Any one doing NaNoWriMo this year?

[atomicfloozy]

It's time for the annual writing event called National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo.  It's a writing challenge and a means for some of us to finally sit down and actually put words on paper.  The original goal is a to write 50,000 words for a novel in 30 days - BUT it doesn't have to be a novel & it doesn't have to be 50,000 words.  Perfect for writing that THW supplement, source book or ruse set you've been thinking about writing!  (Though believe it or not, most THW rules & supplements are about 50 - 90K including the words in the tables & charts).  

It's a great way to find inspiration & encouragement, AND you can use it to track your progress during other times of the year as well.  Last year I took a couple of 5150: No Limits game reports from my blog & expanded it into a decent short story when it was all finished.  This year, I'm basing my NaNoWriMo project on a 5150: Working Grave game.

Here's a link to the NaNoWriMo official site:

NaNoWriMo

So who is in this year?

[Shon Maxx]

This is my 4th year, though I’ll admit I’ve had a hard time concentrating on writing a whole lot this year. My plan this year is to cheat by working on 2 stories at once, hoping that’ll help me hit 50k total easier.

My first is an adventure with a plane in the 1930s flying across the Atlantic.

The other is a steampunk story that’s a cross between Star Wars and X Men in a turn of the century setting.

[atomicfloozy]

Those sound good. I'm exploring a police officer who has trouble reconciling her past when she discovers she has no past & is actually a replicant. Don't know how it will turn out, but I'm looking at a "man-power " shortage in the far future where a mega-Corp is experimenting with filling low-paying jobs with replicants ignorant of the fact they are fresh out of a vat with an implanted past & education.

[Shon Maxx]

Sounds interesting. Do you find writing easier or more difficult when you don’t know what’ll happen?

Personally, I like to keep my planning to a minimum and seem to enjoy it more if I don’t know the entire story.

[atomicfloozy]

I don't overly plan. I played a 5150: Working Grave game with a rookie policewoman walking a beat in a poorer portion of town near the Starport where most of the homes & businesses were constructed from discarded shipping containers. It has a vibrant street market, kind of like what one sees in modern day South Korea or other Asian cities. Since about 70% of our current world population is Asian, I decided to give my future some notable Asian influences. Anyway, the setting I imagine closely aligns to that in Blade Runner & Johnny Mnemonic. A few years ago, I think it was "Through the Worm Hole", a series on the future examined what future humans might be like & it contained a scene where people were protesting giving replicants rights including the right to vote.

I might have been half-asleep or dreaming when this sentence came out of nowhere: "The memories of the past in my head, aren't mine." So I applied it to my police officer, who now has a mystery as to who she really is & why is she where she is. Anyway, this bounces around in my head long enough, other characters emerge & slowly a plot direction is appearing.

[Shon Maxx]

The part about the Asian population reminds me of Big Hero 6, which is cool. Are you going to be jumping back and forth between playing the game and writing next month?

Either way, best of luck next month. Personally I’ll be pleasantly surprised if I hit the 50k this year but I’ll do what I can if I have to drag myself across the finish line.

[atomicfloozy]

I don't think I'll switch back & forth with game play, I might - it all depends on being able to hit daily writing goals. Playing the game to generate a blog post is fun, but at some point I'd like to write a publishable novel.

[Shon Maxx]

Yeah I figured it’d be rough trying to do both next month. On the other hand, you can always make gameplay a reward for hitting your daily goal. And if a story idea pops up out of it, even better.

[Shon Maxx]

Tomorrow’s the big day. Best of luck to everyone who attempts it.

[Shon Maxx]

Last day of the month. How’d everyone do? I ended up pulling every dirty trick to hit the goal, including multiple works simultaneously, because I just couldn’t concentrate this year.

[atomicfloozy]

I bombed. Got only 8,000 words done & about half of that was a blog post on Alien Fight Night just to cheer me up. I really have had a great deal of anxiety over the election. It's one thing to write about autocratic governments in science fiction, it's another to watch one try to form in your own country.

[Shon Maxx]

Understandable. This entire year has been so stressful, I’ve barely done any writing because I simply can’t concentrate. Hopefully next year is better.

And with the way things went this year, any writing completed is an accomplishment.