I just spent two hours writing ONLY 288 words for Nanowrimo.

[lisabees]

Oh my goodness! I have never done this before. DS11 and DS17 wanted me to do Nanowrimo with them. I happily obliged, because I have always loved to write.

 

But, I started today with no idea. I FINALLY got a half-decent start. But it took sooooo long! Now, I am not even sure how to continue.

 

288 words??? Are you kidding. That is 1400 more words needed for today!

[Pamela H in Texas]

Lisa, don't overthink!

 

It's basically free writing. If you want to publish one day, you can clean it up later; but for THIS, just type!

[Garga]

Oooo. Did you read, "No Plot, No Problem?"

 

You need to add lots of descriptions. Describe what people look like, what the road looks like, what the furniture looks like. In insane detail. Just to get the writing juices flowing.

 

Are you handwriting it or typing it? Be sure you're using whichever writing is best for you (I prefer typing, but not everyone does.)

 

Add something ridiculous to the story: Impish's flying monkeys for example.

 

My story was about someone who went through a hole in a wall to another world. At the beginning of each chapter, I had a paragraph of a journal entry from the daily life of a character in the other world. Like, "Lost the keys to the storage cellar today. Mother was displeased and now the servants are smirking at me. How will I ever take over running the household if I can't gain the respect of the servants?" These journal entries added nothing to the plot: only added words and the "flavor" of the other world.

 

Make each chapter heading a nice long heading, like, "Chapter 1, in which Elizabeth goes through the wall and finds that she's not in Kansas anymore."

 

Oh--and make sure that characters have multiple names. Not Elizabeth, but Elizabeth Ann of the Bright Blue Eyes.

 

No hyphens, even if the word is supposed to have hyphens.

[Carrie12345]

I only got 372 this morning. Fiction is NOT my thing, so I'm trying to lower my expectations. I'm also figuring I'll eventually get caught up in the story and more words (for better or for worse, lol) will start pouring out.

 

FWIW, I was writing in the bathroom - the only room in the house with a working lock! :tongue_smilie:

[Pamela H in Texas]

Fiction isn't my thing AT ALL and my conscious is so strict (can you talk yourself into having a less strict conscious?) that I can't even imagine certain things. So what *I* did was chose to fictionalize something that very well could be possible. It's still fiction, just realistic, at least for someone's life. Not trying to think of something outrageous is easier for some of us.

[elise1mds]

I churned out 2818 this morning. My character is writing the book herself. I'm just here to provide the fingers. She didn't want to take a break, but I have to feed the kid, clean the house, do the laundry, pick up the other kid and take her to the psychiatrist, come home and do all the 'normal' evening activities. I'm glad it got done this morning. Whew!

[Gooblink]

Don't give up! Like others have said, don't overthink, don't try to write perfect prose, add lots of descriptions, don't worry about grammar. Also, you can start anywhere...doesn't have to be with your opening scene. Write some action scenes and see how things fall into place.

 

I've not even started writing, yet...planning to get to that when we get finished with school. I did finish last year, though. Some days were really tough, but most days flowed really well.

 

Go pick up one of your favorite authors and try to get inspired. You can always make up your word count as things start rolling. Some days I'd write 5000 words and some days less than 100. :)

[Mandy in TN]

Oh my goodness! I have never done this before. DS11 and DS17 wanted me to do Nanowrimo with them. I happily obliged, because I have always loved to write.

 

But, I started today with no idea. I FINALLY got a half-decent start. But it took sooooo long! Now, I am not even sure how to continue.

 

288 words??? Are you kidding. That is 1400 more words needed for today!

Yep, this is me. First time doing this and I have written a whopping 257 words after 3+ hours. I feel so silly. It took my barely 8yo less than 30 minutes to write his necessary 120 words this morning.

 

Aargh!

Mandy

[elegantlion]

 

Oh--and make sure that characters have multiple names. Not Elizabeth, but Elizabeth Ann of the Bright Blue Eyes.

 

 

:lol: Love the name, it's so epic!

 

 

I wrote a bunch this morning. I really had no idea where it was going, but it went. I pulled in some incidents I've had in real life over the last couple of days and made them way more dramatic. I'm pretty good at making anything dramatic, just ask my dh. :D

 

Think about something that has happened to you in the last few days, think how your character would respond if that incident were magnified to epic proportions and write it out. It doesn't have to be literary brilliance, it doesn't even have to be grammatically correct. Write it in your characters voice and see where it goes.

[Elizabeth in WA]

I haven't even started for myself yet ... but ds12 has 1705 words in 56 minutes. The others elected to start with math and history before writing and haven't started yet either. I tend to do my writing in the evening when I am safe from school interruptions. (At least, that is my excuse. :p )

[AuntieM]

787 with a quick session this morning, I really planned to write in the evenings.

 

I cannot figure out how to post a picture on the author info page of the nano site. Help, please?

[Veritaserum]

I stayed up late and did 917. I just did another hour or so and have a total of 1307. I'm using the free trial of Scrivener, which would allow me to jump around in my plot without messing up the order of the story. I've written the first section, but would kind of like to go play around with the climax. Is that a bad idea? :001_huh:

[Tutor]

I planned on writing from midnight to 1am today just to get myself kick-started, but ds9 decided to share his pink eye with me. :glare: Now I have meds, so after ds6 comes back from cub scouts and I finish grading school work and getting everything ready for tomorrow... then... I am going to write. Finally.

[Food4Thought]

Fiction isn't my thing AT ALL and my conscious is so strict (can you talk yourself into having a less strict conscious?) that I can't even imagine certain things. So what *I* did was chose to fictionalize something that very well could be possible. It's still fiction, just realistic, at least for someone's life. Not trying to think of something outrageous is easier for some of us.

 

I had this problem last year, at least until reading No Plot, No Problem. One of the exercises is actually getting rid of your "Inner Editor." Give it a personality, even a face if you'd like. Then put it in jail. Put up a picture of it and throw darts at it. You don't *have* to have an unimaginative conscious (realistic fiction is great, as long as it's not holding you back!!).

 

All that said, I typed 220 words this morning, then proceeded to clean the house top-to-bottom, pay the bills, make soup and homemade yogurt, and brush the dog. I'm a master procrastinator!!

[funschooler5]

I've been putting off starting. I did it last year and got my 50,000 words...I've just been afraid to start this year for some reason!

 

As for ways to add to your word count: no contractions. Everything is: I will, he did, do not, etc. Also, I added a character last year that was very talkative and annoying, but I loved her because she added to my word count! Don't edit yourself at all; this was hard for me, but ended up being very freeing!

 

Oh, and last year I added a spelling bee to my story (I write children's fiction). Each letter of every word I spelled out counted as a word! For instance:

 

The man announced the next word. "Development."

 

"Development," said Sally. "D E V E L O P M E N T. Development."

 

So the D, E, V, etc each counts as a word. I found that out by accident...honest! :tongue_smilie:

 

Be sure to go to the message boards to commiserate with others that have writer's block. There is always somebody on there, and a lot of times there are games people play to get those creative juices flowing. People will have mini "write-ins" (of 500 words or so) and check back in with each other. There is a lot of support.

 

If anybody wants to add me as a friend, my username there is writer.illustrator.....okay, now I have to go get started on this!

[Faithr]

I did 1.043 this a.m. from 7 to 8. I was sooo nervous starting. I thought it would be like my paltry attempt last time, but this time I've got ideas about a story, so it is going better. However, I was going to write again tonight but because of a busy weekend and day today I still haven't finished my Latin homework. I think that will take all my energy. . . .

 

My boys who also signed up showed a total lack of discipline. My 15 yo told me I need to crack a whip over him to get him jumpstarted. I think everybody was out of sorts because of Halloween.

[sunflowerlady]

I must be completely insane because I joined Nanowrimo today.:001_huh: Dd (11yo) has been yakking about it for months and has been so eager to get started. I guess I caught the bug and so now I am writing. It won't be good, it won't be interesting, but it will be a large quantity of writing. :lol:

 

I am Anne-70 on the site. Dd set up my account for me.:tongue_smilie: She is on the Young Writers site and I guess I am on the site for not so young writers.

[dancer67]

I have been dying to get started on writing a book. But what I am trying to understand about this site, is what exactly do you get for your efforts? A certificate? Is that it?

 

And what if you want to write a book about your life, and how it might help others. Kind of like the book "A Child Called It". Can you write something in that kind of genre?

[Veritaserum]

Ok, I just got disgustingly descriptive and my word count is now 1979. Yay!

[min]

Well, at this stage I don't see how I can even *start* until Friday at the earliest, so 200-some words sounds good to me!!!

 

Min

[Georgiana Daniels]

I find the first 1000 words I write each day are the absolute hardest. Once I get past that I can cruise, and it doesn't feel like pulling teeth (bad, bad cliche!)

 

Today I reached 1800, and had I a bit more time alone I could have gone higher. Since it's so hard for me to write without a plan, having my book plotted out really helped.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Oh my goodness! I have never done this before. DS11 and DS17 wanted me to do Nanowrimo with them. I happily obliged, because I have always loved to write.

 

But, I started today with no idea. I FINALLY got a half-decent start. But it took sooooo long! Now, I am not even sure how to continue.

 

288 words??? Are you kidding. That is 1400 more words needed for today!

 

Don't feel like you have to start writing at the exact beginning of the story and then write all the way to the end. Do you have some scene that you know you want to put in? Then write that, even if it will end up at somewhere in the middle of the final.

 

And don't feel like what you're writing now has to be the absolute best, most polished writing. It doesn't. It can be poorly crafted drivel that points you the way to what you really want to write.

 

If sitting and writing isn't working, then don't do it that way. Go mop a floor, with a sheet of paper and a pencil nearby. At some point, something will come to you. Write it down until you're dry (of words that is). Then go mop more or scrub the shower or some other tedious manual labor that lets your mind unbind in the background. Then at some point, come to the computer and type it up. As you type, other ideas may flow. Let them add to what you've already written. Repeat as necessary.

[aggieamy]

Don't feel like you have to start writing at the exact beginning of the story and then write all the way to the end. Do you have some scene that you know you want to put in? Then write that, even if it will end up at somewhere in the middle of the final.

 

And don't feel like what you're writing now has to be the absolute best, most polished writing. It doesn't. It can be poorly crafted drivel that points you the way to what you really want to write.

 

If sitting and writing isn't working, then don't do it that way. Go mop a floor, with a sheet of paper and a pencil nearby. At some point, something will come to you. Write it down until you're dry (of words that is). Then go mop more or scrub the shower or some other tedious manual labor that lets your mind unbind in the background. Then at some point, come to the computer and type it up. As you type, other ideas may flow. Let them add to what you've already written. Repeat as necessary.

 

This is very good advice. Last night I was staring at my blank word document trying to figure out a creative way to say "It was it a dark and stormy night..." I had nothing so I switched to the middle of the story and started writing a chapter or two in. Everything started flowing and was much easier to write.

[Garga]

I agree about writing a scene later in the book. Then, when you go back to write the beginning, all you have to do is write your way to the scene. It's easier if you know where you're going when you write.

 

If you want it to end at a wedding where the future MIL falls into the cake, you can write that scene. Once you know that the wedding culminates in the MIL falling into the cake, then you can go back and write the parts about how they lovingly picked out the perrrfect cake and how it almost fell over in the car on the way to the wedding, how the kids almost knocked it over, but that it made it safely to the wedding and then BOOM, you can culminate in MIL falling into it.

[Saille]

I struggled a *lot* more with plot last year. This year...well, things just fell together.

 

If you get really stuck, go look for dare threads on the forums. Those are always fun. They have a "Dare Machine" on the Young Writers Program site, as well. One they posted today was:

 

We dare you to lock all your characters in a small, smelly public restroom for at least one page.

 

I really think I may have to use that one. :D

 

Last year I successfully worked the Large Hadron Collider into my plot.

 

I picked the mid-range goal for a second grader, 500 words, for my dd. She bumped it to 600 on her own, and now she's up to 165 words already. I ordered one of those charts off the site, so the kids get to spell out NaNoWriMo* on their chart, adding a letter each time they write an additional 10% of the total goal.

 

Also, the kid workbooks have pages where the kids draw an "inner editor". Then they get to do nefarious things to it.

 

They've also done some really clever things, like a graphic of a "plot rollercoaster", and some comic-book style pages to help them generate dialogue.

 

The site is really having problems this year though, isn't it?

 

We'll see how it goes. The kids are wanting to NaNo in the morning and do seatwork after lunch. I predict eventual storms.