Any WriMo's out there?

[blue moon]

Anyone else a NaNoWriMo junkie?  This year will be my third NaNo.  I've already started kicking around ideas, when I'm not working on editing/completing my 2004 NaNo. 

What do you think of the screenwriting challenge?  I'm interested to try it, just because it's a completely new area for me. 

[Amber]

I tried last year, but life, career, etc got in the way.

We'll have to see how things are going this year.

[Gemini]

I tried last year for the first time, got the story finished but was nearly 20,000 words shy. I'm trying to edit it to flesh out the parts I felt were really thin *but* I dunno....

[Donna]

Last year was my first year and I'm going to do it again this November.  I made my 50,000 words and even finished the book in time to get my free copy from Lulu.  I've been editing it.  A few friends have read it and had nice things to say about it.  One of them is helping me edit.

I tend to procrastinate and keep checking over one or two paragraphs obsessively.  Nano helped free me from that, at least for one month.  It wasn't great prose, but it was an actual story!  My characters seem realistic to me and they made their way through a plot of sorts, with a beginning, middle and end.  My characters did stuff!  They changed and moved forward as a result of that stuff!

So many people want to write a book, and of these only a small percentage even try.  And of those, an even smaller percentage actually finish.  Even if nothing more comes from it, I have the satisfaction of knowing I wrote a book.

Thank you, blue moon, for mentioning the screenwriting challenge.  I hadn't been on nano's site for a few months and I might have missed it.  I think it's a great idea.   They won't have it ready until next year though, but I have enough commitments for this year anyway.

[SharonBrown]

I've done NaNo for four years in a row, with "wins" my first and last year. Lack of passion for my storyline swamped me the second year, and dealing with the fallout from my mother's October death took me out the third year.

Of course, I've never actually finished the content of a novel, just met my 50,000 word quota.

Once in awhile I'd like to go back and work on my first year's effort, but I still can't figure out how to finish it. In fact, one of my biggest problems with writing is that I can create a great set-up, but I can never figure out how to resolve the issues that I raise. It's like committing a crime but not being able to solve the crime later on.

[Amber]

Once in awhile I'd like to go back and work on my first year's effort, but I still can't figure out how to finish it. In fact, one of my biggest problems with writing is that I can create a great set-up, but I can never figure out how to resolve the issues that I raise. It's like committing a crime but not being able to solve the crime later on.

I have similar problems... I get good beginnings, good endings, but no middles.  Everything I write turns out about novella-length.  I'm too "concise," people tell me...  Must be the scientist in me.  I spend most of my life trying to fit a word count limit.

[FredG]

I tried for the first time last year, and my honeymoon got in the way

I'm planning to try again this year, though.  I've got a different idea and everything.  I'm doing charts, timelines, chapter summaries, all kinds of prep without writing prose.

That's how I avoid not having endings.  I know roughtly where my stories are ending before they begin.  That's not to say I haven't changed any endings, but I had somewhere to aim at.

What's the setup, SharonBrown?

[Todd Edwards]

I've done it twice and both times, I made the deadline and then kept going til the end of the story. I've since edited and polished my 2004 nano into a presentable novel, and I'm shopping it around now.

My first novel took me ten years to complete the first draft (lots of time off and time to learn). My second took a month. Go figure.

[jenfullmoon]

I'm a five-year-NaNo. FEAR ME! I finished 4 out of 5 years, too. (The one year I was waylaid by a new long-distance boyfriend and lack of a laptop. I made sure I got a laptop by the next one.)

Last year was the first time I finished a plot within 50,000 words. Usually I hit the goal before the story ends. I haven't done anything with my novels, though. Hard to work without NaNo...I've been trying to do a novel this year and I really petered out in the middle. *sigh*

I don't know if I'll be able to do this year's NaNo. There's likely to be a WHOLE LOT of drama blowing up in my life around that time of the year, which makes me nervous. I'll still sign up, of course, but I'm nervous that I'll even get time to do anything between other people needing me to be their life raft. *sigh*

I think it's nice that they are doing a screenwriting version, but since getting into Hollywood sounds like a hair-ripping PITA careerwise, I have decided never to try my hand at screenwriting. (There's REALLY no hope of getting it published then, eh?)

[Mickey Finn]

On a screenwriting note, the first draft of Scream was done in a weekend, and both my scripts I did for college were done in a month.

If you're interested, look into books by Syd Field and Joe Straczynski.

[phenila]

last November was my first year to try. I didn't do so well. But it did get me into the habit of writing every day. yeah me.

[Blitz]

I also tried NaNoWriMo for the first time last year, and got about 2/3 of the way before a semester project for one of my classes threw me out of whack.  But I'm rarin' to go this year.  I'm not sure about the screenwriting, though.  Not really my style.

[Donna]

I'm not sure about the screenwriting, though.

I'm not much for trying new things, but I figure I'll give it a go.  I think we've got until next year sometime to make up our minds.

[bookgodess15]

I'm not going for the whole screenwriting thing, but I plan on doing WriMo for the first time (that's right, a n00b!) this November!  Very excited- any tips?

[Blitz]

Lock yourself in a room with a computer.  Do not let anything disturb you for thirty days.

But seriously, a good thing to do is to tell your friends and family what you're trying to accomplish, and get their support.  It's a lot less painful when they know why you're ignoring them.