I am a NaNoWriMo failure! - Writers Forum

LoneWolf · 11-23-2005, 11:11 PM

This month has been tons busier than I thought it would be! I haven't been on WF in ages, and I've written about 24 words so far. Here's to hoping I can write something during my break. Oh, the guilt...

Ben · 11-23-2005, 11:25 PM

Don't feel bad, I'm a failure too.

Unless I can manage to write 10,000 words a day after my exams are finished...

valeca · 11-23-2005, 11:26 PM

You can do it! Push! Write! Hard!

People do it. There are those 'come-from-behind-against-insurrmountable-odds-escaping-a-marauding-horde-armed-with-nothing-more-than-a-toothpick' people! They're freaks, mind you...but you can do it!

The team needs you! (Guilt works wonders)

gohn67 · 11-24-2005, 03:02 AM

Don't worry about it Lonewolf. Don't feel guilty. That's what happened to me. Signed up to do nano last week and wanted to quit but I felt guilty and I now I have 58 pages written of a bunch of crap, which I don't think most of it will be useful. My guilt has made me waste a lot of time. Maybe it's because I don't have the same philosphy of writing a really bad Rough Draft with no coherent plot. At least you've used your time on something worthwhile.

I think nano the purpose of nano is different from how I approach writing and is the reason why I detest it so much. I do think that getting down any kind of rough draft no matter how bad is a good approach to writing, but I have a tough time with it because I just want to vomit when I'm writing it, which is why I tend to take my time and try to write the best draft I can, and usually the funny thing is that it's just slightly better than a rough draft written off the top of my head except it takes tens times longer.

And I think the positives of learning to write a fast quick rough draft is that it helps the writer get to know the characters better. Feel more comfortable about how they are. It allows the writer to outline scenes better.

Also nano has made me write for so far as of now 11 striaght days of atleast 3,000 words.

The negatives are that I've been breaking a bunch of writing rules and stuff that I wouldn't do just to bulk up the word count.

Also some of the plots that I have come up with are stuff that I would never want to rework ever. I just want to burn it up, which is why I fee like I've wasted a lot of time.

Sorry for the rant, I'm still trying to figure out if nano is worth doing or if it's just a waste of time for me.

Anyways don't feel guilty. There's always next year.

bobothegoat · 11-24-2005, 03:12 PM

Don't give up! If you give up, I'll lose all hope in finishing my own...

Crazy_dude6662 · 11-24-2005, 03:19 PM

DONT GIVE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
you CAN do it!!!!!!

if you give up you WILL regret it!

thamior · 11-24-2005, 09:28 PM

I think im going to have to wait till next year..i signed up and ive failed too, jsut too long where I was grounded. My stories at like 3,000 words...but thats from 3 days of typing, I just cant get on the computer long enough to type what I need to. oh well.

LA · 11-25-2005, 09:37 AM

Hehe, I'm a failure too. My first story was all of 1,500 words... then my second attempt was 500.

Not enough planning on my part

LoneWolf · 11-25-2005, 11:22 PM

Thanks everybody for all the advice and umm...threats.

Rant away, gohn! I feel the same way you do...I have a great plot, characters, everything, it's just...when I start to write I just get tired and sick of it. *shrugs* I just like to take my sweet time, I suppose. Granted, I don't feel like I want to vomit, but...I get what you're saying. I'll try not to worry about it too much. But I hope you figure out what you wanted to figure out...happy writing

So...I'll try and finish this weekend, with all of you as my motivation (wow, guilt does work wonders, val! *ahem* bobo...crazy_dude...). At least I don't feel so alone!

bobothegoat · 11-26-2005, 12:30 AM

I'm just forcing myself. I was getting bored of my story, so I decided to randomly train my main character to be a ninja (well, pretty much. They don't call themselves ninjas though).

If I can't get 50,000 words about a world where everyone thinks they're in a book and a character that disagrees and joins a ninja-like, anti-Novel organization whose name and leader are based on a Ray Bradberry pun, nothing will!

Damn, my novel's getting weird.

Anyway, I hope to see you at the finish line. If I don't, there's a good chance it's 'cause I didn't make it there myself though. Anyway, I've got some more typing to do. Good luck.

LoneWolf · 11-28-2005, 07:25 PM

Thanks bobo. Good luck to you too! And yes, your novel is getting very weird, but it sounds pretty awesome

evadri · 12-02-2005, 07:53 PM

That could be a really cool thing to do actually - just type away and let it go wherever you want, not worry about plot or coherence. Forget all the rules. If you want ninjas, have ninjas! If you want a mafia panther lord, have a mafia panther lord! Hang everything, and just let your imagination go wild!
That might be fun, I might do that sometime.

blankslatejoe · 12-03-2005, 01:43 AM

dang, im with you man. in the years I've been failing nanowrimo, I had my WORSt failure this year. Seven words. no, not 7k. Seven. As in, this post is longer than my novel.

ah well; next year!!!

Simone · 12-05-2005, 10:14 PM

A Glass Thought · 12-06-2005, 01:13 PM

Yeah, I failed too. But I guess I started off odd. My Novel started as a short story that I was working on, and when I got to seven-thousand words, I could tell it wasn't going to end anytime soon. So I turned it into my Nano piece. I managed eleven thousand before I crashed. I just can't write fast without caring. I'm always writing something, then deleting half of it and re-writing it. The whole "it doesn't matter if it's good or not" thing got to me. I knew the story was good, and I didnt want to kill it by not caring.

So here I am, at 11,363 words and still going, even though its december. I intend to see this through to the end.