It's October, and you know what that means? Less than a month till National Novel Writing Month begins! The site's been relaunched. It's all fresh and shiny and waiting to inspire thousands of crazy people all over the world to write a novel in a mere thirty days. Feel the power. Eeeeeeee!!So to celebrate, I thought I'd give a low-down of my NaNoWriMo experiences thus far:
2005
My first NaNo. Ah, the memories! Wasn't sure at all if I could a) write a novel in a month, or b) write a novel in first person that was a mixture of fantasy and very-badly researched historical fiction. :-) I committed to writing 2,000 words a day to give myself a buffer zone, and when, lo and behold I hit the glorious 50,000 word mark with part of the month still left to go, I decided to see if I could buckle down and get to the actual end of the novel. I finished The Rose Queen on the 30th of November with 84,495 words. Yikes!
2006
Year two. The fear: could I really do this again? The answer: yes. I was way excited about my crazy story idea and went in armed with a detailed outline. That helped. On November 30th I had 104,009 words and the completed first draft of The Whale and the Tree. Did I mention I get a little obsessive and competitive when it comes to word count? Um, cause I do.
2007
Year three, and my first year participating in the NaNoWriMo Viddler group (which rocks). I gave up trying to deny the fact that I was going to go way over 50k, and started typing like a fiend. By the end of the month, I had 103,888 words, but only half of a novel (my main characters had only, erm, just met). It took me until the end of March to finish the monster that is The Fire in the Glass, which eventually clocked in at 209k.
2008
Year four. I kicked it off in Tucson (a drab little town a couple hours south of Phoenix. Sorry people who live there, but it's true) with fellow writers I met through the Viddler group, and proceeded to once more lose myself in the delicious heady rush of noveling at high speed. On November 30th I had 112,253 words and another unfinished novel. I completed the first draft of The Silver Crane at the end of March with just under 193k.
2009
Year five. The goal? Actually finish the novel during November. Wish me luck with that. :-P
So those are my NaNos in a nutshell. I cannot gush enough about what a fantastic experience NaNoWriMo is. I've met fabulous people, written a proverbial ton of words, and drunk lots of tea whilst staring out windows. What isn't to love about that??
Off to get lunch and make me a donation and buy me a t-shirt,
Joanna
7 comments:
I've never done NaNo but I'm going to try doing it this year. I have a new plot in mind and what a great way to get it all down fast!
I've been doing Nano every 'other' year. I'm in for this year for sure!
Just joined NaNoWriMo! Can't wait to begin!
Oooh Catherine, how exciting!! You're first year!! Yayy!!
Angela, so glad this is your NaNo year! Hoooooray!!!! :-)
(Sorry. NaNo tends to bring out an excessive amount of exclamation points in me. :-))
Forgot to say in the post, I'm "Gamwyn" on the forums, so feel free to friend me if ya like. :-)
This'll be the fifth year I do NaNo. Normally I come up with a title in the last week of October; just start typing whatever pops into my mind at 12:01 a.m. on November 1, and wing it from there.
As of today (10/02), I already have the title; three characters seconded from previous NaNo works; a villain of sorts; and the beginnings of a plot. Horrors!
Impressive word counts! I'm hoping to do my fourth NaNo this year--but it usually takes me a couple of weeks of December to get all the way to 75,000 words.
Astreja, I admire people with the ability to wing it! I always run into impossible plot holes if I ever attempt that. :-) Yay for having your title and characters already—how exciting!!
Sydney, I hope you can make it your fourth year, too! And 75k by December is nothing to sneeze at! I'm lucky if I can write anything at all in December; I usually need a bit of a break by that point. :-)
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