NaNoWriMo 2008

[Shiny Grimer]

I didn't write at all yesterday, so I'm now 7000~ words behind.
UGH

 

[Involuntary Twitch]

....Yeahhhh! Good writing day today!

I finally wrote that scene that the entire book up until now has been building and building and building towards, and my characters' true sides that they'd been hiding from one another until now shine clear. But oh god, I was soooo nervous writing it. o_o I'm not edit-happy, but if I was I would probably end up rewriting that scene 50000 times (lol 50k =P) just so I could make the suspense extra-extra big, but eh, I think I did good.

...Okaaaaay, so maaaaaybe I'm 75 words behind or so. >.< No big deal, right? I'm pacing myself. And I have a lot to write about tomorrow (with Sophie waking up after certain... changes have happened), and I have school off, so everything is just peachy.

Excerpt!

“Funny, the way things end up,” he said. His voice sounded far away, almost like he was choking from emotion. But I glanced up at his face, and it was as calm and subtle as ever.

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused. It seemed like a strange comment to say, because the state of affairs right now didn’t strike me as odd—it struck me as natural, as if this was where things were supposed to be. Claude didn’t respond; he just sat there in silence. Finally he spoke in a whisper,

“You’re a lot different from the other girls. Most of the others… well, they were driven away by my evasiveness, or kept at bay by rumors. But those didn’t stop you. You… you loved me despite all that, didn’t you? You’re not driven by curiosity like Claire was. You just… you just… like me. For who I am.” He shook his head. “Remarkable. Remarkable, Sophie.”

And then he shifted so we were face-to-face, his pale forehead practically touching mine. I saw my own reflection in his dark eyes, which looked at me calmly… and with something else, something that I couldn’t quite name. I realized that his lips were inches from mine. I relaxed, and closed my eyes. My heart rate began to quicken like it ever so often did, thumping louder and louder, faster and faster, as I sat poised, anticipating…

OH MY GOD AHH WHAT HAPPENS NEXT i DONT KNOW actually I do, I'm just torturing you people with my incredible suspense abilities. Something verrrry unexpected, that's for sure...

 

[Murkrowfeather]

YOUR ABILITIES! THEY'RE SO SUSPENSEFUL!

Anyway, who actually took one of the dares? I did, and it ended up as a large battle between the main characters and a bunch of Vikings in some big city. xD

 

[Tailsy]

I dunno but suddenly one of my MC's dad is an all-singing, all-dancing maniac. :S

 

[Sandstone-Shadow]

@Involuntary Twitch: Harhar, I know because you told me~

I'm falling behind. =( I'm absolutely swamped with homework and after school stuff. To make matters worse, I'm really nervous about writing the next part of my story: my main character kills another character, and I've never written the death of a character, particularly one murdered by my viewpoint character. Help?

 

[Cryssie]

To make matters worse, I'm really nervous about writing the next part of my story: my main character kills another character, and I've never written the death of a character, particularly one murdered by my viewpoint character. Help?

But those scenes are among the most fun to write! D: C'mon, if you planned a murder scene, surely it's in you to write it. And even if you don't think it is, apparently it's in one of your characters, so just get into their head and go for it. :D

 

[Shiny Grimer]

8725 is the number of words I must write to meet the NaNo goal for today and tomorrow.

This is the most recent thing I've written. It's weird and I don't quite understand it, but I like it.

“It’s nasty to live in a dirty room,” said Sergio, sitting down on the bed as well. “It makes you unhappy and scares off potential visitors.”

“Did you think I was going to invite that British chick over? I wouldn’t do it if someone threatened to burn little kids alive.” Sergio glared at him.

“That’s disgusting. Is she honestly the worst thing in your life?”

“Yes,” Jem said strongly. “No.”

“What is, then?” He laid down. Jem changed to a random channel and watched a documentary on cuckoo birds. “What’s the worst thing in your life?”

He didn’t respond at first, preferring to watch a group of adult birds peck on a smaller bird for knocking their egg over. “I don’t know.”

“Cuckoo birds lay their eggs in the nests of other birds This is called brood paratism. The other bird is expected to raise the cuckoo chicks as well,” blared the television.

Footage of cuckoo birds attacking magpie eggs was shown. “This magpie threw the cuckoo eggs away and has gotten a visit from the cuckoo mafia. Studies show that magpies that have thrown the cuckoo eggs away had their eggs attacked more frequently than magpies that didn’t. The magpies have three options: they can throw the cuckoo eggs overboard, raise the eggs along with their young, or abandon the nest and start a new one.”

Jem chuckled. “At least I’m not a magpie.”

Sergio observed the show a bit closer. “Are you sure about that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing,” said Sergio as he turned around and covered himself with the sheets. Jem sighed and went to the bathroom.

“Whatever.”

 

[Cryssie]

;; So now I kinda want to start over with a new wisp of idea that just struck me tonight. It's no more well-thought out than my current one, but losing the 431 words I have (!) isn't such a terrible price to pay for a stab at a more determined second chance.

Naturally, we're back into vaguely depressing territory with this new idea, I think. It's more familiar ground, at least...

 

[Phoenixsong]

Still behiiiiiind~ argh but at least I'm trying this year.

Hm, well, Cryssie, I guess the question is whether or not you think you'll be able to get more out of the idea and whether or not you think you'll actually enjoy it... Just make sure you hang onto what you've already written for the other idea, just in case this one doesn't work out after alll. Ugh, I feel so unhelpful, but, um, just don't give up?

By the way, will there be a place for us to see all of the motivational speakers at once at some point? :3

 

[Murkrowfeather]

1/4th of the way done. :D

As for miz Krissie, which one do you like more? Which one do you want to write about more? Pick one, and write about it. :3

Also, I second Kratos' statement: those MGS are awesome. I want to see it! :O

 

[Cryssie]

Hm, well, Cryssie, I guess the question is whether or not you think you'll be able to get more out of the idea and whether or not you think you'll actually enjoy it...

You know, I never can tell beforehand... my (eternally unfinished, le sigh) Mafia story comes to mind. I thought an entire chaptered piece based on that awesome game of murder and deception would be beyond awesome and so much fun to write, but it actually turned out pretty frustrating. And, er, I'd give an example to the contrary, but I can't think of a time when writing something turned out to be easier and more fun than I imagined. D:

Just make sure you hang onto what you've already written for the other idea, just in case this one doesn't work out after alll.

Oh, definitely. These 431 words are going to rot in one of my folders permanently whether they like it or not.

Ugh, I feel so unhelpful, but, um, just don't give up?

I totally appreciate it; don't feel unhelpful! D:

By the way, will there be a place for us to see all of the motivational speakers at once at some point? :3

Yep, I intend to make a page that lets you click through all the the days' guest speakers later. Probably at the end of the month. I am spending altogether too much time drawing them at stupid o' clock in the morning to let them go to waste.

As for miz Krissie, which one do you like more? Which one do you want to write about more? Pick one, and write about it. :3

Tricky to say, it's such a vague flash of inspiration. It always is. I get the weird feeling that if I write it, this'll turn into something resembling science fiction more than fantasy (which is odd, because my actual experience of reading SF is practically nil).

Still somehow feels it'll be like firmer ground than comic fantasy, though. Maybe it's the lack of that nagging voice going "That's odd. I thought a key element of comedy was that it was supposed to be funny... ? I see no funny. Write funny. ... No, that isn't funny enough. ... You do realise that you've gone an entire paragraph without being funny, don't you? ... Oh dear, you do fail rather badly at this."

Also, I second Kratos' statement: those MGS are awesome. I want to see it! :O

:D Thank you! It is so nice to hear that people like the guest speakers.

 

[Leviathan]

In the past 11 days I've written more for this project than I have for the other story which I've been writing for well over a year now. I blame my lack of motivation for the latter.

Right now I'm just a tad ahead of the (5000/3) words per day schedule, although I'm hoping to slowly work up to the the 2000 words per day as soon as I can stop thinking about video games and Star Trek.

The main problem I had at the start of the event was if I'd be able to stretch the story out to such a great length, but now the problem seems to be the exact opposite; at the rate I'm going, I don't think 50000 will even be enough, and now I'm going to have to cut off the entire second half of the plot if I want to finish in time. And the second half is my favorite part! D:

 

[Cryssie]

The main problem I had at the start of the event was if I'd be able to stretch the story out to such a great length, but now the problem seems to be the exact opposite; at the rate I'm going, I don't think 50000 will even be enough, and now I'm going to have to cut off the entire second half of the plot if I want to finish in time. And the second half is my favorite part! D:

Don't butcher your story just to fit it into 50k words. D: Be glad you have enough to reach 50k at all, and maybe set a higher goal for yourself if you hit the official goal and want to continue your story?

 

[Phoenixsong]

...why does the novel have to end at 50,000 words? The goal is just to write that many, not to stop dead at 50,000 and have a finished book.

 

[shiny jiggly]

uuugh... I haven't been writing all weekend long. I tried to let someone give me some ideas but they wound up being VERY inappropriate and it had almost nothing to do with the actual story. Maybe I'll get back to it tomorrow or something.

 

[Mewtwo]

Eh. It's already the middle on the month. Might give it a go next month... or year, so I can write really big novel, or ones that are sequels and stuff.

 

[Jetx]

I don't think I'm going to make it. I've just been so distracted with everything, even when not thinking about homework, and somehow I went from being a good 4000 or so in front to being 6000 behind, and still I let myself sit at home doing nothing for about three and a half hours before even opening Word. It's pretty ridiculous, so for the sake of my own sanity I'm going to endure this until an empty Saturday appears when I might be able to catch up a bit.
I just feel like I've barely scratched the surface of this storyline and am straying in aimless directions hoping my ideas will somehow link together. I've been getting pretty worried about my attitude of not being bothered to do anything recently, so if I can't do something I'd like to think is fun I'm in real trouble. ;/

 

[surskitty]

Here's a suggestion for people who have no energy for NaNo and want motivation.

 

[Amaguq]

You guys think you all have it bad, well, my wordcount as of this very minute is 3,254. Now that is not very good. I know that I had started over the third day with a brand new story, but I really have no excuse. I do all of my homework at school, I only have to do yard work about once a week, and I really have nothing to show for my free time. My dream, even before I heard of NaNoWriMo, was to write a novel. This is just putting everyhing into perspective for me, and I'm glad of it, even though it is quite depressing. I still plan on writing a novel, but I know not to base my career off of professional writing. Hopefully that old saying is true and the more I practice writing stories, the better I'll get.

Off Topic: I notice that at the end of almost all my posts I put something positive. Hmm...interesting, but weird...

 

[nastypass]

I have now given up on the 50k goal.

Things have just gotten much busier, what with mom needing the computer more and more, dad job hunting and my recent (which here means just a few hours ago hurr) acquisition of the Orange Box, I really doubt I'll be able to. :(

I'm not giving up though, I'm going to try for 50k by the end of the year at least, so I've got that going still.