NaNoWriMo and you! Let's write during November!

[Otohiko]

Oh, it's 50,000 words? Well I guess that's doable.

I've probably averaged more than that per month since July. In the last month alone I wrote ~85,000 (and no, that is not counting school work and forum posts) >__>

[Brad]

Maybe I'll actually get my god damn comic off the ground.

[ZephyrStar]

I have an outline for my screenplay ready, just need to answer some questions before I start writing it all out tomorrow.

[inthesto]

God damn, I finished today's goal in under an hour, thanks to Write Or Die. Of course, the writing is horrendously shitty, but that's expected from NaNoWriMo. Today's excerpt:

Spoiler :

“This is the most important battle the empire will see in several lifetimes. A hundred years from now, they'll be studying us, looking at our victory and considering what heroes we were. But a month from now, do you know what those children will remember? How their mothers and fathers died in some faraway place, fighting some enemy that they'll never see.” Rime bit his lip and patted Tolan on the shoulder. “I'll take a parent's place, so a kid doesn't have to grow up without one.”

[Otohiko]

Cool, I see you got a start.

I'm doing pretty good here myself. I should have a revised "proof of concept" doc done on my visual novel thing by tomorrow, and then I'll get back to polishing my detailed character profiles and plot outline so that I can then give them to people to look at. Probably by the middle of the month I'll get back into doing (placeholder) art and writing actual dialogue.

[Flint the Dwarf]

I haven't written anything yet, but I've revised the story of my potential novel, keeping the premise mostly in tact. It should make for a more compelling write, which is why I haven't made any progress on it in years. I'm kind of crappy at writing good characters, so I've pretty much thrown character development out the window, and I'm going to let the plot carry this.

[Otohiko]

I'm kind of crappy at writing good characters, so I've pretty much thrown character development out the window, and I'm going to let the plot carry this.

Wow, you are apparently the polar opposite of me. I have the exact opposite problem. I love writing characters and will spend an endless amount of time detailing them to the point where it becomes an end in itself - but I hate writing plot. I think that's because character writing requires intuitive, irrational, emotionally-sensitive sort of thinking that I'm good at, and plot is usually a matter of logic, coherence and well-roundedness that I have trouble with. Characters are fun for me to write because the more full of holes they are, the more interesting they become*, whereas with plot it's kind of the opposite.

(*though that may be more of a reflection of my view on human psychology than literary reality...)

We should collaborate sometime or something

[CodeZTM]

I have no idea how this is going to turn out, but we'll see! My outline is basically done, although the plot hasn't really been solidified yet. I'll start tonight and try to at least get the prologue done. D:

[ZephyrStar]

Yesterday and today I completely derped and switched gears.

I wasn't feeling my outline, felt like I needed more character development, went through a few moments of "preciousness" with my characters (meaning I don't want to change stuff that needs to be changed about them right now), and ended up opening one of my slightly older projects, a novel trilogy.

I wrote like, 15 pages of stuff on it, since at this point I know the characters pretty well and the plot and world are literally just a thread of consciousness that I can spew. I'm gonna keep spewing, it actually feels pretty good to not give a shit and just write whatever comes to mind within the world. I'll make sense of it all later.

[Otohiko]

Spewing is a perfectly good strategy. I really used to think that "I got it all worked out in my head, it's all good" was the right approach, but honestly, now I'm realizing that it's the moment that you have something down on paper that you can begin to really work with it. Not that having it in your head doesn't count, but it's only when you have something down that you can begin to actually work with it. It's sort of like music - yeah you can have it in your head, but it's only when you begin playing it that the work actually starts. Then you can start shuffling stuff around and making sense of it. Even if it makes none at first.

I'm doing pretty good here, should have my outline and stuff for people in the next few days.

[Flint the Dwarf]

We should collaborate sometime or something

I'm down. Just need to come up with another plot.

[inthesto]

Ending at ~4300 words today. Nicely ahead of schedule. Today's excerpt:

Spoiler :

"I am no longer fit for command," he whispered to himself. It was reality, the one he had tried to evade for years now. Had he gone soft from aging, or had the elves laid a curse on him? The answer to that remained unknown. But what Vostev did know was that every day he was in command of this division, he jeopardized every life in his unit. And as difficult as it was for him to bring himself to care about them anymore, he still cared about the oath that the braver man of years past had sworn.

Every imperial life was precious, and it was his duty to protect each one. If that meant resigning in disgrace, then so be it.

[Copycat_Revolver]

Slow start but I just wrote 1800 words in one sitting, so I'm feeling good. It's happening this time people.
Also, thank you Write or Die. Best ten bucks I ever spent.

[inthesto]

Missed yesterday which hamstrung me really badly, but I managed to play catch up. ~8300 words. Today's excerpt:

Spoiler :

Ariks furrowed his brows, puzzled by the layout of the game pieces on the board. If he had learned one thing over the past few months, it was that General Morat did not play Battlefields anything like Headmaster Vaccino did. General Morat did not prove to be any more or less difficult of an opponent than Ariks's former mentor; she simply had a completely different style of play. It was neither particularly offensive nor defensive, and Ariks could tell that it was taking him a long while to adapt.

He moved his scoutmaster four paces forward. The junior tactical consultant clapped his hands together in self congratulations. The headmaster would have been proud of the ingenuity of that move. Ariks slid the chair out from under himself and rose to his feet in a careful, composed manner. Brushing off the skirts of his jacket, he left the table, leaving the board for General Morat, whenever she'd find the time to make her move.

[ZephyrStar]

Sweet deal. I know I'm behind, hope to catch up a little. Any progress is good progress, and I made hella progress on my film storyboards this weekend so I have an excuse. Continuing the daily writing today!