Eiji Tunsinagi

For those of you who've already done it, this is gonna be my first time, and I cant wait. Does anybody out there have any advice?

__________________
"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"

gabriella

You really really really need to NOT THINK. You can't worry about editing rewriting sense grammar structure and all that other stuff that make a novel good. You just need to do what what gets the bloody thing written.

And that's about the only surefire advice that anybody can give you. But as for some personal tips....

I sometimes like to shut off the screen and try writing, or dim it until I can't read what I'm writing. I've never tried going at Nanowrimo with an outline to my novel, but that's what I'll be doing this year, so I have no advice on that. Set a reasonable goal a day - mine was at least a chapter a day, and I had vowed by chapters would be at least 2k words: Make it reasonable enough so that you can suge past the goal, and give yoruself the extra boost of confidence you need, and can also do double-that if you find a day when you can't write. That's how to get 50k.

If you want to pull of 100k or more, it's not that hard. I had set the same 2k minimum goal, but the thing was that every day I surged past to two, three, maybe four times that amount.

__________________
You write by sitting down and writing - Bernard Malamud.

Eiji Tunsinagi

Woe....if you do 2000 words a day you'll reach 50,000 by the end? Thats doesnt sound right....are you sure?

__________________
"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"

Selorian

With 30 days in November, take 2000 words a day x 30 days = 60,000 words. Not too bad huh? I am seriously thinking about participating also. The last part of the month worries me though because my job is one that things start getting crazy around that time of year. Good Luck!

Eiji Tunsinagi

I dont have a job (yet) but in November, I usually go to New York with my parents so I wont have a computer....I'm trying to find an alternate idea.

__________________
"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"

moonandsun

I'm doing it! It's my first time and I'm oh so excited. I even convince my best friend to do it with me.

Try finding an alphasmart? It could be an early christmas present or a late/early birthday presant. There are some old ones on ebay for 12 dollars.

__________________
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. "
-Groucho Marx

Tori

moonandsun me too! I actually just got off the phone with my bestfriend and we already set up time and place to meet for two hours a day and write in the month of November. I really am excited!

__________________
http://www.greendodo.com/sense

moonandsun

That's great. My friend is not much into writing but when I told her about it she decided she really wanted to do it, we've both started outlining together too. It should be fun.

__________________
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. "
-Groucho Marx

Tori

my friend does not like writing either actually but I convinced her it would be worthwhile somehow...hehehe...would be ironic if she finished it and I didn't

__________________
http://www.greendodo.com/sense

Eiji Tunsinagi

I cant wait. I'm actually going to FINISH something. Wow. I just hope I'm not kidding myself. I plan on writing how many words I do a day on sticky notes and putting them up on an empty wall (I plan on doing 2000 a day.....I hope thats possible). I've been working on the plot a while (3 or 4 years) and I'm gonna use this chance to actually write the story. Yay!! I'm trying to convince some of my friends too, but thats not going so well...

__________________
"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"

Detectette

This will be my second time, and I just have to say this: DO NOT SLACK OFF. You'll end up like me, scrounging for about 6 or 7k two hours before the end and just barely making it.

Bribe your friends. Call them in the middle of the night. Leave cryptic messages in the snow. Eventually they will break down and join you

__________________
I don't care if you have a PHD and have read all of Henry James twice. If you still persist in writing "Good food at it's best," you deserve to be struck by lightening, hacked up on the spot and buried in an unmarked grave. - Lynne Truss

Chris

I second Detectette's advice, try not to miss any days - it builds up spectacularly. I remember on the night before deadline for my April Fools challenge, I wrote 7,000 words - no correction, I FORCED 7,000 words onto the screen, and when you have no idea what you're doing, there's a tendancy to go quite mad. So yeah, keep your daily quota and you should do fine. Good luck!

__________________
"...Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite:
Fool! said my Muse to me, look in thy heart and write. - Sir Philip Sidney

gabriella

Yuppe, 2k a day will get you 60 000 as said... so that gives you five days where you can safely afford to have a day off. My advice, though, is treat as though 2k will only get you 50 000 - so, like Detectette said, don't slack off, unless you absolutely can not write that day - like, say you're going to a family outing or whatever. Don't slack for the day on your leisure.

But, the calculations for 50 000 words at the end of November would be 1667 (rounded up) words a day. Everybody just rounds it to 2000, though.

And, like said, slacking just keeps building up. If you can't have the computer for hours on end, try to write for even 15 minutes throughout the day. The most I ever in one day wrote was 12 000 words - I was determinded as hell to get to 100k.

The first year I did it, Ashley (an online friend) did it with me. The second time I did it, Emma and Dana (more online friends) did it with me. The friends I see and talk to don't like writing, reading, and don't want to stay at home on the computer and write for November.

__________________
You write by sitting down and writing - Bernard Malamud.