National Novel Writing Month.

[Tawmis]

Anyone else doing this?

36,890 more words to go... as I sit on 13,110 words typed so far - putting me behind my daily quota - yet again! So that means buckling down one of these days here soon and catching up as quickly as I can. Since I (plan to) go to work tomorrow pretty early; that means coming home early and possibly catching up to where I should be - and maybe giving myself some extra room. Definitely have room with where the story is going!

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/554658

[Rath Darkblade]

I haven't even heard of this (not surprising, since I'm not American). What is it about? Why do you have to write so many words? etc.

I've been writing my own novel for about six or seven years now... it's more or less finished, although I'm still going through it and polishing it up, adding a few words here and taking away some there, as I think of it. Sometimes I add a whole scene if I think of something funny enough.

It's just over 250 pages... not sure about words, I haven't tried converting it to a word-processing format yet. Would that be somewhere near 50,000 words? Just wondering.

[DeadPoolX]

Well... I am American and I've never heard of this day either. It seems just about every other day is now "something day."

[Tawmis]

I haven't even heard of this (not surprising, since I'm not American). What is it about? Why do you have to write so many words? etc.

I've been writing my own novel for about six or seven years now... it's more or less finished, although I'm still going through it and polishing it up, adding a few words here and taking away some there, as I think of it. Sometimes I add a whole scene if I think of something funny enough.

I don't think it's just American though? I am pretty sure they accept people from anywhere for this.

As for what it's about - well, it's uh ... about writing. And why write so many words? I think the point is to prove that you CAN do it. For example, I could probably count about 50 stories sitting on my hard drive that are completely unfinished - and in various states! Some are just notes for a story. Some are 20 pages. Some are 200 pages. But I never seem to finish them. I always feel like I lose steam. I think because I look at it that I have this huge "near infinite" amount of time to finish these stories. (And really that's NOT a good way to look at it - as life can sometimes rather unexpectedly simply... end).

So I think the point is - they set this high mark of 50,000 words in 30 days. Not impossible by any means. It's basically 1,668 words every day added to your story. That's not a lot, if you really sit down and think about it. So it's basically to push yourself and prove that 50,000 words in a month CAN be done.

So for me - this is a personal challenge. To see if I can do 50,000 words in 30 days. If I can, I am going to try to set this as a goal every month for whatever story I am working on. To add 50,000 words to it by the end of each month (until I am done). Because like you, some of my stories on my hard drive are anywhere from a year to ten years old! And as I said, in all kinds of various states of completedness! (Yeah, I made up that word!)

It's just over 250 pages... not sure about words, I haven't tried converting it to a word-processing format yet. Would that be somewhere near 50,000 words? Just wondering.

I am pretty sure 250 words is more than 50,000 words. My story I am doing for this, for example is sitting at:

11,438 words and 27 pages (Normal Times Roman Font 12). Which averages around 438 words per page. So if we apply that average, that would make your story around: 109,500 words. Well over the 50,000 mark. Of course, 109,500 words over the course of seven years is a much lower average than 1,668 words a day.

Well... I am American and I've never heard of this day either. It seems just about every other day is now "something day."

Gah. I wish I would have posted this sooner than to see if any of you would partake in it. I only just heard of it like two months ago, when someone mentioned it on the ElfQuest forum on Sept 30th.

[Datadog]

The NaNoWriMo! One of my friends does this every year. I'm usually too preoccupied with my own projects to start writing a novel, but she always brainstorms me for ideas on MSN, so I sort of participate.

[Tawmis]

It's pretty exciting. I don't know if I could do this every year... Because I am not sure I have that many original ideas - unless I went back and rewrote some of my older novel ideas.

[Datadog]

Nah - just start fresh. That's when the original ideas come out. Never plan a story - just start writing about something random and see where your brain leads you.