Support for NanoWrimo writers' Journal (original) (raw)

Scribes' Solace: Support for NanoWrimo writers' Journal [Most Recent Entries][Calendar View] [Friends]

Below are the 15 most recent journal entries recorded inScribes' Solace: Support for NanoWrimo writers' LiveJournal:

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
_8:17 am_[mystickeeper]	I'm into 5 digits! So, I didn't write at all on Saturday. When I'm at my part-time job (like I was on Saturday), I actually work the whole time, so I can't sit around writing!I had a really tough time writing on Sunday, too. I couldn't write all day until after dinner, but once I started, I easily reached 1,000 words (and then promptly fell asleep).Monday, writing came very easily. I have a new goal of 1,950 words per day in order to make up for days on which I have slacked. Because it's so close to 2,000, maybe I'll go extra every day!What made things easier:--I made a list of things I appreciate in fiction. I don't think I can include many of them due to the nature of my story, but it still made me aware of the things I like.--Looking at what had happened at my story thus far, I wrote out what would be the expected happy ending in every character's arc. And then I figured out how to make the character woefully unhappy by doing the exact opposite. I am a terrible person, :D--Have two characters make out!Things are picking up at work, so I'm afraid that my progress rate will suffer the next few days, :/ Off to scribble madly before dealing with literally eight cubic feet of mailings, :[
Friday, November 7th, 2008
_7:28 am_[mystickeeper]	Yesterday was successful! Yesterday, I actually hit a bit beyond the daily goal of 1,667 words. I'm not sure how I'll make up for the ones I'm behind on (now almost 3,000). I keep having ideas for scenes that will occur later in the story, but draw up blanks as to what to write about right now. Maybe I'll write some scenes out of order, just to keep going.What helped this time:--Wearing headphones. Drowning out my co-workers is necessary, even if they all know I'm writing a story about ghost hunting, make fun of my handwriting, and incessantly have conversations in which I would like to take part. With the headphones on my side, I think I had over 700 words written by 10am, which put me in a good mood and made it easy to achieve the word count goal.--Stopping mid-sentence, mid-paragraph, or mid-scene. Then, every time I returned to the page, there were at least a few words I could immediately write down, and it made it easier to keep going.How is everyone else doing?
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
_9:55 pm_[mystickeeper]	The going is tough? Once again, I didn't write as much as I was supposed to. I did a better job focusing at work today than I did yesterday, but everybody's excited about the election results, and it's difficult. Plus, we're a bit more busy now.I'm exhausted from watching the speeches last night, and I think I'm just going to go to bed. Today, I wrote somewhere around 800 words.
_9:20 pm_[homo_nescius]	Fail. I had just nearly finished my election post when my cousin showed up at my door. Why would I need to save mid-way, it's a blog post? Well, my computer has been largely unsuccessful at going to sleep without freezing up, so when I got back to it I had to restart and lost everything. Why can't livejournal be a product of gmail - the happy world where nothing is ever lost? It appears I'll be behind for a while, and I so badly want to make posts and keep up, but who has time to do everything twice?
_7:40 am_[mystickeeper]	Behind AGAIN Checking the Internet all day yesterday, even while at work, meant that I only wrote about 500 words. So far, the only day I wrote as much as I was supposed to was Sunday. :/I'm resolved to reach my daily goal, but I'm not sure how I'm going to pick up the slack! I need to find time to make an outline beyond what I want to write about on a certain day. I think having characters arcs and stuff would make me feel a lot more confident.How is everyone else doing?
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
_8:33 am_[mystickeeper]	FAIL. I was all proud of myself for writing 1,100 words at work yesterday.Then I finished watching Veronica Mars, and suddenly I was face-down asleep in my pillow, without even having taken a shower, let alone write the remaining 567 words I was supposed to yesterday, or do any more outlining.So now I'm even more behind, :[Lesson learned: Don't get cocky!
Monday, November 3rd, 2008
_11:48 pm_[homo_nescius]	The Outsider I am completely new to this community thing. In fact, I had to ask Jackie what it was. I think I get it now.Reading all of your entries makes me very glad I went the Nablopomo route instead of the Nanowrimo wrout. I like to write and someday I want to get back into fiction, but I just don't have the time for it now. Granted, I devote way more time than I ought to to my blog entries, but it sounds like a lot of you are quite stressed - and with good reason! That's a lot of words! Keep your spirits up though, my friends! At the end, there will be fantastic fanfare and you'll have at least a sizable story, even if you don't meet your goal. As someone who enjoys reading and writing but does not have an extensive education in literature or creative writing, it's interesting for me to hear you all talk about your tenses, character development, and other decisions in a very thoughtful way. I champion analysis, however, so even if I don't relate in the same way, I love that fact that your decisions are conscious and not haphazard (unless of course you're using randomness as a device!)I'm still very glad to have a project, myself. At the end of the month I will have 30 well-thought out essays, I'll get into a habit of blogging as often as I've wanted to, and with any luck I'll make some friends!Well, back to the prescribed bloggin', seeing as it's only getting later!
_9:40 am_[were_duck]	Eureka! I'm horribly behind, you guys, but it's okay because I have off today and I'm spending my whole day alone and writing! Yesterday I finally figured out my plot, and realized that my character didn't want to be me. It feels like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, as I'm drawing somewhat on personal experience for this story, but fictionalizing yourself is really hard and kind of emotionally taxing. I finally figured out how to think of my protagonist as a character instead of as an avatar, and suddenly she seems more interesting to me, and the secondary characters also suddenly make sense, too. I have a general idea of how the plot will go, some specific images of certain key scenes, and solid impressions of the characters. Hopefully I'll learn more about them as I write...I'm having trouble with voice--I started out in first person, decided I liked 3rd person better, but then a new scene went from past to present tense, and... it's a mess. I'm not going to deal with it now, though I think once I'm through the scene I'm working on, I'll go back to past tense, though I am considering having a few chapters of first-person from the point of view of some of the secondary characters...
Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
_11:24 pm_[mystickeeper]	Progress Update Yesterday, I finished the day at 1,196.Today, I wrote the normal 1,667, and ended with a total of 2,868 words. So, I didn't regain yesterday's lost words, but I did everything I was supposed to do today.Things that worked better for me today:-I find it a lot easier to write when there are multiple characters in a scene. I guess I'm better at dialogue, and I don't really know what to do with a character when he's by himself, unless I'm doing intense mental trauma or something.-It was also a lot easier to intersperse the writing with other stuff. Like: Write 400 more words and then wash the dishes.-Writing in advance what I want to accomplish in a scene, even if it's only a few sentences. Also, saying things like "Character X will act in this particular manner" helps.--Not watching 7 episodes of Veronica Mars in a 24-hour span probably also helped. :DI still feel like the writing is terrible, and I'm kind of outlining as I go along. Maybe for me, a rough draft is like crafting an outline, and then when I go back for editing, things will get cut and moved and etc.How is everybody else doing?I'm fearful of going to work tomorrow. Beginning NanoWrimo on a weekend was very nice. I'll be writing long-hand, on graphpaper.
_1:09 am_[jackshoegazer]
Saturday, November 1st, 2008
_11:36 am_[were_duck]	Aural Stimulation I was trying to load my iPod up with some "writing music" to take to a cafe and listen to while working... and it turns out that the only writing music I really like are the Lord of the Rings Soundtracks, and the prospect of listening to that on loop for a month is a little chilling.What kinds of music do you listen to while you write? Do you have any favorites to recommend? I find I can't write if the music had lyrics in English, because it distracts me...
Friday, October 31st, 2008
_8:19 am_[mystickeeper]	Is anyone else being overwhelmed with fear? OMF, tomorrow is the big day!So, what are you guys writing about, anyway? Is everybody doing a novel, or are some of us doing modified versions of NanoWrimo? If you're doing a story, what is it about?Also, random: I think that tonight or tomorrow, I'm going to add this Firefox add-on to my browser. That way, when I'm cruising the Internet instead of working on my story, I'll at least feel guilty about it.
Thursday, October 30th, 2008
_10:34 am_[were_duck]	Let's do it? This is my first NaNo, and I'm scared! I only have vague thematic ideas for my novel, and am having trouble collecting myself and feeling prepared. Do you all make working outlines before you start and characterizations and plot summaries and things? Do you just... start writing? I have a really noisy internal editor and am a major perfectionist, so I'm kind of feeling stuck as to how to turn those things off and just do it, which I understand is part of the philosophy of NaNo. Does anybody have any tips or tricks for overcoming these obstacles? I am hoping NaNo will help me get over my intense writer's block and get me writing for real, so my interest in NaNo this time around is for the process more than the product. Secretly I hope that not being entirely invested in my novel being "good" will help me loosen up and actually do it, instead of being paralyzed by the fear that it will totally suck. Is this not being fully committed to my project going to help me or hinder me, do you think?
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
_7:42 pm_[mystickeeper]	Perspective Perspective is a pretty huge choice when it comes to narrative. Is the narrator omniscient? Is the narrator one of the characters? Do the characters trade off in telling the narrative? How much does the viewpoint character know? How does her voice differ those of the people around her?I originally wrote Ghost Hunters from the third-person omniscient perspective, but I really feel like that's why it's so flat and fumbling. I think I'm a lot better at doing first-person stuff.BUT...novels written in the first perspective are often viewed as sucky by readers, or as immature writing. Will people judge me for writing a novel in the first person? Does it bother you to read novels written this way?I guess there's always third person limited.
_3:41 pm_[mystickeeper]	Post #1! Yay, a community! NanoWrimo starts Saturday, so freak out and get ready.There is a LiveJournal community called lj_nanowrimo, and it has some good resources. However, it has over 1700 people, so the point of this community is to have a more closely-knit group (and much fewer posts!). However, you might want to join the community anyway. LiveJournal is giving away 5 paid accounts to users who join the community and "win" NanoWrimo. Yay, free services!I would like to use this community so that I have somewhere to post about NanoWrimo ad nauseum, without spamming my friendslist.For further reading, there is a recent LJ news post with interesting links and tips. It can be found here.