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Post by atomicfloozy on Oct 10, 2019 18:14:55 GMT
For those of you who have done NaNoWriMo, what kind of prep work did you do? I'm thinking seriously about giving it a try this year.
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Post by Shon Maxx on Oct 10, 2019 21:23:18 GMT
Welcome to the club! This is my third NaNo. I know some people extensively plan ahead with highly-detailed outlines while others make up everything as they go. I tend to go the middle route, planning a little bit and making up the rest.
For this year’s project, which takes place during the Great Depression, my notes are pretty much just character and town/city names and a few plot ideas here and there.
For those interested, I highly recommend the book, ‘No Plot No Problem., it’s written by the guy who started NaNo and contains lots of helpful tips. I like it because you learn that everyone writing that month is in the same boat as you.
Do you have an idea of what you want to write next month? This question also applies to anyone else wishing to attempt NaNo.
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Post by atomicfloozy on Oct 10, 2019 22:10:35 GMT
Well, a few months ago I started a Cyberpunk story on my blog & thought I'd expand it & finish it. The working title is "Star Punk Dreams: the Dark Dragon".
I've used the character building sheets from Cyberpunk 2020 to build detailed character sketches. I've used various GURPS & Traveler source books for world building. And bits of fluff from many 5150 titles to give the story a 5150 vibe.
Writing-wise, I'm pretty much a "pantser" outlining as I go.
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Post by Shon Maxx on Oct 11, 2019 9:49:25 GMT
Cool. Games do offer a lot of inspiration for writing. Also, since the only rule is to hit 50k words by the end of November, writing for THW counts.
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Post by atomicfloozy on Oct 12, 2019 2:12:54 GMT
The character sheets in Cyberpunk 2020 collected more character information than character sketch forms I've seen in a lot of books on novel writing.
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Post by Shon Maxx on Oct 12, 2019 11:10:10 GMT
I can imagine. I remember using Mythic years ago for writing and found quite a bit of inspiration from those books.
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Post by Shon Maxx on Oct 31, 2019 18:17:29 GMT
Good luck with NaNo tomorrow. The same goes for anyone else who is participating. The best advice I can give is to remember you're writing a rough draft. So don't sweat it if you don't think it's perfect. If you get stuck, just make something up and keep going. The goal is to hit 50k words by the 30th, and those include all words, even side notes you make while writing and comments to yourself.
I'd also like to mention that one NaNo writer, Erin Morganstern, years ago, got stuck in her novel so she did a side chapter with her character attending the circus. She ended up loving that chapter so much she later wrote an entire novel based on the circus. And she got it published. It's called the Night Circus. A published novel that started as a side chapter to combat writer's block. If she can do it, anyone can.
But again, keep reminding yourself you're working on a rough draft. While it can one day be a masterpiece, the essential goal is just to get it written.
And again, best of luck.
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Post by atomicfloozy on Oct 31, 2019 18:28:25 GMT
I've been chomping at the bit to get started! I've registered on the NaNO site as Atomic Floozy & my project is called Star Punk Dreams. Good luck to all.
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Post by Shon Maxx on Oct 31, 2019 19:11:22 GMT
Thanks. My name on the site is vypernight, and my project is called Lost Mail.
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Post by atomicfloozy on Nov 6, 2019 19:24:03 GMT
This is brutal, writing about two thousand words a day is tough. I'm learning that not only am I a slow painter, but evidently I'm a slow writer as well.
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Post by Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy on Nov 6, 2019 19:46:00 GMT
This is brutal, writing about two thousand words a day is tough. I'm learning that not only am I a slow painter, but evidently I'm a slow writer as well. Just slam it down. Don't worry about punctuation, etc. Just write it and you can fix it later. Really, it works!
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Post by Shon Maxx on Nov 6, 2019 22:29:25 GMT
This is brutal, writing about two thousand words a day is tough. I'm learning that not only am I a slow painter, but evidently I'm a slow writer as well. Just slam it down. Don't worry about punctuation, etc. Just write it and you can fix it later. Really, it works! Agreed. Just worry about getting it written for now. And 2000 words a day is excellent. At that rate, you’ll be done on time, and with breathing room if you have a couple of bad days. I’m at 11,300 at the moment, a little behind my schedule but there’s still plenty of time to catch up.
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Post by atomicfloozy on Nov 7, 2019 0:50:46 GMT
The hard part is wrapping my little old lady brain around what a 24 year old street punk favor-girl would do & say in a far future mega-city for extended periods keeping out 20th/21st century cliches and pop culture.
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Post by Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy on Nov 7, 2019 0:52:14 GMT
The hard part is wrapping my little old lady brain around what a 24 year old street punk favor-girl would do & say in a far future mega-city for extended periods keeping out 20th/21st century cliches and pop culture. People don't change, just how they say things do. You'll figure it out.
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Post by Shon Maxx on Nov 7, 2019 7:52:27 GMT
The hard part is wrapping my little old lady brain around what a 24 year old street punk favor-girl would do & say in a far future mega-city for extended periods keeping out 20th/21st century cliches and pop culture. I had a similar problem figuring out how people during the Great Depression talk. Just get them talking and go with the first thing that pops in your head. Also, wherever you know you'll be returning to fix something, either highlight the text in another color (depending on your writing program) or put it in all caps. That way it'll be easier to return to.
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