RPGC #6: The NaNo One!

[Keyguyperson]

Well, I made progress today. 1,750 or so more words, which is enough to get me closer to the actual daily goal! My sickness set me back a bit, but with luck, I'll be fully on track by Sunday.

[Naril]

Mmm. I'm very sleepy tonight, but as I close in on midnight I'm leaving the story at 22,300 words. I'm thinking I'll hit 25,000 tomorrow, depending on how much time I spend petting cats or, gasp, shopping. Fall is here in earnest and I think I need some sexy boots. :3 And probably some new slacks.

Remember everyone, National Back Up Your Novel Day might officially be "Mondays in November," but it really should be every day. :3 We're all deep enough in that losing all that work would be heartbreaking!

[Frettzo]

Well, I made progress today. 1,750 or so more words, which is enough to get me closer to the actual daily goal! My sickness set me back a bit, but with luck, I'll be fully on track by Sunday.

@Keyguyperson

Man, I've been getting so much motivation the last couple of days since you bested my word counts. I just want to get my lead back! Be very careful, for I might recover it today >:)

Remember everyone, National Back Up Your Novel Day might officially be "Mondays in November," but it really should be every day. :3 We're all deep enough in that losing all that work would be heartbreaking!

@Naril

Thanks for the reminder!

[mdk]

I'm catching up, but definitely counting on a Sunday write-in to reach that 25k tier. Everything I'm writing on my laptop feels wrong, but that's fine I guess -- motherboard should get here next week and I'm confident I'll get my mojo back. Just crossed over 20k this morning and going strong... though, I'm concerned that I might run out of story before 50k. If that happens, everybody involved keeps a journal, so I can always rehash the story with a little more personal flavor. If I wind up cutting it from the final version, at least it'll give me a chance to explore the character emotions that everyone should be feeling along the way.

[Frettzo]

You can always introduce side arcs in your story. They usually take a couple chapters to complete and boost your wordcount by around 5-6k. I know I was worried about where to take my story and I decided to tackle that worry by doing a side arc. Turns out that side arc turned into the perfect continuation of the main arc, so there.

[Keyguyperson]

You can always introduce side arcs in your story. They usually take a couple chapters to complete and boost your wordcount by around 5-6k. I know I was worried about where to take my story and I decided to tackle that worry by doing a side arc. Turns out that side arc turned into the perfect continuation of the main arc, so there.

@Frettzo

This. I was running short of story, so I just threw in some spy drama stuff and ended up with a much better storyline that spawned off of it.

[mdk]

I'm doing a few new things with the villain, and some more character exploration than before, but the general plot doesn't have a whole lot of room to grow. I kinda exactly know what I want the plot to look like when I'm finished. Still -- the words must flow. Maybe Captain Pembroke can have an adventure.

[Naril]

I'm at 23,600 words for today! A little less than I expected, but I spent a lot of time with friends, shopping, and having naps, and I'm still ahead of the word count requirement for today. :3

My story is still going very well - I'm entirely certain it's going to run past 50,000 words, which I have to admit is a comfort. I always planned for this story to be broken into three very different pieces, and I'm closing in on where the second one is going to start - I'm thinking that might be around the 30k mark. The plot threads are braiding together to kick off the next part of the narrative, and that's a lot of fun.

[Keyguyperson]

I'm at 22,662 words right now, still hoping to get on track tomorrow. Might not happen though, because I have a lot of homework.

[mdk]

I just got a quick archaeology lesson from the NaNo forums. Now my characters know what the hell they're supposed to be carrying, and that's gonna add like a whole chapter to each of the resupply runs they have to make (and because I'm a bastard, they have to make several, because they keep losing everything).

21k on the nose. I've got a major, major scene coming up (Poor Benevici -- I made it much, much worse), and I think I'm gonna save it for tomorrow.

[WilsonTurner]

@Naril
Soo... could I read it when you're done? :D?

[Keyguyperson]

I just got a quick archaeology lesson from the NaNo forums. Now my characters know what the hell they're supposed to be carrying, and that's gonna add like a whole chapter to each of the resupply runs they have to make (and because I'm a bastard, they have to make several, because they keep losing everything).

21k on the nose. I've got a major, major scene coming up (Poor Benevici -- I made it much, much worse), and I think I'm gonna save it for tomorrow.

@mdk

Gee, I'm really not being as harsh to my characters as usual. Hell, I even have a nice, happy ending where only about a million people die in a way that DOESN'T involve nuclear weaponry!

[mdk]

<Snipped quote by mdk>

Gee, I'm really not being as harsh to my characters as usual. Hell, I even have a nice, happy ending where only about a million people die in a way that DOESN'T involve nuclear weaponry!

@Keyguyperson

sure, sure. I'll believe it when I see it.

[RomanAria]

This banter makes me wish I'd stuck with it, but chosen a slightly more grimdark... Hmm.
Oh.
Dammit. I'm seriously considering restarting with half the month left.
Guys talk me out of this, now, before I do something I regret.

[WilsonTurner]

This banter makes me wish I'd stuck with it, but chosen a slightly more grimdark... Hmm.
Oh.
Dammit. I'm seriously considering restarting with half the month left.
Guys talk me out of this, now, before I do something I regret.

@RomanAria

Well, if you start now, you'd have to do a shitton of writing, and you already know that'd burn you out even worse, and you still might not even get it finished.

It'd take too much time, with only 15 or 16 days left. You'd have to write so much that your fingers would fall off :b

[RomanAria]

@WilsonTurner My fingers are pretty damn resilient because clarinet for two/three hours a day. I'mma do it. I think I'm going to try.

[WilsonTurner]

@WilsonTurner My fingers are pretty damn resilient because clarinet for two/three hours a day. I'mma do it. I think I'm going to try.

@RomanAria

Nope- don't!
Do not do it!!!!

...
Do you not remember what you said when you went NaNo cheerleader?!

[Frettzo]

Writing 4.000 words a day... Damn, that's got to be tough, no matter how you look at it! xD

[Naril]

@WilsonTurner - I'm flattered you'd want to! I do have a small flock of beta readers already, but if you'd really like to, we'll talk. :3

@RomanAria - We're getting pretty deep into the event by now - you'd need to do more than 3300 words a day, if you started fresh today, to finish by the November 30 date. There's certainly nothing stopping anyone from doing that, of course! The point of National Novel Writing Month is to be almost purely generative, so any word count that gets you toward your goal is valuable.

However, at least for me, another big, big part of NaNo has always been to simply get into the habit of writing every day, and it's useful to have the (ephemeral, unofficial, self-imposed) structure of the event to help with that. Charging toward the finish line so you can see the "50,000 word" banner on your NaNo username but getting there in a shamble of ruined nights, hair-pulling stress, and self-recrimination about not starting sooner, not outlining, outlining too much, or whatever, helps nobody. That kind of thing certainly doesn't help you feel like this was any fun, and we're supposed to be doing this both as a challenge (with nearly zero stakes) and to have fun with ourselves, each other, and our ideas. There is no award for "Most Miserable National Novel Writing Month Participant," after all.

What I'm saying is that if you want to try to get to the 50,000-word goal, by all means, do. But if you're looking for the spirit of what NaNo is meant to inspire, just start writing. Just open up a word processor, a notebook, pick up a tattoo needle or start arranging dead beetles in a language only you understand and start writing. Write a little every day, unconstrained by NaNo or anything else. If you write ten words in a day or ten thousand, they're all equally valid.

[Keyguyperson]

This banter makes me wish I'd stuck with it, but chosen a slightly more grimdark... Hmm.
Oh.
Dammit. I'm seriously considering restarting with half the month left.
Guys talk me out of this, now, before I do something I regret.

@RomanAria

This is a terrible idea on every level.

DO IT.