Who's doing NaNoWriMo?

[Duelist925]

Im trying to narrow down WHICH story idea to use. But plan on doing it this year!

[Kara]

My characters have taken over the story.

Not only do I love when this happens, this is how I write. I come up with the concept, the setting, and the characters. I have my beginning and ending more or less determined and a handful of things that I want to happen along the way. Then I set up the characters and sit back and let them decide how to get from point A to point B. I'm not as much of a writer as I am a casual observer. I love, love, LOVE IT when my own story surprises me. I've had characters die that I never intended, minor characters become major characters, backstory revealed that I hadn't even thought about, and one occasion where the characters essentially rewrote the entire last act and ending. And it worked, and was MUCH better than what I had thought of.

There have been several times when I was completely set on a particular event and outcome. They wanted to do it differently, with a different outcome. I made them do it my way, and realized it didn't work because they had already set things up in advance so that their way worked better. Mutiny I tell you.

And there have also been several occasions where I found I wrote myself into a corner and had NO IDEA how to proceed. So I give the characters complete control and say, "Alright, figure something out." And they always do.

Re-writing/editing is where it gets really fun. We argue about things.

I'm totally sane, for the record.

[dalesys]

I'm totally sane, for the record.

The fifth elephant has slipped off your turtly sane.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Something I've given thought to doing for mine is re-tooling and adapting and expanding a screenplay-style piece I wrote into a prose-form novel. It gives me the advantage of having a story sort of built already, but the prose-form allows me to expand the world around the story and give more insight into some of the characters.

[Seraph]

I'm actually thinking about writing this year. A couple of months ago I had this incredibly vivid dream, that scared the living daylights out of me. I've been unable to forget it at all, and I think it just might make for a good short story. Just not sure where I'd find the time to meet the NaNo word requirements per day ;_;

[dragon_wings]

I tried a couple years ago and didn't make it past a week or two. But now I have an iPhone so I can add more anytime. Now to just think of a topic. Cause my thought is if I can just think of some broad subject and just start writing I may come up with more then I thought. But I won't be surprise if I fail miserably again. In fact I'm pretty much expected. But I'll do it next year and hopefully I'll win eventually. ^_^

[SuperRTL]

I got roped into it at a writers conference this last weekend. Looks like I'll be attempting it.

[dragon_wings]

If anyone wants to friend me I'm dragon_wings.

[Bardmaiden]

I'm in this year, hopefully I'll do better than last year but then I got hit hard by depression about a week in and that was it.

In happier news Writing buddies are up! My Nano name is the same as here.

[bhskittykatt]

I'm doing it this year. It's my first year. The novel-to-be is tentatively titled "Warriors & Wizards vs. Aliens & Zombies."

My NaNo and CS names are one and the same.

[MoonCat]

Getting antsy now. Also worried - I'm having two teeth pulled on Nov. 1st...Not the best timing but can't be helped.

[Kaylyn]

Getting antsy now. Also worried - I'm having two teeth pulled on Nov. 1st...Not the best timing but can't be helped.

Depending on the amount of painkillers you take...could make for an interesting first few chapters!

[bhskittykatt]

Depending on the amount of painkillers you take...could make for an interesting first few chapters!

Exactly what I was going to say!

I always have fun writing when I'm not sober. I once wrote the holiday family newspaper on a napkin at the pub, after a couple Long Island Iced Teas. At the time, I thought my prose was absolutely the greatest thing. I was like "Sweet, this newsletter is going to ROCK compared to all my other relatives' letters!" The next morning, I found it, read it, and was like "WTF is this crap?!"

[JoitheArtist]

Exactly what I was going to say!

I always have fun writing when I'm not sober. I once wrote the holiday family newspaper on a napkin at the pub, after a couple Long Island Iced Teas. At the time, I thought my prose was absolutely the greatest thing. I was like "Sweet, this newsletter is going to ROCK compared to all my other relatives' letters!" The next morning, I found it, read it, and was like "WTF is this crap?!"

i tried doing some character backgrounds while tipsy. Turns out I can't really write while inebriated. The entire summary of one character's backstory and personality was listed as "smartass."

I can't wait for Trader Joe's to bring back their holiday brandy beans: those are my writing rewards!

[JoitheArtist]

I'm getting a little panicky about being an ML, I have no idea what I'm doing!!

Did come up with a cool idea to raise more money for my region, though. At the write-ins that I lead, I am going to challenge everyone to work really hard at shutting up their inner editor. I'm challenging everyone (and me!) to put a quarter in the donation jar every time they use the backspace.