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NaNoWriMo 2010

I've been debating whether or not to participate this year for a while, but NaNo's just too tempting. The stupid thing is I was iffy because I figured it'd stop me getting schoolwork done, but in actual fact I'm just going to work and get as much done in October as possible. Doing schoolwork before I absolutely have to is unheard of! What is this nonsense?

I don't have a plot or any characters as of yet, though, so that's fairly nervewracking. I'd like to get an outline done beforehand this time around; winging it works okay but sometimes it's nice having a conclusion to aim towards (see: last year's still ending-less NaNo).
 
I think I might try this again. I've got loads of free time and really have NO excuse other than laziness if I didn't succeed. There's a story I've been wanting to write for years now and have tried to draft up like several times and never have really written other than a few abandoned rough drafts... so yeah, I'll give it a try maybe.
 
Got hit with inspiration last night, and I'm now participating in NaNo! :D

... okay my inspiration was pretty much MAGICAL GIRL LESBIANS YAAAAY
but
that's not the point.
 
Yesterday I was hit in the head with a massive plot bunny that isn't going away, and I think I'm going to use it for my story for NaNo. The premise revolves around Purgatory, Heaven, and Hell, the three parts of the afterlife. A conflict between Heaven and Hell has formed a new part of the afterlife called The Oblivion where souls go under certain circumstances. I've got less than 20 days to develop the plot and characters, but I am really looking forward to this idea.
 
Jessie said:
What's your point?!
Click to expand...

Well it's hardly inspiration if you're, like, there by default. It's like me saying "I'M INSPIRED!!!" and then writing a story about fabulous gays who save the world.

[lol i'm totally not writing that for nano, not at all. never.]
 
I think that would be a great plot for a NaNo!

:( But - but - but
I JUST LIKE MAGICAL GIRL ANIME OK
ok? ok
 
It's okay, I get it

also I'm actually writing that! except they're less 'fabulous' and more 'gay'.

... one of them followed Dusty Springfield around on tour, though :D
 
As you do!

It's okay, my main character dances on YouTube to j/k-pop and is a giant dork with major anger management issues but a pretty acute sense of fashion!

That kind of thing makes up for punching people in the face all the time. Honest.
 
She has major anger management issues?

But no. Similar, but nowhere near as popular.
 
Well, I /sensed/ anger management problems from her okay. How's she dealing with the creepiness of having her main fanbase be 40+ year old men?
 
*shrug* I just watch her videos to find new music to stick on my iPod and whatnot. Also because I want her hair it is so nice ;w;
 
Jessie said:
j/k-pop
Click to expand...

Okay I know what you meant by this but it reads like "just kidding-pop" and now I totally think your main character should be dancing to that instead. Whatever that is. I don't know. But she should dance to it. And punch people in the face to it.

(in other news, planning the middle of a fucking trainer fic is apparently harder than it should be. I hate middlesssss)
 
That's amusing; what I'm thinking of writing is I guess a trainer fic, too, and I've got the middle and end perfectly planned but can't figure out what to do with the beginning (a la TQFTL, the main plot starts halfway through the standard gym plot). I'm thinking of just starting with the middle and doing flashbacks.
 
Kratos Aurion said:
Okay I know what you meant by this but it reads like "just kidding-pop" and now I totally think your main character should be dancing to that instead. Whatever that is. I don't know. But she should dance to it. And punch people in the face to it.

(in other news, planning the middle of a fucking trainer fic is apparently harder than it should be. I hate middlesssss)
Click to expand...

Starts as pop; TURNS INTO DEATH METAL halfway through? I like it.
 
So. NaNo. This year. It's gonna happen.

Last year I managed about 16k words by the 30th. (I don't remember staying up until midnight to write on the last day – what was I thinking?) I /do/ remember having schoolwork and swimming and staying up late writing, which was part of the fun. This year, though, I have a job and twenty times more stuff (English this semester... great), so it'll be more of a challenge. I've been toying around with the idea of waking up an hour early (~5:30, which won't be so much fun) and writing for a straight, uninterrupted half hour/45 minutes before getting ready for school. Also, since I drive this year, and since swim practices are considerably later, I can leave straight from school to make the 40-minute drive up to the not-terrible looking swim facility and write on their bench or swing-set. (Writing in cool autumn air is one of the most comforting feelings ever.)

But. I do have a yearly project going (long story short: find a theme for the day, "celebrate" the theme in some way), which at times can keep me up and make me a bit miserable. I write random thoughts, ideas, events that I experience, and sometimes it takes up a lot of time. (Since New Year's, I've written 371 pages [albeit in a moleskine] of this material, which makes me proud.) I'm still debating whether to include this in my word count or not. Maybe I could count half of the stuff, or some percentage, so that when I actually do write a lot and slack on my NaNo writing, I won't be (terribly) penalized.

Last year, I wrote a series of short stories, and I'm in the process of turning my favorite of them into a novel, so for NaNo this year I'm going to just add 50,000 words to it. Well, my goal is 50k, but I'll be happy with anything well above last year's final count (a nice, round 20k will be good). If I don't win this year, I'll just continue to get more and more words each year until I do. (Winning NaNoWriMo is definitely on my bucket list.)
 
I'm getting pretty excited about NaNo :D I've got a ton of schoolwork so NaNo will have to take the back seat since this is my last year, but I'm still definitely in. To prepare, I've done a few writing exercises (not too many, I think I'll make a lot up as I go along), drawn up a plan of the shack the characters will be in/around 90% of the time and drawn out all the characters and put down a few personality traits (http://strangeweirdo.deviantart.com/#/d30xp9w).
I hope everything will be alright. Sort of regretting picking such a difficult time/place to write about but it's okay, I'll make it all sound plausible! Somehow!

(learning about Siberian shamanism is probably the most useless thing I've ever done)
 
Since there's only a week left before this begins and we all start tearing our hair out, I figured I'd add to the stress by suggesting some cutthroat friendly competition! Who's up for another word war?

For those who don't know, word wars are basically simple contests to see who ends up writing the most words by the end of NaNo; there are other variations, but that's the most common one. They can be done individually or in groups/teams. Last year we did it in teams and it was pretty fun, at least for me (then again, my team did win so possibly I might be a little biased!), so we could do that again, or we could all compete against one another in a free-for-all. Anyone have a preference?

Either way, if you're interested, I'll need your NaNoWriMo user number (you'll need an account on the website if you don't already have one; sign up soon, because when NaNo itself starts the website will get really busy and slow down considerably!). That's the number at the end of your profile page URL. You can just post the number, or you can post a link to your entire profile so I can get the number and other people can add you as a writing buddy. Here's mine. (my number would be that 200427, for example, if you're having trouble finding yours)

psst, would also appreciate a few more opinions on my idea here, if you have the time
 
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