NaNoWriMo

[WhyllasTorch]

This: http://campnanowrimo.org

 

It works the same way. You have to write a story, but you can choose to be included in a cabin. There are 11 people other than yourself there and a chat tool. You can also choose not to be included in a cabin (I think that's the default option). It works well if the cabin is active because people can motivate each other.

 

There's a Camp Nano subforum in the Nano forums, where you can look for cabin mates according to preferences such as time zone, age, genre etc.

Wow. Sounds even better. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna join. Hnnnnnnnngg.

 

EDIT: Joined. Might have made a mistake. Help.

Edited June 29, 2014 by LwyllasLaVey

[Zovesta]

Go for it, man!

 

I love to participate in NaNo every year, even if I don't have an idea or if I can't get past 3k haha... I hit 70k once. And it'll never happen again in this lifetime. =u=

 

Which reminds me, anyone else already plotting out what they're gonna write this year?

[Raistlin24]

I'll probably expand what I'm doing for Camp. I'm writing a fanfiction backstory for a character of A Song of Ice and Fire and what would have happened if they hadn't been killed.

 

@LwyllasLaVey: What kind of mistake? You can change your novel and word target after you've created it and if you don't like your cabin, you can opt out and be included in a different one. You can also change your cabin choices before you're included in a cabin. In fact, I think that the only thing that you can't change is your username. Everyting else can be undone if you change your mind.

Edited June 29, 2014 by Raistlin24

[WhyllasTorch]

I'M DOING IT I'M WRITING *heavy breathing*

 

I'm at 1100 words right now. Let's see if I can keep going after the initial excitement dies down. Either way, it's not gonna be very quality.

[Dragonhatchling]

I joined some time ago in an intention of doing it.... now that I'm going off to college this year I don't know if I'll have time even now :/

 

I want to do it though... but the year I joined and every year after I was so swamped with school as it was... now college... ehhh....

 

I shall try to do it though. I've got a few ideas floating around...

[Koroshiya-Ichi]

Which reminds me, anyone else already plotting out what they're gonna write this year?

As a general rule I tend to start planning next year's NaNo before the current year's NaNo even finishes, or in extreme cases, before it even begins... just can't help it.

 

Every year I start a "nano(insert year number).txt" notepad file that I dump interesting quotes, names, ideas, etc. in and use it to brainstorm stuff. This year I've got several potential plot threads that may end up converging into one novel, including an increasingly absurd story about bird people who take a human hostage and spark a race war, a weird crime story about killing Buddha (don't ask), and a less fantastic crime story about a car accident victim who is trapped in their wrecked car for days and may or may not have been discovered and tortured by a convicted felon. Yeah, kind of all over the place.

 

I'm DETERMINED not to procrastinate on my wordcount this year though. I've also gotten into this horrible slump in the last few years where I'll stop updating my wordcount on the site until the very last day so it looks like I wrote my entire novel in 24 hours... ugh. It's not so much laziness as it is pure exhaustion. I just can't get that joyful feeling out of writing the way I used to. I'm desperate to get my mojo back damnit.

[sparkle10184]

That's what I do too^^ Dump file cx Already planning~

[Dimar]

I'm not doing Camp NaNo, considering summers are actually busier for me than the semesters, but I'm definitely intending to attempt NaNo in November. Unfortunately my preparations and short stories haven't been doing as well as I hoped due to a full schedule and procrastination, so hopefully I can do some major writing once summer break is over. Otherwise I'll be wholly unprepared for November. D:

 

Which reminds me, anyone else already plotting out what they're gonna write this year?

Yes I am! Well, I have it as a mush of ideas and unconnected scenes in my head. >.< If you're not writing a fic about Layton/Luke and velociraptors I'm going to be very disappointed in you. /shot

[artexercise]

Which reminds me, anyone else already plotting out what they're gonna write this year?

I determined early in the year as a challenge from a friend to write a superhero novel, or at least a novel that has super powered people. I'm writing my first Mystery/Detective story as a result. My premise/booksleeve would be:

 

The balance of power is shifting from one super-powered mob boss to another in a world that struggles with the presence of powers. It doesn't mean a whole lot to Chevy Plant but it will make his job more difficult. When his on again off again girlfriend is murdered, he tries to follow the clues to find out who killed her and why. He quickly finds that he is running up against powers who are on a much higher level than himself. To make matters worse, the suspect he is pursuing is also being pursued by bounty hunters.

 

I've got all the characters planned out and the super powers, I'm just waiting to write the story. The one thing that I haven't done yet that I usually do is make an outline of the story to help pace myself.

 

 

@ Koroshiya-Ichi "I just can't get that joyful feeling out of writing the way I used to. I'm desperate to get my mojo back damnit. "

 

Maybe you need a little challenge, something just outside of the comfort zone. If you want, I can generate a prompt that may get you thinking.

 

[Koroshiya-Ichi]

Maybe you need a little challenge, something just outside of the comfort zone.  If you want, I can generate a prompt that may get you thinking.

Go for it, I love taking on prompts! I often go into the adopt-a-plot/character/etc. threads on the NaNo forums when I'm hit with writer's block or when I want to add a little twist to my story. I usually end up frankensteining new prompts together with one of my existing ideas.

 

If anyone still wants to add me as a writing buddy on the official site and hasn't done so yet, this is me: Koroshiya-1

 

WOW, I just realized this is my TENTH time doing NaNo! Kinda makes me want to celebrate by doing something totally nuts, such as writing two novels at once, which I've always wanted to do... it's awfully tempting...

[artexercise]

Go for it, I love taking on prompts!

I'm using a similar method for the basis of my Nano story this year. Basically I used the Steampunk Tarot as the basis of building up a story. I've applied the 36 Dramatic Situations to the cards as well as some of the cards built in meaning to create a list of plots and subplots and characters. For myself I think character occupy many spaces but you can determine all that. Here is your seed. Kudos to you if you can fit it all in and make it work.

 

The Cards have been Shuffled.

 

Nine of Engines - up

- Self-Sacrifice for an Ideal

- Fire, Creativity, Spirit

- Defense and Protection

 

XXI Cosmic Blueprint - reversed

- Disaster

- Void/Earth*, Work, Physical

- Obligations and Distractions

 

VIII Engineer - up

- Disaster

- Void/Fire*, Creativity, Spirit

- Morality and Conviction

 

Three of Engines - reversed

- Rivalry of Superior vs Inferior

- Fire, Creativity, Spirit

- Daydreaming and Arrogance

 

Two of Engines - reversed

- Adultery

- Fire, Creativity, Spirit

- Opposing, Unworthiness, Persuasion

 

I Technomancer - reversed

- Ambition

- Void

- Arrogance and Self-doubt

 

Self-Sacrifice for an Ideal

- a Hero

- an Ideal

- a Creditor or a Person/Thing sacrificed

- The Hero sacrifices the Person or Thing for their Ideal, which is then taken by the Creditor.

 

Disaster

- a Vanquished Power

- a Victorious Enemy or a Messenger

- The Power falls from their place after being defeated by the Victorious Enemy or being informed of such a defeat by the Messenger.

 

Disaster

- a Vanquished Power

- a Victorious Enemy or a Messenger

- The Power falls from their place after being defeated by the Victorious Enemy or being informed of such a defeat by the Messenger.

 

Rivalry of Superior vs Inferior

- a Superior Rival

- an Inferior Rival

- the Object of Rivalry

- A Superior Rival bests an Inferior Rival and wins the Object of Rivalry.

 

Adultery

- two Adulterers (1)

- two Adulterers (2)

- a Deceived Spouse

- Two Adulterers conspire against the Deceived Spouse.

 

Ambition

- an Ambitious Person

- a Thing Coveted

- an Adversary

- The Ambitious Person seeks the Thing Coveted and is opposed by the Adversary.

[octopi]

Oh boy I want to do nano at some point. Maybe this year!!

 

I don't write a lot of stories, mostly I just get cool ideas and build labyrinthine worlds from them until I realize the initial premise was stupid and scrap all of it. My latest thing has to do with an island which is covered in a forest that strongly dislikes intruders and the two colonies that are struggling to overcome it on different sides and when I tell people about it now they're all just like "LOL IT'S ATTACK ON TITAN" because one of them built a wall and. Ugggghhh

 

Anyway yeah definitely an indecisive perfectionist writer and nano might help with that, I dunno. More likely I'll just end up giving up and crying a lot. (Someone convince me to do it)

[Lady_Lunevis]

Oh boy I want to do nano at some point. Maybe this year!!

 

I don't write a lot of stories, mostly I just get cool ideas and build labyrinthine worlds from them until I realize the initial premise was stupid and scrap all of it. My latest thing has to do with an island which is covered in a forest that strongly dislikes intruders and the two colonies that are struggling to overcome it on different sides and when I tell people about it now they're all just like "LOL IT'S ATTACK ON TITAN" because one of them built a wall and. Ugggghhh

 

Anyway yeah definitely an indecisive perfectionist writer and nano might help with that, I dunno. More likely I'll just end up giving up and crying a lot. (Someone convince me to do it)

You can do it! <3 //hugs// Nano is really fun and even if you don't end up winning/writing, it's good practise.

 

People who say that something is a copy of something else is just...ugh. Nothing's original; it's the different twists people put on stories that make them attractive to the human eye!

I also have a story with similar premise to Attack on Titan, but despite receiving negative feedback, I'm still going to continue on. Just ignore them, okay? Prove to them that's not like AoT by making it even better! <3

 

Being a perfectionist is hard sometimes, but other times it can be rewarding. Good luck writing! <3 Feel free to talk to me about anything--I love providing support to authors.

 

~~

 

Anyway, I've attempted Nano a couple times, ever since I was twelve. Never won, though this year I'm trying to accomplish the impossible! (For me, at least).

 

I'm really indecisive--I can't decide which story I want to work on for Nano, though I really have to do that soon so I can start planning out characters and plots. Hopefully deciding soon, though we'll see how that goes!

 

Wanted to join Camp Nano as well, but completely forgot about it. Ugh.

[WhyllasTorch]

My perfectionism prevented me from writing stories too. Still does. This is my first year doing NaNo and I just...write. I don't think about how stupid this paragraph sounds, I don't think about how I use certain words too much, I just write.

[Koroshiya-Ichi]

I'm using a similar method for the basis of my Nano story this year.  Basically I used the Steampunk Tarot as the basis of building up a story.  I've applied the 36 Dramatic Situations to the cards as well as some of the cards built in meaning to create a list of plots and subplots and characters.  For myself I think character occupy many spaces but you can determine all that.  Here is your seed.  Kudos to you if you can fit it all in and make it work.

I LOVE your idea of using Tarot to generate prompts, one of the most awesome methods I've seen to get story/character ideas! If it's not too much to ask, could you reshuffle and give me another list of prompts? Your previous ones gave me a lot of cool ideas to work with, and I'm trying to find a place for every single one of them in my existing narrative framework. Since I want to do two novels this year it'd be nice to have another one. If it's not too much trouble, of course.

 

 

I don't write a lot of stories, mostly I just get cool ideas and build labyrinthine worlds from them until I realize the initial premise was stupid and scrap all of it. *snip* .... Anyway yeah definitely an indecisive perfectionist writer and nano might help with that, I dunno. More likely I'll just end up giving up and crying a lot. (Someone convince me to do it)

Lady_Lunevis and LwyllasLaVey are absolutely correct - the greatest thing about NaNo is that it's the one time you can give yourself license to give a giant middle finder to your inner editor and inner critic and just GO FOR IT! No matter how bad you think you are, no matter how hard writer's block may hit you, no matter how many times you just want to give up, DON'T! Your mantra needs to become "JUST KEEP WRITING" (it helps for me to sing this to the tune of Dory's "Just Keep Swimming" from Finding Nemo. ;D)

 

Your idea honestly doesn't sound like Attack on Titan to me at all, but if you're concerned about subconsciously ripping it off, try tweaking subtle details. You'd be amazed at how far you can distance yourself from an existing work by changing small things about your setting, characterization, overall tone, and so on. My 2012 NaNo novel was a fantasy story involving various warring countries and a traveling group of young people, some of whom had vaguely elemental powers, that were seeking to put a stop to said war. It took a lot of inspiration from North African, Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures and locations, and that amongst other things started reminding me a LOT of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I was so afraid I was going to make my story too similar to that show, but as I wrote I discovered that my characters took on lives of their own that were very different from that series, my settings ended up far less similar to Avatar's than I had feared, and the most important thing of all: that even if there WERE similarities to that existing series, it didn't make my story bad, unoriginal, or not worth writing. And seriously, Attack on Titan is by FAR not the first series to include the building of a huge wall. Your story sounds pretty interesting from the few details you've posted, actually. Please DO NOT give up on it! Nurture it, change some things about it if you have to, but do not let it die.

 

NaNo is ALL about having fun, unleashing your creativity and truly embracing the joy of flat-out writing like there's no tomorrow. Whether your story ends up good or bad, original or unoriginal, or even if you win or lose, the real point is all in the process. Being able to create a world and populate it with characters in order to tell a story that ONLY YOU could come up with is such an incredible gift. Do not give that up, especially not before you give your story and yourself a fair chance. Use that gift. It's one month. You absolutely CAN do it!

 

For those who struggle with motivation or procrastination for whom a little competition would help, I highly recommend participating in word wars, sprints, or any number of other wordcount-boosting games/ideas that can be found on the NaNo forums in November. Doing 10-to-15 minute word sprints in chatrooms has helped me achieve fairly quick and fairly large catch-ups when I'm behind; it's basically writing as fast as possible, nonstop, till the sprint ends when a mod calls time, after which you post how many words you were able to get down and compare it to the other participants' wordcounts. I'm not a competitive person but even I feel the pressure to make a good effort during sprints. Having lots of people as writing buddies/friends on the NaNo site so you can track and compare and compete via wordcounts is also a huge motivator as long as you don't get too discouraged if you fall behind. There are also threads specifically for chronic procrastinators in which you can ask other NaNoers to gently encourage you to catch up... or request for them to guilt trip you until you're shamed into catching up. Heh.

 

When it gets closer to November I'll start linking relevant threads based on some of the above concepts and some I've yet to mention. I'd REALLY love to be added as a writing buddy by anyone who thinks they'll be struggling to keep themself motivated - my NaNo account is linked in my previous post, and I promise here and now that I will not judge anyone's story ideas nor their methods. Nothing makes me happier than trying to help new and/or struggling NaNoers, since I know how it feels to go through tough times with it. We can ALL do it though! You really do have to start genuinely believing that, and it'll make the entire thing much easier to cope with.

 

Sorry for the long post. I have a lot of other stuff to talk and ask about in relation to NaNo after this too. Some survey questions, asking about peoples' plots and characters both past and present, etc. Argh, I just can't help GUSHING over this since it's so rare to find people who are as interested in this event as I am. Please excuse my nerdgasm.

Edited July 7, 2014 by Koroshiya-Ichi

[WhyllasTorch]

@Koroshiya-Ichi Yeah, NaNoWriMo is really helpful for getting things done. Turning your brain off is essential.

 

And no one is accusing GRRM of ripping off Attack on Titan although ASOIAF has a huge wall too.

Edited July 7, 2014 by LwyllasLaVey

[octopi]

Personally I feel like it's closer to weird smaller Pacific Rim than anything (monsters are involved and their blood can burn humans), but apparently no one likes Pacific Rim even though it's absolutely amazing. In any case I'm probably not using that idea if I do NaNo actually? I want to start my career off doing something a bit more lighthearted. (Does anyone want the setting though. It's vaguely pioneer age except not really at all, no "functional" magic but dragons and explosives galore. Also potentially a lot of political drama if unlike me you're actually interested in political drama.)

 

And thanks people ;~; yeah I suppose it'll be good practice if nothing else. Writing isn't really something I want to do as a career but ye

[WhyllasTorch]

Personally I feel like it's closer to weird smaller Pacific Rim than anything (monsters are involved and their blood can burn humans), but apparently no one likes Pacific Rim even though it's absolutely amazing. In any case I'm probably not using that idea if I do NaNo actually? I want to start my career off doing something a bit more lighthearted. (Does anyone want the setting though. It's vaguely pioneer age except not really at all, no "functional" magic but dragons and explosives galore. Also potentially a lot of political drama if unlike me you're actually interested in political drama.)

 

And thanks people ;~; yeah I suppose it'll be good practice if nothing else. Writing isn't really something I want to do as a career but ye

*heavy breathing*

 

Pacific Rim is amazing and glorious and everyone who thinks otherwise will get dozens of angry geese in their bedroom. I am now very interested in your story.

[Raistlin24]

@Fractional Pi Day: Your story sounds great! I haven't read (watched?) Attack on Titan, but if the wall is the problem, tell those people to google Hadrian's Wall. Or just old towns with walls (example or real walls that are still standing - linked for size). Also, I recently read a Dragonlance series that features a huge ice wall, so not even those are unique

 

@Koroshiya-Ichi: Those are great ideas! I'm only doing 15 k words for CampNano and I'm already behind...

[artexercise]

I LOVE your idea of using Tarot to generate prompts, one of the most awesome methods I've seen to get story/character ideas! If it's not too much to ask, could you reshuffle and give me another list of prompts? Your previous ones gave me a lot of cool ideas to work with, and I'm trying to find a place for every single one of them in my existing narrative framework. Since I want to do two novels this year it'd be nice to have another one. If it's not too much trouble, of course.

It's very easy for me to create these. And as a side note for all those people who are worried about generating something that has already been done: Do it anyways. I always like to consider the Haiku. The struggle of the little poem is so simple and small that it seems like every Haiku in the world has been done by now, but I've never heard two that are alike. Every Haiku has the exact same pattern, but each one is about something a little different. When looking at the prompt below, if each person here used it for their Nano, every story would be a little different but would inevitably have a little adultery, a chase scene or two and a kidnapping involved. There are certain patterns of writing and of the human psyche. Attack on Titan is not the first story written about giants eating people or about protection behind a wall that has a secret. Or even about self sacrifice for a greater good. Attack on a Titan is an interesting story with lots of elements that have been done multiple times by lots of other people.

 

For those that are more interested in where a vast majority of our stories come from look at folk tales. Folk Tale Classification System - a good wikipedia page. Which does contain a link to a huge collection of online texts. Bonus points to anyone who classifies Attack on Titan.

 

 

 

The Cards have been Shuffled.

 

Lady of Airships - reversed

- All sacrifices for passion

- Air, Honor, Mind

- Pride and Mind Games

 

Five of Engines - reversed

- Murderous Adultery

- Fire, Creativity, Spirit

- Hostility and Betrayal

 

XIX Solarium - up

- Revolt

- Void/Earth, Work, Physical

- Health and Joy

 

XIV Spirit Gauge - reversed

- Supplication

- Void/Water*, Luck, Emotion

- Misunderstandings and Extremes

 

Captain of Submersibles - up

- Abduction

- Water, Luck, Emotion

- Calm and Equality

 

Five of Airships - reversed

- Pursuit

- Air, Honor, Mind, Awareness

- Alertness and Investigation

 

All sacrifices for passion

- a Lover

- an Object of fatal Passion

- the Person/Thing sacrificed

- A Lover sacrifices a Person or Thing for the Object of their Passion, which is then lost forever.

 

Murderous Adultery

- two Adulterers (1)

- two Adulterers (2)

- a Betrayed Spouse

- Two Adulterers conspire to kill the Betrayed Spouse.

 

Revolt

- a Tyrant

- a Conspirator

- The Tyrant, a cruel power, is plotted against by the Conspirator.

 

Supplication

- a Persecutor

- a Suppliant

- a Power in authority, whose decision is doubtful.

- The Persecutor accuses the Suppliant of wrongdoing, and the Power makes a judgment against the Suppliant.

 

Abduction

- an Abductor

- the Abducted

- a Guardian

- The Abductor takes the Abducted from the Guardian.

 

Pursuit

- Punishment

- a Fugitive

- The Fugitive flees Punishment for a misunderstood conflict.

[Koroshiya-Ichi]

Thanks again artexercise! Those results in particular are VERY relevant to a story about a runaway from an elven society which I've been struggling to get fully planned out for many years now, this may give me the structure I need to finally put it into action. Tangentially, I've wanted to learn to do/read Tarot for fun since I was much younger. I'd love to have a cyberpunk deck... /makes a note to search later.

 

Fractional Pi Day - All of us here will be rooting for you if and when you attempt your first NaNo. In case you didn't know, if you write every single day in November you only have to write 1,667 words per day to make the 50k goal. Most of us probably type FAR more than that just here on these forums, FB, twitter, etc... so it's definitely doable. Keep yourself positively motivated. <3

 

I try to donate to the site every year and made my first donation yesterday, and I might actually have enough money to give a bit more closer to November if finances allow. It's one of the only internet-related things I let myself spend real money on because NaNo has given me so much over the years, including quite possibly saving my life during two separate years by giving me something productive to focus on instead of horrific depression. I consider it my duty to give back to the organization because of that. I don't know if I'd even still be writing fiction if I hadn't discovered NaNoWriMo.

 

Would anyone like to answer a little survey about their past and upcoming NaNo novels just for fun? When I get bored I like to type up questionnaires, and it'd be cool to learn a bit more about everyone's work.

[artexercise]

Thanks again artexercise! ...

 

Would anyone like to answer a little survey about their past and upcoming NaNo novels just for fun? When I get bored I like to type up questionnaires, and it'd be cool to learn a bit more about everyone's work.

Anytime. and I'd be game for a questionnaire.

[octopi]

OKAY YEAH I'M DOING NANOWRIMO.

 

It's going to be a futuristic magical kind of setting with magic-powered spaceships. Magical energy is not completely understood but it's generally accepted that it's radiation from neighbouring dimensions, and there's more of it in certain places and the levels fluctuate a lot (so before going to work you can check magic forecasts along with the weather and see if it's a good day to charge your magical appliances). But recently the energy levels have been suddenly dropping in certain areas and not coming back, and the protagonists have to investigate and figure out what's happening I guess. It will involve many cute scientists and an overarching theme of how absurd the idea of dualism is ("magic versus science", anyone?). Possibly they will eventually get into one of the magic dimensions and find out that it's basically like theirs and also contains life I'm not sure

 

Doing some concept work now!! There will be lots of crystals in the spaceship designs. So many. Ahah I have like twenty projects going on right now but November will be for this thing only, hopefully.

 

(And sure I'd be up for a questionnaire)

[Lady_Lunevis]

Would anyone like to answer a little survey about their past and upcoming NaNo novels just for fun? When I get bored I like to type up questionnaires, and it'd be cool to learn a bit more about everyone's work.

That sounds amazing! I would love such a thing. ^^

 

I really like learning about people's stories and characters as well--reading all of the responses would be super fun!

[StormNSnowflake]

I'm SO doing NaNoWriMo this year. I tried last year and failed, utterly and completely. lol. I'm not even kidding, I got like 2000 words written (maybe not even that) and about halfway through the month I actually pretty much managed to forget I was doing it (extreme procrastination, anyone? )

 

I had no idea what I was doing though. Not even a little bit of plot, which might not have been a problem if I had had any idea of what my characters' motivations were. Yeah...didn't go well. (In case anyone was wondering, that book was supposed to be about these dragon-like creatures I made up. I call them Chatatas...I'm very tempted to just, you know, spew a whole bunch of information about them on here because they're my first complete species, but I won't. If you want to know more about them you can message me, though. Just prepare for a flood of information. )

 

The book I'm doing this year is a little bit more worked out so far. Basically, it's a fantasy. The main characters are Jack Frost and his apprentice, Snowflake, along with a few other characters that will come into play later. Jack Frost can shapeshift into an eagle. They get into a fight, and Jack ends up so injured that Mother Nature traps him in his animal form to recuperate for a bit, separating him from Snowflake. And they run into all these challenges trying to find each other again, and eventually they discover the main villian has pretty much been manipulating them the entire time, which leads to the big battle at the end of the book.

 

I've had a few difficulties working it all out, but that's the basic plot (which has been changed in some form or another about fifty times - it FEELS like fiffty times at any rate). If anyone has any ideas to offer, I'd love to hear them. And of course, I'd be willing to offer ideas in exchange, if you'd like them.

 

A survey would be awesome. If you can't tell already, I like to talk. And write. A survey would give me an excuse to do more of that, lol.

 

(Also, if any of you need/want to make up an original animal species, for your novel or otherwise, and are having trouble, you can message me and I can try to help. I like to think I'm pretty good at making up new animals.)

 

Sorry for the long post, haha.