Thread: A Dozen Weeks

until it begins. How do you all plan and prep? This will be my first. I just stared at a notebook page for an hour trying to figure out how to start it all.

Well, you've decided that you're going to do it. That's a start. Next, I'd suggest writing what you like to read. Is there something you want to see in a book that you've not read? Some people do outlines, some have rituals (certain pens, stickers, gloves, desktop wallpapers, etc.) and others don't prepare at all. Me? I tend to do a basic outline so my plot stays somewhat coherent.

Honestly, I don't plan and prep. I just know what I'm going to write, sit down and write it. Often I'll have the first few paragraphs outlined in my head before I start, so I suppose that helps. I almost always have music playing while I'm writing, because it helps me to concentrate (blocks out all outside sounds.)

Well, I guess there is one thing, I feed my cat so she doesn't come around begging for food and disturb me. Course she ususally does anyway.

its actually funny, i was going through some papers in my office room today and found a plot synopsis i typed up for a story i never started. I read through it and decided that that story is the one im gonna write. Now I've just gotta start planning it out. Just out of curiosity, do you start planning well in advance or do you wait for 11/01? Do you meet with other people for the NaNo write-ins? During the event, do you try to hit a certain number of words per day to pace yourself, or just write thousands of words some days and hundreds others? Do you wait till the last day to write it all?

Excuse all the questions, this is my first year and I curious about how people do it.

starStuff, it's great that you've figured out what you want to write. The last couple of times I started plotting at the beginning of Oct and that seemed to work out for me. Write-ins? Of course. That's part of the fun of NaNoWriMo. My area had several write-ins going on but I went to the same one each week as well as the virtual write-ins we held. Well, not everyone is cut out to write daily. I pushed myself to write the 1667 words (or more if it was still coming) a day during the week and during the weekends I wrote at least 3000 words per day. I did miss a couple of days but I had enough padding from the weekends to make up for it. Others in my write-in banged it out the first 2 weeks while others struggled during the month but managed to write most of it the last week of NaNo. I wouldn't recommend it. Just write daily if you can. Mentally you'll be better off for it.

I think I might give it another go this year as I'll most likely be out of work in November. I tried in 2006 and failed miserably (I think I got to around 2000 words, fell way behind and dropped it). My problem is that I like to edit as I go along. I also didn't have a plan of any kind going in to it. Learning from my mistakes then, go in prepared with your story and resist the temptation to revise what is likely to be a rather poor first draft until after the deadline.

K.

This is the first time I'm going to join in the fun of NaNoWriMo, but I think I'll use the same tactic I always use (which is perfect for the amount of time before it starts). I make an outline of the plot, fill in the major details of the world (since this one's gonna be a fantasy novel), and then let the idea marinate for a month or two.

I just got my idea a few days ago so I'm in the outlining process at the moment. In the last week of October or so, I'll probably start having a look over my notes again to pump myself up.

So excited.