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main | novel | word count | prep work | journal | links Updates 12.4.2004 There's still some activity on the Nano forums and there are some interesting questions. On one thread, someone suggested that there should be a "junior" nano where younger participants could have a smaller goal like 25k or 30k instead of 50k. I'm sure this would be more attainable but if I were younger, I would think it almost condescending. I would argue that older people have less time than younger people and it wouldn't be fair to arbitrarily limit the goal for a subset of people. When I was in middle school and high school, I wrote a lot (even though I never attempted the 50k in one month deal) and if Nano had been around then, I would have done the whole thing. Another question was why so many participants chose to do science fiction and fantasy. I think it someone else who responded to the thread had the idea: that the very nature of the internet draws out the people who are more interested in sf/f. Consider: most people who spend any time on the internet tend to be geeks. And geeks usually read sf/f. Personally, I find sf/f, horror, mystery, and any other type of speculative fiction more interesting than the regular stuff so as a writer, you wouldn't catch me doing any of the boring slice of life fiction. [ posted by sya on 6:58 PM : ] 12.1.2004 Nanowrimo is now officially over (at least for this year) and I'd like to congratulate everyone who "won" as well as everyone who even attempted the challenge. November is an extremely hectic month for those of you with jobs and school work so it's very impressive--or maybe more accurately, completely insane--to even think of writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. So I salute all of you, and perhaps, I'll see you around next year when the madness begins all over again. [ posted by sya on 3:17 PM : ] 11.28.2004 For those of you brave enough to read this year's Nano work, you can download the entire thing here (369 kb, rtf) or go to the 2004 novel page to read Beads of Horn Silver in individual installments. And here's a description for those of you who want to know what you're getting into: Horror-lite. Two journalists are off to a small farming community to do a story and find out the reason behind their editor's illness. Strange things happen, plenty of innuendo gets thrown around, and in general hijinks ensue. Includes drunk bingo ladies, cats, and cast iron skillets not used for their intended purposes. Writing a novel in a month can be both fun and depressing. Here's a bit of my advice for keeping the depression at a minimum and making sure that you finish the darn thing: *Write every day. I know on my word count page I only list how many words I upload to the website on a particular day, but I do write every day, no matter what. Even if it's just five words, write! Unless you know you will be able to binge write successfully, don't do it. Break things into more manageable chunks and you will be able to accomplish something. *Don't read the forums. I broke this rule all the time, but if you're an obsessive compulsive person who must read and respond to every post, stay away from the forums during November. Not only will this feed into procrastination, a lot of the threads can be really depressing for people who haven't written as much as others. *Go to writing meet-ups during the month. This isn't possible for everyone, but if you can, you should go. Not only will you be able to meet and get encouragement other people doing this crazy novel writing thing, you will get a lot done during your writing sessions. Well, that's it for now. If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to post it here. [ posted by sya on 9:44 AM : ] 11.27.2004 Yay! Finished! More coherent thoughts tomorrow as well as an rtf file which has the novel all in one place. [ posted by sya on 11:30 PM : ] 11.26.2004 I didn't write as much as yesterday, but I'm slowly getting there. There's a thread on the forums called "Unintentional Innuendo". I think it's a hoot to read. Of course I'm not going to submit anything for that thread unless people want to read an entire book. My whole Nano novel is littered with innuendo. That's what makes it so funny, really. [ posted by sya on 7:39 PM : ] 11.25.2004 The only concession to Thanksgiving I'm making today is the cranberry and orange bread I baked about an hour ago. Today, it's 40k or bust. [ posted by sya on 4:19 PM : ] 11.24.2004 From my other blog: I also figured that at the really slow pace I'm making on Nanowrimo (and I also realized I'm user number 42!), I need to write about 3k a day to reach 50k. This is really bad. The previous years, I was pretty much finished by this time. Tommorrow, even though I will have to visit lab for a little bit (yeah, I know I should be staying at home during the holidays, but bacteria don't take any vacations), I will try to spend most of the day writing. The problem this year is several-fold: I'm really busy at school and lab, too many social engagements, and severe procrastination. I'm also not very enamored with my story this year--definitely not as enamored as I was with previous stories--but I'm already over 30k with it. Too much invested to back out now. [ posted by sya on 7:30 PM : ] Copyright © 2001-2004, S. Y. Affolee Powered by Blogger Comments by HaloScan  |