fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2814 ]

[ SECRET POST #2814 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2814 ⌋

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I just got my email that was all "Yo! NaNoWriMo is almost here: Get ready!" and it got me curious how many people here are planning to do it, how many aren't, and how many are just sick to death of hearing about it already.

Also, the people who are doing it, what's your prep method? Either in terms of story or time.

My story prep is always hit or miss, but I get very CLEAN ALL THE THINGS before NaNo. Mainly because I'm sort of a weird paradox that LOVES a nice clean home and workspace, but I'm the sloppiest person to ever slop, and I rarely notice just how filthy things have gotten until I look around at the mess and lose the will to live, let alone clean, or especially write. So I kind of ease into housework during September and set aside some time in October to, well, clean all the things.

And I always *say* I'm going to do a ton of advance cooking, but I never do.

Nope. Every time I've tried I get burned out. I write slow and short.

I can't imagine not doing it. I've been doing it since 2007 and it's gotten me through some hard times.

I haven't started preparing yet though. I've tried all different things. There were some years where I had the entire story planned out and there was one year where I went in with absolutely nothing just to see if I could still finish. I tend to plan differently depending on the story, so I'll have to figure out what I want to write before I decide how I'm going to handle the planning this time.

I should do some cleaning beforehand myself. A clean room makes me feel like I'm really on top of things and that always helps me get more stuff done.

I swear fewer and fewer people do, unless it's just that I have fewer writers on my flist.

I've attempted it, but when I was in college November was basically the worst time ever to try writing a novel in one month, and now that I'm out of college, I work all day and have other responsibilities, so all-nighters aren't really optional. I have no idea who does manage it.

I don't know how people with kids do it, but I've never really had a problem working the free time into my work schedule. Granted, I'm (unfortunately?) really good at letting everything else take a backseat.

I love NaNo. I'm like sarillia in that I couldn't imagine not doing it.

That said...my prep is next to nothing. It's basically, "oh, it's October 30th. I should think of what I'm going to write." I spend the next day and a half coming up with an idea, then pants the hell out of it.

I don't do well when I outline/plot ahead of time (I fell like I've already written it and get bored) but I like to have a list of prompts I can pull out of a hat when I get stuck. "Suddenly, an animal interferes!" "Character's former flame appears." "...appendicitis!"

The format doesn't really work for me, so no. I always feel vaguely left out, though. I'm a serious writer, I want to be involved in the writing things. But I work slow and steady and that's the way it is.

yeah idk

i tried the last two years and failed, but i guess i can learn stuff from that. (i stopped one day, and then one day turned into two, and two turned into a week, and then it was all too hard.) so i guess keeping on going is important.

but this year i'm not sure if i want to participate. november is generally a bad time for me - where i live i'm at university, and we have exams in november.

also this year has been a really tough one for me - depression, a lot of stress. i could barely write at all for the past couple of months.

if i do do it, i'll probably be aiming for something shorter than 50k

I've tried it before but November is the second busiest month for me. I have yet to be able to actually do this because of all the commitments I have every November. I've always thought November was a really dumb month for this thing.

Instead, I usually choose a handful of fics that are stalled because I know the next part is going to be hard to write and I force myself to work on those hard parts. I don't write as many words as NaNoWriMo but it helps me be prepared for writing in the next year by getting through the stumbling blocks and crossing a few things off my list.

I take advantage of the active forums for research and then make an attempt to write approximately 50,000 words of completed fanfiction that month. It's much more fulfilling for me, both in the complete aspect and as different stories. :)

I think I might continue on a previous NaNo novel this year, as I have one exam and possibly an essay due during November, so I think it will be too stressful to start from scratch (and also distracting as I have to get to know new characters and settings).

I get in a very housewifey mood both before and during NaNo, and I do a lot of cleaning and baking and cooking fancy meals and so on. NaNo is the only time of the year when I actually like doing the dishes (it helps me think).

As for story prepping, I usually wing it, so this year will actually be a new experience where I have a lot of both worldbuilding and plans for the story ready before November.

It's my favourite time of the year :D As others have mentioned, I can't imagine NOT doing it, this will be my tenth November (and I've been doing Camp for a few years, too, including both of this year's). I just. Adore it <3

Going to do what I did in 2009 and 2011 and do two this year! (It's definitely doable - try to start with a nice big sprint day, mine have ranged from 6k to 15k - and then try to average 4k a day. Definitely reserve time to do that, I find four hours is a nice buffer.) One is pretty well-developed aside from having no idea how to end it, the other is more solid plot-wise but needs some work for the characters. I'm trying to work out which one would be easier to do first, and I want to have both of those developed sufficiently by November 1st, so that's what I'll be doing this month and October.

Prep-wise, for the stories, I always write an outline - usually just a line for each chapter, maybe a few lines. I also draw... a LOT, trying to work out visuals and stuff. For a lot of them, I end up with a folder of other reference documents - research, or other little bits that I've worked out in the background for the sake of consistency (for instance, for the last Camp, I had a text document which had the room assignments for everyone).

And heh, yeah, I never manage advanced cooking. I DO have the advantage of being in Australia, though, where it's late spring in November, so I can just grab like. Fruit and stuff. Or make a salad.

15k, good god. Doable for you, I guess.

In fairness, I didn't sleep much that day, heh. Normally my sprint days are more like 8k or sometimes 10k. I actually have really bad insomnia at the moment, so hey, maybe I can use it to my advantage ;)

Re: NaNoWriMo Prep

inkdust - 2014-09-17 00:55 (UTC) - Expand

My record is 20k in a day. I'm still trying to beat it. I need to get my typing speed back up to what it was the last time I managed that though. And stop sleeping 16 hours a day.

Re: NaNoWriMo Prep

inkdust - 2014-09-17 01:04 (UTC) - Expand

Re: NaNoWriMo Prep

sarillia - 2014-09-17 01:10 (UTC) - Expand

Re: NaNoWriMo Prep

inkdust - 2014-09-17 01:31 (UTC) - Expand

Re: NaNoWriMo Prep

sarillia - 2014-09-17 01:40 (UTC) - Expand

Re: NaNoWriMo Prep

inkdust - 2014-09-17 01:48 (UTC) - Expand

I'm trying to decide how many words I want to shoot for. I've been going for more than the official 50k for years. But I'm not in the best place right now so I'm not sure how much I can handle.

I'm going to be doing it for the first time. Yaaaaaay! Becoming less virginal! Yaaaaaaaaaaay ♥

Which means I have fuck-all for prep skills or plans. You're supposed to have something specific for this? I'm just going to sit myself down and write whenever I feel like it since I don't have anything other than work and volunteer stuff to plan around. The only reason I'm going to do it is I've recently been writing down more detailed plans and ideas for the stories I have kicking around, and I figure a nano thing might be a fun thing to challenge myself with. See if I can actually write shit like it's a story, rather than scripts and outlines that will take years for me to panel into a comic, and just be proud of however much I get done by the end of the month.

Sitting down and writing whenever you feel like is a perfectly acceptable method to NaNoWriMo.

I've done it for the past few years and will probably do it again this year, I kind of like taking a break from fanfic for a month to try and write something original (though last year I decided to write a fic just to give it a go and since I figured I could actually finish a fic in 50000 words, which I have not yet managed for anything original. I was wrong). I don't usually do much prep besides having a pretty vague mental outline and getting my characters in order. The NaNo work I'm the happiest with is the one I just made up as I went along and the one I hate the most is the one I did tons of prep and outlining for, so I've decided to just stick with 'start writing, follow story wherever it ends up, fuck outlines.'

I'm going to try and do it, but I don't know if I'll be able to with the classes I'm taking this next term. I might have to do a half-WriMo, and have my goal by only 25000 words. D: We'll see.

I don't really have a prep method, but I'm going to be trying some things this year; there's a website where you can create your OC's, and flesh them out. I don't know where the link went; I know I reblogged it from Jaybie's tumblr, I'll look for that later. I do have a story I want to write, though, so that helps? It was the one I failed to write last year, so we'll see if it works out this time! |D

Was it Charahub? I completely forgot about that til now. I meant to play with it.

Yeah, that one! Thank you! :D

I'm trying to decide whether I want to pursue this OUAT idea of "grown up Henry becomes Captain Hook 2.0 and Neal Charming becomes Peter Pan 2.0 (both following their more traditional roles, not Sappy Pirate and Evil Pan)" for NaNo or if I want to make it the month where I finish all my fics/ideas in waiting.

I made a list of all the things I've written words for and am still interested in...there are 11. Two of which are relatively recently published WiPs that I really should finish, one is a WiP that I published in 2006 and last updated in 2008 but still kind of like, and the rest are ideas I love, struggle with, and had the foresight to not release to the world until they were done.

I'll probably go the "finish everything" route, unless this OUAT idea fleshes itself out more before November.

Uhg. I love NaNoWriMo. I've done it for five years, but I haven't won the last couple.

I've come to realize that the format just isn't for me. Even if I have an outline and a plan, when I write it just turns to garbage.

It turns into me following my outline, but expanding on everything and adding so many monologues and description just to get the day's wordcounts and it always turns to "going through the motions" rather than it being fun. Also I have pacing issues.

So, not for me sadly. :(

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