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NaNoWriMo 2020, anyone?

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    Posted: 17 Sep 2020 at 9:54pm
Discuss it all here! Do you all remember how irate I was two years ago over one of their pep talks? Oh my gosh. But anyway, who wants to do NaNoWriMo this year? Also, feel free to list your NaNoWriMo name here so we can all be friends on their site. I think I can be found under "Wooden Yak". (the best yaks are wooden, ya know?) Do you all have any information prepared, like a title or blurb? I've got nothing, but I intend to plot. I've been frustrated because the two novels I've already started this year have died halfway through. I need to figure out what's going wrong. (Broadly speaking, they lack magic, and I need magic/atmosphere.) So I need a story I can get behind. Good luck to everyone with their NaNovels! Clap
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote velocisarah Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Sep 2020 at 10:07am
Good luck on your project this year! I'm participating, though I'm doing the last 50k of my novel for it instead of my first 50k - I'm at 30k, I've got about 20k more to write before November 1, then finishing the novel during NaNoWriMo :) I guess that's technically rebelling since it's supposed to be a new project, but bah - use NaNo for whatever you need it for, right? haha

I've got to say though, I've been writing consistently with lower daily word count goals since July and I've gotten so used to that, I have no idea how I'm going to do 3x as many words every day for a whole month! How the hell have I done that multiple times before?


Edited by velocisarah - 18 Sep 2020 at 10:08am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Sep 2020 at 1:37pm
Absolutely!! I wouldn't even think it's technically rebelling since you'd be writing 50,000 words toward your novel, but I see what you mean!! NaNo tries to get everyone to start the novel, right? But you're just ahead of the game!! Go you! 

Yeah, 1,667 words a day isn't easy, especially if "life happens" and you fall behind. I got pneumia one year, but I was only in the ER; and when I got home, I just made my character sick, too, which wound up working out quite well. The 3-day event this year left me braindead, but after that, I'm hoping 1,667 words is more relaxing!! 

Be sure to come back here and update us on your progress!! Let's rock it! 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote ZoeLou Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Sep 2020 at 11:45pm
Hello! 2020 has become my 'writing' year - for years 90% of my fiction writing has been for schoolwork but this year I've done every NYCM comp and rediscovered my love for writing! I've only ever written short fiction but I'm so tempted to try NaNoWriMo this year - I've been considering it since 2018 but end of year exams always seemed to land smack in the middle of November. This year they've all been cancelled so I finally have no excuse not to try..... 

There's an idea I've been tossing around in my mind for months now and I have a clear setting and handful of characters but no plot. Any tips for figuring out a plot line that actually lasts 50 000 words?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Sep 2020 at 12:14pm
That's great news!! No tests, so you can go full-throttle!! Woo hoo!! 

Yeah, the best thing I could think of would be to try to write an outline with as many interactions between your characters as you can come up with!! An underlying story might start to emerge somehow that would make it novel-length!! So I'd start with, like, how are they going to interact in a regular sense, and then what would happen if something strange/mysterious/stressful/romantic/otherworldly were to occur!! Once you have a feel for your characters, which you do, you could put that key event at the very start (or close to it) of your outline, and then you'd be opening the story with intrigue of some sort. Go for glory!!!  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote velocisarah Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Sep 2020 at 4:43pm
The "Save the Cat" or "Story Circle" plot methods may help you in structuring your plot! They follow conventional storytelling to help you get all of the satisfying parts of a narrative into your plot :)

I followed a skillshare course recently called Story Structure: 8 Essentials for Outlining Your Novel or Script by Rebecca Loomis (you can pretty easily get a 2-month free trial) on novel plotting and found it really helpful, you can also find a lot of great youtube writers who talk about plotting! I recommend Rachael Stephen's "Plot Embryo" on youtube to get started there.

The bigger question of "when is a story big enough for a book" rather than "how to structure a novel" is a harder one, but I agree with Zelda on things to think about!

The basics of "Make a character want something, have there be consequences if they don't get what they want, have problems in their way, and have them change/grow to get to their goal" never steers you wrong :) Everything else comes from what you're excited about exploring and what adds to the conflict and stakes.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote waxwing Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 7:18pm
NANOWRIMO has great resources for plotting. They give a few examples, including the circular method. 
Also, Save the Cat Writes A Novel is great too. I wrote the plot points they give on a large white board, then started filling it in with my ideas. It's a start. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote nosnibor28 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Sep 2020 at 3:47pm
NaNo was what got me started writing and I've been an off-an-on Wrimo since 2010. I ended up self-pubbing my first NaNovel after 7 years of putting it down and picking it up and tweaking and rewriting and stalling etc etc lol. But that was 3 years ago and I think it's high time to get another one out there.

Planning to restart an old rom-com idea I got less than 10K words into many years ago. I don't remember what happened, just lost momentum I guess. I'm typically more of a pantser but I think I'll actually do some prep this go-around.

Anyway, hope to see y'all over on the NaNo forums (I post under the same username there). Good luck!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote LivStrom Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Sep 2020 at 4:13pm
I did NaNo last year but didn't participate much on the website, will try to be more active if I decide to join again. Just submitted for PitchWars and will know on 7th Nov if I got in, if not I'll start NaNo a week late. Starting something new is much more fun than revising though!

I write under LivNow on NaNo. Will look you up if I decide to join Smile
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Sep 2020 at 8:21pm
I just noticed some fun new features at the NaNoWriMo website! You can list all your projects and update your word counts at any time! I love that! I listed my upcoming NaNovel and another project I've been working on! Maybe I can keep using the site all year!! Thanks to everyone who's listed their names over there!! Let's rock it this year!! 
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