# NaNoWriMo 2017!



## Chessie2 (Nov 1, 2017)

Hello! I decided to start an official thread for us since it's practically time, right?

I figured we could post a bit about what we're writing and keep track of our word counts here. The parts in bold are for you to answer about your project as well! Let's encourage and help each other along this month.

It's still early morning for me, just sipping on my coffee and getting ready to start writing my shiny, brand new novel. 

*DAILY GOAL: 1700 words to keep up with the 50k in a month pace. Just do what you can though. Participating in a regular writing habit is really the point of NaNoWriMo.*

*What I'm working on:* Sweethearts & Jazz (Vintage 40's book 2). It's a sweet historical romance set in Portland, 1946. Tropes are coworker and fake relationship romance. It plays off book 1 where the heroine (Lila) was the main antagonist. In this book, she hires the hero (her coworker) to make her ex jealous. It sounds silly but this trope is one of my favorites, lol! They fall in love from all the pretending. Setting is Rex Theatre, where the heroine is the lead in a musical and the hero is a stagehand (her ex-boyfriend/hero from the first book is also a volunteer stagehand). So the backdrop is a playhouse.

*Inspiration:* The 1940's are some of my favorite historical years. The heroine's inspiration comes from Rosie in When Calls The Heart.

*Your turn!*


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 1, 2017)

Daily Goal: However much I can do each day.
What I'm working on: The sixth draft of my fourth book, Edge of Eternity.
Inspiration: Anything from Doctor Who to Persona 4 to Digimon to...I'd be here all day if I kept going.


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## Letharg (Nov 1, 2017)

Hi! I've chosen NaNoWriMo as a motivator to get back into writing after a way too long writing hiatus. So I'm keeping my goals as modest as possible as to not force myself. Last time, writing got to become a chore, killing any fun I'd felt from it. So this time I'm aiming to keep the passion in writing, setting modest goals and not forcing it. 

Daily goal: Sit my ass down in the chair once every day and write until the joy starts to subside or time runs out. 
What I'm working on: A story set in what for the reader will be a twist setting with a story will twist and turn along with the setting.
Inspiration: Great works in both fantasy and sci-fi which are combined in the setting. 

I wish you all good luck and a fruitful November, regardless if you meet the goals you set or if you only end up writing a single sentence.


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## valiant12 (Nov 1, 2017)

Goal ~1ooo words a day


What I'm working on - My yet unnamed sci-fi 

Inspiration -   The beginning of the 20 century,  The period before WW1


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## A. E. Lowan (Nov 1, 2017)

Goal... to not die.

What I'm working on: _Ties of Blood and Bone_, the sequel to our first book, _Faerie Rising_. Hoping to have the first draft finished by the end of November, so I should probably get off of Scribes. lol

Inspiration: _Ties_ was actually conceived before _Faerie Rising_, so it's been years in the making. It first began with a dream of a white-haired wizard woman in over her head and took off from there.

Rebelling it this year again, starting 23,872 words in.


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 1, 2017)

I'm off to a crap start. 401 words written at the end of day 1. Got into an argument with someone who wants to be a beta reader, and it throw me off writing for the rest of the evening. It's now 2 am and I'm gonna have a stab at finishing the current chapter.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 1, 2017)

*Daily goal:* 2,000+
*What I'm working on*: _From the Ashes_ second draft. the straightforward tale of a man trying to find redemption in his life while the world around him dies. And he tries to stop it.
*Inspiration:* Lots of things. Epic fantasy and steampunk had a lot to do with it. Aesthetically, its all Final Fantasy though.

I update the progress in the writers work thread so if you're interested in keeping up you'll find a much more detailed accounting over there. Good luck everyone!


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## ThinkerX (Nov 1, 2017)

Yep, I'm in....when I can squeeze in the time.  Lot going on in RL.  On a brighter note I theoretically have more days off than in the past, hence, (maybe) more writing time. 

*Goal: *Finish what is projected to be a 15-25K novelette or novella by the end of the month.  No daily WC goal. 

*What I'm working on:  *'Strange Exit,' a tale that begins 'forty years from now' in a US that has undergone a 'soft apocalypse' - some places normal and filled with content corporate citizens who have lots of high tech toys...and other parts pretty much straight out of the 'Road Warrior,' where warlords rule and civilized folk tread carefully.  At the edge of the wastes is a radio station.  These days, that's all it is.  But, once, it was much, much more.  Dark secrets directly connected to the apocalypse linger here, watched over by a caretaker who masquerades as a DJ.  But now, those secrets are out.  And a criminal wants his cut.  Meanwhile, elsewhere, a wanderer seeks to return to earth.  All three collide in the Nexus, a realm of bizarre physical properties, immense potential and horror.

*Inspiration:  *Lovecraft, or more specifically short fiction written by those who followed in Lovecraft's literary footsteps.

I might or might not start tonight, couple elements that need contemplating.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 1, 2017)

I just did an hours worth of work and got 1,684 words in. That is totally doable. And why haven't I been doing that more? 

Goal: 1,667

What I am working on: I don;t have a title for the novel, but I am working on a novel about a son, who happens to be a banished angel of death, looking for his son that was kidnapped by a psycho apocalyptic cult. He also may or may not be a banker.

Inspiration: My son, Sanderson, Tolkien, and life, man.


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## FifthView (Nov 2, 2017)

Well, for my first NaNoWriMo, I can say I've written more on the starting day of Nano than ever before!!

*Daily Goal:  *However many words I need to write to make it to 50K by the last minute of the last day of this month.

That won't be an average amount for every day, now by default: I hit *1220 words on Day One*.

Seriously, what I feared would happen happened. I didn't know anything about Medieval needlework. The process/tools, not the product. So...some quick(ish) on-the-spot research. And I had to find a few names I could be happy using for background characters mentioned in passing. And I had to get into the feel of this story. The first 500 words or so took about 4 of the 6 hours I spent at the keyboard on the project. Then the rest flowed rather quickly. Finished scene one of the rough.

*What I'm working on:  *Something I suspect will be longer than 50K by the end of it, so probably not finished this month, but I won't know that until much later into the month.  Working title is _The Severing Legacy_. It's a coming-of-age character/family drama sort of thing—that involves an expansionist kingdom's royal family and its not-heir, not-spare third son trying to have a place in his family, then trying to survive his family, all the while facing the decision of choosing between his family and a rebel group. While also trying to come to terms with his own identity, of course.

*Inspiration:* Peter Pan. More specifically, this song: Lost Boy.  No joke, I'd been listening to that song on my iPhone several times a day for a week or two when I realized I had to write something like what that song made me think and feel. But the story morphed and evolved in the weeks after that, becoming something with a bit of Frankenstein, too.  And, more generally, other aspects of dark fantasy.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 2, 2017)

1500 tonight: I was 500 words shy of my daily goal (which is 2k--1700 being the NaNoWriMo goal). Reasons? Work and everyone cramming into the computer space at night when I was working. I basically have decided not to write at night anymore. No one effing understands. So I'm going to bed early tonight and getting up at 6am from now on before I lose my cool around here.

Also, I'm not really feeling my NaNo project. I have a serious case of "I can't write anything that isn't ready to be written yet". It's terrible. I want to write what I want to write even though I'd make more money if I just wrote one thing. I'm selfish.


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## ThinkerX (Nov 2, 2017)

850 words.  Introducing Diane, the DJ of 91.13 'The Curse' - and Caretaker of the mothballed installation beneath the station.  She did an artful putdown of 'Boss' Percy Galt, a neighboring warlord. 

Tomorrow, Max, a former employee of the station who gleaned an inkling of its true nature, which inspired a plan far more foolhardy than he realizes.  But, desperate people do desperate things.

Names have significance.


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## Rkcapps (Nov 2, 2017)

My goal: 1000 words a day

What I'm working on: the upteenth draft of my third book. I'm just over 50,000 so I'm using the discipline of NaNoWriMo to finish it. Working title _Fledgling_. I'm yet to par down to the nut and bolts and write a pitch.

Inspiration: Pride and Prejudice, but in a fantasy setting.


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## FifthView (Nov 2, 2017)

Chessie2 I understand the "work" thing. I worked a little over 8 hours yesterday before coming home to sit 6 hours at my keyboard. I probably could have hit the daily Nano mark if I'd kept writing, but I had another early morning coming so I stopped at the end of the first scene. Seemed like a decent place to stop, given those other factors. I still ended up getting less sleep than normal.

I usually wake fairly early to brew a pot of coffee and imbibe it while playing my daily Hearthstone quest. This is my wake-up ritual. After this weekend, once I discover whether I can rely on weekends to make up for the daily workday loss in word counts, I may give up Hearthstone for some early morning writing.


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 2, 2017)

Okay, I'm formally in:
*Daily Goal:* 2,500 words - I'm currently off work on unpaid leave in order to focus on my writing so this should be doable.
*What I'm working on: *The Lost Dogs series. I'm about to finish the second draft of part 1, and I intend to finish the first drafts of parts three and four this month.
*Inspiration:* Kitty Norville, Harry Dresden, Neil Gaiman, Tove Jansson - music, lots of music.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 2, 2017)

I guess there aren't going to be any cabins this time?


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## Chessie2 (Nov 2, 2017)

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> I guess there aren't going to be any cabins this time?


There aren't cabins in the November NaNoWriMo. Only in spring and summer.

Sitting down to write now. Went back to my WIP because hell, I couldn't even get into chapter 1 of the 1940's romance. I'm not ready to write that one just yet. So back to fantasy it is.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 2, 2017)

Oh. I didn't know that. Thanks.


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 2, 2017)

There are just over 20 minutes left until midnight here, but I need a break so I'm tallying up today's words now. 1,358 total. Not particularly good, but I finished chapter 11 for this draft. Next chapter will be the big action scene of the story, where the hero gets to fight the (not particularly) bad guy in exciting and bloody combat.

The real enemy is the main character's inner beast which desperately wants to win the fight, while my MC knows in his human mind and heart that he has to lose it in order to secure a future for himself and his best friend and her daughter and grandson.


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## A. E. Lowan (Nov 2, 2017)

About 725 words yesterday and just now sitting down to work at 8pm after a long day of distractions, but we have a new DSL jack in the new office and I am fully online. Put on my new Skullcandy head phones and I can't hear anything but my writing list. Heaven. Let's see what I can do!


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 2, 2017)

a little over 3k tonight. Really feeling it but We'll see if I can keep up the pace. Really glad for Nano to get me back in the swing of things after the rough first half of the year.


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## skip.knox (Nov 2, 2017)

About 2k, but I had hopes for more. I'm trying out the Pomodoro technique, mainly to force myself to take breaks. Am sitting down tonight to map out what I'm going tackle for each writing session. I'll not get anything written for three days weekend after next (son's 40th birthday bash up in Washington), so I'm trying to over-accomplish for this next week.

Just realized I had not responded to Chessie's OP.
Daily Goal: write something; edit something
WIP: A Child of Great Promise. Talysse believes she is half-elf, half-human. Then she discovers that she is neither. An Altearth tale, of course!
Inspiration: Not really sure. I was thinking about identity. Closest thing would be _The Return of Martin Guerre_. It's a history book by the great social historian Natalie Zemon Davis.


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## FifthView (Nov 3, 2017)

1243 today. I'm averaging 1231, and at this rate I'd hit 50K December 11. 

Stopped midway in the second scene. Must needs sleep.

Here's hoping I can raise the word count enough on the weekend to make up the difference.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 3, 2017)

1685 today, yay.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 3, 2017)

739 for me today. This week has been really busy. I started a new job and today  my day went from 6am to 9pm. Tomorrow I work and Saturday I have a book fair. I'm getting real flustered because only a week ago I was doing 2-3k days. It also sucks that by evening everyone wants to be in the computer room or I'm too exhauted to think (pantser). I'll quit moaning and wake up at 6am again tomorrow. 

C'est la vie. I'll have to play catch up this weekend too.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 3, 2017)

1786. Good grief that took me forever. Love scenes are always the hardest. How's everyone else doing?


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## skip.knox (Nov 3, 2017)

Today is a good day. A couple thousand and it's still early afternoon. Time to take a break, get something to eat, then back at it.

To be open, I'm re-writing opening chapters. The words are mostly new, but I have a clear idea not only of what to say but how to say it. That always makes the writing go more quickly. Plenty of bogs ahead; I can see them from here.


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 3, 2017)

Day 3: 1354 words. 
Not even remotely close to the 2,500 I'm aiming for, but I still felt productive in that I finished the new 11th chapter of the story and started on the 12th. I think I'll be able to copy a lot from the previous version of this chapter and just edit it into shape, and I believe it will be the same with the next and last chapter. With a bit of luck I can start fobbing my story off on beta readers within the next 24 hours.


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## Ban (Nov 3, 2017)

Non-Nano but still Nano project: I want to write a generational tale about a fictional dynasty, written in the form of a collection of poetic biographies. The poetic styles change over the course of the tale to match real-world historical styles. 

Day 3... or Day 1 for me: Wrote 400 words. Not much, but I'm happy enough with it. I'm trying to write the first biography poem in the style of the old norse sagas. I've never tried this before, so it is a bit of a learning curve. It is proving to be surprisingly hard not to burst into rhyme. The sagas were more focused on alliteration, so I will do the same.


Excerpt:

"Northern sails,
brought their homes to Southern shores.
On deck they carried,
mailed men with darkened eyes.
A full five hundred,
and perhaps a dozen more.
Their weapons wrought in hoary days,
by dwarven craft with steel of the Aegettir.

Boots clashed down,
on a coast of sand.
Softened soil,
untouched by boreal metal.
This land was ripened and mild,
lushy green and decked with rolling hills
Far away from the stony lands of naught,
and godless winters the northen men knew."


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## A. E. Lowan (Nov 3, 2017)

Best day this week so far: 1458 words. Getting there!


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## Nimue (Nov 3, 2017)

Oh, apparently I neglected to post here...

Daily goal:  *in a guttural whisper* _Something.  Anything._  My absolute minimum, no-you-must-write-more is 500 words.  I'm just so, so rusty.

WIP: Raven's Daughter...very much a working title...is about a changeling greenwitch and the cursed son of a thane, and how they unravel ancient magic and make bad decisions trying to save each other.  Too worded out for a better synopsis.

Inspiration: Celtic myths and fairytales.  All sorts of history bits.  The kindest, most wholesome romance my tiny brain can come up with.  A lot of melodramatic self-indulgent nonsense.  Essentially, everything I love in a story.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 4, 2017)

Did another 3k day, and this one was actually new writing instead of just edits with rewrites. Feels good. Glad to see everyone else making progress. Keep up the great work!


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## FifthView (Nov 4, 2017)

Day 3:  807.

I feel bad about the word count but better about the quality. The first day went great, but the second day I felt as if I was simply writing what I knew had to happen. Wasn't so into it, came out a bit telly and even on-the-nose in places. But today I'm back. I recorded my total simply because it's a few minutes to midnight, but I'm going to keep writing tonight. Those words will go with tomorrow's total.


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## ThinkerX (Nov 4, 2017)

My muse is feeling feeble these days.  Despite not much else going on - a change from the last couple of hectic months - forcing myself to write is a chore.

Still, thus far, I am sitting at 2100 words total.  Right now, I'm at the midpoint of Chapter Three - Lewis has just reached the monastery guarding the Nexus entrance on the dead world.  (I need to come up with some names.)

Tomorrow, I finish that chapter up, and then return to earth, where Diane finds herself staring down the barrel of Walter's gun.  (Walter is an unwelcome and unpleasant associate of Max, a POV character, truck driver, and former employee of Station 91.13 the Curse.)


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 4, 2017)

I finished the second draft of my story today. I added about 3,000 words to the story, but most of those came from light editing of the previous draft. I've probably written less than 500 new words today. Happy to be done with this for now though, and looking forward to starting on a new story later this afternoon.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 4, 2017)

Got another 1684 yesterday. Despite maybe falling asleep because I was writing at midnight after watching my Utes beat UCLA.


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## skip.knox (Nov 4, 2017)

Hey, folks, I saw something from one of my region-mates at Nano that I thought might be of use. I'm deep in editing myself; this is more for those who are writing from scratch and especially those who find it unbearable not to edit as they go. Here's the routine.

First, she writes. Without editing, but it's okay because she's made a promise. When the writing is done, she records the word count, at which point, the Nano day is done.

Next, she prints the day's work. This is where she delivers on the promise. She goes over the words and marks them up as much as time and inclination allow.  If it's something she simply cannot bear to leave as-is, she'll go back and make the edit. The rest she'll leave for post-Nano. But she does not adjust the word count, not even if she adds ever so many new words. 

She says the promise is pretty fragile the first few days, but as the month progresses she makes fewer and fewer in-process edits and learns to trust the promise. 

Hope that is of some use to someone.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 4, 2017)

did close to 5k today. Probably won't be hitting that kind of goal much this month as I'm approaching the end of my original attempt at rewriting. I'm hoping to keep things around the 3k mark but we'll see what happens


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## FifthView (Nov 4, 2017)

skip.knox, my own process has been similar and not-similar to that.

The slower pace is because I _have_ been editing a little as I go.* I know that's supposed to be a no-no during Nano, but I don't care. It's not just about word count for me—although, it is about word count, nonetheless! In order to know where I'm going, I have to have something reasonably "right" in spirit if not beautiful prose, so I've edited a little until I could feel I was on the right track. But I've not lost myself in that editing process; I've left a lot untouched and steamed ahead as long as I've felt I was on track. Then, after I've updated my word count for the day, I've made additional small edits before shutting down for the night.

I'm not really sure if I'll make 50K, but I'm still going to try. I could spurt out many K today, but I'm pretty sure a massive portion of it would need to be thrown out or entirely rewritten come December 1st. So...I'm trying for a middle ground. I figure if I can keep myself glued to my chair and pumping out words every day for a whole month, I'll be able to do that after the month also.

*Edit: _Partly_ because. The other reasons have to do with visualizing specifics/details of the environment I've not given much thought to before this project and finding the occasional name to use for a character. The former far more often than the latter, however.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 4, 2017)

That's an interesting way of her doing things, Skip. Thank you for sharing. I especially like her thoroughness by printing. 

I HAVE to edit as I go along. I do several passes as I'm writing new words because I don't rewrite and I need the manuscript to be editing & proofread ready by the time I'm done. Everything--plot wise--needs to be as is. So editing as I go along is what helps me to add things, change things, fix typos, etc. Then I put the manuscript in my Grammarly and Hemmingway editing software, and finalize the process with proofreads and line editing (in reverse order lol). This is often why many times when I have big word count days they are followed by smaller word count days. Like, for example, yesterday I spent my writing time editing chapter 12. Still not entirely done with it...which is where the new word counts come in. But I don't count my editing words in NaNo. That's cheating to me. I only count fresh words.


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## ThinkerX (Nov 4, 2017)

Chessie2 said:


> That's an interesting way of her doing things, Skip. Thank you for sharing. I especially like her thoroughness by printing.
> 
> I HAVE to edit as I go along. I do several passes as I'm writing new words because I don't rewrite and I need the manuscript to be editing & proofread ready by the time I'm done. Everything--plot wise--needs to be as is. So editing as I go along is what helps me to add things, change things, fix typos, etc. Then I put the manuscript in my Grammarly and Hemmingway editing software, and finalize the process with proofreads and line editing (in reverse order lol). This is often why many times when I have big word count days they are followed by smaller word count days. Like, for example, yesterday I spent my writing time editing chapter 12. Still not entirely done with it...which is where the new word counts come in. But I don't count my editing words in NaNo. That's cheating to me. I only count fresh words.


You gave up on Pro Writing Aid?


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## Chessie2 (Nov 4, 2017)

ThinkerX said:


> You gave up on Pro Writing Aid?


I don't like it as much, no.


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## gia (Nov 4, 2017)

*Daily Goa*l: 900 words. I know that doesn't seem like much BUT if I do that I can finish my 13 chapter novel by the end of the month.

*What I'm working on*: The first book in a five book series. The title is _The Power of the Crystalline Trees_. It's set in the future and is all what the world would be like, if the poles had shifted in 2012. It's for young adults, who you all call Millennials, but who I call Crystallines. The underlying message in the storytelling is one of hope for the future and how to make use of their unique energy gifts that they have.

*Inspiration*: My two grandsons, Julian and Quincy, currently age 9 and 7. At the rate I'm writing, though, they'll be 30 before I'm done! So this is a good challenge. 5 books in 5 years...hey! We'll be into a new presidency by then!!!


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## Chessie2 (Nov 4, 2017)

2088 for me today. YISS. Now I'm off to live my life. Good luck everyone!


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## gia (Nov 4, 2017)

Chessie2 said:


> 2088 for me today. YISS. Now I'm off to live my life. Good luck everyone!


Writing isn't your life? lol


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 4, 2017)

The day is over in 3 minutes here. I managed about 600 or so words on my new story. I'm thinking it's a bit slow getting started as I take a lot of care with the initial description of the story's main character. She's coming off as a bit more punk than I'd first anticipated, but I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

I'm sure I'll revisit the description again tomorrow, and in the next draft too, but for now, here goes:
_
Alene Monenya. Average height human. Early twenties. Dark brown skin. Blue eyes, and curly red hair that had finally grown long enough to tie back in a ponytail since last she shaved it all off.

She's in green fatigues and combat boots. A white tee damp with sweat, and a green denim hip bag embroidered with snowflakes and apples. Around her neck she wears a pair of dog tags that say to donate her body and belongings to cancer research in case of death._​
There you have her. It should be enough for a first impression. The rest of the story is about getting her into trouble and getting to know her better.


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## FifthView (Nov 5, 2017)

Day 4:  3006.

This puts me close to where I need to be, but not quite.

I finished the first chapter and started the second.

Had a good day.


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## weechlo (Nov 5, 2017)

_Ooof._

3000 words today, doubling my word count and making up for my unintentional day off yesterday. Turning off my inner critic and ignoring the fact that it's bland, clunky, and minimal on personality right now is just _freeing. _I'm basically just skipping around, keeping it generally chronological but making the bare bones of each chapter, getting an idea of what's going to happen in it, moving on to the next, and going back as inspiration comes to keep the flow going. Right now I'm basically done with chapter one, working on chapter two and three, and just started on chapter four.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 5, 2017)

Day 4 = another 1862. Bringing the grand total to 6915. Not bad, so far.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 5, 2017)

I've made up for not typing out anything yesterday by writing a total of 13 pages in my notebook today. Either something needs to happen soon or this book is going to be very, very short.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 5, 2017)

Did a little over 3k today. About what I expected and over my goal so I'm very happy about that. I am curious what my actual progress would be if I were writing form scratch instead of rewriting. I think I spend about the same amount of time writing either way and I'm not really sure how to calculate that so it will stay as a thought experiment. good job everybody!!


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## gia (Nov 5, 2017)

1687 words! Almost double my goal. Hard to stop and do other things in the flow.


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 5, 2017)

1,254 words - about half my goal. I think I'm nearly out of the slow start of the story though, so hopefully I'll be able to up the pace soon. The character is introduced, and her suitcase too. 

The suitcase is going to be a very important macguffin throughout the series so I wanted to give it some attention right away from the start.


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## A. E. Lowan (Nov 5, 2017)

425 words yesterday and none today due to illness, both of the two of us and one of our tiny dog office minions. Tomorrow's agenda: the vet and the doctor, in that order!


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## Chessie2 (Nov 5, 2017)

1817 for me today. An entire scene written from the crazy antagonist's pov. Here, his intentions to seize Lord Omarion's seat and take Princess Elenaril as his wife are made known.

Goodness, he's such a psycho.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 5, 2017)

1708 for me. All a post op of a man who killed several demons a couple of people and hinting that this guy is something beyond human.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 5, 2017)

Also, here is the ole profile. National Novel Writing Month


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## Nimue (Nov 5, 2017)

Haven't really posted here because dang, I'm not doing NaNo word counts and unfortunately I'm not really pushing myself, but all I'm looking for is starting a habit, not necessarily heading for a finish line.  It's nice to have the last two parts of my outline to work on when that comes easier, and it's a good way to warm myself up for prose.  Whenever my mind strays ahead to juicy future scenes, I can jot that down in the outline, know it won't be forgotten, and get back to work.  Nearly done with the new first chapter, which feels almost like a prelude--it's during the heroine's captivity when the last draft started with the battle that freed her.  This is making her mental state post-escape so much clearer to me, and hopefully will amp up the emotional impact of her freedom.  Dreamlike and dark-fairytale and enjoyable to write.


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## skip.knox (Nov 5, 2017)

A day of other obligations, but I managed 921 words this evening, getting Talysse across the marshlands of the Camargue. It was her first ride on a horse. At first it was pretty wonderful, but now she's a little ... ah ... sore.


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## FifthView (Nov 6, 2017)

Day 5:  1892.

Total so far:  8168.

That's _just_ shy of the 8333 words I'd need to be on the average for meeting the Nov 30 deadline. I'm a little bummed because I could have hit it with just a little longer, but midnight came . Finished the first scene of chapter two in a slight rush there at the end, anyway.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 6, 2017)

I'm steadily catching up on typing after two days of just notebook writing. I'm at 8,000 words with six-ish pages left to type for today.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 6, 2017)

Did another 3k session and really starting to wonder how long I'm gong to keep up this pace. If I keep going at my current rate I'll be over 100k by the end of the month. that would be great but I'm also worrying about quality at that point. the majority of my mind is saying to get it done and out of the way, that I'll spend the same amount of time doing a less strenuous revision after I finish the rewrite so that's what I'm going with for now.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 6, 2017)

I'm caught up to 10,000 words.
The trouble is that the next two parts are a story within a story about the main 'antagonist' and I have no idea how long to make it [mainly for pacing reasons]. I was thinking 20,000 for both parts.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 7, 2017)

Calling ti a night at 1707 and dozing off for a bit in the middle of that.


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## FifthView (Nov 7, 2017)

1752 today. Had a great time introducing a new POV.


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## ThinkerX (Nov 7, 2017)

I seem stuck at half speed or less this time around.  400-600 words a night; usually I do double or triple that during NaNo. 

Still on Chapter Three.  Lewis is at the Monastery, but the 'monks' are assuming distinctive personalities of their own, so what was supposed to be a thousand word chapter could be double that. 

Worse, I might be staring the 'Curse of Chapter Four' straight in the face.  In writing, there is the first page, the first chapter, the fourth chapter, the tenth chapter (or roughly 30,000 words) and then the last few chapters.  Each represents a hurdle or potential hurdle to the author.  Writing that first page overcomes the challenge of that blank whiteness.  Finishing the first chapter is an illusionary victory; this site is littered with works that stopped at chapter one or shortly thereafter.  But, push past that, well, there's the curse of chapter four.  Past this point, the characters are introduced, the challenge set, and you are off into the ever so muddy middle, lost in a wilderness of verbiage and plot details.  I usually have a vision and an outline to carry me past this point, a crutch to lean on.

This time, that crutch appears to be a frail twig.  Chapter four, I can do.  Chapters five and six, I can at least attempt, though the visions are dimmer.  But then things get murky.  I may have to do more outlining and brainstorming.


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## FifthView (Nov 7, 2017)

Fluffypoodel said:


> Did another 3k session and really starting to wonder how long I'm gong to keep up this pace. If I keep going at my current rate I'll be over 100k by the end of the month. that would be great but I'm also worrying about quality at that point. the majority of my mind is saying to get it done and out of the way, that I'll spend the same amount of time doing a less strenuous revision after I finish the rewrite so that's what I'm going with for now.



Get it done and out of the way. 

Quality is only a big issue during and after revision, imo.

For me, quality is _an_ issue during this Nano sprint, but I'm doing all I can to stay near the word count curve, and that means letting myself feel happy when the first third or half of what I write each day is pretty good. When the exhaustion kicks in, what follows is a cluster of ugly brain mash.

A few areas will obviously need intense revision. Repetitive word use, Uninspired prose for a bit of the description. Occasional overmuch exposition, telling, and on-the-nose narration. Hazy POV focus or lack thereof.

Then the issues of larger structures. I introduced a new POV in the second scene of the second chapter and will bounce back to the original POV character in the third scene. I think it works ok for now, but starting the second chapter with that new POV would maybe be better? Dunno at this point. I might have a prologue-ish thing with that POV instead, by the end of things, to make the sudden appearance late in Ch. 2 less jarring.

But all that is stuff that can be handled in revision.

One problem I'm having is a lack of sleep, since I've been writing to near midnight. Still getting up early. So as the work week wears on, I'm more tired when I sit to write...which slows the writing the next evening or else makes the writing clunkier. Vicious circle.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 7, 2017)

FifthView said:


> Get it done and out of the way.
> 
> Quality is only a big issue during and after revision, imo.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the encouragement! I'm going to keep going and worry in revision. It had been my hope that this draft would be of a more refined quality and ready to get looked at but the farther I get into it the warier I get. DOn't get me wrong, Its much better than the first draft but there are still issues. I understand the sleep issues. I've been staring midnight in the face more often than I would like but I suppose that's the life.

POV issues have been giving me some trouble as well. I seem to have chapters that are longer than I anticipated. I might pair them down later but they are still going to be big. I've been fooling around with the idea of splitting the perspectives within the chapter but I'm not sure. If it continues into the future I might consider it but I want to keep the chapters with one POV each. The struggle.


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## FifthView (Nov 7, 2017)

Fluffypoodel said:


> POV issues have been giving me some trouble as well. I seem to have chapters that are longer than I anticipated. I might pair them down later but they are still going to be big. I've been fooling around with the idea of splitting the perspectives within the chapter but I'm not sure. If it continues into the future I might consider it but I want to keep the chapters with one POV each. The struggle.



I'm in a slightly different boat, because I'm pantsing a first draft. Before Nano began, I had more or less decided I'd have two POVs. But as I began to write the first chapter, it stretched to over 5K words in the single POV, and I'd begun to think that maybe I would write the whole thing in that single POV. The first chapter came to a satisfying endpoint in its particular arc. I began the second chapter with that POV leaping forward three days to the point where the fearful anticipation threading through the first chapter's events was about to culminate, wrote a very good scene taking the MC to that cliff, then realized that having the second POV take over in the second scene would be great. All that anticipatory stuff leading to this catalyst—forces and characters coming together—set up that first character, and this second character's POV would allow me to observe that first character's reaction to this turn in his life. While also allowing me to have this balance between two side that will form the whole schismatic theme of the novel.

Anyway...heh, maybe I'm being vague. I could probably as easily rewrite the first chapter to include the first scene of the second chapter, and just start the second chapter with the second POV. The only thing is that holds me back from making that decision, besides the Nano sprint, is that I'm fairly certain at this point the first POV character's POV will be the primary POV of the book. The second POV is important also, but secondary in my opinion. So I think I'll probably not want whole chapters devoted to that second POV.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 7, 2017)

Suppose it's a personal preference, but I mix povs in my chapters all the time. I do, however, keep one pov per scene and separate them with a *** to keep things tidy.


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## FifthView (Nov 7, 2017)

Yeah, I have scene breaks. Mostly, I've wondered if the long first chapter and then first scene in the second chapter in the single POV make the sudden introduction of a second POV a little clunky. I'm not too worried about it. Once I have the whole draft finished, I'll be able to get a better feel.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 7, 2017)

I'm not against mixing my POVs. I have five in _From the Ashes _but they don't actually run into each other for a few chapters so my worries come, I guess, from continuity. If I want to switch perspectives within a chapter, fifteen chapters in, will that throw off immersion? If I write it well then I suppose it wouldn't but I could avoid the issue altogether if I do it earlier to set the precedent. Then again I am rather attached to the single POV chapter. The idea of withholding pers[ective form the reader, forcing them to wait to see a character's internal reaction is what I like to see in fiction so I want to include it in my own. 

Like what was said before. Revision can fix these problems. I'm just trying to look forward to make those processes a bit easier.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 7, 2017)

I hate withholding perspectives, lol. It enrages me when authors do it, so I don't do it. Funny how we're all different but hey, it's what makes the world go 'round.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 7, 2017)

Agreed. Suppose we'll see how it pans out in the coming weeks.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 7, 2017)

If I did ten pages a day, I'd be done by either in 12 days or 16 days [roughly]. I don't know if I'll manage to do ten pages a day, though. I'll be lucky to get five done a day. According to a bunch of math I did, I could do five pages a day and be done in 24 days.


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## Antonius (Nov 7, 2017)

Eight days in and I'm already struggling. I've written just over 7000 words. Averaging 1000 words/day.


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## Tom (Nov 7, 2017)

Things have been busy lately, but NaNo has been slowly but surely dragging me in. I'm definitely not in it to win this year, but I still would like to give it a shot. It tends to keep me on track and writing every day.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 7, 2017)

2537 today. Would have done more but I kept fooling around on Canva. 



Antonius said:


> Eight days in and I'm already struggling. I've written just over 7000 words. Averaging 1000 words/day.


Don't give up! Even if it's just a few words a day, don't give up!


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 7, 2017)

Antonius said:


> Eight days in and I'm already struggling. I've written just over 7000 words. Averaging 1000 words/day.


You can do it!! Don't give up!!


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 7, 2017)

Closer to 4k than 3k today so I will chalk that up as a win. The chapter is about half finished and it makes me happy, not that I'm cruising through my word goals but that I'm setting up the story as I want it to be. In the past I've struggled with getting out of a scene too quickly, of resolving conflict without problems. I seem to be moving past that and I am grateful that the many hours of practice and revision are paying off.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 7, 2017)

Chipped at with 1,678. Done for night.


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## skip.knox (Nov 8, 2017)

Lost. Lost and wandering. I'm not in the Great Swampy Middle, but in the Great Unfinished Jungle. Ironically, the Jungle is of my own construction. I dashed about planting until I no longer know where I am.

Spreadsheets to the rescue. The only way (for me) to recover any sense of direction is to zoom out to the chapter level. For each chapter I number it, title it, count the words, write a sentence or phrase for each scene within it, and write a very few sentences as to what I can see needs to be done (delete, rewrite, expand, merge, that sort of thing). 

I did that exercise today--takes a couple hours. Only now do I see that I don't have nearly as much in Act 3 as I thought I did, and I have more duplication than I thought I did in the earlier chapters (including one where I have two entire versions). This will help me tomorrow as I lay out an action plan. Then it's off to Washington (state) for my son's 40th birthday, so nothing will get done till next week.

That's ok. My goal for Nano was to get to First Draft. I have about 72k written and now can be fairly confident that the novel will come in between 80k and 90k. Right on target, _mirabile dictu_. Not sure I'll get First Draft completely done by November 30, but one must try, else what's a Nano for?


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## FifthView (Nov 8, 2017)

1182 today. I'm very nearly finished with chapter two. 

Sitting at 11,102 total.  Long chapters. 

Will probably finish this chapter with another 100-150 words.


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## Antonius (Nov 8, 2017)

Chessie2 said:


> 2537 today. Would have done more but I kept fooling around on Canva.
> Don't give up! Even if it's just a few words a day, don't give up!





Fluffypoodel said:


> You can do it!! Don't give up!!



Thanks for the encouragement! I'm definitely not giving up on this.

I've managed to reach over 10k words tonight, after converting two handwritten pages into 2,395 words. Would like to do more but calling it a night as I've got work in the morning.


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## gia (Nov 8, 2017)

I'm 1000 words behind my daily goal. Someone's got be the devil's advocate!

But I did finish the chapter and map out the next!


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 8, 2017)

1678.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 8, 2017)

A little over 2k tonight. Its my first night not pushing past 3k but I'm okay with it. Wednesdays are probably going to be my weak days since I have prior commitments that Are just the worst. (Class that I have to take so that I can get a state mandated certificate so my school doesn't get fined for me not having one... oh the pressure). Feeling good about week one being over and looking forward to what the rest of the month has to brings. Great job everyone!!


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## FifthView (Nov 9, 2017)

A measly 416 words today. Exhaustion is finally catching up, so I'm getting diminishing returns from losing sleep. Who'd've known? 

I actually decided to  take my vacation days starting tomorrow. Haven't  used  vacation days in seven years! I was telling a coworker I thought maybe I should just go on vacation and use the time to write and relax some, and she said go for it and I did. So if nothing crazy happens, I should be able to catch up to my word count goals. 

I finished chapter two at least, and I have a very solid idea of the arc of chapter three. All heck blows up at the end. Literally but not literally. Nothing will be the same ever after...

But now, to bed.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 9, 2017)

1130 for me today. NaNo counter still says I'll be done on Nov 29 so that works for me. I just didn't care today. Some days I'm just not feeling it.


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## Antonius (Nov 9, 2017)

2,601 tonight. Phew, I'm tired. Time to catch some Z's.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 9, 2017)

Today is a typing out day. I think I'm going to have to go for 8 pages a day after all. I'll see how I do.


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 9, 2017)

I spent most of yesterday flying from Cork to San Francisco to visit my brother. I got a bit of work done on the plane from Cork to Amsterdam, but nothing at all from Amsterdam to SF. I felt oddly self-conscious about picking up the laptop and typing when sitting so close in between two strangers. I've caught up a little on the sleep now though and will hopefully be getting a bit of writing done now.


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 9, 2017)

Svrtnsse said:


> I spent most of yesterday flying from Cork to San Francisco to visit my brother. I got a bit of work done on the plane from Cork to Amsterdam, but nothing at all from Amsterdam to SF. I felt oddly self-conscious about picking up the laptop and typing when sitting so close in between two strangers. I've caught up a little on the sleep now though and will hopefully be getting a bit of writing done now.


Completed chapter 3 with all checks reached. Progress, if slow.


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## A. E. Lowan (Nov 9, 2017)

And like clockwork I have caught a cold. Mostly editing and polishing and wallowing in misery today. Maybe 100 new words. >.<


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## FifthView (Nov 10, 2017)

1713  for day nine.

I'm on a roll and will continue writing for an hour or two. My MC has just joined a war council, something he had not in any way expected, and he's about to get some news that will change his life forever. Well, he won't know exactly how his life will be changed by the news, but then neither do the others present in that meeting hah! They have plans for him that are going to upset everything; but something will happen later, as a result of what happens here, that will upset all of their plans!


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## Chessie2 (Nov 10, 2017)

A. E. Lowan said:


> And like clockwork I have caught a cold. Mostly editing and polishing and wallowing in misery today. Maybe 100 new words. >.<


I hope you feel better soon. Hugs!

No words for me today. I was out of the house at 8:15 in the morning and didn't return until past 9. Thursdays are monster days for me. I'm too tired to write and frankly need to think more about how the next chapter will go. 

I'll get up in the morning and write.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 10, 2017)

1707 for today, and a saloon fight with saloon music. Night all.


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## A. E. Lowan (Nov 10, 2017)

Brian Scott Allen said:


> 1707 for today, and a saloon fight with saloon music. Night all.



Those kinds of fights are so much fun to write! We have one in _Faerie Rising_ that takes up most of a chapter and is utter chaos. Such a blast!


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## Antonius (Nov 10, 2017)

1,938 today. Glad it's the weekend. I can use the time to come up with plot scenes and twists for the upcoming chapters.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 10, 2017)

Brian Scott Allen said:


> 1707 for today, and a saloon fight with saloon music. Night all.


Sounds fantastic!


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 10, 2017)

A little over 3k tonight and 3k yesterday (I don't think I posted here yesterday...) Moving into the second chapters for my characters and things are moving, if not as smooth as I thought then at least they are moving. My worry for maintaining my momentum is all but gone so that is a good thing to report! We'll see what tomorrow brings.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 10, 2017)

Okay, 2088 for me and still on track. I could have kept going but I want to enjoy my Friday night with a good book. Figured I'd put a tiny sample in today's post (the characters are seeking help from a mage's guild in another province):

_Elenaril shivered as she trudged through the snow. By Styr, how she hated snow! It was wet and cold and messy. She detested the way it soaked through the hem of her gowns, chilled her bones and made the tips of her fingers numb. Not to mention it was always gray after a good snowfall and such depressing weather fouled her moods. It snowed heavily in Caramil during the winter months, casting an unwelcome gloom over the mountains and socking them in with fog. Those were some of the most boring days of her life holed up in her bedchamber next to the fire reading or stitching. Thankfully, the temperate forests of Rivenfell did not experience the same fate and for that, she was grateful._


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## FifthView (Nov 10, 2017)

I have a little fewer than two hours remaining today and am beginning to despair I'll not reach the final word count for Nano. I've written most of the day, beginning before noon, with short breaks and one two-hour nap to recharge. The writing has been good, I'm into the flow of the chapter, but when I look at the word count—Gah! Any day I didn't meet that day's goals has set me back further than I thought. But who knows. I have five more vacation days and the story is hitting the most exciting parts as I creep up to the inciting event and will have the carrot of the first act's end dangling before me after that.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 10, 2017)

FifthView said:


> I have a little fewer than two hours remaining today and am beginning to despair I'll not reach the final word count for Nano. I've written most of the day, beginning before noon, with short breaks and one two-hour nap to recharge. The writing has been good, I'm into the flow of the chapter, but when I look at the word count—Gah! Any day I didn't meet that day's goals has set me back further than I thought. But who knows. I have five more vacation days and the story is hitting the most exciting parts as I creep up to the inciting event and will have the carrot of the first act's end dangling before me after that.


Carrots are delicious. Keep up the good work!


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 11, 2017)

Bar fight makes MC meet an old friend and get in an argument with old friend. Calling it a night at 1,711 words. Bringing the total to 17k


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## FifthView (Nov 11, 2017)

2279 today. A surprise, but I'm moving into exciting waters. Total so far is 15,510 words.

I finished the long first scene of chapter 3 and am facing a big decision. Normally, given what happened in that scene, I'd be doing a smallish sequel scene after. But I'd planned a major surprise/event at the end of the third chapter. That would work well also. It's probably what I'm going to do. A short sequel, a handful of paragraphs, and then KABOOM at the very end of the chapter.


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## Antonius (Nov 11, 2017)

Haven't felt the best since waking up this morning, had a migraine and suffered from fatigue as well. I managed to get 1,154 done today.

However, I took it pretty easy today and worked on coming up with scene's to progress the story. It's coming along nicely.


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## FifthView (Nov 11, 2017)

I'm going to have to delay the actual writing and collect my notes. I've been pantsing, so chapters 1-3 are chock-a-block full of names made on the spot:  generals, earls, vassals, land holdings, sorcerers, kings, queens, functionaries, servants, a mountain range, forests, a bay, a sea, a river...etc.

I'm losing track of these and what I've previously said about them, heh! The little binder system in Scrivener is great, and I've been adding many of them to files there as I progress. But not all, and not with some of the details/descriptions. So I'm going to organize everything today before I jump into the writing.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 11, 2017)

I'm something like 24,000 words or so; but I haven't typed out the most recent set of pages, so I'm probably off by a fair bit.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 12, 2017)

Did close to 4k tonight. I had hoped that I would be cruising through edits but I find that the beginning of the book is not what I thought it would be. I mean I wrote it but I also change the story significantly over the two years since it was written. I guess I shouldn't be surprised but I find I am completely rewriting chapters instead of using what I had. I'm not complaining its just a little different than what I though the rewrite would actually be.


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## FifthView (Nov 12, 2017)

Yippee ki-yay, I did 3211 today.

I'm caught up to the average I needed for Nano.

Sure, there are possibly problems. I'm still working on chapter three, and it alone is over 7K. I could list other things but, meh, it'll all work out in the end.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 12, 2017)

Calling it at 1692.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 12, 2017)

My foot condition flared up yesterday and I only got 630 words in. After work, I was tired, moody, and in pain. Today, the foot is fine but I have the worst cramps ever. Will be trying to hit up the writing here im a bit once the meds kick in. Ugh fml


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 12, 2017)

^Kitty hugs. 
I'm working on typing out what I wrote yesterday.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 12, 2017)

Just over 3k today. I'm usually not done writing this early so I might work in a few more words later on.


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## Antonius (Nov 12, 2017)

Not a good day yesterday; 354.


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## FifthView (Nov 12, 2017)

Gah, I'm pressing on tonight, but I had a major time-killing foible.

Before the first word on this project was written, I'd created the perfect name for a major character. Basically, one of four major characters for the whole tale. But while writing chapters 1-3, I had to brainstorm the name of one of the other major characters. Came up with something great.

Then BAM! near the end of the third chapter when this character I've been planning to introduce finally appears, I realize his name on paper looks a lot like that name I created on the spot for the other character.  Two and a half hours later, I manage to find another name I could live with. Time lost from writing.


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## FifthView (Nov 13, 2017)

I managed 1761 for the day. Gonna call it an early day. Finished chapter three finally and it sits at 8969 words. I can see how maybe I could cut it into two chapters, but the arc of the whole thing is pretty good as-is.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 13, 2017)

400 words today. I'm pretty sick. Not sure if I'll make the NaNo word count as I'm pretty behind. Honestly, I'm not sure I care. This book is 3/4 of the way completed and I accomplished that by plowing through 2-3k word counts. NaNo has coincided with the part in a manuscript that always slows me down, which is close to the end. We'll see what happens but I'm not torn up over it.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 13, 2017)

1802. Night all.


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## Antonius (Nov 13, 2017)

1,707. Still behind on the word count. However, the next few scene's I have planned will hopefully bring me closer.


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## Nimue (Nov 13, 2017)

NaNo hack: 2 1/2 glasses of wine, and you stop worrying about NaNo!

Not that I needed any help with that, though...I’ve given up on meeting any word counts, and am just trying to write every day as much as possible, even if it’s just a sloppy handwritten page in a journal, or a couple scenes in my outline.  As this is something I’m hoping to continue for the foreseeable future I guess it’s more achievable, but yeah.  I’m not doing much.  See y’all on the other side, I think


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## Ban (Nov 13, 2017)

It's been a while since I posted. I couldn't write on some days due to a bad fever, on other days due to uni writing and on most of the others because I didn't want to. I will pick up daily writing again, partly on my blog and partly on bigger stories. But I will not be writing in the quantities that the blood gods of NaNo demand.

I am however rooting for all of you who are still madly going at it!


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## FifthView (Nov 13, 2017)

I sympathize with Nimue and Banten. I think my first Nano experience is teaching me that I never want to do it again, heh. It's been really great to force me into writing more per day and consistently every day; I'm even more excited with my project that I realized I would be; but...it's a killer pace, and I doubt I could keep it up for much more than a month. Maybe if/when I retire someday.

I don't know if I'll do Nano again. Maybe. I think next time I'll purposely pick a much smaller project, something novella length. I'm still trying to hit this month's goal, but that'll probably only put me at the halfway mark for the book. After, I'll scale down and shoot for 500-800 words a day, probably.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 13, 2017)

Yeah it's not going so well for me this November, which is funny because I write daily at a consistent speed and boom everything changes the day before Halloween. Lol.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 13, 2017)

Nimue said:


> NaNo hack: 2 1/2 glasses of wine, and you stop worrying about NaNo!
> 
> Not that I needed any help with that, though...I’ve given up on meeting any word counts, and am just trying to write every day as much as possible, even if it’s just a sloppy handwritten page in a journal, or a couple scenes in my outline.  As this is something I’m hoping to continue for the foreseeable future I guess it’s more achievable, but yeah.  I’m not doing much.  See y’all on the other side, I think


At least you tried...right?


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 13, 2017)

FifthView said:


> I sympathize with Nimue and Banten. I think my first Nano experience is teaching me that I never want to do it again, heh. It's been really great to force me into writing more per day and consistently every day; I'm even more excited with my project that I realized I would be; but...it's a killer pace, and I doubt I could keep it up for much more than a month. Maybe if/when I retire someday.
> 
> I don't know if I'll do Nano again. Maybe. I think next time I'll purposely pick a much smaller project, something novella length. I'm still trying to hit this month's goal, but that'll probably only put me at the halfway mark for the book. After, I'll scale down and shoot for 500-800 words a day, probably.


The NaNos for April and July let you choose the word count.


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## Nimue (Nov 13, 2017)

Chessie2 said:


> At least you tried...right?


Not really hard enough...never really hard enough.

But.  I did get started, I've finished the first chapter and am wrestling with the second, and beginnings can be a stupidly big hurdle for me.  And I suppose that's the level of what I was hoping to get out of this, so nothing lost, a little gained.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 13, 2017)

^It's the same for me. I'm on the sixth draft of my latest book, and the characters were repeating the same beginning over and over again, it was almost like they were in a Groundhog Day loop. 

At this rate, I'll be done in 9 days.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 13, 2017)

3k tonight. Had my first series of ups and downs in regards to how a character was doing in the chapter but I think I overcame it. Looking forward to tomorrow.


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## skip.knox (Nov 14, 2017)

About 2500 today, after three days off to go to Washington for my son's 40th birthday. Tried to get him to shift it to December, but he wouldn't bite. ;-)


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 14, 2017)

Put out 1730. Good job for today.


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## FifthView (Nov 14, 2017)

Today, 1416.  Finished first scene of chapter four. My secondary POV character, a sorcerer who may or may not be a little mad. Loving him.


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## ThinkerX (Nov 14, 2017)

3600 words...total for this NaNo.  600 words tonight.  Still on Chapter Three, though the end is in sight.

I just can't seem to focus this time around. Tumultuous real world events are not helping any.  Usually, I can set those aside.  This time, though...

Still, I shall continue to write.  'Strange Exit' is supposed to be a shorter work, so it's possible I'll finish it.

Then, come December, I must find the time and energy to resume the rewrite of 'Empire: Country.'


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## Chessie2 (Nov 14, 2017)

2088 today. I wrote 800ish words on my elven romance and the rest went to my 1940's sweet romance. I'm at a good point in the elven romance when everything is about to go downhill, ramping up towards the end. It has another 9 chapters before it's done. The problem is I only have a faint idea of what happens towards the end and need to think about it more. So I'm marinating on that one while I add words to the book I'll be finishing next. It helps my creative juices stay, well, juicy.


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## Antonius (Nov 14, 2017)

1,890. Solid effort. My bed calls!


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 14, 2017)

3.5k and feeling on top of the world!!!


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## FifthView (Nov 15, 2017)

1085, and I had to push myself hard just to get that. A little tired, unfocused today.

I actually realized I needed to continue that scene I thought I'd ended yesterday. Now, it's still not finished. But I have my semi-mad sorcerer at the very edge of what will be a hyper action sequence, so I can look forward to writing that tomorrow.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 15, 2017)

Calling it at 1790. Now I get to read Oathbringer until I pass out.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 15, 2017)

^Lucky you!

Today's a writing day. Hopefully I can get up to 35,000 words!


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 15, 2017)

Brian Scott Allen said:


> Calling it at 1790. Now I get to read Oathbringer until I pass out.


Spoiler alert, I didn't pass out. I just went to bed when I realized it was 1 o'clock.

I regret nothing.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 15, 2017)

I've written 8 pages, with 8 more to go.


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## Antonius (Nov 15, 2017)

Done 1,455 yesterday. Starting today, I'm going to write what I can and allow my body to rest.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 15, 2017)

35,000 in total so far. Seven more days [roughly], and I'll be done.


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## FifthView (Nov 15, 2017)

A cool 300 today.

Many factors, hardly worth mentioning. But today was the first day I realized maybe I don't care about "winning" Nano enough to actually do what would be needed to win. I want a break, heh.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 15, 2017)

A little over 2k tonight. I'm a thousand words from 50k but I have a bad case of the very tired from lack of sleep. I believe I just typed at least 1K of nonsense so time to call it a night. Great job everyone reaching the halfway mark. Two weeks left!!


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 16, 2017)

Hit the halfway point last night.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 16, 2017)

I'm typing out 16 pages, but I'm discovering that it [mysteriously] might not be enough to actually reach 35,000. Maybe 34,000, but I'll see what happens.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 16, 2017)

3.5k tonight and I've officially passed the 50k mark! On track to hit 100k by the end of the month. I did that two years ago while writing the first draft of this novel and hope to beat that word count this month. (I think it was around 108k).Wish me luck!!


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## ThinkerX (Nov 17, 2017)

up to 4600 total words now.  Almost at the end of Chapter Three - the interpersonal dynamics of that monastery drew me in.  I wasn't going to include any of the monastics later in the story, but I am now reconsidering that, along with much else. 

Tomorrows goal - blow through Chapter Four in one shot.  This is one where the mental movie clips are numerous and strong, so that might be doable.

But the RL situation remains a major mess (complicated now by back pain).


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## FifthView (Nov 17, 2017)

Yesterday was a bust. 

My first day back at work after vacation, and I walked into a swirl of events that appear to be leading to the eventual takeover of the company by a partner who, all said, would probably be a much better person to have at the helm. But my position would probably disappear, so I'm looking at transitioning into some other role. Or finding a new job.

Then I got home and Windows was taking forever to update after I turned my computer on. After about an hour and a half and still going, I decided screw it, watched the latest Flash episode, then got an early sleep. I expected to wake up early but  instead slept through to my alarm, so I feel extremely rested this morning, heh. 

TLDR; I did exact 0 words yesterday.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 17, 2017)

FifthView said:


> Yesterday was a bust.
> 
> My first day back at work after vacation, and I walked into a swirl of events that appear to be leading to the eventual takeover of the company by a partner who, all said, would probably be a much better person to have at the helm. But my position would probably disappear, so I'm looking at transitioning into some other role. Or finding a new job.
> 
> ...


I'm not going to win this year and have come to accept that. The most important thing is building a regular writing habit no matter the word count. Some days will be zero and it's okay! Progress happens over a stretch of time. 

I'm calling this NaNo a bust. With having started a new job after not having worked for 2 years, my time management has gone to hell. My writing tablet also broke and I can't type as fast on my phone. So...whatever. C'est la vie.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 17, 2017)

It's 2:00 and I haven't written anything. If I tried to do all 16 pages, I would finish at 10:00.

Also, I don't know how I expect myself to do much when all I want to do is play Dragon Quest IX all day. I'll have to force myself to write.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 17, 2017)

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> It's 2:00 and I haven't written anything. If I tried to do all 16 pages, I would finish at 10:00.
> 
> Also, I don't know how I expect myself to do much when all I want to do is play Dragon Quest IX all day. I'll have to force myself to write.


I've gotten the Fallout bug. Feel your pain, Crystal.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 17, 2017)

I'm at 35,000 words, too, and 5,000 words [ish] until the climax. Oh, well. If I skip a day and finish on the 23rd instead of the 22nd like I planned, I guess that's okay.


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## FifthView (Nov 17, 2017)

Chessie2 said:


> I'm not going to win this year and have come to accept that. The most important thing is building a regular writing habit no matter the word count. Some days will be zero and it's okay! Progress happens over a stretch of time.
> 
> I'm calling this NaNo a bust. With having started a new job after not having worked for 2 years, my time management has gone to hell. My writing tablet also broke and I can't type as fast on my phone. So...whatever. C'est la vie.



It's definitely a bust for me as well. I discovered today that the changes at work are going to happen lightning fast, and I'll be moving into a management position which will mean less ability to manage my own time and more work, especially during the transition. Next two weeks are going to be chaotic, and some of it will be pins and needles. Tonight I have a young relative's birthday party and other errands, so I'll probably not be able to write tonight either.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 17, 2017)

I wrote a grand total of one page today. Yay.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Nov 18, 2017)

1760 words. Peace.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 18, 2017)

I'm caught up to 16 pages today, but I still have to type them out.


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## FifthView (Nov 19, 2017)

I've done no words for the last three days. Extremely tense situation at work, and some family birthday & holiday events this weekend. So I'm taking that breather, but it means I'm pretty much out of Nano at this point.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 19, 2017)

FifthView said:


> I've done no words for the last three days. Extremely tense situation at work, and some family birthday & holiday events this weekend. So I'm taking that breather, but it means I'm pretty much out of Nano at this point.


I'm out, too. I'm still writing daily but I've accepted this NaNo just isn't going to be a 'win' for me.


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 19, 2017)

3395 words today. This is nearly twice of what I've done on any previous day this month. It may also be my personal best ever, but I haven't kept track that closely.
Overall thought, I'm not doing too well. I've written almost every day, but I'm only today past 15k words. I expected that with not working I'd be able to get more writing done than normal and I set my goals high. I've not had the discipline required to pull it off, and I'm now far behind because of it. Fortunately, I'm still passionate about the story and I feel like it's going in the right direction. I've got two more chapters to write on this one, and they're likely to be short ones. Chances are I'll finish this story tomorrow.

It's a short one, but I've figured out a number of additions that will need to be made in the second draft that will both increase the length of the story and the quality of it. Second draft is going to be interesting.

Also, I had a great idea for a nice plot twist that I added into the story during today's writing session, but now that I'm mulling over it, It kind of breaks the entire backstory of the character in ways that I can't ignore. The plot twist will have to be removed in the next draft. I'm sure something else will come up though.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 19, 2017)

About 9k over the last few days. Hit some serious hurdles that I might have gone around rather than over but I want to keep my momentum going. I figure I'll solve the problems in all of the spare time that I have and then go back and fix them later. Or they will just fix themselves. Kind of hoping for the latter...


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## ThinkerX (Nov 20, 2017)

Already intense back pain and then snow blowing the driveway do not mix well.  Such is todays excuse for no progress on 'Strange Exit.'

However, the plot issues that set in past Chapter Six remain.  I shall write until that point - probably the end of this NaNo, probably around 10,000 words, then set this story aside, I think.  Perhaps 'Yellow Apocalypse' would have been a better choice - it had a far better outline than this story.


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## FifthView (Nov 20, 2017)

Chessie2 said:


> I'm out, too. I'm still writing daily but I've accepted this NaNo just isn't going to be a 'win' for me.



I did manage to do 979 yesterday. I found it actually relaxing and fun, not worrying so much about Nano word counts and winning. I'm in the midst of an interesting fight scene involving my sorcerer POV character and two non-human characters I introduced for that fight. All I have left is the wrap-up to the fight (a group of castle guard has just entered the fray, while my sorcerer has been severely handicapped by the two attackers.)


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 20, 2017)

I took another break yesterday, and my goal now is to write the next 16 pages and then type them out tomorrow. If I can manage the same for the next two days afterwards, I will be done by Thursday.


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 20, 2017)

About 1500 words. A little more than halfway through the second to last chapter. Not as good progress as I had hoped, but it's getting there.

EDIT: correct numbers


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 20, 2017)

A little over 3.5k tonight and most of it was not like pulling teeth! Feeling good and ready for more. (sleep, not writing...)


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 21, 2017)

1900 words so far today. Finished the last chapter of Lost Dogs #3. Gonna take a little break from that now and focus on writing a proper blurb for Emma's Story as well as a short explanation of what anfylk and anetachts are for the not-prologue of the story.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 21, 2017)

I managed to do the 16 pages yesterday, and now I'm typing them out. Two more days and then I'm done.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 21, 2017)

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> I managed to do the 16 pages yesterday, and now I'm typing them out. Two more days and then I'm done.


Good. You can finish my story next.  !


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 21, 2017)

Sorry, the last week of the month is my little holiday to myself.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 21, 2017)

Another 3.5k night. I might have written the same amount two nights in a row but tonight was a much better experience for me. Much more relaxing and a lot less pounding my head into the keys. Hope to keep that up!


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 22, 2017)

EDIT: 1144 words today

I was doing reasonably well today and then I got a notification from my bank about suspicious charges on my account. Turns out someone's gotten hold of the details and been making purchases with it. I'll get the lost money refunded, but it's still a nuisance and it broke my flow for the night.

In other news I decided to do a small private print run of Emma's Story through lulu.com so that I can have a few physical copies to give away for promotions/christmas. That may be delayed now that my card is blocked, but I'll work it out somehow.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 22, 2017)

Svrtnsse said:


> EDIT: 1144 words today
> 
> I was doing reasonably well today and then I got a notification from my bank about suspicious charges on my account. Turns out someone's gotten hold of the details and been making purchases with it. I'll get the lost money refunded, but it's still a nuisance and it broke my flow for the night.
> 
> In other news I decided to do a small private print run of Emma's Story through lulu.com so that I can have a few physical copies to give away for promotions/christmas. That may be delayed now that my card is blocked, but I'll work it out somehow.



That's some terrible luck. I hope everything works out.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 22, 2017)

A little over 3k tonight. Feeling positive about the next few chapters and where they are going which should bring me through to the end of the month. Won't be finished but should be about halfway... Maybe...


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## Chessie2 (Nov 23, 2017)

Svrtnsse said:


> EDIT: 1144 words today
> 
> I was doing reasonably well today and then I got a notification from my bank about suspicious charges on my account. Turns out someone's gotten hold of the details and been making purchases with it. I'll get the lost money refunded, but it's still a nuisance and it broke my flow for the night.
> 
> In other news I decided to do a small private print run of Emma's Story through lulu.com so that I can have a few physical copies to give away for promotions/christmas. That may be delayed now that my card is blocked, but I'll work it out somehow.


What the heck! I'm sorry this happened to you.


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## kjbartolotta (Nov 23, 2017)

Hi there Mythmasters!

Know I'm late to the game, but I'm spending American Pre-Christmas Turkey Holiday home sick reading Mythic Scribe articles, so I thought I'd take the moment to jump in.

*Daily Goal:* Write the exact number of words to complete NaNoWriMo by the end of November. Day 23 and slightly under 37K.

*My Amazing Brilliant Novel of Brilliantness: *The Young Bride. A young woman dies on her wedding day. But death is not the end. She is banished from her village and must find her way to the far-off City of the Dead, eluding the sinister Wild Hunt while being pursued by her former husband.

*Inspiration:* The Dark Souls games and Exalted, primarily.

So far, it's a mess, and the thought of revision gives me stomach pains. But this had been a great goad to actually doing it!


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 23, 2017)

I've discovered that I'm at 46,000 words, so I only need to write ten more pages today instead of 16 [since I wrote two pages yesterday].


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 24, 2017)

3k tonight. Didn't expect to hit that after Thanksgiving but I was feeling pretty good!


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 24, 2017)

Why is it so difficult to write these last few pages?! I should have been done on Wednesday!

All of the motivation that has been compelling me onward for two and a half weeks is suddenly gone.


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## kjbartolotta (Nov 24, 2017)

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> All of the motivation that has been compelling me onward for two and a half weeks is suddenly gone.



But you're soooo close. I am very much having the same issue, after a fairly challenging November IRL. But got at least 13K to go, and man it's kicking my butt. How you guys write so fast is beyond me, I hit 1667 and my brain shuts down.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 24, 2017)

I know, I know, and there's only eight more pages to write/3,000 words left! Argh.


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## kjbartolotta (Nov 24, 2017)

Yeah, but you know you're gonna do it.


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## Antonius (Nov 25, 2017)

It's been awhile since I've had a day like today. Managed to get 2.5K down and now my first draft has crept over 30k words. Got another day to hopefully do the same - if I don't get distracted. Regardless, I'm happy with my progress so far because for once I'm actually writing more than I normally would.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 25, 2017)

Five more pages to go. *sigh*


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## kjbartolotta (Nov 25, 2017)

Ugh, I know! I just tipped over 40k, and Saturdays are really bad for getting the time to write. Guess I'm gonna hafta sit down after dinner and bang out what I can. But. I. Will. Conquer. NaNoWriMo. (Then stress out about finishing the novel and turning it into something readable at a later date)


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 25, 2017)

Four more pages to go. Hopefully I can be done by tonight.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 25, 2017)

Took yesterday off to solve some pace issues and came back to write almost 5k tonight which catches me up to the goal. Looking to finish the month off strong!


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 25, 2017)

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> Four more pages to go. Hopefully I can be done by tonight.





kjbartolotta said:


> Ugh, I know! I just tipped over 40k, and Saturdays are really bad for getting the time to write. Guess I'm gonna hafta sit down after dinner and bang out what I can. But. I. Will. Conquer. NaNoWriMo. (Then stress out about finishing the novel and turning it into something readable at a later date)



You're doing great!!


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## ThinkerX (Nov 26, 2017)

I'm up to 6200 words total.  Made it into Chapter Five.

My writing mojo is moving real slow...but, at least it's moving again.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 26, 2017)

I'm done, more or less, but I still have to type the last pages out, and I might need to write another page or so just to wrap everything up.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 26, 2017)

I just typed out four pages and added an extra bit that connects to the prologue, and I'm suddenly at 49,000 words.   I still have eight more pages to type!


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 26, 2017)

2100 words today. I've had a few very sluggish an unproductive days, but I feel like I'm about to get into the groove again. Let's hope this isn't speaking to soon, but rather a sign of things to come. I could do with a bit of a productivity and confidence boost.


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## Antonius (Nov 26, 2017)

Done the most amount of writing yesterday, just under 3k and then got distracted. Haha 

Won't have much time during this last week of the month, maybe 1 ~ 3 hours worth of writing a day. I may attempt another big session on Tuesday depending how the day goes. If I can hit 40K by the end of the month, I'd considered it a success.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Nov 26, 2017)

I'm done!
Final word count: 52,609.


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 26, 2017)

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> I'm done!
> Final word count: 52,609.


Yay! \o/ 
Gratz!


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 26, 2017)

My first day over 5k!! It would have been more but I erased a duplicate section and got rid of a few paragraphs I didn't like which probably totaled to a little over 1k. I also didn't realize that November only has 30 days instead of 31 so my 100k counter was off by a day which means my word counts are all off by a day, which means a few more days of above average output. The thrill of it all!


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## ThinkerX (Nov 27, 2017)

Somehow managed another thousand words today.  Not much by NaNo standards, but the best I've done in months.  7200 words total.

Still won't finish, but maybe it'll set me up to continue the rewrite of 'Empire: Capital' come December.


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## Antonius (Nov 27, 2017)

About 1.6k today and pushed the overall word count to 35k. Whew, I'm knackered. Time for bed!


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 27, 2017)

1,209 words today so far. I finished the chapter I was working on. I should start on the next one, but I'm craving a break, so it will have to wait for a bit.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 27, 2017)

A little over 4k tonight and I am back on track to reach 100k by the end of the month. I had hoped to go over that but I'm taking it as a win.


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## Chessie2 (Nov 28, 2017)

Looks like I'll win with only 4k more to go. I'm going to try and win today. Lol.


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 28, 2017)

1,750 words. I messed up my planning and had to go attend a birthday party I thought wasn't until tomorrow. Unfortunately, this meant I got less words written than I had hoped. Fortunately, it meant pizza and beer. I'll call it a fair trade.


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## A. E. Lowan (Nov 28, 2017)

Ended my last chapter with 4444 words. ODC is kicking like mad.  But I'm finally feeling better and am back to making pages... just in time for NaNo to be over! *waves tiny pompoms*


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 28, 2017)

Another 3k tonight and I am still on track. Gong to have a late night tomorrow so I might be playing catch up on Thursday but that's what makes it fun!


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## ThinkerX (Nov 29, 2017)

Family obligations kept me from writing yesterday, and obligations of another sort put a crimp into todays efforts.  400 words, 7600 total, and I'm almost to the point I must stop.  Not my worst NaNo, but far from my best.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 29, 2017)

Wrote a little over 2k tonight which puts me at just under 5k to write for tomorrow to hit my goal. Lets hope I'm up for it!

On another note, you can see some of my main character's backstory over in the Challenge section under the Mithwright 1 Entry thread. Head on over and vote for your favorite story!!


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## Chessie2 (Nov 30, 2017)

Yay I won NaNo! Wooop! Didn't think I would but came out with 50937 total words. The funny thing is, I don't have a finished novel lol. Because I switched projects, the first 10k words belong to my elven romance. Anyway, I've got another 22k words before this novel is finished. Yiisss.


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## Fluffypoodel (Nov 30, 2017)

Chessie2 said:


> Yay I won NaNo! Wooop! Didn't think I would but came out with 50937 total words. The funny thing is, I don't have a finished novel lol. Because I switched projects, the first 10k words belong to my elven romance. Anyway, I've got another 22k words before this novel is finished. Yiisss.


Great job!!


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## Antonius (Nov 30, 2017)

I fell short on my own personal goal in the end but for my first time joining Nano, I'm pretty happy with my effort. Glad I joined this year and plan to continue every year from here.

Looking at what I've written, I'm pretty sure I've created an abomination. That's the best I could describe it, since it doesn't follow the structure of a novel and feels more like written pieces for a massive world building project. The 'story' I had planned out, is spread of over two years and I've barely covered a month in story time. 

My plan from here is to reach 50k, aim for 100k by the end of December with the help of a week long holiday break and in January/February edit the first 50k words. Fun times ahead.


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## ThinkerX (Nov 30, 2017)

I'm not feeling too great tonight, plus I belatedly realized a key plot element was a 'McGuffin.'  Hence, I posted my total and called it quits.  8284 words total. 

That dratted McGuffin is central to other tales in this same sequence.  Whole thing needs some thought.  Perhaps 'Reds' are a 'telepathy/telekinetic' drug?  Have to mull that one over.


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## RavenOfSummer (Dec 1, 2017)

I'm late to the party since I just joined the forum today, but thought I'd chime in!

Last year I did the traditional NaNo thing, started a brand new novel on November 1, and I actually got to 50k in a month. I wasn't that happy with what I had written however, which I think was the combination of the project I had chosen, which was a little ambitious for a first novel, and the fact that I think I needed to take my writing a little slower (I know everyone's different on that front!). 

This year I used NaNo to get some serious work done on a novel I started in January. I had about 27k at the start of the month, written from January to October, and I wrote 28k in November. So, I'm pretty happy with the outcome  I still don't have a complete first draft- I estimate I'll need another 15k to get to the end of my draft, which would bring me to 70k total. So I'm hoping to do a thousand words a day between now and December 15 and get to the end of my draft, then I'll put it take a break from looking at it and hope to start in on a second draft in January or February.


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