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NaNoWriMo is over, but the writing don't stop

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Posts

  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    I write a little note before I save and close the document
    START WRITING THE DAMN FLASHBACKS YOU DAMN MORON

  • Brovid HasselsmofBrovid Hasselsmof [Growling historic on the fury road] Registered User regular
    Sprinting in the irc with WB people and regional folks has been fantastic for my wordcount. Not so much for the legibility of my story, but

  • YaYaYaYa Decent. Registered User regular
    39 out of 90

    boy oh boy, montages sure are good page fillers

  • YaYaYaYa Decent. Registered User regular
    also if I need to make peace with the fact that this script is going to end up being like 120 pages or something by the time I finish this first draft

  • Brovid HasselsmofBrovid Hasselsmof [Growling historic on the fury road] Registered User regular
    edited November 2013
    Don't die Nano thread.

    I have written bugger all today, and same yesterday. Luckily I was a writing machine on Sunday so even if I do no more words today I still won't be behind.

    I keep trying to write today but getting distracted by the urge to draw a map. No, bad brain, maps don't contribute to the wordcount!

    Who is still doing this? Share your woes/successes. Tell me if you've stalled and I will give you a kick up your virtual backside. I will be happy to, it's excellent procrastination.

    Brovid Hasselsmof on
  • LarsLars Registered User regular
    I'm still on schedule, but only barely. I haven't had any buffer for about a week now, so I'm usually just barely making my daily quota shortly before midnight.

    However, I'm writing a bunch of short stories instead of a novel, so I'm bouncing between whichever one holds my interest at the time I start writing. Though the last two nights I actually did write scenes for a novel idea I've had instead of a short story. Two of my short stories are "done" though need heavy revision before I show them to anyone.

    I think I can make the 50k word goal, though I don't know how many finished short stories I'll have by then. I may end up with a lot of random scenes from different works like I worked on the last two nights.

  • tapeslingertapeslinger Space Unicorn Slush Ranger Social Justice Rebel ScumRegistered User regular
    edited November 2013
    cmon now gang

    Keep at it. Even if you don't make 50k you should keep trying, so that you don't lose the daily writing habit.

    tapeslinger on
  • chiasaur11chiasaur11 Never doubt a raccoon. Do you think it's trademarked?Registered User regular
    Well, sounds like I've got a club I can join.

    Only made a quarter of my goal last night. XCOM is a harsh mistress.

    Glad I had a buffer. Will try to make up for the losses over the weekend.

  • YaYaYaYa Decent. Registered User regular
    only managed two pages yesterday but I was pretty distracted

    I will make it up to myself!

  • FishmanFishman Put your goddamned hand in the goddamned Box of Pain. Registered User regular
    I rely on my weekends to keep ahead, so after I took that huge hit last weekend when I had to look after Jen and Case instead of getting the buffer I needed written, I've really struggled this week because it's devastating to keep up without it. I just can't hit numbers weekdays and after staying up until midnight a couple times to try and hit dailies I've crashed hard the last couple days and I'm now about 5k words behind.

    I have moved my ticker every day, though, even if it has just been a couple hundred words. I'm just fucking frustrated and dispondant about actually eating into the deficit now that it's there. And the last few times I really tried to do something about it has lead to the crashes I've had now.

    Just really, really frustrating.

    X-Com LP Thread I, II, III, IV, V
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  • FishmanFishman Put your goddamned hand in the goddamned Box of Pain. Registered User regular
    I actually wrote more between 2am-3am last night when I couldn't sleep than I had in the previous 2 days.

    Today, my goal is to hit daily, and get to the next chapter.

    X-Com LP Thread I, II, III, IV, V
    That's unbelievably cool. Your new name is cool guy. Let's have sex.
  • Brovid HasselsmofBrovid Hasselsmof [Growling historic on the fury road] Registered User regular
    Don't be down Fishman. In the end it doesn't really matter if you get 50k in November. If you get your story written, even if it takes til January, then you have achieved your goal.

  • ZonugalZonugal (He/Him) The Holiday Armadillo I'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered User regular
    So I sort of fell apart and gave up really early into this project.

    I am not very good at fiction but while telling some friends a drunken story they suggested that be the item of the book, so I am going to start over with something new and yet something I have pages & pages to fill with.

    Ross-Geller-Prime-Sig-A.jpg
  • ZonugalZonugal (He/Him) The Holiday Armadillo I'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered User regular
    I drink. I drink a lot. I drink like a sailor swears and with very little cares as to my own health or reputation. In my former attempts to scribe down a novel I have tested my talents at fictional enterprises and works of short hand. But having a history in research papers and persuasive essays, I found writing the dialogue between space Vikings and misogynistic wizards a harrowing experience. They say you should write what you know and what I know is partying hard, drinking harder and waking up wet & sticky.

    In the pages that will follow I’ll try to illuminate the path that led to my passion towards the fire water, recount my many blurred adventures and lay down some hard-won opinions on all factors surrounding such a debaucherous lifestyle. Let us begin in a brighter time when chocolate milk was my game and my liver never felt better, my sober days.

    Ross-Geller-Prime-Sig-A.jpg
  • MagellMagell Detroit Machine Guns Fort MyersRegistered User regular
    Sprints every ten minutes in the IRC right now, get in here and make your daily word count. There are no excuses. ART HARDER, MOTHERFUCKER!

  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    What are sprints, exactly?

  • MagellMagell Detroit Machine Guns Fort MyersRegistered User regular
    You write as much as you can in ten minutes and then compare how well you did to everybody else. The idea is to just focus on writing for ten straight minutes, then decompress for ten minutes and then sprint again. The times for how long the sprint lasts or how long you decompress are negotiable.

    It helps to focus you on writing for a quick burst, or if you like competition, which I love, getting the highest word count.

  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    Hmm. That does not sound to be my cup of tea.

  • FishmanFishman Put your goddamned hand in the goddamned Box of Pain. Registered User regular
    I've never bought into sprints.

    But then, I'm hardly a professional. Professional hobbyist, maybe.

    X-Com LP Thread I, II, III, IV, V
    That's unbelievably cool. Your new name is cool guy. Let's have sex.
  • sarukunsarukun RIESLING OCEANRegistered User regular
    Frankly the whole community aspect of NaNo baffles me utterly. I assumed it would be a place where we could write and then talk about what we just wrote.

    That is decidedly not what it is for.

  • MagellMagell Detroit Machine Guns Fort MyersRegistered User regular
    The community of Nano is to encourage people to keep writing and write daily and make the word counts for the day so you can finish 50K and have something that's close to a whole novel complete.

    Sprints aren't for everybody, but they're awesome. It's more to counter hte idea of having a word document open and then just surfing the internet and not writing for that time. Now you're held accountable for writing for that time and if you don't produce people make fun of you. Okay most people don't make fun of you, but the idea is just to focus on writing and make you write, right now instead of putting it off and saying you don't have ideas.

    Plus talking about what you've written isn't very productive until you've finished it. Like you can ask questions about the general idea of what you're writing, or need some help figuring out how to work a plot point.

    Also there are awful people who do stupid shit and write shitty shit piles to get 50k that don't produce anything close to a novel and reading about how proudly they shit out shit to make a word count makes me sad.

  • sarukunsarukun RIESLING OCEANRegistered User regular
    Magell wrote: »
    The community of Nano is to encourage people to keep writing and write daily and make the word counts for the day so you can finish 50K and have something that's close to a whole novel complete.

    Sprints aren't for everybody, but they're awesome. It's more to counter the idea of having a word document open and then just surfing the internet and not writing for that time. Now you're held accountable for writing for that time and if you don't produce people make fun of you. Okay most people don't make fun of you, but the idea is just to focus on writing and make you write, right now instead of putting it off and saying you don't have ideas.

    Plus talking about what you've written isn't very productive until you've finished it. Like you can ask questions about the general idea of what you're writing, or need some help figuring out how to work a plot point.

    Also there are awful people who do stupid shit and write shitty shit piles to get 50k that don't produce anything close to a novel and reading about how proudly they shit out shit to make a word count makes me sad.

    That's great and everything, but I don't really have a lot of difficulty writing words when I sit down to actually write them, so sprints don't really solve a problem that I have. And talking about your writing while you're still writing it is hugely helpful, because you can answer important questions about "where is this going" and what story am I actually writing", which can help you visualize the plot and the themes in more concrete terms. It is the cornerstone around which long-fiction writing classes and writing groups are built. It also helps tremendously with motivation! Having people tell you useful, thought-provoking things about what you're writing inspires you to write more!

    In essence, being able to discuss my novel and think about it in response to people's feedback creates a very, very positive feedback loop for me, and helps remind me why I am writing (to make it readable and interesting so people will purchase it for money).

    Which, as we have now both pointed out, is not the purpose of NaNo groups.

  • Brovid HasselsmofBrovid Hasselsmof [Growling historic on the fury road] Registered User regular
    edited November 2013
    As a huge amateur I have found sprints helpful. I am not competitive at all, but there is just something about that little boost of motivation. I knock out an average of 400 words per ten minute sprint, when it can take me hours to do that many under my own steam. It's weird.

    Brovid Hasselsmof on
  • sarukunsarukun RIESLING OCEANRegistered User regular
    (b'.')b Finding things that work for you is allllllllllllll that matters.

  • KiraKiraKiraKiraKiraKira Fishwife Registered User regular
    Fishman and I have both been struggling this week after our crappy weekend. I have only hit my daily goal once since I got back writing after my back pain. I am now about 5k behind. But my main problem has just been that I am completely unsure about what the hell to write now. I basically finished all the plot that I had developed in any detail and got to the bit where I was just all handwavy. And it turns out that I just cannot make it up as I go. So I jumped ahead a bit to get to a more interesting bit and then took some time to actually flesh out the ideas for the next third. And tried to remind myself why I liked the idea of this story in the first place. Hopefully now words will come again. We shall see.

    condiemint,pc,days.png
  • AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
    i am

    so very behind

    i can still catch up i just

    ugh

    depression

  • KiraKiraKiraKiraKiraKira Fishwife Registered User regular
    There is something about working with small chunks of time that makes it all seems more manageable I think. Yesterday when I did not want to write anything, at all, ever again, ever, I persuaded myself to just write for 5 minutes. Just 5 minutes I told me. That's not so bad is it? By the time I had got through 5 minutes I was actually into a bit of flow and wrote for another half hour.

    condiemint,pc,days.png
  • sarukunsarukun RIESLING OCEANRegistered User regular
    That is pretty much exactly the point at which having a group to talk about your writing with is useful.

    I hit that point well after the 50,000 word mark last year and only figured out how to move forward like a month ago after much discussion and focusing on the core issues my main characters have in front of them.

  • KiraKiraKiraKiraKiraKira Fishwife Registered User regular
    In fact the 5 minute trick was one I got from a therapist when I was writing my thesis and suffering from depression and dreadful writer's block. They said just write for 5 minutes first thing in the morning before you do anything else (I would go pee first but that's it). Just 5 minutes. And if you achieve those 5 minutes and you don't feel like writing any more that day then don't. You achieved your 5 minute goal. But if you do feel like writing more then just keep going until you are done. After a few days I increased it to 10 minutes, and then 15 minutes. And some days that really was all I wrote and I would just goof off the rest of the day. But many days I wrote way more than that.

    condiemint,pc,days.png
  • Brovid HasselsmofBrovid Hasselsmof [Growling historic on the fury road] Registered User regular
    Yes getting started is the hardest bit.

    I've actually found one of the most productive ways for me to work at it is on my phone while at work. I'll deliver a pizza, then before turning my car back on I do some writing for a couple of minutes on this really simple word app. It's really easy to get 50 or 100 words out at a time, which adds up to a lot over the evening.

    Something about being on my phone instead of my laptop takes away all the concern about it sounding any good, I can just get ideas out.

    My biggest problem now is that at 26k my novel is starting to feel like a big thing. I mean I know that's not that big, but the most I've ever written in a single thing before was 25k for my dissertation, and this is further than I got in my previous nanos.

    I'm finding myself wanting to print it all off so I can see it properly and work out what I've got going on, I'm having a hard time feeling like I still have the story straight in my head. Even though I have a checklist of all my scenes that I've been ticking off as I go, so I should know exactly what I've written.

    It's just... so many words.

  • FishmanFishman Put your goddamned hand in the goddamned Box of Pain. Registered User regular
    edited November 2013
    Chapter finished, but I'm still about 200 words short of daily target, which is unexpected. It just kind of wrapped up abruptly and neatly a bit before I anticipated. So I guess I'll start on the next one?


    EDIT: Woo, cracked 20k! Sleep now. I'm about 10 hours short for the week.

    Fishman on
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  • Brovid HasselsmofBrovid Hasselsmof [Growling historic on the fury road] Registered User regular
    I feel like posting another excerpt of terribleness for people to feast their eyes upon and despair.
    Flesh wrapped the cloak tightly around her scrawny frame and squatted down. With the hood down low, and hunched over so the cloak hid her feet, all Niko could see was a shapeless mass of black feathers. She hunched down lower and lower. She must be curling up tight in a ball under there, thought Niko. What the hell is she doing?

    Suddenly the cloak dropped into a crumpled heap on the floor, as though the strange woman had just disappeared from inside.

    “What the hell?” exclaimed Niko, “Flesh?” The feathered cloak lay still and no sound came in response. He tentatively approached and reached out to lift the cloak. Then it moved, and he pulled his hand away and stepped back, staring in fascination.

    The cloak writhed and shuddered, and something pried its way out through the folds, a shiny black shape. It slithered out, and cawed. The rest of the creature followed its black beak out of the heap, and Niko stared in bafflement at the sight of a large bird of shining black feathers standing among the tattered, dull feathers of the cloak. It shook itself, flapped a few times, cocked its head and studied him with one beady eye.

    “CAW!”

    Niko didn’t really know what to say in response to that.

    “What… just happened?” he asked nobody in particular. The raven strutted off of the crumpled cloak and stood looking at him.

    Niko approached the cloak again and prodded it with a boot. “Flesh?” he said, feeling stupid. The raven tilted its head, watching him with interest as he bent and, with some hesitation, grabbed the cloak. He held it up, letting the folds drop and the gross thing hang in his hand. There was no sign of Flesh underneath.

    “She… vanished?” he looked at the raven. “And where’d you come from?”

    The bird cocked its head again and, in an unnervingly human voice, said, “Niko.”

    Niko’s eyes grew wide. “Flesh??”

    “CAW!” Flesh replied and flapped her wings. “Who did you think it was?”

    Niko dropped the cloak to the floor and raised his hands. “Of course you can turn into a bloody crow. Again, why am I surprised.” He shook his head. “Actually, no… how the hell can you turn into a crow?

    “Raven, actually.” Said Flesh, hopping sideways. “Though, same family.”

  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    Eh, fuck it, here's a chunk of what I've written so far tonight.
    We come to a stop in front of an ash-gray apartment complex in the fuzzy border between Hollywood and Thai Town. A plaster sign, looking more dignified in crumbling decline than it ever could have fresh and new, dubs the place El Paraíso. The sidewalk is a deeply cracked lawsuit waiting to happen, and the lock on the wrought-iron entrance door is the only thing in sight that shows any sign of regular maintenance.

    Angel catches my eye in the rearview. “Last chance to bail.”

    I hold the eye contact, shake my head once to the right. Ice cold. Angel snorts a laugh.

    We sit and watch the entrance. I'm attentive, alert, as primed as Isabella and Angel, despite having no idea what we're waiting for. When Angel says, “Go,” it's solely for my sake – Isabella is already tugging on the pair of pliers that serve as the passenger door's interior handle.

    A portly, middle-aged man in khaki shorts and orange crocs, labradoodle leashed to his wrist, walks up the sidewalk ahead of us. He arrives at the front landing and begins punching numbers into a steel callbox mounted on the cinderblock wall. A grinding buzz, sounding decrepit even by its environment's low standards, and the door lock clicks open. Angel is already reaching to open the door, holding it, his face dipped carefully, perfectly, behind it. Isabella is crouching at the dog's head, petting, cooing, looking down into its eyes and studiously avoiding those of its owner.

    “After you,” says Angel, with a sweep of his hand.

    “Oh, why, thank you,” the man squeaks. He crosses the threshold, dragging his dog behind him. Like that, we're in. No lockpicks, boltcutters, noms de guerre. Common courtesy and a labradoodle.

    Isabella checks the phone. “One-twelve.”

    The twins scan the courtyard, synchronized, and land on the door in unison. They take up position on either side of the frame, SWAT officer precise. I try to mull inconspicuously, which is difficult in an open courtyard, but Angel waves me over. He takes hold of my shoulder and guides me to a spot between him and his sister, and before all this can fully process, he knocks on the door.

    I have two realizations, simultaneously:
    1) I'm the decoy. I'm officially an accomplice to an assault. Or, oh god, to a murder.
    2) I forgot to check if the parking was metered. I hope we don't get a ticket.

    In my state of shock, the second feels like a greater concern. It's a familiar worry, a fear I can process.

    We wait. Maybe the copycat isn't home. Or maybe he's nervous because he knows he's on the Moreno radar now. He's checking his peephole, looking at a 5' 6” black girl he's never seen in his life, wondering what someone in argyle is doing in this part of town, in front of this door, his hackles raising, his hand reaching for some truly monstrous pistol he's got on hand specifically for suspicious-ass bitches who drop by unannounced. [/spoiler

  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    edited November 2013
    I'm deeply, deeply appreciative that my job affords me ample time to write. Don't get me wrong.

    But christ almighty, the hotel stereo plays some wildly inappropriate writing music. Trying to put down an action sequence while Celine Dion's "The Power of Love" plays is no mean fuckin' feat.

    Poorochondriac on
  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    Conversely, I can only write action while listening to Huey Lewis' "Power of Love"

  • PoorochondriacPoorochondriac Ah, man Ah, jeezRegistered User regular
    Well that's because that song's a fucking jam, GG, get your head out of your ass

  • ZonugalZonugal (He/Him) The Holiday Armadillo I'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered User regular
    Grey Ghost wrote: »
    Conversely, I can only write action while listening to Huey Lewis' "Power of Love"

    1819564.jpg

    Ross-Geller-Prime-Sig-A.jpg
  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    That was Hip To Be Square, Zon
    And I use that for love scenes

  • ZonugalZonugal (He/Him) The Holiday Armadillo I'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered User regular
    Don't you dare sass me GREY GHOST!

    Ross-Geller-Prime-Sig-A.jpg
  • Grey GhostGrey Ghost Registered User regular
    TRY GETTING A RESERVATION AT DORSIA NOW YOU FUCK

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