Ok, after reading Joanna Penn’s NaNoWriMo: What Is It and Why Is It So Great For Writers and Authors? I’ve decided to sign up for NaNoWriMo this year.
I did complete a NaNoWriMo novel some years ago, but I wrote it on the fly without any outlining ahead of time. As a result, I had to massive rewrites and revisions before it was ready to send out. This year, I’m opting for a different strategy.
Before I start writing on November 1st, I’m going to be doing extensive outlining and plotting via the phase drafting method I’ve learned about from Lazette Gifford and Johanna Harness.
Anyone else planning to do NaNoWriMo this year? If so, feel free to add me as a buddy! I’m “Inkygirl” on the NaNoWriMo site.
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh, I’m definitely doing NaNo. I’ve been forming my idea, and I’m about ready to start outlining and doing all of my preparations. My friends and I have turned it into a huge competition, and I plan on holding a write-in or two if I can. Good luck to everyone else participating! (I’m EnjoyingInsanity, if anybody wants to add me as a buddy.)
-Jenna
Last year was the first time I failed to even make it out of the gate, but I’m giving myself a pass because I had a new baby. This year, no excuse! And this time, I will plan first, I swear! As opposed to what I did in 2007! …and 2006. And 2005. And 2004…. Hm. Credibility starting to fall.
Whew. What I really need is a NaNoPrepMo or something. It would be nice if this year I actually got my head out of my ass in time to think about it before midnight on Nov 1.
I won NaNoWriMo last year. I had a wonderful story planned out! It was about a teenage girl name Emily who got sucked into her own story where her characters were running a muck. Then, on November 3rd I realized that I hated Emily, killed her off (to save my words
) and made her characters, Emeric and Audra, the main characters.
As a result my novel was in a lot of confusion by the time NaNo was done, but that’s how I like it best. I don’t like to know whats going to happen next, it keeps it exciting. So that’s what I’m going to this year, though I’m definitely going to do more planning between the first and second draft this time.
So what is your novel about this year?
Oh! And I added you to my buddy list on the NaNoWriMo site, my username is “vintageauthoress”.
~ Katherine Anne
NaNoWriMo 2009 will be my 5th year at NaNo. So far I’ve had 4 years and 3 “official” wins and this year I’m going for my fourth win.
I failed my first year (2005) …did like 2,000 before I got bored with my plot.
I did 183,000 my second year (2006) … kind of to make up for failing the first year, but than never went back to edit it.
I reached 75,000 third year (2007), but I never finished the story!
In 2008, I did the unthinkable and changed my goal from 50k to 200k. YOW! But I did it and finished out the month with my biggest total ever: 238,153 words in 30 days!!!! (spaced out over 5 different books btw – none of which I totally finished, but one of which has since been nearly finished and at the time of this writing had just finished going through it’s 4th draft! YAY!)
Now NaNoWriMo 2009 is bearing down upon us and I’ve decided to try to beat my total last year and try for 250K or more. YIKES! Well, my goal is to do one novel at 75k this year and if I have time, to just keep doing as many more 75k novels as I can before the 30th.
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ooops I had a link at the bottom, but I typed the code wrong so it went all wonky.
It should have been this: Buddy me here.
Sorry.
I’ve done two NaNos successfully (plus one that didn’t get off the ground), and I agree with you about the outlining. This year I want to give a character who has already appeared in some short stories a novel of her own. I have my fingers crossed that this will make for a more structured NaNoWriMo that I can edit more efficiently (although I haven’t given up on the previous ones quite yet!).
I’m “eyrea” if people want to buddy me!
Oh, I am so doing NaNo again this year… this will be my sixth year. I’ve finished all five years, although years three and five were tough (poor prep in year three; losing my job in the middle of Novemeber in year five).
I will be writing the third book of my trilogy, which I am very excited about: war scenes and turmoil. Hurray!
[Eelkat] 280k in 30 days! You must have worn out your keyboard!
This will be my fifth time doing NaNoWriMo and I’m super excited.
I’m definitely a fan of heading into the Most Awesome Month of the Year armed with an outline, and am addicted to the Snowflake Method (http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php). It’s similar to the phase concept, helping you grow your story from a one sentence summary to a full-fledged scene-by-scene outline. I like it a LOT because it gives you much needed structure while still allowing for flexibility along the way.
Enjoy the adventure!!
Joanna
(gamwyn on the forums)
I’m definitely doing it this year. This is despite doing it every year since 2004 and failing every time. I love the hype and excitement and networking around the whole event.
I did it once and it was great fun but never again. (I’m not a novelist, just wanted the experience once.) However, I DID meet Inkygirl there with her cartoons, and have been a fan ever since.
At the start of the year I was thinking I might take part in NaNoWriMo come November, but I’ve been fortunate enough for things to go well with my existing novel since then, so won’t be able to do it. However, I’ll be taking a keen interest in how some of you are doing as I think it’s a great idea and perfect for people who want to have a crack at writing a novel but don’t have the time to commit to what is a very long project/process.
Will you be posting updates as you go?
Nice words InkyGirl but wouldn’t a lot of smaller ones be better for NaNo?
Yay! for November. Fifth year. Last of the series (get to revise/edit the series soon. Yum!) Won all four so far. I cross between planning and pantsing. Map the general direction of the story, make note of any ideas as they start presenting themselves, then, just load myself into the head of a character or two and set them off exploring.
I’ll be doing it this year. I’ve won three and lost one – but I was trying to use the Dvorak keyboard at the time.
I’d love to add you as a buddy but that link in your profile wasn’t working for me.
I’ll be doing NaNoWriMo again this year. This will be my fourth year, and I am already excited about it.
My name for NaNoWriMo is JimWisneski
I did it last year, but that was to help me complete my autobiography. Not really a novel. I am undecided. Should I?
I’ve signed up as Feywriter. This will be my first year. Good luck!
This is my third year, and the first year I hope to win. I’m looking forward to nano cartoons!
I did NaNoWriMo last year but didn’t win. Now that it’s my second time, I feel more prepared and like I actually know what’s going on. I’m trying to decide between the snowflake method and/or the phase drafting method.
Also experimenting with not writing in Microsoft Word this year. Trying out Avenir, LyX, and a few other programs, yet nothing seems to suit my fancy just yet. I might go back to handwriting.
My name is leolewis. Feel free to add me as a buddy, and I’d love to hear any thoughts about writing methods or software.
This will be my 4th year doing NaNo. I haven’t won yet, but I’ve more than doubled my word count every year. This year I’m more determined than ever to win!
Feel free to add me to your buddy list — ex-tvwriter.
Love your work, Debbie!
Heck yeah! This time I may even use an outline. I love NaNoWriMo, even when I fail, because it provides such a great community of writers to chat with. You really feel like you’ve accomplished something, even if your novel sucks. And, at the very least, you’ve got something to work on EDITING for the rest of the year leading up to next year’s NaNo!
I’m NaNoing again this year and, for the first time, I’m planning ahead! Yup, actually outlining. We’ll see if it helps….
I’ll look for you over there (I’m Island Girl).
This is my first year and my biggest question is how do you get buddies? What do you do when you’re someone’s buddy?
If you look on anyone’s profile, under their picture is a link to “add as buddy”. Once you’ve done that, they get notified and the person is added to your buddy list.
In theory you can see the word counts of all your buddies but due to a bug you can only see eleven at the moment, although you can see the complete list without word counts in your profile under Edit Info: Writing Buddies.
I like to use it to see how my friends are doing and it’s a quick link to their profiles so that you don’t have to search every time.
Thanks! I don’t have any friends signing up. How do I find people who want to be buddies? Boy, I sound pathetic. lol!
I mostly found buddies on the forums. Now is a good time to get to know people, before the madness starts. Some buddies came from meeting people at a regional meetup.
I took part in 2008 and it was an amazing experience! NaNoWriMo is really a cheap, short and fun way to become a novel author.