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NaNoWriMo

Discussion in 'General Discussions' started by CinnamonGirl, Oct 20, 2011.

Page 4 of 10
  1. Speed_Gibson

    Speed_Gibson Hacking the Gibson

    Location:
    Wolf 359
    My characters are largely still in note form and have been for years now but they get far more cruelty than kindness from me. I was talking to a co-worker about a story idea we have been developing together and decided to do use just an ounce or two more of "kindness" to some of them to brighten the story up just a bit.
    I can glance through my notes from years past and can often tell what part of my body was hurting when the notes were written. More than a few of them have knee pains and one of them buried deep in the stack somewhere was call "Arthur Ritis" if memory serves.
     
    Speed_Gibson, Oct 19, 2012
    #61
  2. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    Oh shit, NaNoWriMo!

    I always write for a couple of days...and then it kind of dribbles off. I think I might have more success this year. All told, my writing production from the last year equals over a novel, and I did write 35k pages in 10 days once when on a hot streak (this was also while going to school and working full-time). I think I can do it!
     
    snowy, Oct 19, 2012
    #62
  3. roachboy

    roachboy Very Tilted

    strange how this keeps coming back. the years seem to be speeding up.

    academic writing ate my brain for a while. this would be a good excuse to mount a sustained counter-offensive against the consequences of overcooked pasta sentences i think.

    so i'll likely do it.
     
    roachboy, Oct 19, 2012
    #63
    • Like Like x 1
  4. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    Ugh, academic writing. I was reading a piece yesterday on alignment of curriculum with testing. It made my head hurt. At one point, I was staring at a sentence, going, "How does this make any sense?"
     
    snowy, Oct 19, 2012
    #64
  5. rogue49

    rogue49 Tech Kung Fu Artist Staff Member

    Location:
    Baltimore/DC
    I've got so many ideas in my head.
    But I'm good with plots and concepts...suck at dialog.

    What's a growing boy to do?
     
    rogue49, Oct 19, 2012
    #65
  6. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    Dialogue can be the most difficult to get right. Practice makes perfect!
     
    Baraka_Guru, Oct 19, 2012
    #66
  7. cynthetiq

    cynthetiq Administrator Staff Member Donor

    Location:
    New York City
    I've got the same idea from last year.

    This year I'll try this method above....
     
    cynthetiq, Oct 19, 2012
    #67
    • Like Like x 1
  8. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    Baraka_Guru, Oct 19, 2012
    #68
    • Like Like x 1
  9. Indigo Kid

    Indigo Kid Getting Tilted

    Location:
    NE OHIO, and hating it.
    PAN! You should do it too! I think you write incredibly well and have some "novel" ideas.....

    (Yeah, I have been here since 2003, but I'll never divulge my old name & Avatar - Too much water under the bridge)
     
    Indigo Kid, Oct 19, 2012
    #69
  10. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    I've signed the agreement and statement of understanding. I have it posted up in my office where it's always in my peripheral vision while I'm at my computer. It stares at me when I pause to look out the window. It encourages me—nay, it taunts me.

    Now I have nine days to finish up my outline before my commitment to write an average of 1,600+ words per day kicks in.

    :eek:
     
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2012
    Baraka_Guru, Oct 22, 2012
    #70
  11. roachboy

    roachboy Very Tilted

    i am considering using an arrangement where there is only a character under surveillance and another who is monitoring several feeds from different places for nothing in particular and the bits would switch back and forth, from inside a single feed to many. the question is who is watching the watcher. because if no-one is watching, the watcher's presence can't be explained. so maybe the reader is surveilling the surveillance guy. so 3 levels. i have to think more about this.

    i had been thinking on ways to use tiny bits as the basis for sequences before i found myself mired in the meadow of overcooked pasta sentences...i probably won't pay much attention to the work limit and focus on trying to get 30 elements up in a series over the duration.
     
    Last edited: Oct 23, 2012
    roachboy, Oct 23, 2012
    #71
  12. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    Conceptualizing.

    Mine is probably going to be a cheesy romance novel. I like those, so I write them, mostly because I write for myself and no one else.
     
    snowy, Oct 24, 2012
    #72
  13. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    For those who want some help in applying structure to a story, have a look at this 5-part series of a talk by Dan Wells, a horror writer who commonly applies a well-known 7-point story structure:
    1. Hook
    2. Plot Turn I
    3. Pinch I
    4. Midpoint
    5. Pinch II
    6. Plot Turn II
    7. Resolution
    I just heard a recent podcast of this as an overview on his Writing Excuses podcast (with Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, and Mary Robinette Kowal).

    I will be watching these videos to hear him flesh out the ideas further.


    View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcmiqQ9NpPE
     
    Baraka_Guru, Oct 24, 2012
    #73
  14. roachboy

    roachboy Very Tilted

    roachboy, Oct 24, 2012
    #74
  15. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    I almost picked up the new edition recently. It's a beautiful volume. I've had a look at it a few times in the bookstore.

    What stopped me from grabbing it was that it's great for coming up with tons of plots. That would be great for a regular output of numerous short works (stories and novels both). I wanted to focus more on how to make plots work rather than how to come up with them, since I will be working on one plot (and maybe one subplot) for November.

    Instead, I picked up a few books on character and plot development, using the remaining balance I had on a bookstore gift card. I just got them today, so I'm pretty excited. I'm going to delve into them as I try to hammer out my outline.

    I tend to get one of these gift cards at Christmas. Maybe I'll pick Plotto up at that time. I'm also considering a book on character traits, which is really cool, as it will help me write about children and psychopaths and the like: The Writer's Guide to Character Traits
     
    Baraka_Guru, Oct 24, 2012
    #75
  16. roachboy

    roachboy Very Tilted

    ah. this is the instruction manual for using plotto. apparently people got confused almost right away.

    i am considering ways to use plotto. i've already run across a piece in cabinet that did what seems to me the obvious thing, so i gotta figure out another angle.
     
    roachboy, Oct 24, 2012
    #76
  17. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    The new edition has the instruction manual at the end.

    I think I will tackle Plotto some time in the new year. I don't mind the idea of mechanized plots at all.
     
    Baraka_Guru, Oct 24, 2012
    #77
  18. ZombieSquirrel

    ZombieSquirrel Brrrrrrrains

    Location:
    Oregon by way of "Oh-hi-ya"
    I was thinking 'bout this. First I thought I have the attention span of a gnat so that's why I can't....ooooh shiny.

    For that reason I thought about just writing a bunch of short stories this month with a common theme. I could write a 1700 word short story every day. That's totally doable. It'll be like the blog-a-thon I had leading up to my 30th birthday where I wrote a blog post every day reflecting on the past decade. I made an outline of sorts that I stuck to for the most part. I'll do that again.

    The point is just to write...right? I'll write and not edit...that's how I roll anyway.
     
    ZombieSquirrel, Oct 25, 2012
    #78
    • Like Like x 1
  19. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    It's NaNoWriMo!

    Don't feel bad if you haven't written anything yet....

    [​IMG]

    I've gotten about 300 words down, but I did have a colonoscopy today, so I have an excuse.

    I hope to write more this evening.
     
    Baraka_Guru, Nov 1, 2012
    #79
  20. ZombieSquirrel

    ZombieSquirrel Brrrrrrrains

    Location:
    Oregon by way of "Oh-hi-ya"
    I have written 22 words..........I didn't have anything stuck up my pooper though....yet.
     
    ZombieSquirrel, Nov 1, 2012
    #80
    • Like Like x 1
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