So…. who's in? Who's out?
Are you plotting out your novel beforehand or flying by the seat of your pants? Got a name for your book yet? What's it about? Who's the main character?
Let's just get some chat going so we can all find each other this year. It always helps to have buddies doing it with you!
group
ayy right here! i have mine all plotted out and started, but i'll be trying to finish it by the end of the month. it's called pareidolia highway, and it's a collaborative horror project between me and a friend that focuses on themes of religion and identity. also featuring: exclusively platonic love, wlw and mlm solidarity, and loads of creepy ass hotels!
I've never done it before, but I'm gonna try this year.
I have a basic main idea but am just going to word vomit onto a page and try not to die.
(I'm jumping between writing a novel like I'm supposed to or just,,, writing a whole musical)
But the book idea is based on the fact that no one really knows about actual Italian gods, not the Roman ones, and the fact that I haven't seen a book with any sort of pagan where they aren't steryotyped.
The main character is this person named Jade who's a pagan witch who ends up getting haunted by the Malocchio (the evil eye), but Mal isn't actually that bad, it's just looking for it's human counterpart.
I'm looking for some more italian spirits to make Jade have a conncetion like Mal's and it's human rn
ac_unit
Ayy, NaNoWriMo. I'm gonna try, tbh. Already I know I am going to fall very behind schedule, so I am 100% not going in without at least a plan. As far as details go, I think I'mma keep that a bit secret until I'm finished planning it out and stuff like that.
And like, explaining what it's about is only slightly complicated. There's a lotta backstory and other elements to it, that's for sure. But like, the genre is… uhh… let's go with sci-fi. That describes it best. I actually don't really write sci-fi often, but I decided to take a leap. The worst that can happen is falling flat on my face, neh?
I do have a different book I'm writing, but that could be put on the back seat until December-
ac_unit
Do you have any plans, andrew (Our Supreme Lord and Overseer)? 👀
ac_unit
I've never done it before, but I'm gonna try this year.
I have a basic main idea but am just going to word vomit onto a page and try not to die.
(I'm jumping between writing a novel like I'm supposed to or just,,, writing a whole musical)But the book idea is based on the fact that no one really knows about actual Italian gods, not the Roman ones, and the fact that I haven't seen a book with any sort of pagan where they aren't steryotyped.
The main character is this person named Jade who's a pagan witch who ends up getting haunted by the Malocchio (the evil eye), but Mal isn't actually that bad, it's just looking for it's human counterpart.
I'm looking for some more italian spirits to make Jade have a conncetion like Mal's and it's human rn
Ohh, that's really cool! And I totally get what you're talking about with the stereotypes and things like that. But ye I think that's a really neat idea! I'd love to see it if you're ever willing to share some, and have a great first NaNoWriMo!
I wanna attempt this… but I know myself better than anyone, and I know that I'll fall way behind because I'm lazy. And I don't know the rules exactly. What happens if you fail? Do you just quit the project?
ac_unit
Well, you can continue the project even if you don't complete it by the end of November! It's up to you if you quit or not. It's just a fun little challenge.
ac_unit
Nice, nice. Yeah, I stumbled my first year of NaNoWriMo too lol. I actually like the idea I've got going this year, even though the genre is something I don't write for often. I feel this is a good sign. ( •̀ᴗ•́ )و ̑̑
ac_unit
And I'll be honest, my original idea wasn't even supposed to be a sci-fi. My brain just said "what if there was a robot tho??"
NaNoWriMo is hard which always makes me want to skip it, but boy oh boy is it fun, too. I'm still trying to decide if I'll give it a shot this year since I have other writing projects I'm already a bit behind on, but I always say even if you fail you wrote more than zero words – so maybe it's worth another go after all. :)
ac_unit
Mhm, I agree with andrew (Our Supreme Lord and Overseer). My first time I only wrote like… 1k words. It was better than I had expected from me, so I just kept doing it again and again. Steadily improved. I've also been more inspired than recent years. ( •̀ᴗ•́ )و ̑̑
I'm going to be participating for the third time this year! I'm going to (finally) start working on a story that I've had planned since like 2007 which sounds like a long time, but there were times where I kind of had it on the back burner. I've also had to make some big changes to the characters and the world building. So even though I've had the idea for all these years there's still a few blanks that need to be filled in. That being said though, the story is still mostly planned out, and I'm excited to finally start writing it.
Y'all have any tips for keeping a good flow of the story? Or making it sound natural?
local_movies
@WoodlandCryptid, Maybe I do? I have tips on how to keep a consistent atmosphere, if that’s what you’re mentioning.
I usually listen to music when I write, and having the music keep consistent with atmosphere, it draws me back to what I originally intended. For example, for NaNoWriMo, I’m writing a suuuper creepy boy book. So I have a playlist of a ton of unsettling/odd and victorian/creepy songs. Every time I don’t know what to write, I look to the songs for inspiration. It keeps me consistent, old creaky violins inspiring sounds like creaking stairs, and the continuous sound of a bell in the background inspiring sounds like an old abandoned bell-tower. I explain it so much better on this thread if you’re interested :D
Plot-wise, I've found that a rough outline really helps with the flow and passage of time. It helps a lot to know where you want to go (and how to get there), but also lets you jump around to/from what you're writing if you ever get stuck on one chapter. I'm a big planner, so I usually either try to start with a rough outline and/or a ~paragraph of text for each chapter so I can get a sense of pacing and what needs to happen to set up for the next chapter.
Also, if you keep those paragraphs around even after writing the chapter, they make for good summaries for you to look back and see what happened when. :)
group
I might try and write something, I might not. My biggest issue is that I have a lot of ideas and I'm also very indecisive, so I bounce back and forth from story to story like a ping pong ball during NaNo.
This year I might attempt (again), last year I underestimated how busy I’d be during November so unfortunately I didn’t get much done. This year I should be a bit less busy, so here’s to another attempt!
I’m only in the planning stages of mine, but I think I’ll do something fantasy related. Maybe some sort of mythology in it.
I have my characters. If I can come up with an idea for my story by November, I'm in. I am going to do it very loosly, though. My goal will just be to write a fairly significant amount everyday, and not focus on actual word count. I find thats the part that always trips me up and makes me quit part of the way through.
fastfood
it's my first time but i'll try
Ok. That's it. Im in.
group
I'm going to attempt… 50k words, huh? No way in hell I'll be able with my current issues, but I'll try
If I can do about 1k words every 5 mins i can try.
ac_unit
Lmao.
I'm just gonna try and get past 1k lol
I'm going to attempt it for the first time. I honestly had never heard it before, but 100 pages is a lot lolol, it's intimidating.
i tried last year and write about 27k words in poems, because that's all i do
unfortunately, i lost all my work this march, and i'll be trying again this year.
