28 October 2009

The NaNo Plan

How many of you are up for the insane madness that is NaNoWriMo? Any blank looks in the audience?

:)

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and is an annual writing event where people from all over the globe get together and attempt to writing 50,000 words in a month – the month of November, to be precise.

Check out Merc’s fantastic post on how to prepare for NaNo, and as per her suggestion, consider making your own List of Shiny.

NaNo is a ton of fun, and it’s thanks to NaNo (and Merc) that I completed my very first novel. I’m a hearty supporter of it, and think it’s a wonderful excuse to push yourself into doing something you wouldn’t normally do.

But that said, I’m a cheater. I don’t play by the NaNoWriMo rules.

1) First of all, I really would like to get to 50k. That’s point one.

2) However, I don’t necessarily intend for all these words to be on the same project. I really, really want to get the tiger novelette finishes – about 8-9k to go.

3) On the other hand, I don’t really want to be all scatter-brained like, and write, say, 50 thousand words of short story (although think of all the subs I’d have! :D)

4) SO. I will shoot for the 50k in 30 days. And I will concentrate on the four projects I’ve realised are my main ones.

5) Hunter Hunted (the tiger novelette) only needs about another 9k. That leaves 41k between the other three. Which equals more or less 14,000 words each.


So, this years plan is thus:

9k on The Hunter Hunted
14k on How Not To Take Over The World
14k on the Jesscapades rewrite (which is actually working now, huzzah)
and 14k on Sanctuary (also now working, squippee!)

If you’re interested, you can read blurbs for the wips here (or by using the Works In Progress link at the top of the page).

So tell me: Who amongst you plans to join the insanity? What rules are you playing by?

13 comments:

Liana Brooks said...

I'm in!

My goal is slightly more than 50k. I'm aiming for about 3k/day and writing 25 out of 30 days. I don't write on Sundays and I may take some time off for Thanksgiving. :o)

Merc said...

Great plan, Inky! :D

Before I decided to focus on something else entirely, I had planned to aim for only 50k on my novel I'd started early... but since that no long applies, all I'm planning to do in Nov is work on my "nano" novel, SAME AS IT NEVER WAS, revise the urban fantasy (TIME IS HELL), and possibly work on polishing up my wizard shorts.

I believe in playing by the spirit of the guidelines, not the letter. %-)

Anonymous said...

As you know, I'm doin' it too...unfortunately, i got so excited about my story idea I "accidentally" went ahead and wrote the first two chapters, 8k. But I plan to add 50k to that. :D I don't play too much by the rules either. I think that as far as NaNo goes, the reward is yours and if you cheat, you're sort of cheating yourself. It follows, then that if you're not cheating yourself, it's not cheating. Right?

Anonymous said...

Oh, and Merc;
"I'm planning to do in Nov is work on my "nano" novel, SAME AS IT NEVER WAS, revise the urban fantasy (TIME IS HELL), and possibly work on polishing up my wizard shorts."
I was wondering...do they have stars and polka dots? I love thaumaturgical undergarments, tell me more!

Merc said...

Right you are, Scott. NaNo is basically for your own writing and getting your own words out, so... as long as you get words on a project the way you want, go for it. ;)

(And I know I'm not Inky but wanted to chip in there. :P)

Merc said...

Heee... the shorts have magic powers, Scott. That's allll I'm sayin'. %-)

Krispy said...

I'm in, and as with many things in my life, I just go with it. I'm not going to start writing until November, and I don't think I'll be able to write every single day. I should, but in terms of my generally low-key social life, November tends to be one of the more hectic months...birthdays. Many of them. And then there's Thanksgiving of course. And I just started working full-time.

So I don't even know. But copious (for me) writing will happen! It's not like I need to sleep or anything. XP

Btw, are you signed up on the site?

Natalie said...

Oh, I'm playin. All of my work will be on one manuscript (but I'm not so sure I will meet the 50,000 word goal). Good luck!

Cindy said...

I'm going to try for 50K words in November, but I want to work on a couple of novelettes instead so it won't all be for the same story. I hope that counts. :)

Snazel said...

I'm doing it! *bounces* I'm so going to die, as well, but it will be fun death! Fun death!

*goes to make motivational cake*

Tere Kirkland said...

I'm not actually worried about making 50K words. This year I'm going to use my NaNo time as a writing exercise. I edit too much as I go along, but that's a habit I hope to break next month.

Rie said...

I'm in!

I'm also following the rules...mainly. I have the first chapter written skeletally.

I'll write for 2 hours a day when I can. I should be able to get 2-2.5k a day.

Amy Laurens said...

Wow, I can't believe how behind I am on answering comments o.0 Sorry, guys!

Li - We all know you're insane, though :P

Merc - I think we've agreed already that patience is a virtue in writing as well as life :D Good on you for having a manageable plan :)

Scott - Absolutely! If truth be told, I had I think 686 words of mine written before November O:)

Krispy - It's probably too late now but I'm Greeninkblot on the nano site :D And I hear you for life conspiring to be busy in November. Usually I have assessment and exams. Huzzah for finishing early this year!

Natalie - Good luck! :)

Cinders - Heh, I think the general consensus is, "If you want it to count, then it does" O:) hehe. Good luck!

Snaz - *munches on your motivational cake* Mm, tasty! And you are flying along, so I don't know why you were so worried about it :P:D

Tere - Yeah, Nano is the perfect excuse to try to break bad/old habits and try a new technique - like me actually listening to my characters instead of plotting around them o.0 :)

Rie - Yay! I'm so excited for you re being excited about your story :) Go you!

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