National Novel Writing Month (NaNo)

[Kuzo]

[member="Selena Halcyon"] That's fantastic!

 

[Kixi Rajki]

Not sure what this is about but in writing a novel which is well in excess of the word amount you've listed here and it's far from finished. I've already spent 5 months on it. This will take most likely well over a year to compete. The story so far is here.

KnM Blade - In Destiny's Way

(Note this is for mature audiences only. It contains extreme violence, profanity and extreme sexual scenes.)

http://www.movellas.com/story/201605251345021672-knm-blade-in-destinys-way;jsessionid=2F4AA680C7E8550A2E9B885A512DC750.worker2

Or here to download ePub if you don't wanna sign up to Movellas.com

http://www.kixi-rajki.com/k3k-contents-page

Note this is set in a universe created by me (known as Kixi 3000 or k3k) and is still in the initial stages of development. Here is the outline so far which the non written parts are ever changing and far from complete.

http://www.kixi-rajki.com/full-outline-of-storyline


And I've also written this novel and this one is complete but part of a huge timeline for a cross universe character.

Reunion : Part 1 - Entrapment.

(Contains some violence and profanity),

http://www.movellas.com/story/201610150121215526-reunion-part-1-entrapment-epilogue/201610150212458309


Or here to download ePub if you don't wanna sign up to Movellas.com

http://www.kixi-rajki.com/xkr

Timeline here. Note a modified star wars universe only version of this is played here on Star Wars Chaos.

http://www.kixi-rajki.com/timeline

 

[Yinepu Ntchwaidumela]

[member="Irajah Ven"]
Mine almost became something of a spiritual experience going through that whole month haha. It's crazy what can happen when you're so fervently dedicated to something for such a compact amount of time with a deadline, squeezing in as much activity as you can.

You totally got this! Keep me/us updated about your progress!

I actually had a similar experience. I did Nano twice; starting a novel in 2006 and then again in 2008. In 2006 I didn't have full time work so I did more or less nothing but write and sleep. I realised that I had around 37,000 words after 8 days but was also completely burnt out and realised I still had a lot of story to tell and would never finish it by 50,000 words. That epiphany shaped how I approached the contest when I decided to attempt it again in 2008. Despite now working full time, I set aside four days a week and set goals of two to three thousand words, and didn't worry if my story would need much more work. I managed to hit 65k, and what I consider to be a decent first act of a three act story.

I haven't done Nano since then but I've found pacing myself is the best way to approach writing; better to be slow and good than fast and awful. It's like the difference between tacos in Mexico and stopping for Taco Bell; night and day in terms of quality.

Also, one piece of advice to people who worry about word counts; don't. You'll have days where you can't write anything at all, or days where you can only get out a few hundred words, then you'll hit your stride and drop a 6,000 word day. Grooves work like that, and just remember that even though it's a relatively short time frame (30 days) it's still a marathon and not a sprint. Motor on, it's never too late as long as you're still enjoying what you're doing.

 

[Selena Halcyon]

Oh I totally get how the not finishing the whole book during NaNo can be a downer. My other project, which I won with the first time, is a book that will probably end up being around 250,000 words. I might have been able to split it, but I have some serious doubts on that. I got a ton of it done during NaNo, but for some reason it still just did not feel good to get the 50k words done then.

 

[Yinepu Ntchwaidumela]

Yup. That's why on the first go round it seemed pointless to keep going, like I knew I could probably rest a few days and hit fifty k but I would have still had so much story to tell. I went into my second go around looking at it as more a push to create the start of a novel, rather than a complete novel, and thus not stress so much that the scope of it seemed to elude me when I was working on planning it.

Again, the best advice I can give is to not worry about completion percentages or word counts but just write, and work on trying to write consistently. Count words to track your own progress but don't put too much serious investment on the number, as it's very arbitrary.

 

[Kuzo]

Yup. Like I said in the first post:

"For those not familiar, the goal (for those participating) is to use the month of November to write (part) of a novel! The official goal is 50,000 words. The idea isn't to complete a fully polished novel in a month, but to get the rough draft of a good chunk of one squared away."

Writing is better than not writing

 

[Kuzo]

[member="Kixi Rajki"] Thank you for sharing your work with us!

 

[Kixi Rajki]

Yup. Like I said in the first post:

"For those not familiar, the goal (for those participating) is to use the month of November to write (part) of a novel! The official goal is 50,000 words. The idea isn't to complete a fully polished novel in a month, but to get the rough draft of a good chunk of one squared away."

Writing is better than not writing

So atm, I'm writing the next chapter of KnM Blade - In Destiny's Way. The F-Zero race (well it's about the deciding race of the championship but don't know what I'll call the chapter yet). It's probably gonna be finished in a week or two and given the length of my chapters so far (I had to divide the previous one into a part 1 and 2 because it was too long), it should meet the 50000 word requirement. Also this chapter will have minimal profanity, zero violance and no sexual references like some of the others so could be a good choice perhaps?

 

[Selena Halcyon]

14129

Cooking with gas.

EDIT: 14635

Things are going swimmingly. Story is moving exactly as desired, but I added a chapter. More like I split one, but the outline holds strong.

 

[Fatty]

My novel has taken a sharp turn from hard science fiction alien abduction to a flashback to a day in the life of a much younger biracial Okinawan girl, her pet Cricket, her Chinese best (girl)friend/proto-romantic interest Sachie, and Sachie's "evil brother with the snake", in which said brother feeds his snake with poor dear Cricket in front of her, scarring young Sayaka forever :|

What the hell am I writing? lol

Anyway, I am currently at 3434 after five unbroken days of daily writing! So at least, I'm on track for that

 

[Kuzo]

[member="Selena Halcyon"] You're on fire!

[member="Fatty"] Write write!

My own NaNo work got held up by this killed sinus infection. I'm behind, but it's early in the month and I'm not too worried.

 

[Selena Halcyon]

Almost right at 16k perfectly. Much slower day (Football!!! Go Ravens!!!) but I intend to get another thousand before midnight. Tomorrow I intend to finish at 20k.

EDIT: Hit the 17k

 

[Fatty]

Okay, the story about the cricket and the snake actually perfectly trans-mutated into an analogy for my alien. I discovered today that crickets have five eyes, and obviously snakes only have two... so my insectoid serpentine alien with seven eyes seems to fit perfectly as a "cricket/snake" blend.

Anyway! My short jaunt into cultural exploration transitioned nicely back into my sci-fi. Getting closer to a point where more characters will be introduced, and where the MC might start developing a plan.

Also question, is transitioning from a limited third person perspective into a first person "memoir" if you will, distracting to a reader? I made sure to distinguish heavily that the perspective changed and we were in the MC's thoughts/memories, by separating the texts from the "main body" of the novel, and changing the font to one that looks similar to handwriting (not sure if that's nice to look at though).

Tonight, I am still under 5k, but quickly approaching at 4286 words!

 

[Kuzo]

Also question, is transitioning from a limited third person perspective into a first person "memoir" if you will, distracting to a reader? I made sure to distinguish heavily that the perspective changed and we were in the MC's thoughts/memories, by separating the texts from the "main body" of the novel, and changing the font to one that looks similar to handwriting (not sure if that's nice to look at though).

I've read some books that do this where it's fine, and some books where it *is* distracting, so I think, for me personally, it depends on how it's done?

 

[Selena Halcyon]

Most things come down to "if it is done well then it is okay." However, qualifying a truism is always difficult.

Personally, I would try and avoid things like that. You can get into characters thoughts fairly well even if you are in third person. However, I am far from an artsy writer and prefer to just tell my story as simply as possible.

 

[Rusty]

Okay. I'm back in civilization, going to try to get caught up today, or at least get a good start on getting caught up.

 

[Selena Halcyon]

I am sitting at 19,305 before heading off to work, so getting to 20,000 afterwards should be a breeze. Probably will push for 20,500-21,000 tonight though. I want to increase my averages.

 

[Rusty]

Second chapter is up. I'm at 7179 words. Going to try to get some sleep, and after maybe knock out another.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Irajah Ven"]

Blood on the Pines. I just passed the halfway mark.

 

[Kuzo]

[member="Jorus Merrill"] That's awesome! Go go!