How are you preparing for NaNoWriMo 2010?

We've touched on this in other threads, but I was just wondering how everyone's doing and if you've done any outlining, plotting, character sketches, planning your writing schedule, stocking up of goodies and treats for the month-long frenzy that begins ONE WEEK FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT! (EEEK!)

Me, I'm still fleshing out the idea I had a couple weeks ago and finding that it's shifting right in front of my mental eyes into something very different from the simple erotic historical romance I'd first thought of writing. Today I plan to start plotting, using a combination of zette's Phase Planning and post-it notes, something I've never done before. I still don't know the MFC's name, though I'm probably going to write first person POV instead of my preferred third limited omniscient. (NaNo's about stretching the old writing muscle and trying new things, right?)

I've also been on the NaNo website, updated my profile and signature, made a few forays into the forum & posted on a few of the threads.

Finally, some L.A. Wrimos are having a get-together at a fancy cafe a few miles down the road in the mid-Wilshire area tonight at 7 p.m. If I'm still awake and able to get my act together, I was thinking of going.

So, how goes everyone else's preparations?

Outlines. I have outlines. I think I might have outlines of the outlines at this point. I'm ready.

Except maybe I'll write something else instead.

- Except maybe I'll write something else instead. – Ha!

I have a Black n Red A4 notebook where I’m in the process of writing character profiles including everyone’s DOB which takes some calculations as the story’s set 200 years in the future and all the characters are children of varying ages.

I’ve posted very little on the site and on my profile as yet. This is my first year and it’s all a bit new and strange. I do have a local group started up but they aren’t actually meeting until November 1st – the plan is to meet and write together – I can’t quite get my head around that.

ANYWAY - ONE WEEK TODAY!

Haha, zette!

Well, I did NOTHING yesterday that I was planning to do, except put together a little pile of post-its and some index cards and pens of different colors. Yeah. Storeetllr, thy middle name is Procrastination.

LadyClare ~ Yes, new and strange about describes NaNo all right. :) As for the concept of write-ins, all I can say is that whenever I've gone to them (each year except my first), my creativity has sparked and I've gotten a whole lot of writing done. Something about the group dynamic, everyone around you on the same wavelength, typing madly on their NaNo novel. Stirs the blood and awakens the Muse.

This is my first NaNoWriMo, and all I really expect to get out of it is a little self-discipline and a completed first draft of something that is longer than twenty pages. I am not even aiming for a text as long as 50,000 words. Sticking with an idea until it's finished is my main objective.

That said, I'm really not planning ahead. I'm currently reading some source material and googling a couple of subjects that I expect to be dealing with, but I haven't put anything in writing yet. Not even a general plot outline of the novel, because I haven't really come up with anything aside from the general setting, the first scene and the last scene. I guess I'll see how I get from one to the other in a couple of weeks' time (or maybe not).

The reason I haven't planned ahead at all is the suddenness of my decision to join NaNoWriMo this year. The idea hadn't occurred to me until two days ago, and it's too late now to come up with a decent preparation. I might not need one, either, actually. I know that the tale I've got in mind amounts to less than 50,000 words -- it's definitely a novella rather than a novel. But like I said: my goal isn't getting to the 50,000 word count; the goal is forcing myself to write daily until I've got a complete first draft.

I guess I'll see how it goes.

I've drawn a cover image!

And I'm working on a map; I might actually have (a map is important for this story, as there's a fair amount of hiking between settlements, and the variations of geology and climate are important to the "plot".)

I sat down the other day and worked out a rough 30-part plot outline, but (as always) over the course of doing that, a bunch of new things came together and now I have to re-do it (I am waiting for scrivener for windows, so much.)

And I have made my pile of "books I am allowed to read in November"- books that are likely to inspire me to work on my NaNo rather than distracting me with something else.

This is all going to feel like nothing, once I actually have to write.

Petroglyph ~ Will it help to reiterate that this is the first year I've even had the glimmer of an idea about what to write before October 31, much less done any preparation?

Actually, the most important preparation imo is getting together your stockpile of munchies and rewards for the month. And also, like melannen has mentioned, figuring out what books you're allowed to read in November. ;)

#5 Thanks Storeetllr - I might pop along to my first meet-up now. If it all goes horribly wrong I'll just blame you ;)

#7 melannen - Drawing a cover image! - What a fabulous idea! And a map too, very clever. Alas I'm rubbish at art.

#6 Petroglyph - Like you this is my first time and my main goal is just to actually start and fisnish the dam thing! Though I am hoping to also make the full 50k words just becuase it will give me better bragging rights.

#9 When I noticed they had a cover-upload option now, I couldn't resist! :D It's not a very good cover; I'm fairly rubbish at art too. But it kept my hands busy! And the map is even worse, but I needed a way to calculate accurate travel times (I hate it when characters travel and the times don't work out): I suspect I will be scribbling at it all month. Maybe I'll do a pretty one after the novel's finish.

Sometimes I think the best part of NaNo is October, when you have a proper excuse to sit around doing things like that instead of just writing the darn thing.

>10 melannen: There's a cover-upload option now? Cool! Um, how do you do the cover though? I mean, where do the images come from?

I better go check out the cover you uploaded. Then maybe I'll figure it out and won't have to ask such stupid questions.

Well, I used a pose I cribbed off an old Boris Vallejo painting, pen and paper, a digital camera to get the drawing onto the computer, and the free program GIMP for touch-up and digital coloring. But basically you have to make your own. :D

(If you're interesting in doing one using photomanipulation/clip art, I like using Flickr's creative commons photos as base art.)

There's actually a group that's apparently going around and making people covers, but I have no idea how you get on their list.

(Depending on how desperately I start procrastinating later in the month, I may put up an offer to do quick-and-dirty covers for people.)

I only decided to finally to jump in to NaNoWriMo last week and have been feeling the nerves. I've started thinking of a plot outline in my head but have been pulling 12 hour days at work this week so i haven't formally outlined or drawn character sketches. as a first timer I'm looking to sit down and start writing to see what comes out, if i get stuck i think i'll have a skeleton outline. Wish I started planning in August, oh well.

Preparing?

*blank stare*

Oh, dear.

I often make picture collages... of a certain character, a place or an item that is of importance. It helps me to visualize and later on, to describe in better detail.

>14 foggidawn: LOL My reaction precisely.

Well, until this year. I'm trying to get at least a storyline going, and some character studies, using Storyweaver, a writing software program I bought last year and never really used. I was going to be really productive and do a Phase Plan but time has just gotten away from me. Now it's like the 11th hour ~ well, okay, the 9th hour ~ and I'll be lucky to finish the storyline and character studies. One thing, I'm really happy to have discovered Microsoft's OneNote through some helpful Wrimos on some thread on the NaNo Forum. I think that will come in handy, though I don't have a lot of time left to figure out how best to utilize it.

Ack! Four more days! Ack!!!

Total writing newbie here. :

Today someone mentioned NaNoWriMo on my twitter and I got intrigued. I had vaguely heard the word before but I didn't know much about it.

Preparations I need to do this week-end:
- Think of a general plot idea (in the young adult, fantasy-ish or sf genre)
- Main characters description
- Have some kind of outline of the story chapter by chapter
- Read No Plot? No Problem!
- Maybe do some kind of cover artwork for motivation

Anyway, I expect my attempt to rapidly turn into a total train wreck but if I can have some fun in the process, that would be worth it.

Welcome to the craziness, Codexus! Good luck with your list of things to do. Don't forget to make plans to go to the kick-off party in your area. They are always so much fun. Even if you're shy like me.

(Hey, I really am shy irl. Don't give me that look ~ I AM! Really!)

Ahem.

So, are you Codexus on NaNo too?

#18 Thanks! A kick-off party? Mmm, that sounds scarier than writing a novel in a month, lol. I'm such a hikikomori, I barely get out of my home anymore. Anyway, yes, I'm also Codexus on nano (I've now added the "also on" connection information to my LT profile). :

I'm in panic mode. This is my first Nano and while I thought I had things in mind, suddenly I feel like going in a new direction. I have some great characters in mind-I love creating a character and usually know them right down to what they'd order in any restaurant, but I don't have a complete "arc" of the storyline.

I'm wondering if I should let it somehow evolve into something or if I should sit down and really nail down the overall plotting? I've read advice supporting either way, does anyone wish to comment on this?

Also, I downloaded Scrivener's platform but the fact that it's a beta scares me...what if it all disappears?

Any advice appreciated...

I used Scrivener in Beta a few years ago and loved it so much I bought the full version. Never had any problems with it.

Don't feel alone in your pre-NaNo jitters, BlackSheep. I think pretty much everyone who does NaNo goes through the same thing, in varying degrees.

I've had my idea for a month and haven't gotten it very far advanced, don't even know who all the main characters will be, and have no idea where the story will end up, much less the story arc, but that's not going to stop me from writing it. lol I also have moments of panic where I utterly hate the idea and am sure I need to come up with something else.

It's been the same way for me every year, and last year was the first I didn't "win" with 50k words. In fact, the first two NaNo novels I cobbled together wrote are so good that, if I ever got my act together to sit down and revise/edit them, I think they'd be good enough to submit.

So, my take on it, whether you're writing seat of the pants or plotted within an inch of its life, whatever feels right for you and you have time for, that's the way to go.

Anyway, don't worry, you'll be fine. It's surprising how very much fun one month of intense frenzied writing can be. And to make your goal and get that purple bar? Beyond exhilarating!

I'm down to 23 hours until NaNo. I've pretty much finished up all the work on Vision, done what I can for Forward Motion, and sent off the last edits for the DAZ newsletter. I'll upload Vision and FM sometime tomorrow.

I cleaned my office, which it badly needed. I worked on my sixth outline, which I will not need for NaNo (I don't plan to be that crazy, especially since these are 90 to 100k plus books), but I would like to have it done before November starts anyway. I plan to throw myself into writing with pure, joyful abandon after midnight.

Should be fun.

I'm definitely in the flying by the seat of your pants camp. I read No Plot? No Problem! some time ago and have vague recollections of it, especially it's overall tone of just turning off the inner editor, questing for quantity over quality, letting anything happen to make the word count happen if that's what's required (on that front, I already thought that if I hit a block and just want to get words in, I'll have my Main Character go to a grocery or department store and read off the tabloid headlines while she waits in line). I spent a few hours as a passenger on my b-friend's Harley a few weeks ago and came up with the beginnings of a basic plot (with many gaps) and have not progressed from there. I decided I wanted my heroine to have a Jack Russel Terrier, decided to name the dog Comet and then decided that he should be Hayley's Comet, so I had a name for my Main Character! Then nothing. I had this running on the backburner, hoping at some point I would be able to fill in some plot gaps, learn more about my main character or devise other characters but...nothing.

Today, I decided I am setting the novel in the present. Totally in the present. It was already going to be set in my city (Ottawa) but now starting on November 1, 2010 means I just have to look around me for descriptions (I think Comet the JRT is going to be stepping in some puddles of melted snow tomorrow morning!) I've made my Main Character 28-years-old, so she will have to be able to operate a BlackBerry properly (while my 35-year-old self has many lackings in technological areas) (as opposed to setting my novel a little earlier on in time when such prowess would not have mattered as much).

As a final preparation touch, I picked up The Pocket Muse: Ideas & Inspirations for Writing and A Novel in a Year (which better not serve as an excuse to slow me down!) at the library today.

That's it. My entire prep.

I'm nervous.

Just saw in the Hobnob with Authors Group that Harlequin Books is hosting an online "seminar" on So You Think You Can Write Nov 1-5, 2010 that might tie in nicely with NaNo and help with getting started. Also makes for a wonderful reason to procrastinate. lol

http://www.librarything.com/topic/101097