Are You? Or Aren't You?

[queenoftheskies]

A NaNoWriMo participant?

If you are, I'm curious as to why you participate.

What type of project are you working on this year? What do you hope to accomplish by participating?

What kind of planning do you do for your project? Does this planning vary in any way from the normal way you prepare for a writing project? If it does, why?

Have you participated before? If so, did you complete the novel you started during NaNoWriMo? Have you revised and submitted it? If you abandoned it later, why?

Just curious. It's fascinating to hear how other writers write and why they do the things they do.

Comments

[aberrant1.livejournal.com]

I am.

This year I'm going to be working on an urban fantasy/science fiction novel that may or may not be intended for young adults (I'll worry about that later). I hope to finish, or at least mostly finish, the rough draft in November.

I've tried it before, but both times were with stories I had already worked on, so it was more re-writing than writing. I still plan to go back and finish and revise the 2003 novel, and I'm rewriting the 2004 novel for the umpteenth time (in fact, I'm putting that on hold for this year's NaNo). I didn't finish either time, and I didn't even make 50,000 words. I got about 35,000 the first year and 40,000 the second.

I'm hoping a couple of factors will combine to make me more productive this year. I won't have the internet or cable TV at home, so those are two big time-wasters I won't be tempted by. And the story itself is a totally new idea, so I don't have a set plot that I'm invested in -- I can just write and see what happens. That could backfire, though. I like to have at least some plan.

[dragonmyst.livejournal.com]

A NaNoWriMo participant?
Am planning on it

If you are, I'm curious as to why you participate.
To challenge myself, get myself moving, writing and imagining. I've been sporadic with writing lately, I want this to get me back into gear. I used to pump out 2k a day at the least and the past year I'm lucky to do 2k a week.

What type of project are you working on this year?
a fantasy.

What do you hope to accomplish by participating? I completed a short story, I want to complete a novel.

What kind of planning do you do for your project? mapbuilding, worldbuilding, racebuilding, character building. Throwing lots of ideas out at hubby also.

Does this planning vary in any way from the normal way you prepare for a writing project? If it does, why? not really,

Have you participated before? yes

If so, did you complete the novel you started during NaNoWriMo?no
Have you revised and submitted it? If you abandoned it later, why? It's book 5 or 6 in a series and book one isn't complete. I felt silly writing it out of order. Quite a bit of it refers to events in the prior books that would totaly confuse a reader. :)

[arkiewriter.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'll have time to Nano this year, but I wanted to. Depends on where the anthos stand, I guess. I'm editing and adding to the files as we go, so who knows?

If I did participate, I would either do the "Prompt a Day" for a silly noveling exercise (prompts courtesy of musemuggers or invoke the *mumble-can't-remember-his-name* clause and finish off an existing novel in progress.

The first year I tried, the only planning I did was a character list and thinking over some world mechanics. I finished that year, despite moving in the middle of the month. The second year I tried (last year), I outlined and plotted and planned - and didn't make it beyond two chapters.

My first novel needs to be revised, edited heavily, and probably would need an "ending section" (it was intended to be in three "parts" as far as plot) added, as I hadn't yet reached that when I hit 50k. One day I'll dust it off, as it was a cute story that should be revised and see the light of day. However, since I posted it online as I worked, I would probably self-publish it via Lulu or similar, as that error would kick it off most editor's consideration lists. Call it a newbie goof.

I like the challenge, the push, and the community factor.

[marksiegal.livejournal.com]

I'm doing Nano this year, though I'm going to cheat and work on an existing manuscript. As a compromise, my word count goal is 100k. So far I'm still down around 1k. :)

This is for a science fiction novel that's been simmering for nine years, with a few attempts that stalled at the first scene. I'm feeling better about this attempt. I've fixed some weaknesses in the premise, and I have a rough outline that I feel pretty good about.

I did Nano last year and did make 50k, mostly in the last week or so. I feel it's time to finally write this old novel. I'm glad I didn't try it last year; it would have been too much pressure. But now I know I can hit 50k in a month, and even 35k in about a week. So this year I'll try bringing that confidence to bear on an idea that's closer to my heart and also hopefully more viable.

I hope to reach 100k, but I'll be fairly satisfied by adding 50k to the draft. If I keep working on it, anyway. My fallback goal is to hit 100k within December, if I can't manage it before the end of Nano. Either way, I hope to have this novel ready to submit early next year.

For my last Nano project, I'm slowly trying to cut it down and revising it into a short story. I think that's a better fit for the idea.

[cricketshay.livejournal.com]

I'm doing Nano this year, though I'm going to cheat and work on an existing manuscript.

Me too.

[cicadabug.livejournal.com]

I'm signed up. I still don't know if I'm going to participate, or cheat and use the time for finishing the revision of the current novel (which'll have just about 50k left by then, conveniently enough). I'd hoped to use the month to get a first draft of the Next Novel, but I think I've got enough momentum with the current one that there isn't room in my head for two sets of characters competing for attention right now.

If I do start the second novel draft, it'll be SF set in the same universe as novel #1. It won't be a sequel, but I think a minor character from #1 is going to end up a major player in #2.

I've participated in NaNo since 2001, and crossed the finish line every other year (2001, 2003). In 2001 I finished with 104k, 2003 with 55k or thereabouts. I did no planning whatsoever for the first other than think about it. With the second I had a page of notes and a map beforehand.

The 2001 draft is the current WIR. So I haven't abandoned it yet -- in fact, I'm hoping to have it out on sub by the end of this year.

The 2002 draft, which I bailed on at about 36k, will likely be cannibalized for parts in the distant future.

The 2003 draft is a fantasy novel sitting idle waiting for me to finish it. In all likelihood it's going to stay untouched for a long while, so I can concentrate on the SF side of things (which, in fairness, is my main interest).

In 2004 I got about 12k in to the start of novel #2 before I realized it just wasn't ready to be written yet. Most of that start will probably be re-used when I begin the Novel 2 draft sometimes soon (if not this november, then early next year).

How's that for too much info?

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

I have (twice) and may this year. I do it because I work best to a deadline. If I do it this year... well, I haven't decided *what* will happen then. I have a lot of projects to look at.

As for planning, I spend the month of October outlining and looking for cool shit to throw in. The only deviation here is that I spend a month thinking about the book without writing anything. I'm not sure it's any better for me.

I finished one of my NaNo novels, and I am definitely going to finish my other one. I'm sort of thinking maybe I'll just write the second 50k for NaNo this year, in fact. I have revised the first one a couple times, and am thinking it needs another revision, but then I plan to submit it. We'll see when I finish the second NaNo novel.

[stabeest.livejournal.com]

I want to,l but given that I'm about halfway through my current project and don't want to set it aside to pick up something new for a month, I'll be participating unofficially, I think. Sort of playing along on my own and stuff. I'm too in love with my current novel to abandon it for a month!

I participated before and wrote an entire novel in a month. 100k. It sucked. Hard. I tried to save it, but ended up rewriting it completely from scratch a couple months later. I wasn't disappointed about that, though. I think writing a complete first draft, no matter how much it sucked, made the second draft better. I currently have the completed book making the rounds of agents.

I'm hoping to use my unofficial participation in Nanowrimo to finish my novel. I think 50k in a month is doable.

[everyonesakitty.livejournal.com]

I've never participated before, because I've never been in the right place to. This year, however, I've just begun a new novel, and I'm hoping to get 50K words of freewriting/exploration done. I certainly don't think those will be 50K words of a first draft or anything; I'm just hoping to lay some groundwork.

I'm kinda just doing it to make the weekly word count goal. Maybe I'm trying to force my brain to delve. *delves* hehe

[quiller77.livejournal.com]

I'd rather work on my current project. I've never done NaNoWriMo, but I did participate in the "Three-Day Novel Writing Contest" once. It's brutal, but I did it just to see if I could. I made the average (just over 100 pages) though I've never developed the end product into anything workable. I know of one published author who did the three-day challenge 8 or 9 times and later took the results from two (maybe three) years and expanded them into what are now published YA books.

If it's a gimmick that works for you, that's great.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

If have never done NANO because I've always had one project or another going on every time it comes around.

[deedop.livejournal.com]

I'm doing it this year. Last year I attempted and fell about 7k short -- bad month, just too darned busy. I ended up cramming about 23k into the last two days. Didn't come anywhere near to actually finishing the draft. (Actually, I ended up only about a quarter of the way into the plot.)

This time, I should (ideally) have more time, and the timing is good as I'm just starting in on a new novel project that I'm excited about, which I think will be better than picking up something old & unfinished for a re-draft.

Main goal is to finish an "exploratory draft." I tend to under-plan and make my best plot and character discoveries on the fly. Also, I've been rusty for a while -- haven't had much time to write -- so this is a forced jump-start for me. The only thing that differs from my normal process is the time crunch and the set start date. If I didn't have that, I'd probably be researching for months.

Last year's novel is on the back burner for now. It started off as a reworking of something I plotted over a decade ago and thus had some pretty bad newbie plot holes. I figure some day I'll wake up with one of those "ahah, that's how I can fix it!" moments and then I'll get back to it.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I am, and it's my first year. I'm working on an odd fantasy novel--epic, but a few steps sideways from several of the genre conventions. I'm hoping that I can produce a short book, since my last novel was unmarketably long. I'm using index cards to plan, this time out, which I've done for short stories but not for long fiction before.

[ultharkitty.livejournal.com]

These are great questions, I think they're make a really good meme!

I'm no longer sure about which project I'll be working on this year, I might go for something completely different to anything I've done before instead of the sequel to last year's I had planned.

Hmm, I need to think a bit more about these questions :)