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from nanowrimo's about page
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.
Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.
Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.
Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.
As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.
In 2009, we had over 165,000 participants. More than 30,000 of them crossed the 50K finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.
Who's participating this year? (There's officially 30 days, 4 hours, and 19 minutes remaining for 50,000 words at the writing of this post). I've had some trippy psychological Christophe Nolan style stories lined out in the past, but it seems I've never gotten enough motivation to dive in. I write ~650 word short stories on a regular basis though for school.
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United States24770 Posts
That's cool. I personally found one of the barriers to writing was to actually overcome personal internal resistance and get started. This basically tells you 'too bad, just write' which is what many people probably need. If I had more time in general I'd definitely be willing to give it a shot.
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I really wish that this would be moved to like April since November is College App season for seniors -.-;
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United States24770 Posts
How about a TL version to make a much shorter work? What would be appropriate? I think if it increased TL's participation that would be pretty cool.
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dam way better than my thread.
yea im participating. pumped to start typing away in 1 hour
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This is going to be my first time participating and I'm excited 
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I participated last year but only got about 40% through, unfortunately at the time I had a writing course and simply couldn't balance the two. Since I don't have any writing courses this semester I'm fairly confident I can do much better this time.
I highly recommend this to anyone who either enjoys writing but has never had the motivation to finish a full story. NaNoWriMo is a ton of fun and a great way to accomplish something to be be pretty proud of. Not to mention it's a great community with lots of resources and like minded writers!
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My friend was thinking about doing this, but said she would probably go crazy balancing this with all the other schoolwork. As a joke, I said I'd do it if she did it.
She's doing it. fml.
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This is the first I've heard of the challenge; sounds awesome. I have a novel floating around in my head but unfortunately I don't see myself having the time this month to write anything. Also still a bit bummed that I didn't win a runner-up prize in blizzard's creative writing contest... not that I should have expected to win since I'm not a seasoned writer and it was only the second story I've attempted to write.
Maybe next year I'll participate; if not, I could see myself picking an arbitrary month to do this on my own.
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United States4053 Posts
I have a novel I somewhat want to write, but I wrote the first five chapters about half a year ago. zzzzzzz sounds interesting though, I'll make a mental note to consider this if I get any inspiration.
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Failed several times. Trying again this year.
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can i write my novel here?
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Did it last year (and reached 50k words). Not sure if I'm going to this time, I really should though because I've been really slacking in my writing since sc2 beta + its release >< So this might help nudge me back into writing.
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First time I heard of it but it sounds like fun, i'm definitely going to try that.
Get ready for an awful, ridiculous and crazy sci/fi novel 
Good luke to all the other participants.
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first time. good luck everyone
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2nd time for me! GL HF GG!!!
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I did it last year, but got derailed by moving back from Korea (I think I got to about 30K?).
This year I'm starting a new job, but I'm going for it anyway. Though if the site were ever accessible that would be good too.
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hmmm, might do this right now actually. Sounds fun.
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On November 01 2010 11:47 micronesia wrote:
How about a TL version to make a much shorter work? What would be appropriate? I think if it increased TL's participation that would be pretty cool.
That would be an awsome idea. I would definatly participate
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Brunei Darussalam622 Posts
How about this?
Three different categories:
Hardcore mode: The regular challenge, 175 pages or 50,000 words by midnight Nov. 30.
Normal mode: Moderate challenge, 100 pages or 28,000 words by midnight Nov. 30.
Easy mode: A relatively easy and fun challenge, 50 pages or 14,000 words by midnight Nov. 30.
I'd be willing to make a new thread and keep it up to date if you guys send me pm's or whatever letting me know what mode you are trying and maybe a bit of direction concerning your story.
Poll: Good idea?Yes (7) 70% No (3) 30% 10 total votes Your vote: Good idea? (Vote): Yes
(Vote): No
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I'll try. I have some good ideas. If I end up doing it, I'll post a pdf on TL.net.
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I completely forgot about this. I was going to give a shot and now it's already November. Maybe an idea will come to me in a dream tonight.
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On November 01 2010 11:47 micronesia wrote:
How about a TL version to make a much shorter work? What would be appropriate? I think if it increased TL's participation that would be pretty cool.
What, like a Starcraft-related story? Or just a story to be posted in a TL thread?
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On November 02 2010 11:03 Krigwin wrote:Show nested quote +On November 01 2010 11:47 micronesia wrote:
How about a TL version to make a much shorter work? What would be appropriate? I think if it increased TL's participation that would be pretty cool. What, like a Starcraft-related story? Or just a story to be posted in a TL thread?
a tl-related story, about chill's epic quest to purge the blogs, or the mystery of manifesto's disappearance, or the dark ages of thedeadhaji and rekrul.
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ugh, kind of a bad month with mid terms right behind us and exams right in front
gotta make it a summer month where you can lie out in a field watching the stars and just let your mind wander
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On November 02 2010 10:59 floor exercise wrote:
I completely forgot about this. I was going to give a shot and now it's already November. Maybe an idea will come to me in a dream tonight.
INCEPTION BRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPP
I haven't been on TL quite long enough to know about its rich and storied history.
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1,700 words in! Alright, I know that's just one day's worth of writing, but it's something. I gave up last year, but I'm gonna rock it in 2010.
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I'm taking a pass ^^. Cool idea, but what works for some doesn't for others. I've never had a problem with getting quantity of writing, but I hate extensive editing so I inevitably throw most of the material away when I work fast. I'd rather grind 3 pages a day for 5 months, gets me to my finish line with sell-able quality work and I don't fry my brain :D.
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So I have started and this is already kind of dumb. I mean I have no idea what I am doing trying to write about a Victorian Era opium trader and his Zulu sidekick.
What I was thinking was "I'll churn out some pulpy Soloman Kane style story" what I am getting is "Shanghai Noon 2"
I'll stick to it since I think it would nice just to prove to myself I can write something longer than 1,000 words but I am already unhappy with it.
Holy shit there actually was a sequel to Shanghai Noon
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Woo, people actually doing this?
This is my 4th year doing nano, and in the three previous years I competed I won twice and lost once. I am going strong now with my current project and I will see how well it lasts as its only day 2, but im just shy 4k for words, which is a safe stopping point for the day.
I would encourage anyone who likes a challenge to attempt this as it is really fun once you start going, and you can surprise yourself with how much you can achieve if you put your mind to it.
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On November 02 2010 11:03 Krigwin wrote:Show nested quote +On November 01 2010 11:47 micronesia wrote:
How about a TL version to make a much shorter work? What would be appropriate? I think if it increased TL's participation that would be pretty cool. What, like a Starcraft-related story? Or just a story to be posted in a TL thread?
if you're going to do a starcraft related story, submit it to the book being put together. =]
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Always thought about doing this in the past. Maybe if I get an actual idea this time I'll see how far I can get with it. glgl to everyone doing it.
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Just signed up.
Time to start writing!
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how do they monitor when you started? Like is there any policing for this?
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I used to do this (and succeed) every year in high school, but ever since college (okay, this is only my second year), I've just been way too busy. I tried last year and failed miserably, and this year I don't think I will even attempt it. I'm already almost 2 days behind! I also have no ideas in my head as I would usually already have a generic basis by Halloween. Well, good luck to all those who participate! I found the best way is to just force yourself to write another 100 words. again, and again, about 500 times :D
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I would love to and I probably will once I'm out of college, but for right now I just don't have the time.
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United States24770 Posts
On November 02 2010 11:03 Krigwin wrote:Show nested quote +On November 01 2010 11:47 micronesia wrote:
How about a TL version to make a much shorter work? What would be appropriate? I think if it increased TL's participation that would be pretty cool. What, like a Starcraft-related story? Or just a story to be posted in a TL thread?
I just meant have reduced requirements to encourage tl people to actually do it. Not necessarily an sc related novel.
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On November 03 2010 13:15 Kakera wrote:
how do they monitor when you started? Like is there any policing for this?
There isn't one. It's not like you actually win anything by succeeding though - NaNoWriMo is really just a great way to get yourself writing instead of putting it off like I usually do :p
3,500 words so far - I need 1,500 for today. The biggest problem I'm running into is fighting the desire to go back and rewrite the stuff I've already got down!
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Well, there is sort of a monitoring process. At the end of the month to "win" you have to upload your story where they then check the word count. Also each day you can update your word count and on your profile you can see a graph of your process and compare it to the other Nano writers.
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eyy I've been doing NaNoWriMo all month and I don't know why I never checked on TL if anyone else was.
It's my first year doing this and I'm so shocked at how hard it is to keep up with the pace (~1667 words a day). Right now its day 20 and I'm sitting at around 20k words when the recommended word count is all the way at 33k. Fantastic.
So to all you TLers out there doing NaNo, how are you guys keeping up?
Poll: What's your word count?20k-30k (1) 100% under 10k (0) 0% 10k-20k (0) 0% 30k-40k (0) 0% 40k-50k (0) 0% over 50k (0) 0% 1 total votes Your vote: What's your word count? (Vote): under 10k
(Vote): 10k-20k
(Vote): 20k-30k
(Vote): 30k-40k
(Vote): 40k-50k
(Vote): over 50k
My username on NaNoWriMo is Zorkit, feel free to buddy with me. Ever since my Windows OS got a virus on it, I've been spending all my time just typing on Ubuntu instead of playing SC2. I'm gonna reformat soon, but until then I'll be typing the hell out of my story.
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Deadline ends in like 30 minutes for me, and I just crossed the finish line.
Another year I have succeeded. Now its just a small matter of finishing the book, editing it to make it not garbage and continue on.
For any of those who are still doing this, or who succeeded in it, or failed but have the wounds to say you tried, post!
We all shared mutual pain this month, time for us to rejoice that it is finally over.
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EPT
