NaNoWriMo 2023

[A. E. Lowan]

Okay, let's get this party started! How is Preptober treating you? Shooting for any special goals this year? Let us know in this thread and we can keep the wordcount thread to wordcounts and wordcount talk.

 

[ThinkerX]

Been a while since I actually did NaNo. This year, well...it is way past time I got at least the rough draft in for 'Labyrinth: Defender,' third book of the 'Labyrinth' series. Getting that done would let me publish the already 'finished' 'Labyrinth: Journal' and 'Labyrinth: Seed.' (My personal policy being not to publish the first book in a series without at least a rough draft of the last book in that series.)

Currently, I am wrapping up other issues before going over the outline and the first two books.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I think that's sound reasoning. We're doing basically the same thing with a trilogy we have in development. Different universe from the Books of Binding. We're going to shop this one, but not until the first is pristine, the second is in final editing (and doesn't suffer from any form of sequelitis), and the third is drafting.

I'm just coming back from a long period of suck, so everything is incredibly behind, but looking forward it's going to be awesome.

 

[Finchbearer]

I’ve never done it before, but November is always a busy month in the year in general. February would be better…

50,000 words sounds doable as a minimum baseline wordcount, but there’s a big difference between 50,000 words of garbage and words of quality. Maybe I’d have a crack at it but not use the website tracker and just have a personal goal of writing every day with the hopes that it will tally up to 50,000 words.

 

[Ban]

Not a chance that I'll succeed at 50k in a month, so my personal goal will be to write the first draft of the second novella in my ongoing strongman series. Bind them together and all of a sudden the novellas shall turn into a novel. I am aiming for 20 to 30k, in line with the first novella.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Not a chance that I'll succeed at 50k in a month, so my personal goal will be to write the first draft of the second novella in my ongoing strongman series. Bind them together and all of a sudden the novellas shall turn into a novel. I am aiming for 20 to 30k, in line with the first novella.

Personal goals are fantastic. I think this is a great idea.

 

[pmmg]

I'll never be fast enough to complete Nano. But, I do get stuff done, so.... I am good.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I'll never be fast enough to complete Nano. But, I do get stuff done, so.... I am good.

If it makes a difference, I am a notoriously slow writer. I've been doing NaNo for over 10 years, never won, but that's not the point. You win by participating. Plus it's hella fun. And if I can pump out 3 books in, like, 15 years, anyone can. It's not a matter of speed. This has never been a race. (Well, okay, it has but only because we're all demented.) This is a marathon, and the only one who ultimately sets the pace is you.

 

[ThinkerX]

I never did 'win' NaNo - but the rough drafts of four or five of my novels were all NaNo projects.

 

[Prince of Spires]

I'm skipping this year. I'm right at the end of a project with a lot less than 50k words left to write (something like 10k...), after which it's straight to editing. I'll be here with cookies and morale support though for anyone participating. I've done it twice and it's great fun to see if you can push yourself and learn about your writing process, and to pick up a good habit or two.

50,000 words sounds doable as a minimum baseline wordcount

It very much depends on your average word count / writing speed. You need 1.666 words a day, every day to make 50k a month. Skip a day or fall short one day, and you need to make up for that sometime else, increasing the needed word counts. I think for most people it's a challenge. I'm assuming most people aim for at least a coherent story. I actually think writing 50 words of gibberish is hard, just because you're bound to lose motivation at some point.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

They've played with the NaNo site again, but it's not too bad. A lot of buttons have moved, so just poke around a bit and get familiar again, and we all might get out of this alive.

 

[Prince of Spires]

A few casualties along the way is acceptable. Something like 10-20% I'd say. All in the name of creating art and all that.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

So, who's taking the rebel road and who's got a new project for this year? I'm going to be a rebel, as usual. Got to finish Book 4 so I can dive into Book 5.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

5 days out! Plan your snacks and get ready to start your engines. Do whatever planning or whatnot that your process requires and get ready for fun.

Also, we can buddy up on the NaNoWriMo site. I'm A. E. Lowan there, too, if you want to hit my overly-caffeinated butt up.

 

[Plinto]

I've won Nanowrimo twice in several attempts and learned that it is an unsustainable process for me. I'm more of a 25-minute-session kinda guy. Lately been working up to an hour, daily. Word count inconsequential. If I write one good novel in my lifetime I'll be satisfied.

What I will say for Nano, though, is that it was one of the first lessons I learned concerning the value of showing up most days to write.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I've won Nanowrimo twice in several attempts and learned that it is an unsustainable process for me. I'm more of a 25-minute-session kinda guy. Lately been working up to an hour, daily. Word count inconsequential. If I write one good novel in my lifetime I'll be satisfied.

What I will say for Nano, though, is that it was one of the first lessons I learned concerning the value of showing up most days to write.

Yup, exactly. Butt in chair, hands on keyboard. That's how books get written. Everything else is just process. You do you.

 

[Prince of Spires]

What I will say for Nano, though, is that it was one of the first lessons I learned concerning the value of showing up most days to write.

Hard agree on this. It's why I think participating in Nano at least once is a good excercise for beginning writers. It's not so much about winning Nano. But if you make a serious attempt at it, it teaches you the value of showing up to write, and it teaches you a lot about your writing process.

I've tried twice, and didn't win both times. But I did get 30k words written in a month both times. Already just seeing that kind of progress is good practice.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Hard agree on this. It's why I think participating in Nano at least once is a good excercise for beginning writers. It's not so much about winning Nano. But if you make a serious attempt at it, it teaches you the value of showing up to write, and it teaches you a lot about your writing process.

I've tried twice, and didn't win both times. But I did get 30k words written in a month both times. Already just seeing that kind of progress is good practice.

Done NaNo for over 10 years (which I think I already said). This is one of those things where you win just by participating, because no matter how few or how many words you get in November, you come out with more words than you went in with. I'm going in with 36k words. I'm shooting to finish the book and maybe start the next. But, even if what usually happens happens (NaNo is trying to kill me), I'm going to win just by making progress on catching up with our deadlines.

 

[Prince of Spires]

NaNo is trying to kill me

Given what NaNo keeps doing to you it's amazing you're still alive after more than 10 attempts. More lives than a cat... (A graymalkin maybe? I don't know how many lives they have. If they're immortal, is it only one?)

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Given what NaNo keeps doing to you it's amazing you're still alive after more than 10 attempts. More lives than a cat... (A graymalkin maybe? I don't know how many lives they have. If they're immortal, is it only one?)

Yes, but it's awesome.