Not signed in (Sign In)

Categories

Vanilla 1.1.8 is a product of Lussumo. More Information: Documentation, Community Support.

Welcome Guest!
Want to take part in these discussions? If you have an account, sign in now.
If you don't have an account, apply for one now.
    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeJan 31st 2010
     

    Congrats! Throws confetti

  1.  

    Yay, Ari is back, and with a rough draft completed too!

    (Maybe I should follow her example…)

  2.  

    It is a good feeling.

  3.  

  4.  

    :/

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeFeb 1st 2010 edited
     

    Hooray, I wrote my opening sentence! Again!

    This will be my eleventh (recorded) attempt at writing a novel.

    The previous ten, mysteriously, all peter out at around 3000 words or less.

    Well, 11 th time lucky, right?

    •  
      CommentAuthorJeni
    • CommentTimeFeb 1st 2010
     

    Well, 11 th time lucky, right?

    Until you die of THE PLAGUE.

    /Camus reference.

    • CommentAuthorNo One
    • CommentTimeFeb 2nd 2010
     

    Well, 11th time lucky, right?

    Hope so. Try not to land on 13th time, yeah? =D

  5.  

    Good luck!

    (24000 words this year.)

  6.  

    Champion, Steph. I’m still on page 8. facepalm

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeFeb 2nd 2010
     

    Let’s see… My goal is half a million words this year, and so far I have written… only a few. xP

  7.  

    24000 words in about a year. But I myseriously lost a few chapters, because my USB drive is made of fail.

  8.  

    I am 300 words off 30 000 this year!

    • CommentAuthorDanielle
    • CommentTimeFeb 6th 2010 edited
     

    I took up a challenge issued by Writer’s Digest, where you ask a friend for a number between 100 and 1,000 and the first word that pops into their head, then write a story with that exact word count. The word they give you will be both the title and the last word of the story. I asked my brother, and he gave me the number 777 and the word “Jonathan.” I just finished it!

    Oh yeah, uh huh, I feel accomplished…..:P

  9.  

    Good on you, Dani!

  10.  

    Hooray! Will you post it up here?

    Wrote a bit today, less than a page, methinks. :( I feel like I’m telling a lot rather than showing, but I think I’ll just go with it for now, and then fix everything later and add in more ‘showing’ scenes later.

    • CommentAuthorDanielle
    • CommentTimeFeb 6th 2010
     

    Hooray! Will you post it up here?

    If you really want to see it, sure. I was kind of just flying by the seat of my pants with it, so I’m not sure how good it is.

    •  
      CommentAuthorSpanman
    • CommentTimeFeb 6th 2010
     

    I’ve written about 120k words since last February, but the problem is that it was on three different projects so it wasn’t much after all. =(

    •  
      CommentAuthorRed Sky
    • CommentTimeFeb 6th 2010
     

    Junior year has killed my novel the past few months, but today I decided, “Screw it. If I’m having trouble writing it, I can at least do my best to revise.” (I have been able to work on shorter things; I just can’t sustain a novel.)

    And in a brief moment of clarity, while reading a sentence in the book, I found a new beginning, a new narrative, a change in the story that I want to make that might alter everything else and change the story to a direction I will be happier with. I realize now that part of the reason I felt the story die was because I’d been letting too much of myself seep into the story (not as a self-insert. Just too much of my own life’s conflicts, or my thoughts and feelings, got into it, and it changed a sci-fi story into one of those modern literary novels solely about the narrator and nothing else, only if one of those novels were dressed up with some sci-fi elements). And now everything is back.

    If only I could just find a way to get out from the rest of junior year and all the AP work. =/

    •  
      CommentAuthorDiamonte
    • CommentTimeFeb 6th 2010
     

    Oh, I totally understand. This year just wipes me out, so even when I do have time, I’m too drained to feel like writing.

  11.  

    At the beginning of the month, I started a new novel. It’s utter crap so far, but I refuse to edit until it’s Finished Crap.

    I’m writing the rough draft out longhand (in ink!) to discourage editing. It’ll be so nice to look back to a book filled with my handwritten words. Pages upon pages of my writing. swoon

  12.  

    That seems like a wise approach, even if writing in longhand does seem vaguely crazy in this day and age, since I can’t imagine not trying to write one without wordcount or find+replace tools. Still, if that’s what it takes for you to stop constant self-editing, more power to you. Constant backpedaling revisions just waste your time when you’re on a first draft, which will suck no matter how frequently you tweak it.

  13.  

    Exactly. I mean, wordcounting is going to be a supreme bite in somewhere painful, but I plan to type things up later. I’ll probably force myself to type it out unedited and then start the whole “CHAINSAW REVISION” thing (and I was going to ask for some suggestions about that and realised those could wait until the end).

    Writing in longhand is crazy, but I dunno, the reward seems a little more tangible than an icon on the screen and a statement of “My novel is 50mb, woo!”

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeFeb 6th 2010
     

    There was one person who did NaNoWriMo longhand. He took his average words per page and just wrote however many pages to reach his goal.

  14.  

    I’ve basically gone, “Hey, I want to write a novel that I’ll finish. Hey, I want to fill this notebook and there are 180 pages; I’ll do maybe three pages a day.” And maybe I’ll do the math later.

  15.  

    I think I just need to screw my head on and do it. I keep on wondering ‘well, what now?’ even though I know what I want to do. It’s just that I don’t know how to do it exactly.

  16.  

    I’m not plotting at all because I know that even though it would help me, it would probably actually stop me from writing and I’d never write it. I’ve made a goal and I will meet it with an ending.

    Will the ending necessarily fit? No. But I will get to it, even if the ending is as bad as Breaking Dawn‘s.

  17.  

    @SWQ: Yeah, ultimately that’s all there is to it. You just have to force yourself to dive in headfirst and stop making excuses. Sadly, you may need to do it more than once. I’m doing the same old song and dance for rewrites that I did when I was just getting myself to start the first draft, except now I can make the excuse of wanting more feedback even though I already have plenty to work with. Gotta keep the ball rolling, I guess.

    @hmyd: I’d recommend plotting in your head when you’re doing other stuff, if you can spare the attention, like in class and such. You obviously don’t need to map out everything, but knowing what direction you mean to go in when you sit down to write can keep you from sitting around and thinking about it during writing time.

  18.  

    So do you suggest planning out major events and stuff like that? Vague, “tie up that loose end in this chapter”-sorts of things?

  19.  

    Major events are probably a good idea, at least. It gives you things to work towards, so you can break out your writing gear and know where you want your guys to be by the end of X amount of page-space or whatever. It is a satisfying feeling to have clever loose ends lead to major reveals and that sort of thing in a first draft already, but I don’t think you should go out of your way for it, especially if you haven’t given it much thought beforehand. It’s easier to bang out a rough framework so you can have a better idea of where to put that sort of thing.

    For example’s sake, I made a chapter-by-chapter outline, although it really only had a sentence fragment or two for each. I ended up deviating from it quite a bit in parts, but it was still useful to have a vague map. I know the parts I put more thought into ahead of time(the first and last thirds) came out a whole lot tighter and more connected than the middle third, which kinda wandered around between set-pieces and major lengthy dialogue bits.

  20.  

    Yeah, I see what you mean, sansa.

    I think I’m too preoccupied with making it ‘good’ right now. Okay, so I’m telling a lot, and my beginning’s boring, and I haven’t introduced things properly. At least I see it, and after I actually finish, I can go back and fix it.

    •  
      CommentAuthorDiamonte
    • CommentTimeFeb 7th 2010
     

    I’ve dedicated today to writing, starting in 15 minutes. Then, the internet’s being unplugged and it’s crazy fun time.

  21.  

    I wish I could do that…

    •  
      CommentAuthorDiamonte
    • CommentTimeFeb 7th 2010 edited
     

    I ended up spending most of the time working on that essay, then needing to log onto the internet for research for an important part of my novel. Alas. I guess I’ll start now with that whole “Write like crazy” day.

  22.  

    Go, Dia!

    You can do it!

    •  
      CommentAuthorDiamonte
    • CommentTimeFeb 7th 2010
     

    I’ve been far less productive than I meant to be.

  23.  

    Doesn’t matter, you must have done SOMETHING!

    •  
      CommentAuthorNorthmark
    • CommentTimeFeb 9th 2010
     

    Hooray, got some writing done on a new little plot idea I got a few days ago. Going to keep using Write or Die on it and see how far I can get.

    •  
      CommentAuthorAdamPottle
    • CommentTimeFeb 10th 2010
     

    Started writing something about high school (Canadian, ages 14-18 for most) where the nerds aren’t cool people who just need to be understood and the jocks aren’t unpleasant folks. I may blatantly self-insert as an antagonist? Gosh.

  24.  

    I thought of a much better way to begin my book! (I was feeling very boring and slow with the other one, but I really like this new ‘in media res’ idea that I’m having.)

  25.  

    Started writing something about high school (Canadian, ages 14-18 for most) where the nerds aren’t cool people who just need to be understood and the jocks aren’t unpleasant folks. I may blatantly self-insert as an antagonist? Gosh.

    Unpossible, Pottle! Everybody knows all nerds are wonderful and all jocks are assholes.

    •  
      CommentAuthorSpanman
    • CommentTimeFeb 10th 2010
     

    Because in every nerd, however socially inept, there is nestled the Great Potential to Change the World. At least, we like to think so.

  26.  

    Same with every jock, though, and that’s where it falls apart.

    I haven’t written anything in about a week.

  27.  

    I’m now at 61 pages, with 28,225 words. w00t!

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeFeb 14th 2010 edited
     
    I've started re-developing my languages again, so the actual story is on hold until I finish development of the languages (all 11 of them) and replacing all the old character and place names on the recently re-developed map.

    -___-;

    •  
      CommentAuthorDiamonte
    • CommentTimeFeb 14th 2010
     

    Eleven languages. That’s ambitious. Good luck! :D

  28.  

    Very ambitious. That’s quite an undertaking, Taku!

    Wrote 1.5 pages in an hour, which is pretty fast for me. I started a(nother) new draft, but I like where this one is going more than the previous ones, so that’s what counts.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeFeb 14th 2010
     
    Well, they all grow from the one, so it's actually easier than it seems, once you have the one 'parent' language set up.
    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeFeb 14th 2010
     
    Blehhh... I have to get into writing again, I can write about 1700 words per hour, but I can't just sit down and write it. :/
  29.  

    I’m a horribly slow writer, but I’ll take whatever I can get.

    I feel so happy…I haven’t been excited about my story in a long time. I’m glad I decided to start over and incorporate my new beginning ideas.

    •  
      CommentAuthorRed Sky
    • CommentTimeFeb 14th 2010
     

    I’m an absurdly slow writer because I get too self-conscious about the prose and refuse to let myself go on until I’m satisfied with each sentence. I have to learn to let that go.

    •  
      CommentAuthorMoldorm
    • CommentTimeFeb 14th 2010
     

    I do that too. I think that’s why I’ve never finished a NaNo.

  30.  

    I think I have never finished a draft because I always want to start over, because there’s something new I want to add in, or a better way to begin, or something…

  31.  

    My mental notes of my novel’s rough draft:

    Twenty-plus pages and still no sign of a plot.

    Characters seem to be missing personalities.

    Angst, what angst?

  32.  

    Aw…I haven’t been writing lately. I’m hoping to get some work done on my choir trip if I don’t spend it all studying for chemistry. (I spend 12+ hours on the bus in all)

    •  
      CommentAuthorJabrosky
    • CommentTimeFeb 24th 2010
     

    I haven’t written anything recently either. The problem is, I want my next writing project to have different subject matter than the usual dinosaurs or ancient/prehistoric people, but since that’s the stuff I like writing about the most, I’m at a loss for ideas.

  33.  

    FINALLY broke 30000 words for the year!

    I think I have never finished a draft because I always want to start over, because there’s something new I want to add in, or a better way to begin, or something…

    A tip I heard was that if you suddenly decide halfway through your book that you want to, say, set it in Paris instead of London, what you do is make a note in all caps or something at the part where you’ve written up to to the effect that your setting is now Paris, and from then on you write your setting in Paris. That way you don’t get caught up in little details.

  34.  

    That’s what I did every time I felt like altering something. Just pretend like you’ve been writing it that way all along and keep going, since it’s not worth it to kill your momentum by trying to retcon stuff you’re just going to edit later anyway.

  35.  

    I should try that, Steph.

    •  
      CommentAuthorDiamonte
    • CommentTimeFeb 24th 2010
     

    I’ve been a slug about writing the last couple days. 32,000 words into the third draft of Redemption and I’ve lost my momentum. On the other hand, I’ve got some great ideas stirring around in my head, just gotta get around to them. I want to finish this story first though. Maybe it’s time for a few days to let my muse rest.

  36.  

    32,000 words is about 31,000 words more than me!

  37.  

    Careful with breaks, Dia. I took a week-long break that has lasted for several months now. That said, if you’re 32k words into your 3rd draft you’re an old hand at this by now, so you probably know what you’re doing.

  38.  

    I just did a poem about a baby dying of SIDS.

    And after also writing a poem about hundreds of kids dying in their sleep and another about a girl getting raped, I’ve been told by everyone who’s read my stuff that I desperately need a more positive outlook in life.

    • CommentAuthorNo One
    • CommentTimeFeb 27th 2010
     

    My teacher just asked my class to write an Avatar fanfic. I’m now looking at my story and thinking: “That’s one very lame story. Write it over again!”

    I blame it on my best friend Smiley. Her story is way better than mine. At least I’m improving on my story.

    Aaaaaaannndddd….. my other class teacher (I have two class teachers) told my class to draw our own Avatar. First the face, then the whole thing and lastly the environment.

    After drawing my artwork, (I’m up to the second stage) people said I need a lighter outlook on life.

    I feel your pain Marquis. Some of my drawings, people thinks I should perhaps take it easy, lighten up or get a more positive outlook. And my poetry too.

  39.  

    “That’s one very lame story. Write it over again!”

    Too bad James Cameron didn’t think of this when he wrote it.

    dohoho

  40.  

    Heh, so true.

  41.  

    I’m at 30,154 words, now!

    It’s taken me about a year to write that much, though I’ve been working with roughly the same characters and plot line (it’s evolved a lot, but the vauge idea is the same) for about four or five years.
  42.  

    Congrats, Inspector! Progress is progress.

    I’m on the verge of starting out on a new project, and I’m pretty psyched. Alien dragons and scientific magic and a human rebellion for the win! Despite the plotline being a little cliched, I’m convinced this thing will be fun to write.

    I just need a little more research and outlining, then . . . I am going to write up a storm. For the first time since NaNo. Gahcan’twait!

  43.  

    I’m hoping that reading all this stuff about Tolkien and LotR will inspire me to write more.

  44.  

    Oh snap, I finally started rewriting after taking forever and a day off. Granted, I’ve only got two paragraphs so far, but if the first go-round was any indication, every word written is marginally easier than the one it follows.

  45.  

    In my state of being half-asleep yesterday, I apparently wrote a incoherent short story that mentally scarred my Psychology teacher.

  46.  

    POAST IT

  47.  

    DO IT FAGGOT

  48.  

    But when I became awake enough to read it, it scarred me too. And due to it being handwritten and having a particular bad quality, I don’t really want to post it. All I can say is that it involves grandparental incest.

  49.  

    Tease. I was going to post my three-quarters asleep story about time travel if you posted yours.

  50.  

    All I can say is that it involves grandparental incest.

  51.  

    All I can say is that it involves grandparental incest.

    O.0
    ...
    .....
    .....

    Hides

  52.  

    My birthday is coming up, so I asked for one of those pretty notebooks from Barnes and Noble that I’ve been longing for for the longest time…I just might actually get it!

    Also, researching LotR is so inspiring to my own writing. I never realized before how much Tolkien really has influenced me.

  53.  

    At the risk of this sounding like my Twitter page(which I do not have), I was up until about 5am rewriting my first chapter. I’ve still got a few more pages left on it, but it feels hella good to finally shake some of the rust off.

    • CommentAuthorSamuel
    • CommentTimeMar 6th 2010
     
    (Good thing I found out about this thread before starting my own.)

    Stuck at the start of my first chapter. I've written a 'chapter zero' but can't decide how to let it start.
  54.  

    Just make yourself start, even if it sucks and is crappy and will embarrass you later. You’re going to edit eventually anyway, so you might as well just get the ball rolling.

  55.  

    sansafro is correct. Keep plowing along, Samuel!

  56.  

    @ Samuel:

    Start with some action. That will get you going, trust me.

    Does anybody else ever have something happen to them and then deal with it by writing about fictional characters in that scenario?

    •  
      CommentAuthorMoldorm
    • CommentTimeMar 8th 2010
     

    Not consciously. I do often notice after writing something that the characters are similar to people I know, though.

  57.  
    I often write about something that's bothering me, and change the names of the people involved...it never turns out well, though. I think it's because I like closure, and stories require closure, and so I put my fantasy-closure on said story, and it becomes fake and cheesy.

    If you're asking the question because you're doing something like this, though, I encourage you to do it still--it is actually really therapeutic, even if the results are a bit funky. But maybe your (theoretical) story is perfect! So I guess what I'm saying is: yes, I do deal with things through writing about them.
  58.  

    @ Steph: I don’t know if this was similar to your question, but I’ve been working on the same plot for at least a year. I only realized recently that a small but rather noteworthy sideplot was based on my parents.

    Yet another reason they do NOT get to read my story right now.

    •  
      CommentAuthorKyllorac
    • CommentTimeMar 9th 2010 edited
     

    Today commemorates the day I’ve written 40K (out of a tentatively projected 80K) words of my pet project. This 40K total does not include previous drafts, massive rewrites, and side stories, which would likely double the count. Today also roughly marks the 3-year anniversary of the start of this project, which is amazing since I usually lose interest after a month or so. The good news is, I still love this story and the characters, and I still want to write them. That’s an amazing feeling.

    basks

  59.  

    That’s amazing!! Go Kyll em, Kyllorac!

    (heh heh)

  60.  
    @ Kyllorac: CONGRATS!! That is a major accomplishment--I wish I had your willpower!
    •  
      CommentAuthorKyllorac
    • CommentTimeMar 10th 2010
     

    Thanks you two. I’m so excited I’ve gotten so far!

    @Steph

    You’re not the first to make that joke. ;P

    I’ve always pronounced it myself to sound like keel.

    (KEELHAUL!)

  61.  

    •  
      CommentAuthorNorthmark
    • CommentTimeMar 10th 2010
     

    I feel proud of myself for sticking to a story for a year (with maybe two paragraphs somewhere in the middle of the plot actually written), so three years is pretty awesome. I tend to get tons of fleeting plot ideas that I either drop because they’re lame/accidental ripoffs of something else or I just want to think about one of my two Main Plots.

  62.  

    Whoa, Kyllorac, that takes willpower. Congrats!

  63.  

    @ Northmark and Keelurack/Kyllorac – You guys are fantastic. Your willpower and determination are exemplary.

    •  
      CommentAuthorKyllorac
    • CommentTimeMar 11th 2010 edited
     

  64.  

    Yay for Kyllorac! Good jorrrb!

    I just started a new story. About an English nobel who goes on Holiday to France. In 1793, only to be arrested as soon as he sets foot in France.

    It was inspired by Voltaire’s Candide….

  65.  

  66.  
  67.  

    I thought it was ‘Kill-orack’ but whatever.

    My resolution is to write a little every day. I’m hoping that buying one of those pretty notebooks I’ve been hankering after for two years will help my motivation.

    (Yes, I am bribing myself, but it’s worth it.)

  68.  

    I thought it was Kai-lore-ack, since in some other thread she was referred to as Kylie.

    Also, had a shitty week and did nothing. Spring break starts tomorrow so I intend to get lots of shit done.