After NaNo

[Philip Overby]

Still got some more time left, don't worry yet! I thought about this looking at Nathan's post in the other thread. How many of you still keep going with your NaNo after November? Do you have plans to turn it into a longer work or do some heavy editing?

I'm hoping my NaNo habits pass over to my regular life. I've got to the point where I don't want NaNo to become my excuse to write. I should want to write all the time. I do write all the time, but my point is I should be writing everyday like I do when I do NaNo.

So what are you thoughts about your NaNo? Will it be salvageable to put out in the world or was this just a fun diversion?

 

[Amanita]

'm hoping my NaNo habits pass over to my regular life. I've got to the point where I don't want NaNo to become my excuse to write. I should want to write all the time. I do write all the time, but my point is I should be writing everyday like I do when I do NaNo.

This.
During NaNo I've managed to spend plenty of my free time writing rather than randomly searching the internet or watching TV and I'd like to keep that up. Feels much better at the end of the day as well.
I've been continuing with the newest version of my "normal" project anyway and I don't think everything I've written is awful, so yes, I hope it'll be salvageable and I'll finally be able to finish the first draft of this.

 

[Nathan_Boole]

I certainly plan to continue writing my NaNo story after the month is over, as I mentioned in the other thread. I think it's got a lot of great elements in it, and some good characters, and some awesome scenes, so there is a good groundwork for a real story there, and best of all, I've thought of an ending, and it's a good one!

That might not seem all that special, but I have actually never fully conceived of an ending for a long work. I usually discovery write (the only prep I had to start this month was I planned to start the story with a literal explosion. Then I didn't.), and all my previous projects have kind of petered out before they really got even to the midway point. And for essentially all of them, I had no idea where I was going with them. This time, only two days ago I realized what I needed to do for the ending, and so I actually have something to point the story toward, which fits with what I was already doing.

There is going to have to be a lot of revision before it's anywhere close to publishable, but I feel like the story as a main arc and with the primary characters I have will stand fairly well, with a lot of shifting things about and adding them in, taking them out, etc. For instance, when I started the story, which is a mingling of western and epic fantasy, I at first did not want guns in the story, and I justified why in my head as I started. But then about a 1/3 of the way into it, I decided that actually I DID want guns in the story, because I really needed them in there to give it much in the way of a western feel, and also because .45 caliber revolvers with glowing runes etched into the barrels and carved into the handle are freaking awesome.

So I am going to have to go back and add them in from the beginning, which will change around my initial fight scene, etc. I also have to go back and do some world-building to solidify a lot of things. Probably draw a map, at least for myself, and actually think through the magic system so that it has solid rules that work behind the scenes while still doing what I want it to do. Stuff like that.

Right now I'm basically just thinking, "Well I need to explode this thing, so blam, it explodes, and I'll just explain to myself why he could do that later, then go back through and make sure I'm not contradicting myself or making the character an idiot who forgets he has powers." Like, "why am I running toward this guy dodging bullets when I could have just used that magic shield I used three scenes ago?" That kind of stuff.

And I have rambled about myself and my story enough now. Sorry about that! Not trying to hijack the thread, just excited, lol.

 

[saellys]

My co-writers and I will try to keep up our NaNo pace (there were three of us, so we were each writing around 560 words a day) until we finish this draft of our project. I think we can wrap it up by the end of January. I was in pretty good shape before we started NaNoWriMo, thanks to having written a lot of random side stories in the same world in the months leading up to November, so that word count requirement suited me well--particularly since my writing time is generally restricted to whenever my kid is napping. To everyone who managed to bang out 1667 a day all month long, I salute you!

 

[Philip Overby]

So now that NaNo is officially over for some of us, let's use this thread to talk about any of our after NaNo issues, ambitions, problems, etc.

@Nathan: It'll be fun I think to add elements you didn't have before. Such as guns. I think whatever gets you more excited about your first draft will definitely help with the edits.

@saellys: That's a good idea to keep going through January, and that's probably what I'm hoping to do with this novel as well. If I can knock out a full first draft by the end of December, then I can start editing in January I hope. If I'm lucky, I may have something presentable by the beginning of next year, I hope.

And also congrats to everyone so far! I have to hammer out about 1,000 words when I get home tonight, and I'll be squared!

 

[saellys]

So now that NaNo is officially over for some of us, let's use this thread to talk about any of our after NaNo issues, ambitions, problems, etc.

Not really an issue or problem, but I wanted to see if anyone else used a spreadsheet to keep track of their progress. It was super useful for us, not least because we could each see what the other two writers were working on. We recorded our WPM for each writing session as well as notes on where we were writing and what the conditions were, which led to some interesting revelations, and a few changed habits.

 

[Philip Overby]

I have a spreadsheet I found online made by Eric Benson. It was pretty helpful to use that and the NaNo stats to stay on top of things. I like that it has a comment section so I can post thoughts about what I wrote or what I plan to write for the next session. I highly recommend keeping something for tracking word count progress. Not that word counts are the most important, but I think it's a good motivator. I'm going to try to keep up the pace of at between 1,500-2,500 words a day, if possible.

 

[Leif Notae]

My spreadsheet is more for me to keep on track with my story, not the wordcount. Since I had mine out in 3 days (and then 23 days for the first edit), it wasn't about the wordcount but more about keeping it on pace and interesting. Still more kinks to work out, but this is the best NaNo I have done yet.

 

[Butterfly]

I'm going to go for redrafting and adding in bits... not to the pace of Nano. I'm aiming for 30,000 words in December. That's just under a thousand words a day.

we'll see how it goes, maybe I'll have something viable at the end of it, maybe not.

 

[Philip Overby]

I'm still moving along as well, albeit at a snail's pace compared to what I was doing. I'll be happy to get about 1,000 or so words a day for now and hopefully crank back up during the coming winter break. If I'm lucky.

 

[Graylorne]

I'm still moving along as well, albeit at a snail's pace compared to what I was doing. I'll be happy to get about 1,000 or so words a day for now and hopefully crank back up during the coming winter break. If I'm lucky.

A 1000 words a day is a book in 3 months. Pretty nice doing, I'd say. Keep it up

I'm letting my text simmer in my head. The NaNo part hasn't the same tone as the part I had already finished. Before, I tried to make it sound darker, more grim, but it didn't work that way in the NaNo part. Now I can rewrite it darker, but shouldn't I better keep to my natural tone?

 

[Philip Overby]

With my 50,000 words I wrote in November, at 1,000 words a day, I'm hoping to have around a 100,000 word (or more) novel by the end of January or February. Then I can start editing and such. If I can keep up this pace, somehow, someway, I'm hoping to get in the habit of writing two or three novels a year instead of two or three incomplete novels every five or six years.

I'm currently reading a book by Larry Brooks called "Story Engineering" that I think so far is pretty excellent in concerns to being aware of what you're writing and why, and I'm liking his ideas so far. It doesn't feel like a typical "how to write a novel book" so it's been an interesting read so far.

@Graylorne: In regards to your novel, I think you should go with whatever tone you feel more comfortable with. If one tone seems more forced, then I'd say stick with the one that flowed more easily.

 

[Graylorne]

With my 50,000 words I wrote in November, at 1,000 words a day, I'm hoping to have around a 100,000 word (or more) novel by the end of January or February. Then I can start editing and such. If I can keep up this pace, somehow, someway, I'm hoping to get in the habit of writing two or three novels a year instead of two or three incomplete novels every five or six years.

That's quite a challenge!

I'm currently reading a book by Larry Brooks called "Story Engineering" that I think so far is pretty excellent in concerns to being aware of what you're writing and why, and I'm liking his ideas so far. It doesn't feel like a typical "how to write a novel book" so it's been an interesting read so far.

I've heard of him, but I'm very suspicious about 'I'll tell you how to write' books. I spend quite a bit of money on those and I never use them.

@Graylorne: In regards to your novel, I think you should go with whatever tone you feel more comfortable with. If one tone seems more forced, then I'd say stick with the one that flowed more easily.

You're right, of course.

't Is because my publisher would have liked to make a George Martin-clone of me Unhappily I can't stand Game of Thrones, so that was a big No.

With the first part of my Scarfar I tried it a bit grittier, but it's just not my style. So now I can stop worrying, at least about that.

 

[MAndreas]

With my 50,000 words I wrote in November, at 1,000 words a day, I'm hoping to have around a 100,000 word (or more) novel by the end of January or February. Then I can start editing and such. If I can keep up this pace, somehow, someway, I'm hoping to get in the habit of writing two or three novels a year instead of two or three incomplete novels every five or six years.

I'm in the same mindset, Phil. I'm aiming for 1,000 words a day on weekdays (day job an all) and then 2500 a day on week-ends. I'm hoping the rough of this beastie will be done by end of Jan. Then I'll work on another partially done one, and already have yet a third book planned to start in March (while editing this one). It's a lot, but I think you're right-- we need to build a strong writing habit . Maybe we should have a year around challenge group? Keep folks reporting in?

 

[Philip Overby]

There's a great blog about how a writer I really like gets four or five books done a year. He's got a publishing deal and all (and writes full-time) but I think it can show it can be done.

How Chuck Wendig Writes A Novel

He uses a lot of "colorful" language, so reader discretion is advised.

I'd love to start a year long group. Not necessarily a critique group, but just a motivating group. I already started the Mythic Scribes Blood Pact: http://mythicscribes.com/forums/writing-groups/3365-mythic-scribes-blood-pact.html This has different goals, but serves as a motivating tool (I hope.)

@Graylorne: The Larry Brooks book was only $1.99 on Kindle, but I can understand not wanting to buy another book. I have tons of those as well. I think his approach is something I haven't really thought of before, and if I want to write several books a year instead of having a bunch of incomplete NaNo projects, then a new method may be in order. I started out outlining my current novel, but with the pressure of deadlines, pantsed may way through most of it with no major problems (as long as knew where the story was going.) But I can't feasibly keep working that way, I don't think. So any method that can keep me on track is a blessing for me at this point.

 

[MAndreas]

LOL! I love Chuck! but yeah, he's a weeee bit salty (one of the reasons I've debated linking to his blog on my blog list). I love the idea of a Mythic accountablity group- even just motivation. On one of my other groups two folks had massively high word counts for Nov because they were impressed with what the naNo'ers were reporting in! Rachel Aaron is another good source for fast writing, and has a good online book too...I don't have a kindle, but I download books on my laptop sometimes- I think I'll check out Larry Brooks- thanks!

And keep me updated on a motivated- lets keep our asses in the chair- group!

Oh and as for the pantsing- after years of being a hardcore pantser (and five completed books) I've now officially become a Plantster- a half breed . I've been doing it for this nano wip and I like it!

 

[Philip Overby]

If we're to make this "make sure you write something everyday" group, what shall we call it? I really like the idea of just having a group to motivate each other to write everyday. I have something similar called Buster or something, that gives me a daily email prompt. But that doesn't really work as well. I think it could be fun if we set goals for each other each day and then we're expected to reach those goals or pay the price in some way. Word Wars are always fun as well.

I think if I keep in the habit of writing everyday, then eventually I can "break free" and just do it on my own without needing any support. That's my ultimate goal. I'm already pretty close to that, just have to keep on going.

 

[MAndreas]

Hmmmm- not thinking of a name right now, I'm sure there is something brilliant just waiting to be picked though . I once ran a group on yahoo- folks listed what their weekly goal was (then broke down by day- we had a database for tracking). People egged each other on and gave grief if someone didn't complete what they said they would. I also LOVE word wars- brings out the competitive side .

I agree on just keeping/getting the habit. I lost my writing mojo for about 7 months this year and it wasn't pretty. I figure I need to hang onto the momentum of NaNo so that doesn't happen again.

 

[Philip Overby]

I'll set something up in the Writing Groups section. Give some kind of easily identifiable name. I'll sort of leave it open to people to join and get motivated to write everyday. I'll come up with word wars, prompts, and daily goals (that aren't too crazy) so we can have something to sort of work with.

 

[MAndreas]

Sounds great Phil! just tell me where it is