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NaNo helpSo,
NaNo help
So, for those of you guys participating in NaNo, here's the place to ask for help, share emotions, vent, plan, whatever you need.
I'm going to start by asking for some advice. Actually... Two pieces of advice.
Firstly: I have two novel ideas. The first, a novel I've been working on for a while with a few friends, but that only has some 20,000 words. I could really do with putting an extra 50,000 on it. I know it's a bit of a rebel plan, but it would be something good to do. Plus, I've already got rigorous planning for it. The basic plot is this: three new girls who end up as room-mates in a boarding school, and have to learn to over-step their differences. I know the plot sounds super cliche, but it's a big character development book, and I'm really working on making the characters three-dimensional and interesting.
The other idea is one I've had in my head for an entirely new novel. It's just barely an idea, with little to no planning, but more traditional for NaNo, and intriguing. The basic plot: a historical fiction book set at the turn of the nineteenth century. Two sisters are a part of a club that all the kids in the town form. The older sister is adventurous, fun-loving, and everything a girl shouldn't be. The younger sister, though, is the perfect house girl, always doing the right thing, but she wants to be accepted by her friends, and more like her sister. Eventually, their club members grow up, and get involved in the life shattering events of World War I. Romance, suspence, etc. guaranteed! (hopefully)
So, which should I chose to stick to for a month? Advice, please?
Secondly: So, I am a very busy person, with high school and homework and all. But I know many of you are too, and still do NaNo. So, how do you make time in your lives for writing? How do you buckle down and say "I'm going to do this"? Rewards? Punnishments? What? Help!
submitted by Booksy Owly
(October 5, 2016 - 8:53 pm)
(October 5, 2016 - 8:53 pm)
*GASP!*
We should all do a NaNo workshop! Imma make a thread for it on BAB!
Anyways, I like both ideas, but the second sounds more interesting, and I like it a bit more.
(October 5, 2016 - 10:10 pm)
Yes, yes, YES!!! We should totallly do a NaNo workshop. I like both of your ideas, but you mentioned that you were writing the first one with friends, so your friend might delete a whole section of your writing because she wanted to change the plot. Not saying that that will happen, but it happened to me. . . so yeah. I wouldn't recommend it. Your second one sounds interesting though!
As for juggling school and NaNo. . .
I write at school. Sometimes I have a break or a free period, and I run to the library and write. I would definitely recommend using paper first, so you can write anywhere, then typing it up at home. It usually saves more time.
(October 5, 2016 - 10:56 pm)
Top!
(October 5, 2016 - 10:47 pm)
Workshop sounds fun! I'm also looking for people to read my novel as I write it, for I hate going back and editing :P
I think you should go for the one you have planned out better, being the first one it sounds like. Making deep-personality characters are tricky.
But then again, the 19th century one sounds cool, too.
As for writing, I just . . . sit down and write I guess. I never follow by that "reward/punishment" thing, because I have a habit of cheating and just give emyself the reward early (for instance, a friend showed me to app where you get to do virtual game stuff for every chore you completed, but all you had to do was check a box, and I was like: "Tap, tap, click, click, click. Okay this is not going to work for me.")
I guess what motivates me is a time crunch, or just what'll happen when I do get it done.
(October 5, 2016 - 11:56 pm)
I VOLUNTER AS TRIBUTE!
(October 7, 2016 - 9:15 am)
l like your second idea :) But it's really up to you.
Something that l learned last year, getting into a habit of writing at a certain helps a colssal amount. Put away some hour in your day that you are going to sit down and you are going to wriet that novel.
Hope that helps, and good luck!
(October 6, 2016 - 9:32 am)
For your second issue, I suggest what I did last year: editing your word goal. Start with something easy and achievable, like 25,000. And as need be (big school projects, or more time to spend), adjust it. Make sure it always seems doable. If that doesn't keep everything under control, I don't know what will. I hope I can help!
(October 6, 2016 - 6:53 pm)
Yeah, unfortunately on the adult one, we don't have an opportunity to change our goals.
Thanks, all of you guys!
(October 6, 2016 - 8:44 pm)
How do you edit your word count goal?
(October 6, 2016 - 9:51 pm)
@Booksy, I didn't know that, sorry. I used YWP. If you can change it at SL, set it to something you know you can do and you should be satisfied.
@September, I can't exactly remember. It might be in novel information.
(October 7, 2016 - 9:10 am)
Yah, thanks.
(October 7, 2016 - 6:49 pm)
Did you guys know the Nano site is getting a reboot? Not a Wipe, but a complete make over. A completely different Nano. Allegedly with a dragon on the front. (I vote for Topaz Smaug Dragonchilde or Larriet Festus Smaug Dragonchilde myself, aren't they just magnificent?)
My Nanowrimo world is complicated enough that it's just that, a world. No one except me and Air understand more than half of the dynamics in it. Long story short- magic has an odd set of rules it sometimes follows, sometimes doesn't. See Sparrow face this odd world beside Wolf and Arlene. A plethora of problems await them- including, of course, a Necromancer.
Every year I set a word count goal higher than I think I could make, figuring I'll downsize it later. I never do. But I might actually have to this year. 70k is probably too big a bite for me to chew. Still, I will at least attempt it. If I get sick and totally crash and burn it's Nano's fault.
I have this friend who I have PE with who will run herself to the ground and like collapse on the floor half-dead because she NEEDS TO WIN THIS GAME OR RUN TEN LAPS INSTEAD OF SIX. I'm like that with writing. This November, expect to see a hot mess Indigo, whose blog is untouched, has done none of her homework, and is panicking. But maybe when December comes I'll have a rough draft of seventy thousand shabbily strung together words. :)
(October 7, 2016 - 9:28 am)
I like them both a lot. :)
Also, I think of it as a comeptition, as I am a super competitve person. I also organize it. I need to write X amount of words a day. For example, if my book is 50,000 words long, I write 1,667 words a day. If I have more time, and I want to write more, I do so, for days when I won't have as much time.
You might want to try taking a break halfway through and doing something else, such as a bit of homework, or whatever! Hope this helps. :)
(October 7, 2016 - 12:47 pm)
Yey! I would very much appreciate it if you read it. Contact each other on NaNo or you-know-where?
(October 7, 2016 - 5:37 pm)
Yup, that sounds good! You'll be using the same username, right?
(October 8, 2016 - 10:33 am)