Topic: Que, write a novel in a month

[idolminds]

For fun!....?

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

[Quemaqua]

Neat!  Since I'm hard at work on my novel anyway (but still haven't started writing), this is a good chance to just... do it.  Why the hell not?  I'm signed up!  Thanks for the link, idol.  =)

[sirean_syan]

How do you prove that you actually started on Nov 1?

[HxCeddie]

I'M DOWN!!!!!

My idea for a pantless secret agent will finally see the light!!!

[Ghandi]

Eddie, please let me draw the pictures for your book. I can see nothing but great things coming from this idea.

[Quemaqua]

I don't think you have to prove it.  That isn't really the point.  The point isn't really to cross the finish line as it doesn't get you anything and it doesn't get stored or read by anyone.  The point, at least as I see it, is to help people who worry too much or procrastinate just throw caution to the wind and START.  Don't worry about editing, don't worry about your agent or publisher, don't worry about your life... just sit down, get in front of the keyboard, and fucking WRITE.  Then it's also about community.  You're doing this with a ton of other people, so you can talk to them about what you're doing, get advice, commiserate, laugh, and they even have local events for those participating.  It's a motivational thing, not a competition.

[sirean_syan]

Oh. I should have read the link... heh. I thought there was some sort of prize involved.

I totally get it then and understand how it would work. Pretty cool really.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, it's a pretty cool thing.  I don't know whether or not I'll *really* do anything with it, as my plans for this novel may well exceed their word count and time limit (in fact, I really hope they do), but I figure it's a chance to try something fun, I'm planning on focusing on the novel for the next while anyway, and I might meet a few cool people along the way.  Couldn't hurt to try!

EDIT - Actually, I should post about this here since it's relevant -- I made a breakthrough today.  I actually finished a 100% complete plot outline for Black.  Well, almost 100%.  The only thing I've yet to perfect is the denouement, but I'm not going to stress over that as I know what I generally want and I'm sure it'll happen naturally once I get to writing it.  Especially if I continue to stick to a first-person narrative, which is still my plan at this point (despite the limitations of that perspective -- so that may change, we'll see).

I'm pretty excited.  I think that the story is at least halfway decent, the characters are pretty great, and the story makes use of a lot of really little bits of my universe in its later stages, showing people just enough of a glimpse of what the world is like and allowing me to go back and show them more later and also how it *got* that way.  I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with it.  Can't wait to get started.  Everybody please keep your fingers crossed for me!

[Ghandi]

Well, good luck man. I would like to write a novel some day, though I'm not really creative enough to come up with a good plot.

If you need anyone to read over / criticize / edit, etc, don't be shy. 

[Quemaqua]

Thanks!  I appreciate that.  I'm torn between wanting to get it "perfect" myself and publish it... then make you all buy it so that I'll at least sell a *couple* of copies ... or, on the other hand, getting all your advice first thing as soon as I have a working draft.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Hell yeah Que!  I can't wait to see your progress.

[Quemaqua]

Me too!  I hope my boss is still on vacation today.  I got a lot of work done yesterday, heh...

EDIT - Apparently there's an East Bay kick-off party going on somewhere in Berkeley tonight.  That could be fun...

[shock]

That is awesome Que.  It makes me really glad that things are picking up for you.

[Quemaqua]

So I went to the little party.  Was pretty cool.  Basically just sat around, talked about some arbitrary crap, and then wrote a whole bunch.  I got maybe a manuscript page or so out of it between talking to other people.  Fairly wide variety of folks, though some were definitely academic snobs.  Lot of graduate students, regular students, teachers, and mid-lifer yuppies with too much money and feelings of self-worth.  But it was pretty cool.  I'm gonna' kick some ass and see how much of this skeleton I can throw flesh on by the end of the month.  At this point, I think 50k words is no problem.  I average about 1200 - 2000 a day when I'm going solid, so we shall see.

EDIT - 3473 words today!  I'm starting on a good roll.

[Quemaqua]

Day 2 down!  4552 words done today, bringing me to a total of 7859.  I don't know what percentage that puts me at, but I'm doing well.  1669 I believe is par for a day, so... so far, so good.  My plot continues to develop, and I've switched some things around and added others... and I think overall this is helping me stay motivated and keeping me in contact with other smart people who can help me not be quite as dumb as normal.  Sweet.

I'd post a teaser... but what's the point?  The ones who cared already read what I posted before anyway.

[TheOtherBelmont]

As much as I would want to see a teaser, don't, I would rather read the whole thing when it is finished.  It's really cool that you are able to keep yourself motivated, if you can just stay at this pace you'll have the novel done in no time.  Idol gets tons of awesome points for showing this contest to you.

[Quemaqua]

Okay, so I had an exceedingly large period of inactivity which set me back pretty hardcore (Wednesday will be the halfway point and I should be at 25k words), but I'm back at it now.  Did 5,000 some odd words today which brings me up to 15,350.  Woo!  So I've gotta' do another 5k for the next two days to get back on schedule.

Should be no problem... right?

[TheOtherBelmont]

Okay, so I had an exceedingly large period of inactivity which set me back pretty hardcore (Wednesday will be the halfway point and I should be at 25k words), but I'm back at it now.  Did 5,000 some odd words today which brings me up to 15,350.  Woo!  So I've gotta' do another 5k for the next two days to get back on schedule.

Should be no problem... right?

I think you can do it, you are making better progress than some other people I know who are in that contest, 3 of them dont even have 5000 words yet.

[Quemaqua]

I know I can do it because when I'm writing I do way more than like 1700 words a day or whatever you need on average to get to 50k at the end of the month.  It was just that I went about a week with nothing at all, so the lead I gained early on rapidly went nowhere.  Still, I'm not all that worried about finishing, and I suspect that my actual project is going to be well over 50k by the end of it, so meeting the end quota isn't really even my ultimate goal... just my goal for this month.  =)

[Quemaqua]

Well, I did about 13k in two days.  I fucking rule.  So I'm pretty much right back on track.  Currently sitting at 23,239 words, and I may even do some more tonight.  I'm on a roll!  It feels so good to have the plot complete, so even though a lot of what I'm writing is a bit haphazard, I know where I'm going.  I sincerely hope I don't screw this up.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Well, I did about 13k in two days.  I fucking rule.  So I'm pretty much right back on track.  Currently sitting at 23,239 words, and I may even do some more tonight.  I'm on a roll!  It feels so good to have the plot complete, so even though a lot of what I'm writing is a bit haphazard, I know where I'm going.  I sincerely hope I don't screw this up.

You won't screw it up, you're kicking ass.  Getting it all down is the hardest part, you can always edit something you don't like later.

[Quemaqua]

Oh, there's going to be TONS of editing needed.  My dialogue is all total shit... placeholder, really.  And there's a great deal that isn't in the proper order.  I've done a pretty good bit of editing on that front already, but there's a lot that's going to need to be changed around.  Pacing is also going to be a big issue.  What I had before was way too heavy on exposition, and it seems I still have a pretty bad tendency in that direction.  Need to work on keeping that to a minimum and focusing more on action and dialogue.  Unfortunately, I don't work too well that way, but it's what the public buys.  People don't have attention spans anymore.  And I'm never going to get rid of my tendencies, so I just have to work on equalizing them a bit.

[Quemaqua]

So we had a half-way party tonight over in Berkeley at a little Mexican joint called Juan's Place.  Pretty good food.  Was probably 35 or so of us all crammed in there, and we more or less just talked, drank, ate, and... talked.  It was pretty fun.  Then I came back, checked the boards, and people were using Word's "auto-summarize" feature on their novels.  Some were pretty damned funny.  Like one, which read (roughly): Bob. Bob Bob "Bob?"  Tabitha groaned.  Bob!  Tabitha Tabitha "Where's Bob?"  Being that OpenOffice.org's writer doesn't have this feature, I just chose 20 sentences at random for your reading pleasure.  Enjoy!

Seeing him would make me think of Sasha, and that’s what I was trying my best not to do. Rochelle listened politely, fingering the width of her glass, until I neared the end of my explanation. Certainly not I. “I promise I'll get out of your way soon,” she reiterated, noticing my straying glances. “And really,” she continued, “I guess there's just something weird about being stuffed in a box with all the other bitches." “I could use a smoke, too, if you've got one.” This got a chuckle. Maybe it hadn't been magical, exactly, but it had been a damn sight closer to it than anything I'd known before or since. The business landscape of America changed drastically when the inter-city supply roads were finally taken and the remaining metropolis states became dependent upon internal supply for nearly everything, and nowhere was this more apparent than the business district of Mercury City. What is it about big cities and orphans? “Likewise, Mr. Rose,” she replied with a nod of the head. It was a machine in which humanity could escape its every need in favor of fulfilling its every want, a hulking leviathan of sin and spiritual gluttony. We flutter idly to and fro A few girls stood on the corner, but they were busy accosting other men. Was it terribly unusual? No, we are creatures of purpose, creatures with souls and minds and hearts, and nowhere in the world is this more apparent than on the downtown Mason strip, where you can watch each one twist and contort until it ruptures with bile and blasphemy. At least, until Sasha came along. Bullseye. "Next time we do it I’ll be extra drunk and less heavy with the weight of the world, eh?” “Why not?” I asked. “We all want out, Izzy,” Rochelle said, her lips a thin line without expression. “Give me a Puppy, half-cocked,” she said as soon as my offer was complete, turning back to me as Charlie's quick hand dropped the shot of Jacks into the middle of the stout.

[Quemaqua]

Productive day.  About 6k which brought me just over the 40k mark.  Only 10k to go!  I barely even have to do 1k a day at this point, so that's pretty awesome.  Though half those days are going to be spent at home, so I really only have 4 *good* writing days to go since I get a lot more done at work than I ever do here.

In other news, I believe I've also got a burgeoning plan for a sequel.  And from the ideas I've got so far, it's going to be fucking awesome.  I was a bit worried about the fact that while I have tons of story ideas for my universe, I didn't really have any good ideas for recurring characters other than cameos in other stories, so this marks my first honest-to-goodness direct sequel idea, so... yay!

[TheOtherBelmont]

Productive day.  About 6k which brought me just over the 40k mark.  Only 10k to go!  I barely even have to do 1k a day at this point, so that's pretty awesome.  Though half those days are going to be spent at home, so I really only have 4 *good* writing days to go since I get a lot more done at work than I ever do here.

In other news, I believe I've also got a burgeoning plan for a sequel.  And from the ideas I've got so far, it's going to be fucking awesome.  I was a bit worried about the fact that while I have tons of story ideas for my universe, I didn't really have any good ideas for recurring characters other than cameos in other stories, so this marks my first honest-to-goodness direct sequel idea, so... yay!

Awesome news, keep it up!

[Quemaqua]

Also forgot to post this:

Bluepriest drawing

My friend DP over at DeviantART did this for me on Halloween.  He was taking requests and I just told him to draw a priest-cop from my book (but I didn't give any specifics or whatever), and this is what he came up with.  I thought it was pretty cool, though it's pretty substantially different from my own design.

Anyway, there are two kinds of religious figures in my book thus far (the whole Church hierarchy hasn't been entirely fleshed out yet).  You've got your regular priests, men of the cloth who live in the temples and secure the city using the temples as a base of operations, and then you've got bluepriests, Church servants assigned to every police squad because of their extra-special talents when it cames to facing off against the supernatural.  Your average cop is pretty much just an average cop with military grade weaponry, so the bluepriests provide the extra edge needed when things get unusually hairy.  Mostly, they aren't needed and don't have to accompany the cops in an offensive capacity, sticking around more to bless the men and say prayers for the dead, etc.

[Quemaqua]

Well, I won!  It was a good bit of effort, but I officially ended the NaNoWriMo project at 50,209 words.  Whew!  The TGIO ("thank god it's over") party is this Friday, and I will be in attendance.  It's over at an art gallery in SF.  Should be good fun.

So thank you idol for suggesting this!  I made a number of friends, had some good times and great memories, and it got me at least 2/3rds of the way through my full MSS.  I'm well on my way!  Can't wait to do it again next year.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Well, I won!  It was a good bit of effort, but I officially ended the NaNoWriMo project at 50,209 words.  Whew!  The TGIO ("thank god it's over") party is this Friday, and I will be in attendance.  It's over at an art gallery in SF.  Should be good fun.

So thank you idol for suggesting this!  I made a number of friends, had some good times and great memories, and it got me at least 2/3rds of the way through my full MSS.  I'm well on my way!  Can't wait to do it again next year.

Congrats!  I want to read it whenever you are comfortable letting someone else read it.  Idol rocks for bringing this to your attention and getting you motivated to get a huge chunk of work done in a small period of time.

[idolminds]

Whats great is I posted this in a "Yeah right" sort of way.

[sirean_syan]

Nice work. I'm glad you made it all the way through.

[beo]

seriously well done, man!

[PyroMenace]

Hooray. Im eager to plunge into this work of yours.

[Quemaqua]

Heh.  Well, you guys still have some waiting to do as even though I've reached the goal of 50k for the month of November, final project goal is probably going to be 75k+.  Not to mention there's an awful lot of editing to be done and the beginning needs major work (as it stands now, it's pretty haphazard, and it isn't paced particularly well at all -- too much background, not enough shit happening).  So it'll be months yet before I have anything presentable enough to ask opinions on, but at this point at least I can completely visualize the goal and picture how it's all going to come together, so I'm pretty excited.  If I can keep up a decent work flow of 1.5k-2.5k words a day, it really shouldn't be very long before I pound out the rest of this bad boy and can hone in on getting everything fixed up.  In fact, now that the goal has been met, I may well begin editing much of what's already been written.  I'm pretty anal, so getting rid of that urge to extensively edit was very, very tough.

[sirean_syan]

Still. You've reached a milestone and what still seems like a big one. That little victory can be a big boost that'll carry you through to the next milestone, or maybe even through the end now that you're well underway.

[Quemaqua]

That's the hope.  So far, so good.  Now I just need to stop playing FFXII until 2 in the morning one of these nights and actually get sleep.  I'm so tired...