Camp NaNoWriMo- April and July

[Guru Coyote]

So, I've decided to take a series of my earlier short stories and turn them into at least novelette length (40k, in 4 parts of 10k each). And I will start doing so for the July Camp NaNoWriMo. My realistic wordcount for the month of July is 25k, so I might get well into Act II. Given the feedback I got regarding what already exists (but must be re-written), I could actually be looking at something of novel length or more, but we will see if I get there.

How's that sound?

 

[skip.knox]

It sounds great. The question is, how will it sound in August? !!

FWIW, I'm in camp as well. This will be my first time around.

 

[Guru Coyote]

It sounds great. The question is, how will it sound in August? !!

In August? By that time I will finally be a *certified* software engineer - as opposed to just working as one for ages... final exam on July 11th... AND I might have half a novel done. HEH

FWIW, I'm in camp as well. This will be my first time around.

Yay!
What's your project and what wordcount are you aiming for?

 

[Chilari]

I've decided fairly spur of the moment to attempt Camp NaNoWriMo next month. I've gone for a 40,000 word target. So I've got ten days left to finish planning, then about 1,200 words a day, which I think will be challenging but achievable (50k words always seemed just a little too much for a month, although I did manage it twice out of my four NaNo attempts - when I had a lot more free time than I do now).

The story I'm working on is set in an early archaic Greek city-state type world, but one that has just discovered/developed gunpowder and uses it for grenades (ceramic containers, caltrops inside). My protagonist, Mellaia, lives in a city under seige, and notices that everyone seems to be having the same bad dreams - there's a dream mage with the attacking army trying to make people tired so that they can't defend as well.

Still working out the details on it. Characters, some world elements, the magic system and almost all of the plot. That's for the next ten days.

What I'm hoping to get from Camp NaNoWriMo is the kick up the rear end I've been needing to get something done - or at least past the 5,000 word mark I keep getting stuck at. NaNo is good for promoting quantity over quality, and I've had a problem with prioritising quality over quantity for a while and never getting anywhere because I expect perfection, don't produce it, and give up in despair.

If anyone wants to name me in Camp hut preferences or whatever it is, then my name over there is Anezka, because that's what I went by 7 years ago when I first signed up to NaNo and you can't change it.

 

[katie]

Ooh, that's eerie, Chilari. I signed up for Camp Nano on the spur of the moment last week, and one of the two projects I'll be flipping a coin between (if one of them doesn't start calling to me harder than the other before July 1st) is Greek city-state inspired. Good luck with yours! It sounds interesting. (I'd say fun, because it does sound fun for you, just, uh, not for your characters. ;-)

I'm hoping to get a bare-bones first draft done. I'd also like to settle on a project -- this July Camp Nano comes at the perfect time since I'm equally excited about two different projects that are about at the same stage of world-plot building, so camp will force me to pick one and work through it. I'm kbrown over on the NaNo site.

 

[Curatia]

I am trying NaNo for the first time this July. I'm being a bit of a rebel and using it to work on vignettes set in the world A. E. Lowan and I have been building. Any advice for a first timer?

BTW, I am Curatia in NaNo as well.

 

[Mara Edgerton]

I'm doing the July Camp NaNo! I've got my cabin--seems like a fun group--and I've got some of my outline done for a story that combines fantasy and mystery. So . . . we shall see. I'm also Mara Edgerton over on NaNo.

 

[skip.knox]

Erg. I see I posted back in June then never returned.

This camp is my first and the situation is highly unusual. I just retired at the end of June, so I've got this major life change going. Then my kids and a grandchild came for the Fourth, so that blew a big hole in the momentum. Plus, while I'm deep in a novel, I chose to follow the rules and started a new one for the camp. It's been stirring on a back burner for a while, but the writing itself is from Word Zero. And now the wife's out of town visiting relatives for ten days, so yet another variation.

I've spent over a decade writing in the background, squeezing out words on breaks and lunch hours and much too late at night. Now I have an open highway. It's pretty strange and a little scary. Can I really maintain a steady pace of writing, having lost all my excuses for not doing so? We'll see. So far, a bit below target but well within reach. At least I have the damned thing plotted. Mostly. Sort of. Got it all right here. <taps forehead>

One thing worth saying, though. While word counts and badges are cute and all, you know what has provided real motivation? This forum. I made it a rule: write the target number of words, and I can come over to Mythic Scribes and dally there all I want. I really do enjoy this forum.

 

[Guru Coyote]

Oh yes, skip.knox, life changing events getting 'in the way' - I know all about it I just passed my final exam on July 11th after three years of trainning and hard work. So I think I am excused of not having even come close to my word count the last week

Now, I have the rest of July mostly to myself and writing. At least that is the best laid plan.

Erg. I see I posted back in June then never returned.

This camp is my first and the situation is highly unusual. I just retired at the end of June, so I've got this major life change going. Then my kids and a grandchild came for the Fourth, so that blew a big hole in the momentum. Plus, while I'm deep in a novel, I chose to follow the rules and started a new one for the camp. It's been stirring on a back burner for a while, but the writing itself is from Word Zero. And now the wife's out of town visiting relatives for ten days, so yet another variation.

I've spent over a decade writing in the background, squeezing out words on breaks and lunch hours and much too late at night. Now I have an open highway. It's pretty strange and a little scary. Can I really maintain a steady pace of writing, having lost all my excuses for not doing so? We'll see. So far, a bit below target but well within reach. At least I have the damned thing plotted. Mostly. Sort of. Got it all right here. <taps forehead>

One thing worth saying, though. While word counts and badges are cute and all, you know what has provided real motivation? This forum. I made it a rule: write the target number of words, and I can come over to Mythic Scribes and dally there all I want. I really do enjoy this forum.

 

[Guru Coyote]

So? How was everyone's July writing?

Me, I stopped writing daily almost at the same point my exams were over and I would have had real time to dedicate to it... I started down a very serious streak of world-building instead. My excuse? That kind of research and building would never have happened 'on the side,' it needed the totally free time I had in July. Total woridcount of story written: 2500. Total coulnt of possible stories, novels, series I can now set in this world: un countable.

 

[skip.knox]

This was my first WriMo and I'm happy to say that I hit my 40,000 word target. I did this despite never having written so much at once, despite a family trip over the 4th and a trip to see my mother at the end of the month.

Yes, that's me, acting smug.

Honestly, though, it was a valuable experience for me. I now have most of a novel in hand and can see my way to finishing it. I really thing we need a NoNoEdMo because the revision is going to take *at least* as much time as the original draft!

 

[Guru Coyote]

I totally agree on the NaNoEdMo! When I started into writing for my WriMo in July, I quickly realized that adding more words to something I already had was not going to get me anywhere.
After about 3k I had to go back and fix so many major details of the story which had just crystalized in my head during writing that I almost re-wrote the thing then and there. I know, that's not what you do during NaNoWriMo, but I couldn't have gone on knowing that I'd have to go back and do all those edits much later.
What the story/book really needed was some serious planning. So that's what I did.