Early Retirement Extreme Forums

We are coming upon another round of National Novel Writing Month (Where you try to write a novel of 50k words or more in the month of November). Site is here: http://nanowrimo.org

I know we have several writers on the forums and people who have done NaNo in the past.

I've done it the last three years and won all three years. I'm not a fiction writer, really, but I still find it fun to try. Last year I wrote an erotica.

This year I'm not sure if I should leverage it to keep working on a book I've already started (because the habit of writing 1667+ words a day is a great habit to get into and really helps get ideas on a page) or just start something new for fun.

Overall it has always been a great source of entertainment, creative energy, and accomplishment. It's a good reminder that you can't wait for the muse; you have to just be in the habit and plow through and you WILL find that creative spark. It will come. This is a lesson you can apply to life in general.

So . . .

Is anyone else going to do it?

How do you prepare, if at all?

Yep! I'm in. PMing you my NaNoWriMo ID.

This is my 8th or 9th year...? I can't remember. I've officially won about a third of the time that I've participated. Unofficially, every year I do it I'm glad I did, so I'd call it a win either way.

As far as novel structure, I'm a big fan of Save the Cat, but I'm also a big fan of plot mirroring, so my structure tends to be a blend of the two.

After trying many methods, my NaNo prep has evolved into this:

1. Daydream for a few days/weeks/months.
2. Once the story has gelled in my mind, write down as many things about the story as I can think of. This takes a couple of days.
3. Divide the resulting list into two sections: action, and description/backstory.
4. Put the action list in chronological order.
5. If the action list doesn't have at least 60 items on it, add more action items until it does, and make sure the list flows well (this is the stage where I use the story structures above as a guide).

Presto! For each day of NaNo, I now have 2 items to cover, and 2 helpful lists to work from. Having 2 items per day is particularly helpful during NaNo, because if I get stuck on one item I can pass over it and move on to the next. Also, assuming I don't get stuck, I have two 834-word sections to write instead of one 1,667 word section... this always makes the daily writing seem less daunting to me.

How about you?

I have joined. I've done it once before, but didn't finish. I can't seem to stop myself editing as I go, so it takes me a long time to write 1000 words ... but I plan to write faster this time!

GandK (K?) - your plan sounds amazing. I might copy that if I may, and perhaps the excitement of 2 action points a day will help me whizz out the words without editing

PM'ing you both my Nano ID.

ETA: I tried to PM but don't know if it worked. The messages seem to be in the Outbox instead of the Sent folder. Maybe I am too new to be allowed to PM?

o

JasonR wrote:Do you folks publish these things?
Who edits them? Where do you go for covers?
Is there a secret way to *actually* win NaNoWriMo?

I don't know anything about winning NaNoWriMo. For the rest, look at who edited some of the books you like in your genre and contact them. If they are booked, they might still pass along the name of another editor who's available. Same with covers -- look up the artists who've done covers you like and contact them. IIRC, you're a graphic artist or something, right? Do your own cover in photoshop. There are lots of good stock photo outlets, and many give away the first few photos for free. Try to match your cover to the style of the hot books in your genre.

Self-publishing is easy through Amazon, or use a program like calibre (free) to format for several platforms. If it's book 4 and books 1-3 have good reviews, you can shop it around with established publishers (just realize they are swamped right after NaNoWriMo).

Konrath's blog is considered Must See TV for self-pub authors, but there are others. Cimorene12 lists several in her journal.

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I have a lot of writing and editing already booked, so I don't have the extra time to do NaNoWriMo this year. Last year's NaNoWriMo was when I really buckled down and took the writing seriously, and I've stuck with it. I can't believe it's been a whole year. I'm not rich and famous yet , but if someone asked me what I do, I could answer 'writer' now in addition to editor without flinching. Feels good.

I've been saying for quite some time that I wanted to attempt writing a book or novel of some kind, and maybe this is the motivation I need.

I volunteerJacob.

So I officially signed up for it, and I'm pumped! This will be my first year and my first novel, but the ideas are already flowing.

Okay I am going to friend the people that PM'd me!

I'm with Jenny--as far as having too many projects already, not being able to call myself a writer without flinching. It looks like next month I'll be continuing to slog through a project I should've finished this month, so no Nanowrimo. I'll be cheering you guys on from somewhere in the abyss of lurkerdom.

Scrivener has a template out for this year's NaNoWriMo ... http://www.literatureandlatte.com/nanowrimo.php (scroll down a bit)

They also have a free trial at that link that comes with the template if anyone is interested. I personally can't imagine trying to learn scrivener while trying to do NaNoWriMo, but maybe a trial by fire is the best way to learn. At least they give you a template so you can jump right in.

Good luck everyone!

I love scrivener Getting started on Day #1 after I start my meatloaf.

Speaking of Scrivener, everybody be sure to check out the "special offers" area in the NaNoWriMo forum:

Special Offers & Greetings from NaNo Sponsors

One of the offers is 50% off of Scrivener for all winners (I got my copy that way a few years ago). So if you don't already own Scrivener but you find that you love it, you can get it cheaply by "winning." There are a couple of other software discounts in that thread as well, and some solicitations by both traditional and self-publishing entities. Worth a look for all the writers here whether or not you're participating in NaNo 2015.

I'm up to 6,238 words so far. I usually get way ahead in the beginning, then fall behind over Thanksgiving and end up losing. Last year I missed winning by like 5,000 words. Hoping to do better this year.

I had occasion to re-read this old (for the Internet) article this morning. It's still one of my favorite opinion pieces ever. He deftly takes apart bad science fiction writing and crappy plotting devices. I always chuckle when I read it.

Nick Lowe, circa 1986: The Well-Tempered Plot Device

*Looks up to See NaNoWriMo is happening*
"meh."
*shrugs*

Not really going to do it as honestly I am just trying to get back into writing as a daily practice and enjoyment and I other more important things to worry about aka future, getting a job, and getting experience for it.

The thing with Nanowrimo is nobody else cares whether you do it or not

heyhey wrote:The thing with Nanowrimo is nobody else cares whether you do it or not

Touche.

Midway mark. How's everybody holding up?

25,005. Right on target.

Writing has gone unbelievably well this year. Very pleased with my work so far.

Congrats! Keep it up.