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I have lost my ever loving mind.


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I know it's late to start, but I keep thinking about trying nanowrimo. I have never written anything in my life that wasn't assigned for a grade, lol. But, eh... I need something to do. So if one doesn't know how to write a novel but would like to find out if one would enjoy novel writing... where do you start?

 

getting words on paper.

 

You can still finish starting now. I would develop a simple plot, don't reinvent the wheel, maybe do a retelling of one of your favorite stories.

 

Make up some character names, I use babynames.com for mine.

 

If you haven't signed up, do that first. :lol:

 

Don't edit, don't overthink, there's plenty of time to do that later.

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If you are thinking about fiction, check out the Elements of Fiction Writing series. It's done by some of the best in the field, and a flip through one of those always inspires me. You can save your work on a flash drive instead of a computer. DO IT!!!! I haven't really written in several years, despite a degree in the field, and I just took a week to go over characters and some more plat and jumped right into NaNo. It's been fabulous! Also, you can read good writing to prep your mind for writing as well, as long as it doesn't have a similar plot or anything to what you're writing, to avoid any accidental influence.

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second of all, where do I write? I mean is there like somewhere online I can store my work if I don't want to save it to my computer?

 

I save all mine on the computer. You need to have somewhere you can do a word count, word does that. You can also e-mail yourself the draft. I've done that before.

 

You could type it in a long e-mail if you wanted.

 

Google docs might be another place.

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getting words on paper.

 

You can still finish starting now. I would develop a simple plot, don't reinvent the wheel, maybe do a retelling of one of your favorite stories.

 

Make up some character names, I use babynames.com for mine.

 

If you haven't signed up, do that first. :lol:

 

Don't edit, don't overthink, there's plenty of time to do that later.

 

Yes, this. As they say on the Website, NaNo is about quantity, not quality. After all, IME, it is MUCH easier to edit/revise/add than to just get the words on paper in the first place.

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I save all mine on the computer. You need to have somewhere you can do a word count, word does that. You can also e-mail yourself the draft. I've done that before.

 

You could type it in a long e-mail if you wanted.

 

Google docs might be another place.

 

Thanks, I didn't think of emailing myself or google docs. I don't see myself writing in any sort of linear fashion, so I'm trying to figure out how to do this without having a bazillion files on my computer.

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I agree - just start! You can do it! I'm really behind this year (sick baby), but I'll finish. If you get stuck you can try throwing something at your characters - a hurricane, a winning lottery ticket, whatever. Or check out the adoptables and dares on the NaNo forums. Just make sure to get back to writing.

 

Also, try out writeordie - I've been using it most of the week to write in short spurts. I then paste the text back into my story, which is in an Open Office document. The wordcount is in the footer, and I usually email the whole file to myself several times a month to back it up.

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So SS--did you get started??? How was Day 1? (Day 2??)

 

I'm a late bloomer myself this year, but did my first 2300 words tonight. NaNo informs me I can still win if I write at least 2100 words/day, though at my current rate (2300 words in 8 days) I may not finish until April.

 

Since I have never finished any novel I've started, I still consider this highly encouraging. :D

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