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LaxMan88
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LaxMan88
16 posts
Nomad

Post how many pages your longest book you have ever written in your life.
My longest book I have ever written is 21 pages but still not done with it

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psnz
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psnz
130 posts
Peasant

For those who have done NaNoWriMo.. was it a good experience?


Yes.

As you've alluded, I certainly ended up writing a lot more over the final week than in the first couple.

I think it's one of those situations where you have to discipline yourself to grinding out 1,700 to 2k words every day.

There was a downloadable spreadsheet provided via the website that you could use to enter and track your progress.

Be warned though, that the sort of word counts you get from MS Word are lower than those from the engines on the website--at least that was the case for me.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend that people try NaNoWriMo.
kingryan
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kingryan
4,196 posts
Farmer

For those who have done NaNoWriMo.. was it a good experience?


It is quite fun. Get yourself in a chatroom or something - some sort of community where you can do it alongside others. The sprints are so beneficial to your WC, and just yeah - you can struggle alongside everyone else.

It is a tough month, but reaching the 50k and then finishing and saying 'I have written a novel' is just amazing.
Strop
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Strop
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From his own blogs or someone else's?


From everybody else's, more like xD

I would recommend NaNoWriMo if you're looking for a challenge to kickstart you into thinking more about writing. If you've got some kind of vision and need some impetus, it works well for that provided you have the motivation.

If you're looking for kicks and are a sucker for punishment, it's also good, but in that case you'd get more out of it if you followed KR's advice re: chatrooms etc.

The first time I did it I was more the latter, spent most of my time in chatrooms and making lame internet jokes, and ended up writing a fifth of my total on the final day so I could brag about it over a beer afterwards lol. The second time I did it I actually thought about it and decided actually I wanted to seriously write a proper novel. That time I attended writeins and was more focused on getting the count done as soon as possible, as I had exams right after. Both approaches worked but after that I kinda figured that my aims and way of achieving those aims was diverging from the whole NaNo lifestyle and community dynamic. On that note, Scriptfrenzy is comparatively quiet.

I don't think I'll be doing any more NaNos in the near future, mainly because my goals aren't going to be enhanced in any way by what it stands for. That's not to detract at all from how awesome it feels to get swept up and along in a wave of mutual peer-pressure :P
psnz
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psnz
130 posts
Peasant

Strop wrote:

If you've got some kind of vision and need some impetus, it works well for that provided you have the motivation.


And that's really NaNoWriMo in a nutshell.

IMHO, if you get to the beginning of November and only have the idea, 'I'm going to write a novel' then you're probably going to struggle.

Beforehand, I'd try to come up with the idea for your novel, maybe even do some plotting, and definitely get a real head start with your research.

I [s]wasted[/s] spent a good part of November doing research that could easily have been done one or two months earlier.

It's really worthwhile building up profiles of your main characters. You don't necessarily have to use every aspect of these profiles, but it definitely helps, and again, you can start early.

Finally, expect the unexpected. I'm not talking here so much about Real Live (aka RL), although that can hit you when you least expect. Sometimes your characters will develop in completely unexpected ways, and you'll end up writing about stuff that you never envisaged. That's (again IMHO) one of the serendipitous things that can happen when you write a novel.

So, if you've got a story lurking inside you, do a bit of prep work before November, and then go for it. As Strop has noted, NaNoWriMo will provide you with the framework necessary to achieve your goal(s).
kingryan
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kingryan
4,196 posts
Farmer

if you get to the beginning of November and only have the idea, 'I'm going to write a novel' then you're probably going to struggle.


My first year: I had absolutely no plot whatsoever...I just wrote...named my character after a chocolate and yeah...somehow managed with a fairly decent story (which still needs more editing).

My second year: I worked out a basic plotline - where I wanted to get to. I was following on in the Universe from the first novel - so I had an easier job with this.

What worked better? Having some kind of direction. Even if you haven't got the time to do character profiles beforehand (some would argue that if you don't have time to do this - you don't have time to do Nano) then at least work out some sort of vague plot. But then, if you're writing and feel yourself slipping from your original plot - do so. Channel your inner self out!
psnz
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psnz
130 posts
Peasant

Ahem.

I'm not talking here so much about Real Live (aka RL)


Of course, that was supposed to be, 'Real Life'.

Sometimes I really do wish there was a better way to edit your posts on this system. Maybe in AG3...?
psnz
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psnz
130 posts
Peasant

My first year: was my first and only attempt at NaNoWriMo.

The novel I wrote was set in a universe developed by another author, and which already had some five or six novellas or novels written for it. The originating author had declared the universe to be open for anyone to use, and so that gave me a basic structure and some already established characters, although in a very real sense, these were secondary to the main story I was trying to tell.

In other words, the universe provided part of the setting so that I wasn't beginning cold.

Another author whose work I admire gave me permission to use some of her characters in cameo roles, and together these plus the universe really gave me an initial impetus.

Of course, you have to figure out what works for you, and I probably wouldn't do it the same way again, but it worked the first time.

SecretNinjaPineapple
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SecretNinjaPineapple
21 posts
Nomad

Wow, hmm so I'm thinking I'm definitely going to try NaNoWriMo this year

It is a tough month, but reaching the 50k and then finishing and saying 'I have written a novel' is just amazing.

That would be pree awesome. Did you finish your story at the 50k mark, or did you go over?

That time I attended writeins and was more focused on getting the count done as soon as possible, as I had exams right after

Okay, that's extremely impressive.. NaNoWriMo *and* exams?

The first time I did it I was more the latter, spent most of my time in chatrooms and making lame internet jokes,

bahahah, I'm thinking that's going to be me. Lame jokes/pick up lines are kind of my specialty.. which is odd but I find them hilarious :P

So, if you've got a story lurking inside you, do a bit of prep work before November

So it's not like cheating or anything to have parts of the novel/characters planned out?


The novel I wrote was set in a universe developed by another author


Yeah , I've written a few stories like that before, but I'm thinking for NaNoWriMo it would be pretty cool if I could come up with a story that has characters/universe of my very own



ohh.. and I kinda realised I caused everyone to go off topic in this forum.. sorry about that :P
psnz
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psnz
130 posts
Peasant

So it's not like cheating or anything to have parts of the novel/characters planned out?

Definitely not. Remember, the only person you can cheat is yourself.

There are some people in NaNoWriMo who post 50k+ words on the first or second of November, and it's pretty obvious that they've already written most of their novels. I mean, realistically, no one writes that amount in a day or two. My attitude is the same towards them as in the previous paragraph: if you cheat on this, you're only cheating yourself. After all, the goal is to write your 50k words during the month.

As I see it, setting the groundwork in place before you start writing isn't cheating, it's homework or preparation. Obviously you should do the actual writing during the NaNoWriMo.

Did you finish your story at the 50k mark, or did you go over?

On the 29th of November, according to my records, I had 44.8k words, and after 11 hours of effort on the 30th, got this up to 50,745 words. I then spent about half of December finishing the story off, ending with about 61k words. Remember that in NaNoWriMo, no one checks on what you've written, so it really does come down to you, and whether you want to cheat yourself.

On the spreadsheet which is really worth grabbing if you want to chart your progress, you enter the Total Word Count, plus the number of hours you wrote each day. You get a heap of statistics, plus predictions on when you'll finish. When I was going for it, I realistically produced some 400 to 500 words per hour.

I was really fortunate in that the aforementioned author whose characters appeared in a cameo role in my story suggested approaching her editor for assistance (one of the characters spoke in a peculiar accent, and this editor was really good at helping with that). So, every few days, I'd send the story with a further five or so chapters, and so I received ongoing corrections and feedback. That really helped me, too.

ohh.. and I kinda realised I caused everyone to go off topic in this forum.. sorry about that :P

This is people writing about the longest stories they've ever written, albeit during NaNoWriMo. Yes, it's at a tangent to the original posting, but I don't consider it off topic.
zonic98
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zonic98
547 posts
Nomad

Something like 130 pages. A4, of course.

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