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[Flaming Dorf]

Anybody else doing this?
I've known about it for a year now, but I'm going to try it this time!
Not sure what I'm going to write about, but I guess that's part of the fun.

[Dasleah]

We've got a few of us planning to do it this year on the Bay12Games IRC channel. About 3 or 4 tentatively signed up at last count. Should be fun.

Just remember, start planning now! Put yourself in a position where you can hit the ground running come November 1st and not have to worry about anything but putting words to paper. Do all your plotting and characterisation now.

[TheNewerMartianEmperor]

I have a great many ideas for novels, but my main difficulty is actually getting started.

[Flaming Dorf]

For me, having too much preparation slows me down, so I'm gonna make it up as I go.
Really, all you need is an excellent character for readers to relate to. Plot comes later, for me at least.

[Cthulhu]

Jeez, my story's only 5000 words.  Novels are long.

[Aqizzar]

At what word count does a novella or short story become a novel anyway?

I should get into this, although I know school is going to be kicking my ass in November.  Of course, I could just work any time, but some structure would be helpful.

[Dasleah]

For NaNoWriMo, the target is 50'000 words, which as admitted on the site itself, is closer to a Novella than an actual novel, which tend to start around the 100'000 word mark.

Completing NaNoWriMo averages out to 1666 words a day, which should only take you an hour or so if you know what you're writing. Some days you'll be on a roll and write way more, others, you'll write way less. Why I recommend plotting everything out before hand, even if it's only a sentence on what happens in each chapter, is because then you at least know what's happening, and gives you plenty of time to see mistakes in pacing and plot well before you stumble over them and waste hours thinking about what comes next, or just scraping your last few hours of work and starting over again.

The more you wing things, the less consistent you'll be. You may have the most relateable and loveable characters on the face of the earth, but unless you know what you're going to do with them, they won't have the opportunity to shine. Characters need a direction, and you want it to be an arrow, ever forward - not an endless loop of 'lets go this way, no wait this way, how about this, whoops that didn't work'

[bjlong]

A novella, for most published works, hits around 75 to 100 pages. A novel hits around 300 to 500 pages. Which, if you think of it, is only really ten pages a day--easily achievable, especially if you're writing fun stuff and have most of the day off.

Sadly, this is when my inner Edgar Allan Poe and Albert Einstein duke it out. Einstein's won every match so far, but Poe's been beefed up by me switching projects. It should be THE FOIGHT OF THE CENTURAY!

Generally, I have a path I want people to go down, and specific gems to find along the way, but the characters sometimes punch my plan in the face and get on their own path.

[Flaming Dorf]

The more you wing things, the less consistent you'll be. You may have the most relateable and loveable characters on the face of the earth, but unless you know what you're going to do with them, they won't have the opportunity to shine. Characters need a direction, and you want it to be an arrow, ever forward - not an endless loop of 'lets go this way, no wait this way, how about this, whoops that didn't work'

Totally agreed. I just meant that I don't like to have pages and pages of backstory and preplanning, it gets me muddled up.

[Aqizzar]

The more you wing things, the less consistent you'll be. You may have the most relateable and loveable characters on the face of the earth, but unless you know what you're going to do with them, they won't have the opportunity to shine. Characters need a direction, and you want it to be an arrow, ever forward - not an endless loop of 'lets go this way, no wait this way, how about this, whoops that didn't work'

I was just reading through the FAQ, and it's suggestion was not planning what to write.  If you come in knowing what you want to write, you'll agonize over the details and quality because you want it to be just right, which is exactly my problem.  I originally thought this would be a good excuse to finally write a story I've had in mind for some time, but I already know that I'd get nowhere because I'd fret too much over composition to write anything at all.

Speaking of which, does anybody who has some experience with writing have any tips on getting around that?  I'm at that awful stage where I've got these characters and a story that I love, but I can't write any of it because nothing I type can do justice to my vision.  Stupid OCD perfectionism.

[Cthulhu]

When I write something, I usually have an idea of what's going to happen, as in  Character A does A, then goes to point B where he meets character C and does D, and so on, but make up dialog and the more detailed stuff as I go along.

Also, none of it is written down.  I store it in my brain, because if I write it down I'll write in short-hand so short even I won't know what I was trying to say when I read it later.

[bjlong]

Aqizzar--get it down on paper. The only failure is a blank page. Blahblahblah other writing cliches.

The thing is, if you don't get it down on paper, you will never improve. Even if this story goes straight to the crapper, there will be others. But if you just sit on this? You'll never write a good story in your life. You'll always start off with a plot that's just for practice, and then it'll end up boring, and you'll stop.

In any case, you're in a good place--after you break through this, you're a "writer" in the sense that you'll be able to put out quality work that you can trust. It's just that getting through this stage is a bear and a half.

[ToonyMan]

i'D JUST NAIL DOWN 10 CHAPTER NAMES AND GO FOMR THRER.

[ToonyMan]

Chapter 1: Hell to Pancakes
Chapter 2: New Management
Chapter 3: Apes Could DO Better
Chapter 4: Screw You Laptop
Chapter 5: Sticky Beesiness is Sticky
Chapter 6: Is Time Enough?
Chapter 7: Jump Back From Reality
Chapter 8: Oops There Goes Gravity
Chapter 9: DUN DUN DUN
Chapter 10: Resolute!

[Aqizzar]

#(N-1/i) on the New York Times Bestseller List