I don't know much about NaNoWriMo personally, I just know it's 30 days to get 50k words and that Dave is partaking in it. lel

Nor do I, since I only heard of it in the last week or so.

Ha! That’s exactly the point of NaNoWriMo as a challenge— it has never been about finishing a “finished product” in thirty days. It’s about getting out a stream of ideas and content of a rough draft done within the deadline.

Good to know... If I had an interest in writing a story outside of mine, or I actually had enough of my notes sorted to be able to work on drafts for my story, I'd likely be taking on that challenge monthly.

Drama on this site aside... I've now got bigger problems to deal with. My PC had another breakdown on me, which means more work has been potentially lost and instead of getting to sleep tonight I probably need to stay up and handle damage control again. I figured I should let you all know since I'm unlikely going to be in a good mood at all for a while.

<Snipped quote by Gowi>

Good to know... If I had an interest in writing a story outside of mine, or I actually had enough of my notes sorted to be able to work on drafts for my story, I'd likely be taking on that challenge monthly.

Actually, NaNo is an annual challenge and specifically in the month of November, but you can also go for Camp NaNo which happens twice (one in April, and the other in July), which means you can take up to three challenges each year. :)

@Shoryu Magami
That sucks, anything that could be done by any of us to help? I can't imagine there would be but I'd still like to offer.

@Shoryu Magami
Aw, If it makes you feel better, my last laptop blew up in flames and I lost all my school work. Sometimes technology can be so lame.

@tsukune
Oh, I understand that; I was more saying I'd do that every month without needing NaNoWriMo to motivate me if my notes were sorted, though given what I just said in my previous post it could be a good long while away before that ever happens...

@CrazyShadowy
For the time being, probably just talking... I'm still trying to reorganize my thoughts; I'm barely even coherent I'm so tired.

@Pudding
Technology is always screwing me over... I don't know how many times my life's work has to be put on the line because of it... I pour my entire soul into this project and always end up further and further behind due to technology not doing what it's bloody designed to do...

@Shoryu Magami Just dropping in to give my support. Actually, fun story time~! *sarcasm* I had an old laptop that ran well enough to be used -- until the keyboard finally gave out. Guess when it happened? That's right, the first week of NaNo. Not quite as bad as when you have a school paper due soon, but a close second. x.x

@Gowi@tsukune oh hey people *glomp*

@Shoryu Magami Just dropping in to give my support. Actually, fun story time~! *sarcasm* I had an old laptop that ran well enough to be used -- until the keyboard finally gave out. Guess when it happened? That's right, the first week of NaNo. Not quite as bad as when you have a school paper due soon, but a close second. x.x

@Gowi@tsukune oh hey people *glomp*

Ayyy Shy.

@Shoryu Magami
Alright, given you're that tired I don't know how much you want to talk or anything. If I could I'd try to build a PC for you and do what I can to prevent that.

Oh, and @various people:

NANO! *waves pompoms* Since I'm out of town for almost half the month, and have a bunch of dentist appointments for the rest...I probably am not playing. It's very definitely "just get the ideas going and get used to writing", and what you turn out may not even be a proper rough draft. But it's good practice, and it feels awesome to be able to look at those pages and go "I wrote that! It sucks, but it's mine!"

...Not to mention I find the Wrimos a wonderful source of encouragement, inspiration, and even friends. I have a circle of friends where I live that I met through NaNo, and they are the best. <3

Gowi, I agree with rping being an excellent tool for honing your skills and keeping the momentum going. You get rapid feedback as you go, and you have one or more other people to add ideas. My personal preference is tiny group rp or collaborative writing. Yeah, I can write alone. I've even managed to win NaNo twice. But I am as much a reader as a writer, and I love being surprised or having the story change in ways I didn't expect, and learning about characters and such that I don't know yet. Not to mention it's a bit easier, in my opinion, when you have someone to work off of.

@shylarah
Hey there. Nice to see you finally show up here. I appreciate the support too.

@CrazyShadowy
Until I'm either in the mind state or work or I collapse from exhaustion, I'll probably just hang out here and talk. I'd normally want to talk to Ailyn, but I don't want to wake her up; I did initially try to wake her due to the fact that she might've been able to help prevent the PC messing up but she didn't seem to hear the call and it's too late now, so...

@shylarah How do you feel about writing sections out of order? It was a “technique” a friend of mine a few years back recommended to essentially keep momentum. I’m feeling stuck on “chapter one” as far as things go and I’m wondering if skipping ahead and coming back is a good idea. I’ve had a rough first week so I’m pretty “behind quota” with the exercise and I feel I need to do something to kick my ass into gear with it.

@Shoryu Magami
Yeah, I understand not wanting to wake anyone up over this, while she might've been able to help it's a bit late now unfortunately. I'll chill here as well given what else do I gotta do? That and a friend is having issues so another reason to stay!

@Gowi ...*giggles* I have done it. I've done it for rp, writing ahead and on the side, though I have had to scrap whole swaths of things when events take a turn I didn't expect. I've rped out of order, too, though that requires a close relationship with the other player(s) and a solid understanding of where the story is going. Also a willingness to treat it more like collab writing than a back-and-forth rp. ^.^;; BUT IT'S A LOT OF FUN!!

@Shoryu Magami I dunno why but I don't often venture into chatter threads. *shrug* Maybe because I feel like I have to read everything, and I like to take a break now and then...but I'll do it for skype convos so go figure. -.- But yeah, here now, and I'll try to remember to keep checking in.

But I am as much a reader as a writer, and I love being surprised or having the story change in ways I didn't expect, and learning about characters and such that I don't know yet. Not to mention it's a bit easier, in my opinion, when you have someone to work off of.

Believe it or not, this is (one of) the reasons I role-play using characters from my setting whenever I can; I like to actually use them in situations outside of my control as a way to prove that I understand my characters in-depth enough to write how they would react and deal with situations I didn't create. I usually don't consider a character "ready" for my story until I can do that. As for the bit about it being easier, I'm not sure, but I definitely enjoy collaborating the bits that Ailyn has some influence over.

How do you feel about writing sections out of order?

I don't do this by default, but what do you make of the fact that I've (more or less) written the ending of my story first?

@CrazyShadowy
Heh, cheers mate.

@Shoryu Magami
Cheers to you as well, I'm gonna fire up a game so if I don't respond quickly that's why.

@shylarah *mega-glomps back*

RPing has helped me to improve my writing - specifically characterization. It's only when I collaborate with other writers and allow my characters to interact with other player characters for me to experiment, to test how well my character can work in settings that are not in my control. The rest is like Shoryu has said, to see how well I understand, how fleshed out my character is. It's just like interacting with people IRL. In fact, we can see real life as a RP game itself: we're playing the roles of our own self, interacting with others we cannot control, and the GM being... someone up there. XD

And... I am a huge fan of collabs, largely because of me being more used to novel-style writing, so the reading flow and rhythm in a post is very important to me. I find a lot of back-and-forth writing feels choppy and awkward to read, and I understand that in RP god-modding and whatnot are generally frowned upon, so collab help to smooth out the flow while allowing various players to move their characters accordingly without going into those forbidden tactics.

I find a lot of back-and-forth writing feels choppy and awkward to read

Then you are reading with the wrong type of RPers! ;)

<Snipped quote by Tsukune>

Then you are reading with the wrong type of RPers! ;)

Lol.

I should clarify that I'm not against back-and-forth style. Sometimes players need a break from collabs to do solo writing to develop their own characters in some ways, but in scenes with heavy actions or dialogues, back-and-forth isn't great with the flow.

@Crumbs
Dat green. Mah eyes. T_T