that it should be too hard to guess, but what classic Ultima monster am I (trying) to pay homage to here?

They were once men, that much was certain. Ragged shards of clothes still clung to them, and they had the right general form. But their skin looked all wrong, like they had been left in the sun so long they had started turning into leather. Their arms too, looked off, like someone had taken them to the rack and stretched them out like clay. The heads were the worst though. Small, withered, almost disappearing into the swollen shoulders. They stumbled towards him in a gangly, unsure way for a moment, and then almost before he knew what was happening they broke out into a surprisingly fast run.

 

So of course I have another HD failure. Thank goodness for my laptop. Still, that cost me a lot of time over the weekend because as much as I love writing, it doesn't pay the bills So I had to figure out what was going on with my computer ASAP.

While I'm behind the curve, as long as I can maintain the 2k-3k a day pace I've had for the last couple of days I'll be OK.

Word Count: 8345

 

Keep at it! Always good to see authors attempt this marathon of writing!

 

I read what you've done so far languard, and it's fantastic! Puts my effort to shame.

My goal is 2k words per day, because I'll be away for several days around Thanksgiving, so I want to reach 50k before then. On my first day, after an hour and a half I was only at 500 words, so I gave up all pretensions of quality and went just for quantity. I've been making the 2k words goal so far every day (takes 2.5-3 hrs per day) but it is awful. And I'm not being modest. It is awful. But the experience of generating that many words per day has been interesting.

 

I've lost a couple days but I was composing a lot! I'm back to writing today.

Here are the two newest songs, I hope they help with writing!




(Hatred: Lord British said he loved it. I might work on it some more next weekend, just a little)

 

Excellent songs as always @Holt. Probably won't work them into my current play list though, I tend to like to remain on a single playlist while writing. For this tale I've been listening to this album on repeat: https://play.google.com/music/m/B25yyhrdrzc42dnsjmv6okdtnzu.

Thank you for the kind words @Grnarrow, though I view my own work the same way you view yours. It's really not all that good. But something that I always keep in mind is Ira Glass' quote on creativity. To paraphrase, we create because we have good taste, and because we have good taste we can tell what we create isn't all that good. You can find the full quote here.

 

@Ianguard OMG I just bought this album 3-4 days ago. Amazing! I use it for one particular character rather than the whole book

BRILLIANT sound coming from Adrian, highly recommended.

http://adrianvonziegler.bandcamp.com/album/queen-of-thorns

 

I'm here less than 10 minutes and I find my kind...writers! Authors! Wordsmiths!!!

My NanoWrimo for this year is behind about 2500 words. I set a 1,000 word per day goal and sort of fell off the wagon over the weekend.

But I'll catch up!

WE CAN DO THIS!!!

Sorry...don't mind me. I can be a bit enthusiastic about writing.

 

Heh, nothing wrong with a little (or a lot) of enthusiasim, @LadyGray. Sounds like there's several of us here attempting the challenge, which is very awesome. Feel free to add me in as a budy, Languard.

And yes @Holt, that's an L, not an I I'm a programmer, so I normally don't think to capitalize user IDs since they tend to be case insensitive. Downside is that you would not be the first to confuse the L for an I.

10,600, rounding a little.

 

I did it! 2050 words! I thought I was doomed tonight, but then it came at midnight or so.

I see some of you as my NaNoWriMo buddies now, how do I add you back, or is that automatic??

 

Go to your buddy list, then click on the persons name to view their profile. To the right of their name, roughly under the word Shop, you should see an "Add as Buddy" button.

 

Done! Awesome! I wrote 2050 words last night, just when I thought I couldn't write more. Total is 33,970. Mind you I'm aiming for 70-100k thats why I'm pushing so hard.

 

@languard, I have added you and Holt as buddies on there. Sometime this week I promise I'll get my novel up into the site and you guys can take a look.

 

Are you guys working from outlines or are you pantsing it? I'm at 24k words after tonight, and I've just reached the point I expected to be 25% into the plot. I had broad brush strokes planned up to this point, but now I don't really know where I'm going with the story, and I'm afraid my daily word count is going to suffer greatly.

 

I am doing half and half. Whenever I find pantsing hard I revert to some form of outlining, but only up until the point that it gets me writing again.

I also found writing your FINAL SCENE (however drafty and however much it will need rewriting) is essential for pantsing. You gotta know where you're ending or you often.... just won't end. RIP George R.R. Martin and Robert Jordan.

 

Got something for you guys, take it or leave it, but these are two quick exercises and then two different summaries of the 3 Act Structure common in literature. No story really conforms to all these things, in just this order, but take enough stories, and you'll find that this is the pattern. The 'Hero's Journey' is also called the monomyth, you can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth ... it is like the cross-cultural soul of storytelling.


Here's some notes that are helping me today, I thought I'd share.

1. Write 10 minutes, and quickly:

When people read my novel i want them to feel ______________ at the end. That’s because to me, novels are ___________.

2. Simple:

My lead is a _________________.
His objective is to ____________________.
He is confronted by _____________________ who oppose(s) him because ______________.
The ending will be a knockout when ________________.


The Three Act Structure (in two points of view):
Accomplish these goals in each act:
Act 1

• The Who. Lead builds connection with readers.
• Present the story world, setting, time, and immediate context.
• Establish the tone.
• Compel reader toward Act 2 (page turning)
• Introduce the opposition. Who or what wants to stop the lead?

Act 2

• Major confrontation. They fought!
• subplots blossom, adding to complexity.
• reflect on deeper meaning of the book
• deepen character relationships
• keep reader caring/worried about what happens
• set up the ‘final battle’ that wraps things up

Act 3

• Hero wins! (?)
• Tie up ALL loose ends, end them or cut them out of the entire story
• give a feeling of resonance. Some sense of something beyond the confines of the book
• what does the story ‘mean’.

The Three Act Structure in terms of the Hero’s Journey:

Act 1​

[1] Readers are introduced to hero’s world​

[2] A ‘call to adventure’ or a disturbance interrupts the hero’s world.​

[3] The hero may ignore the call or disturbance​

[4] The hero ‘crosses the threshold’ into a dark world​

​

Act 2​

[5] A mentor may appear to teach the hero​

[6] Various encounters with forces of darkness​

[7] The hero has a dark moment within himself that he must overcome​

[8] A talisman aids in battle​

​

Act 3​

[9] The final battle is fought​

[10] The hero returns to his own world.​

​

​

 

I do a little of both although my outlines look more like this:

Chapter Nine
((Yadayada goes shopping and gets him clothing..BlahBlah explains dream and the ball (can allude to this)....they return to the ruins...Yadayada starts to research what happened))

Chapter Ten
((first instance of history having been rewritten))

Funny that you mention the ending, Holt. I find that I have the opening and the ending right off the bat and usually jot that down. I know how this particular venture will end already. It helps when plotting how you get from Point A to Point Z.