Let's go NaNo!
Oct. 22nd, 2009 04:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zounds A little over a month ago, I took a deep breath and signed up to NaNoWriMo, a ginormous writing challenge asking victims to type out a 50,000 word novel over the month of November. I didn't take it so seriously till I found out my friend satyr had done the same thing, and since I have admitted to her my registration, I am now forced to keep myself accountable.
There were many things I did not realise about NaNoWriMo; for one, participants actually plan what they are going to write about before November. I assumed it was just a sort of diarrhoeic expulsion of subconscious gibberish , whereupon once it was officially over one would look back on what had been written and chortle merrily on their obvious psychological fixations. But no, there is a space in the writer's profile to give a brief synopsis of their (future) work, title it, and even tap out an excerpt from their (future) work. I read in the NaNoWriMo forums about one participant who planned to write several thousands of words of his novel before November, and then add another 50,000 during the month itself.
Which leads me onto another thing I did not realise before signing up, the required word count itself. When I imagined what the challenge demanded, my head would actually consistently reduce the word count - "I think they asked for 30,000? Or 20,000? No that can't be right, that's quite a lot. Must be 10,000. Now that I think about it, 7,000 makes more sense..." But no, they asked for 50, 000 words. Over 30 days, I worked that out to be approximately 1667 words a day, which admittedly has left me more than a little nervous. I always found it difficult to write even a 2000 word essay, and honestly required at least a week to work on a draft. I'm not sure how it's possible to write 1667 words in one day without scribbling unpolished, unsophisticated, illogical drivel.
Following the example of fellow NaNoWriMo-ers, I sat down and wrote a synopsis of my (future) novel. It's actually based on an idea I had years ago for a comic, but unfortunately my drawing skills were too lacking to be able to convey what I wanted. I wonder if my writing skills will have better luck?
The initial title was Bel Immortel but as I don't know French, I'm not quite sure which phrasing is more grammatically correct and more apt for my work.
satyr had done the same thing, and since I have admitted to her my registration, I am now forced to keep myself accountable.There were many things I did not realise about NaNoWriMo; for one, participants actually plan what they are going to write about before November. I assumed it was just a sort of diarrhoeic expulsion of subconscious gibberish , whereupon once it was officially over one would look back on what had been written and chortle merrily on their obvious psychological fixations. But no, there is a space in the writer's profile to give a brief synopsis of their (future) work, title it, and even tap out an excerpt from their (future) work. I read in the NaNoWriMo forums about one participant who planned to write several thousands of words of his novel before November, and then add another 50,000 during the month itself.
Which leads me onto another thing I did not realise before signing up, the required word count itself. When I imagined what the challenge demanded, my head would actually consistently reduce the word count - "I think they asked for 30,000? Or 20,000? No that can't be right, that's quite a lot. Must be 10,000. Now that I think about it, 7,000 makes more sense..." But no, they asked for 50, 000 words. Over 30 days, I worked that out to be approximately 1667 words a day, which admittedly has left me more than a little nervous. I always found it difficult to write even a 2000 word essay, and honestly required at least a week to work on a draft. I'm not sure how it's possible to write 1667 words in one day without scribbling unpolished, unsophisticated, illogical drivel.
Following the example of fellow NaNoWriMo-ers, I sat down and wrote a synopsis of my (future) novel. It's actually based on an idea I had years ago for a comic, but unfortunately my drawing skills were too lacking to be able to convey what I wanted. I wonder if my writing skills will have better luck?
Belle Immortel
A young girl finds herself growing hideous. After being told about the strange doctor who resides at the top of the mountain, she visits the wizened woman who suggests a dangerous last resort – the drug ‘R-ACC’. Aware of the warnings , she takes it, not truly realising what she will have to go through before reaching the end of her treatment –to become ‘belle immortel’.
The initial title was Bel Immortel but as I don't know French, I'm not quite sure which phrasing is more grammatically correct and more apt for my work.
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 11:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 10:40 pm (UTC)The phone call we had must have been particularly conducive to my creativity because I spent the evening mashing out the rest of my plot. I now know the overarching storyline but with plenty of nooks and crannies in the stories to allow small subplots to develop.
Looking forward to November!