NaNoWriMo to close all-ages spaces after safety concerns
"Though younger members will be able to connect as Buddies with users they already know, our policy of hosting and moderating all-ages spaces will retire."
#WritersCoffeeClub 1 introduction/self-promotion
Former librarian/retired SW engineer with 2 retirement projects:
1 replace my house that burned in a wildfire
2 write a middle fantasy series (court intrigue and occasional swashbuckling, not high: apocalyptic threats or low: skullduggery in the slums)
90k words of volume 1 goes to the beta readers tomorrow, and I start looking for a pro editor for self-pubbing
60K of volume2 is written, several more vols exist in various levels of summary
Heir of the Bindings, Elderkin Chronicles Volume I has gone out to a few beta readers.
The beta version has just over 91,000 words and about 310 pages.
I should probably find a few more beta readers who share fewer categories on the list:
female,
college graduate,
linguistics major,
library school grad,
software engineer.
The book was started July '23 #NaNoCamp, expanding from about 17K of my 2021 #NaNoWriMo work.
Have a story to publish? Did you work on something for #NaNoWriMo? I've got a budget and I'd like to talk to you. DM me or email njb@nantucketebooks.com. Heck, leave a message at (720) 459-8761. I'm working with some great authors right now, and I'd like for you to be one of them. #nantucketebooks
The venerable NaNoWriMo is a self-directed challenge. To whit - can you write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November? It doesn't have to be a good novel. You just need to complete it. 50k words over 30 days is 1,667 words per day. If you can type at about 20 Words Per […]
The venerable NaNoWriMo is a self-directed challenge. To whit - can you write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November? It doesn't have to be a good novel. You just need to complete it. 50k words over 30 days is 1,667 words per day. If you can type at about 20 Words Per Minute, then you can bash out a novel in 90 minutes per day.
I know that I can bash out a novel in half a month given sufficient motivation. I have dozens of stories that I want to tell. I finally understand why authors complain about their characters not doing what they need them to do. Trying to engineer a nifty plot point is tougher than I thought. It's fascinating to write characters you don't like - and it can be hard to give them a suitable comeuppance. Stories I thought would be short went on far too long. Being clever rarely works. The thundercrack of realising exactly how something is going to work is brilliant.
But, most importantly, I can commit to a creative challenge, execute it, and complete it.
I've loved the feedback people have given - good and bad. I don't think I want to try and publish it as a "real" book. But we'll see.
Throughout September and October, I spent some time planning out the bones of my book. I wrote titles for chapters gave each a very vague synopsis. If I had a thought about a plot-point, I scribbled it down. This is similar to my algorithm to write an assignment. A paragraph of 100 words means that you only have to write 17 paragraphs per day. If your chapter has a beginning, middle, and end then you only need to write 6 paragraphs for each.
I also went to a NaNoWriMo "Write In" during October. It was kind of nice to sit with others and chat about our story ideas. It's also harder to doss about on the Internet when you're surrounded by people typing.
I mostly wrote in plain-text. When I did use something like Google Docs, I got distracted by its spell-check and (often erroneous) grammar suggestions. I found it incredibly important to get into the flow. Running on huge paragraphs without stopping to think if I'd spelled "obstreperous" correctly. All of that can be saved for editing. The most important thing is to get the story out.
I realise how privileged I am to have a couple of hours each day to write. And I don't mean to suggest that you should feel bad if you don't. But the nice thing about writing is that there are no short-cuts. I cannot teach you "one weird trick that authors hate". You literally have to sit at the keyboard and fling your fingers at it until the words are on the page.
I suppose the only "trick" is not caring too much about the end result while you're writing. Once the words are out, it's OK to go back and fix all your mistakes.
I think so! It's fun writing short stories. They're an interesting way to examine what I think about the world. Perhaps next year I will try to turn one of them into a full length novel.
I should probably read more about writing and attend some of the workshops run by published authors. It might also be useful to get beta-readers to commit to giving me feedback on each chapter.
Would I like to be the next Andy Weir and transform my blog into a best-seller and then a movie? Yes, obviously. But I'd rather be realistic about what I can achieve and how I can maximise the fun I have.
Anyway, you can read Tales of the Algorithm online - and I'd love to know what you think of it.
Let me do just a little bit more recoup for #NaNoWriMo, because in retrospect, the added pressure didn't lead me to be any more productive than I was before. I wrote about the same amount as I would've any other month, and didn't even get to do any comics in all that time, and in the end it just left me frustrated and needing more breaks. It basically only serves as motivation to write anything at all.
I'm filling out the inside of the holiday cards I've got done so far, imagining I'm a writer out on a big book tour doing signings lol! (Had my pineider TTT vac-fill already filled with poppy red ink so ready-to-go from #NaNoWriMo#editing to #holiday greetings! #Holidaycard#FountainPens#Ink
Well, it's done. #NaNoWriMo is over, and I finished with a little over 30000 words, which is alright, though obviously not where I wanted to be. Still, it was an experience, but if I'm honest with you, I'll need to put CunQuest on hold for a little bit until I've structured the rest of that story. Turns out, I had ideas for about half a book, which is half a book less than I needed.
And that is why we'll continue the Suburban War for now.
After starting the month with 25k words, I did not meet my goal of 75k for #NaNoWriMo. But...I did get to 61k, which is still some damn good progress for one month. What's more, it felt easy.