National Novel Writing Month 2013

There's been some interest in this here on Giant Bomb in the past, so I figured I'd see if that was still the case.

For the uninitiated, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) takes place each November, and the goal is to write a 50,000+ word novel in that one month span. It's more about the fun and creativity of writing, and less about perfection. In fact, to keep strictly within the spirit of the event, no editing should be done to the story until the month is over. Just non-stop writing bliss. It's a lot of fun.

NaNoWriMo.org

My writing has fallen off this year, but against all odds, NaNoWriMo has pulled me back in, and I'm currently trying to figure out what I want to write about. I'd like to write something perhaps supernatural. Something more abstract and immediately interesting than my past efforts, is the hope. Still working out the details.

Any other Duders planning on taking part this year? What kinds of stories are you planning?

Also, we should Writing Buddy it up! You can add me via my NaNoWriMo profile.

Just as I have for the past three years, I plan to take part in NaNo this year. I still have no clue what I'm going to write yet (and I'm running out of time fast!), but I'm looking forward to the experience. I've had a lot of fun with it in years past.

Nice. This will be my third year. Somehow I've managed to reach the goal both previous attempts, and I hope to do it again, though I think schedule-wise it'll likely be my toughest year yet.

And don't worry, I'm sure I have less of an idea of what my story's going to be at the moment. I have just a basic idea of a general tone, so this is clearly going to go well for me, ha.

@jjweatherman: I'll surely put together an outline before the 1st. I like having a base idea of where to go; keeps me on focus. I managed to finish my second year, but not my first or third. Hoping to keep that pattern going and finish again this year.

I'm planning to use it as an excuse to kick my arse into gear, but I'm deciding whether to work on something new or stray from the rules and complete and edit a manuscript I currently have.

I also have a bunch of short story commitments at the moment, which is making the decision more challenging.

It's definitely a worthwhile pursuit though.

I'll be doing this this year. It'll be my first go at it. I've done a lot of writing, though my long fiction is pretty sparse (and my one attempt at a full novel, while complete, never made it out of the severely rough draft stage). I have a story idea in mind and I'm hoping to use this as a good opportunity to jump-start work on it.

I've known about this as a thing for a few years now but have never mustered up the courage to take part in it. I think that may change this year, though. I figure that if I want to be an author someday, I may as well start fucking doing something about it (plus there's this girl I'm interested in who I think is planning on joining in on the fun, so this will give us something to talk about, hopefully.)

No idea what to write about, though. Hrmm.

I've done it the last few years, but I haven't decided whether I'll do it again this year or not. I have plenty of ideas and a few that are already fully planned out and developed so I'm prepared if I do. I'm sure I'll put off my decision until the last second, like I do every year.

I got the most awesome but ridicilous story I've been wanting to write in over a year. Earth is struck by a natural phenomenon in which bubbles of air rose from below the seven seas, swallowing and coating entire continents with giant bubbles. Communication between continents is lost and attempts of sending people to the remaining continents only resulted into them going missing. People started to believe in superstition in that the world outside was cursed...until the Spoetnik came crashing down in 2101. Five teenagers go on a mission to recover the spoetnik, in a race for glory and fame.

Tolkien, I'm coming for you! >:)

I've long since thought of putting down some short stories that swirl around in my head, but this seems like a good time to dive right in.

I've also got to write a thesis... oh no. What the fuck am I throwing myself into?

Every year I think about doing NaNoWriMo, and every year I fail to. I have a couple of vague idea's for stories bouncing around in my head that I'd love to get written down sometime, but November is a terrible month for me. The ramp up to Christmas at work begins and I'll be working tons. Plus this year I have some family stuff planned for the beginning of the month. Why can't NaNoWriMo be in April one year. Nothing interesting ever happens in April. I'd be able to knock out a dozen novels in April.

Good luck, duders! I just finished a 97k word novel this August, and now I'm in the process of querying literary agents.

Querying agents fucking sucks.

Completely forgot about this; I'll probably take part as long as my new job isn't too crazy. I did something like 35k last year and I missed out on the first 5 days so I think I could do it this year.

Oh man, even with them sending me annoying emails all year long I still managed to forget about this until now. I already know I won't make it to 50,000, my schedule is brutal right now, but I'll do my best! Finishing about 10,000 words in the last 48 hours was something I was very proud of last year.

Anyone care to share examples / excerpts of their work when they're done?

I forgot that this was a thing.

As someone who has actually written and (self) published a novel (and is fairly close to (self) publishing my second), I don't think a month is enough time to write a good novel. At least not a long one that is also good. But what do I know, I never tried to write one in the span of a month.

One of these years I'll give this a shot. It'll either be the year in which I finally learn to love and accept myself, or the year I finally reach my breaking point and give in to misery and self loathing. Short of either of those scenarios I will just admire the people who attempt this and go about my usual business.

@mooseymcman said:

Being good isn't really the point. Also it doesn't matter how long it took to do the initial draft if you spend enough time on revision.

I tried last year, but I don't have enough time for creativity between writing something personal and writing things for my tabletop game. Maybe if the latter would go away...

@hunter5024: Yeah, I guess.

I failed last year and after that, pretty much stopped writing at all. I think it broke me or I broke myself.

I'll, uh, just stick to being a cheerleader this year.

I've written a few short stories in the past, but nothing more than ~15k words. I have a few ideas that I've been wanting to pen, so I may give it a go. Thanks for the reminder.

I like my ideas too much to ruin them by writing them down.

This makes total sense, and is not at all a crazy neurosis of mine!

Anyway, November is fucked for this kind of thing anyway, why does Chris Baty hate video games

Tomorrow's the big day, everyone! I'm glad there's some interest, and hopefully those of us who participate can conquer the challenge.

Good luck. And for god's sake, have Batman.

OHGODISTILLHAVENODEAWHATTOWRITE!

Really hoping I can pull it off, considering how little I managed last year. I seem to be in a much better state of mind for it this time, so hopefully finishing this story is a goal I can achieve.

Cool to see some duders doing NaNoWriMo :) I won't be participating this year because I'm still working on the thing I started last year, which was my first time. (I got a little overambitious for my first novel, but I'm still working on it actively so I'm hoping it'll at least get done somewhat soon ... ).

Good luck to you all !

I think I'm just gonna have to call it quits. If I hadn't been preoccupied with other things for about a week and a half it wouldn't be so bad, but I don't think I can really catch up by now. There's something else I'd rather be spending my time on, anyways, so I'll just have to see if I can do it next year.

Aw man, I wish I read this at the start of November! I think I'll do my own in December. Maybe a weekly short story thing actually.

@theht said:

That sounds awesome! I'd love to get into writing short stories, myself.

Anyway, congrats to everyone who finished their novels, or who are still set to! Even if you won't finish, any effort is awesome, as it still means you're are into writing stories, which is fantastic. Finishing mine last minute this year was a tad stressful, so perhaps I'll be able to better manage my time next year. Though I have lots of ideas planned for things between now and then!

I ended up forcing myself to do a 5000 word short story since it's what my schedule allowed for this year. Finished it which was nice. Congratulations to everyone who got the full 50,000!