Struggling Writers discussion

Hello all!

So, do you have an unfinished novel or just can't seem to start that novel you keep thinking about? Well, your excuses are now void because November is about to be upon us and with that comes a whole community of novelist ready to support each other.

If you have never heard of NaNoWriMo check it out here: www.nanowrimo.org and give it a shot. You are being handed a community of people who are going to write a novel in a month (50,000 words). While this is a completely crazy sounding idea it is the perfect way to get down that first draft, the one full of gaping holes and barley there characters.

The official rules say start from scratch, but as long as you don't count your words already written you can add 50,000 to a WIP. I plan to take NaNo this year and get another chunk of my current WIP down, who is joining me?

I dare you to bravely jump into the crazyness with your favorite writing tools and get that novel down. If you have any questions feel free to ask, particularly if you are going to be a rebel (you fall into this category if you are adding to a WIP like I am).

Yes, I did NaNoWriMo last year for the first time and managed 52k, self-publishing the final book in late February at around 82k. This year I have a 42k half-novel, stuck in 2nd gear with stale fumes in the tank, but determined to brush off the spark plugs, blow through the carbs, and inject another 50k on the word clock and drive it all the way to the ocean (or Channel in my case). So I'm with you all the way, Irene!

Tony wrote: "Yes, I did NaNoWriMo last year for the first time and managed 52k, self-publishing the final book in late February at around 82k. This year I have a 42k half-novel, stuck in 2nd gear with stale fum..."

Wow, glad you were able to get so much from NaNo Tony! Sounds like you have a plan and you are going to be over on the rebel side this year then, do you understand how the rules function regarding continuing a novel and the best way to do it?

Hi Irene, I am assuming that for word count purposes I ignore the preceeding work and just count the new. I found last year that there was no time to do any editing during the month. I knew that would be counterproductive. That is why my novel is still unfinished. I know where I want it to go but I keep tinkering with it, putting off that big push from base camp to the summit. NaNo last year was a wake-up call. I'll let you into a secret, I counted up how many half-finished stories I have and it came to 37! So I have some incentive to finish what I think is a good story. Looking back on last year I prepared hard, creating a separate file of brief notes with all the characters, names, ages, descriptions, relationships, hobbies, attitudes, and what their part in the story was etc. It added up to 5k, even though none of it was actually used other than as reference material. I am hoping to prepare the same with my existing characters so that I don't have to keep scrolling back and reminding myself of the fine detail. So I hope to be in a position where my new stuff could be isolated a brand new file and only stitched to the old at first editing stage in December. Fortunately, my story is linear, with five parallel threads, following a schedule from "6 shopping days to Christmas" to "Boxing Day" (26 December), with an epilogue set some 2.5-3.5 years in the future, with one main character meeting 3 of the subsidiary characters and playing "catch up". I have been writing it chronologically and currently at the end of the 3rd day. The epilogue was briefly outlined very earlier in the drafting process and, looking through it again, needs to be re-written entirely, although the skeleton will generally be intact. I am looking forward to the first day. If there are any other rules I need to be made aware of, I would be glad of advice; you intrigue me with the reference to "rebel", I assume that is applied to those who are not choosing to writing a new piece? I joined a local NaNo group last year and have kept in touch with the leader of the group since. I even joined a new local writing group which included some of those who I did NaNoWriMo with last year.

Tony wrote: "Hi Irene, I am assuming that for word count purposes I ignore the preceeding work and just count the new. I found last year that there was no time to do any editing during the month. I knew that wo..."

You sound like you have a great plan, and yes, anyone who does not follow the exact Nano rules is a rebel :) Now, those of us who are working on existing pieces instead of new are at the pretty tame end of the rebel spectrum, you will find people who are going to edit through NaNo, people who will write collections of stories, screen plays, even works for school.

All that needs to happen is that you should keep your new stuff in a separate file, which you mentioned you will be doing, and really you are supposed to only count the words towards your piece but I know of a number who count the stuff you spoke of.

It's good that you have found someone local, I will be joining up with the local group through the NaNo forum and a group from the library and that will probably be about it.

Hi Irene. Definitely getting involved with the group and join in as many write-ins as possible. I work revolving 12-hour night, day and rest days cycles of 4 days each, so attending anything regularly is difficult. Our local group leader, Wendy, is already asking for suggested dates/times for write ins and possibly Kick-of and TGIO parties.

As for my notes about the characters and key plot points, I always keep them in a separate text file, for easy reference, and there are no complete sentences in there to cut and paste. If fact sentences would clutter up the notes and render it less effective. I just want to make sure that short-haired brunette Janet introduced in ch 2 doesn't shed long blonde hairs in ch 17! I found it really useful last year.

It was only looking at my old files recently that I realised those fact notes were 5k long, so I better get cracking on this year's background notes.

I finished at 52k last year, and fully plan on diving in head first this year. I just finished a draft of a novel (62k words give or take) and plan on expanding it into a second novel (loved the characters, and stuff so much I just got to keep it going).

I loved participating in the write ins an stuff last year, they helped immensely in keeping me on track, and I loved to be able to connect with other authors in my area.

I'm on board. Hopefully I'll complete it this year!

A good thing about restarting an old story for NaNoWriMo: having to sit on it until November means I am inspired again to write it, but can't actually. So I must channel my inspiration into my current work, while hopefully storing up enough energy to finish my NaNo entry.

Tony wrote: "Hi Irene. Definitely getting involved with the group and join in as many write-ins as possible. I work revolving 12-hour night, day and rest days cycles of 4 days each, so attending anything regula..."

Haha, I know what you mean! I realized my MC's dressed changed from green-black to a white with bright blue embroidery as a chapter progressed (it's what I get for writing steadily and then not writing for two weeks and then forgetting to review things).

Trysh wrote: "I finished at 52k last year, and fully plan on diving in head first this year. I just finished a draft of a novel (62k words give or take) and plan on expanding it into a second novel (loved the c..."

Excellent to hear Trysh! Please make sure to check in around here and some of the threads we are putting up in the NaNo corner :)

Heather wrote: "I'm on board. Hopefully I'll complete it this year!"

Great to have you Heather! As I told Trysh, make sure to check out the NaNo corner here as we are trying to further involve the group this year and give people a smaller environment to interact in, in addition to the NaNo forums.

All prepped, notes of Part I done and ready to start anew with Part II. Been reading Part I earlier in the week and have all the notes I need, hopefully.