RPGC #6: The NaNo One!

[Naril]

I was busy being headbonked by an extraordinarily affectionate cat all night, but my word count is just shy of 29,000 words for today so I'm going to call that a win. :3

Part II is definitely kicking off around the 30k mark. I'm so excited!

[Frettzo]

I've been having an amazingly tough time writing as quickly as I wrote in the first half of the month, and I have no idea why. I am, however, learning a lot of new things about what I want to change in the story by the second draft, and I get excited every time I imagine how different and how much more alive it's going to feel by then!

[Gwynbleidd]

Progress is slow. But I do have a mech (dubbed Orbital Knights in this story) named Nero Angelus. TREMBLE IN FEAR!

[Keyguyperson]

Progress is slow. But I do have a mech (dubbed Orbital Knights in this story) named Nero Angelus. TREMBLE IN FEAR!

@Dark Wind

One of my MCs is a badass alien lady who graduated top of her class in the Fleet Rangers... and almost died from tripping into a thorn bush. Because she's spent her entire life in simulated gravity half that of Earth's, and has hollow bones.

Then there's the spy who brought his country the promise of the most advanced technology on Earth. He has never been able to bring himself to kill anything, despite the fact that he comes from a famine-ridden country that shall not be named.

With the exception of Doctor Who Is Really, Really Average, my MCs are all potential badasses who I didn't allow to be badass.

[mdk]

Today's write-in turned into old people chatting and trying to set me up with their granddaughters. Ugh. Well now I'm behind, and I'm gonna get hung up tomorrow because of a job thing. But maybe back on track soon.

[Keyguyperson]

Well, today I found out that my MC loves to keep his routine going. So now there's stating to be some actual substance to him, which is nice. I'm still on schedule, thanks to the power of "Bringing your phone to her with you".

[Naril]

I got to 30.700-ish words yesterday! The proverbial chickens are coming home to roost, and Our Heroines are learning about the motivations for their other set of antagonists from an unexpected (to them) source. Then Part II, with the Mad-Max-Meets-Furious-7 chase sequence, can start. :3

So, everyone, what's the short summary of your story? Do you have a beginning, middle, and end planned (or can you see them), or are you letting things grow in a more free-form kind of way, to put those pieces together later? We're getting toward the home stretch - sometimes it's fun (and useful!) to take a step back and look at the shape of the whole story. :3

[Frettzo]

At this point in time I feel like I've gotten to know the story I wanna tell so well that I can just start my rewrite right now. And by that, I mean start preparing an actual outline for a second draft. My first draft is just so full of plot holes and is so bland that I can't bring myself to write anymore in it due to embarrassment xD

[ayzrules]

So I'm doing like a modified version of Nano-I'm aiming for 25k words continuing something that's been put on the back burner for wayyyy too long, but I'm going to edit the stuff as I go because it just feels weird to not read something over at least once or twice after writing it (i usually wait a few days in between editing and writing each section though)

I have a semi-comprehensive plot outline, i know what i want in my head but it's not all written down (and my notes are super vague, im pretty sure im the only one who understands them oops)

so far I have 11k, im going to work as much as I can in the last bit of the month (this week has been horribly hectic in terms of school work, but i have a long break coming up so I'm planning on fully utilizing that time)

[mdk]

At this point in time I feel like I've gotten to know the story I wanna tell so well that I can just start my rewrite right now. And by that, I mean start preparing an actual outline for a second draft. My first draft is just so full of plot holes and is so bland that I can't bring myself to write anymore in it due to embarrassment xD

@Frettzo

FINISH IT!!!!

This is absolutely vital to your progress as a writer. See the plotholes, the poorly written scenes, the stupid chapters, the inconsistent characters -- know that they are there -= and finish anyway. You will always want to go back and edit what you've got so far -- the bigger the project, the stronger the urge. RESIST. Just keep on going.

[Frettzo]

<Snipped quote by Frettzo>

FINISH IT!!!!

This is absolutely vital to your progress as a writer. See the plotholes, the poorly written scenes, the stupid chapters, the inconsistent characters -- know that they are there -= and finish anyway. You will always want to go back and edit what you've got so far -- the bigger the project, the stronger the urge. RESIST. Just keep on going.

@mdk

Well, it's not that there's plotholes and stuff. I know that's normal in a first draft. But this abomination doesn't even have a theme! I started writing it without the slightest idea of a plot, and continuing it while knowing that I'll completely rewrite it with an outline and character sheets and location sheets and full worldbuilding done from scratch just makes it seem like a waste of time.

I'm very proud I've gotten up to 29.5k words, I never imagined I'd ever be able to even get close to that number, so I'm pretty satisfied with this year's NaNoWriMo.

[Keyguyperson]

Well, while I don't have the time to compose some encouraging words (must... keep... writing...), I felt like I had to share this quote with y'all.

What am I seeing here? He thought silently to himself, too impressed by the feat of organization to speak. Or perhaps just too stunned by the fact that the perfectly normal man who had been trying to sleep during a helicopter ride a couple days ago had alphabetized the random junk in his closet.

[Naril]

Your first draft is never a waste of time, and finishing your project is never a waste of time. Seeing how things fall together at the point where you say "This version is done" is absolutely invaluable for any second drafts, third drafts or rewrites. I really don't want to sound mean, but stopping your first draft because it's full of holes, or because you know you have to rewrite it or you spilled nine French 75s on it or whatever is a really good way to get stuck in a never-ending cycle of "first drafts" that are never complete enough to warrant further work.

If your goal was to get to 50,000 words, get to 50,000 words. Then your next goal can be "use these words to make something better next time." Beyond anything else, a creator's mantra is finish what you start.

Edit: Oh, and so we all get our dose of cheerful-Naril, 32,000 words! Part II starts tomorrow! :3 This story is probably going to be around 80-90k words for the first draft. Maybe I'll finish by the New Year! That would be fun.

[mdk]

30,390. Should overtake the targets this weekend -- I finally got to the part I really wanted to write all along, so from here on in, smoooooooth sailing (until I run out of story, which should be around 43k or so, but who's counting)

[mdk]

<Snipped quote by mdk>

Well, it's not that there's plotholes and stuff. I know that's normal in a first draft. But this abomination doesn't even have a theme!

@Frettzo

You say that like it's a BAD thing! Look -- you gotta walk before you can run. Just keep on going. You can always edit tomorrow, but you only get 24 hours to write today.

[mdk]

Just a friendly reminder

If anybody is hoping to get in the regular-mode RPGC contest, the deadline for submissions is Sunday night at midnight. So far, it looks like everyone has opted for NaNoWriMo instead -- which is outstanding! In the event that there are no 'standard' submissions, we're just gonna carry on the NaNoWriMo discussion in this thread and track/announce winners here as well. NaNoWriMo people do not need to worry about the Sunday deadline at all -- just keep writing, and reach your wordcount goals by the 30th.

[Naril]

And I'm finally at Part II! 33,793 words, and Our Heroines are about to embark on what I hope will be a high-speed, high-stakes, adrenaline-filled race. A vast new field of possibility has opened, but only Our Heroines and two other groups know what's really there - and none of them have the whole truth, only three different perspectives, conjectures, and outright myths.

I can't believe I started this story with the image of a fifty-meter monowheel shooting lightning at an airship while they both charged over prairieland towards a distant mountain range. I love everything that's grown out of it, and I'm so happy it took me almost 34,000 words just to get to the lightning-shooting.

What does Part III have in store? Keep listening to me babble and you'll find out!

[Keyguyperson]

At 33,382 words, I realized that I had been writing about the refugee crisis this whole time without even knowing it. So I'm just gonna roll with that. In other news, MC has actually grown a personality, while MC #3 is having a nice little internal struggle. MC #2, meanwhile, is just having a lot of fun anticipating seeing the stars twinkle for the first time in her life.

The United States Navy, of course, is having a lot of fun in their staring contest with the Chinese.

[mdk]

I accidentally took today off because a football game ran long and was far too interesting.... so I pounded out some outlining for tomorrow. I'm only at 31k. On the plus side, my desktop is hooked up and ready to go, just need to get Windows re-installed for the new hardware and hopefully everything then works. There's still a chance that most of my work so far is erased, but I don't think that's likely -- fingers crossed, I'll find out tomorrow.

edit: phew, dodged a bullet. DO NOT reinstall windows, it will delete everything. Buying a new hard drive and installing on that, then moving everything back over. Though, now I'm not sure if I'll have access to everything in time to verify my wordcount..... oh well. I'll manage.

[Frettzo]

Funny thing happened to me: I only needed to remember about Shia's Just Do It video to force myself to keep writing my first draft. It might suck, but after 2.000 words I feel like my second draft will be even better. I'm gonna finish this friggin first draft and I'm gonna win this damn NaNoWriMo even if it's the last thing I do!