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NaNoWriMo 2008

PostPosted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 10:26 pm
by Maledicte
Anyone else doing it? http://www.nanowrimo.org/ Writing 50,000 words in 30 days, w00t!

My username is chaos_squid, feel free to add me! Post your progress here.

PostPosted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 10:56 pm
by Fish and Chips
I am totally doing this. It's a good excuse to use a story idea I've had bouncing around for a couple months.

Watch me fail in a fiery downward spiral.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 1:34 am
by mechana2015
username is animetedskier
currently I have 1322 words

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 6:25 am
by bigsleepj
Good luck to all of you! :)

I hope you all create good novels, publish them, and send me autographed copies.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 6:31 am
by LadyRushia
Some day I will attempt to tackle this, or maybe I'll try it this year. I did start writing something yesterday, after all, XD.

Ahahaha, I'm gonna die in my attempts to be a college student and write 50,000 words in one month. I kept it nice and simple: LadyRushia. Add me if you want, XD.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 7:19 am
by Esoteric
bigsleepj (post: 1267669) wrote:Good luck to all of you! :)

I hope you all create good novels, publish them, and send me autographed copies.

What he said. :lol:

NaNoWriMo is a great idea, but 50,000 in 1 month? I'm convinced you can't succeed at this unless you're totally manic or unemployed/out of school. I did 35,000 words in 3 months while having a life/job, and that was tough. Still, good luck to you all. I hope someone can make the goal.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 7:33 am
by ChristianKitsune
I'm doing it too! (christianKitsune on the site) I haven't figured out how to add others yet, because it says you have to their page to do so? I'm such a noob X3

I've written 1,447 words so far! (although I started on this story before november. I'm only counting what I've written.) So...technically my story is 8,000+ XD but yeah...whatevs!

For those interested in reading my story, I'm posting my progress in the writing forum here (it's the imaginary friend one XD)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:08 am
by USSRGirl
LadyFeverstone reporting for duty.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:55 am
by LadyRushia
1,000 words exactly so far, XD.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 10:37 am
by ChristianKitsune
Hey is the Nano Forum down for anyone Else? The site seems REALLY slow to me..

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 10:53 am
by LadyRushia
Yeah, I haven't been able to access it at all.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 2:40 pm
by Fish and Chips
Yeah, the site's pretty sluggish. Just hit Refresh a couple times.

Also there's no User Search function, so if you're looking for writing buddies, the idea is to link your profile.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 2:49 pm
by mechana2015
Esoteric (post: 1267672) wrote:What he said. :lol:

NaNoWriMo is a great idea, but 50,000 in 1 month? I'm convinced you can't succeed at this unless you're totally manic or unemployed/out of school. I did 35,000 words in 3 months while having a life/job, and that was tough. Still, good luck to you all. I hope someone can make the goal.


Been there done that with school. (I completed Nanowrimo 2 years ago)

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 3:05 pm
by Sakaki Onsei
I'm thinking about this. I have a great idea for a story, and I'm just falling flat on my face trying to get things correct or whether anyone will actually like what I write. Especially if it has certain themes that may be...out of the ordinary.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 3:10 pm
by Fish and Chips
Nobody's necessarily going to read your story Sakaki, the point is you wrote it. A bunch of people just fly blind into this and have a great time writing the most unthinkable prose imaginable. Cut loose and enjoy your authoritative self.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 3:31 pm
by LadyRushia
Ohhh, linking the profile. I understand, XD.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 3:38 pm
by Sakaki Onsei
Fish and Chips (post: 1267730) wrote:Nobody's necessarily going to read your story Sakaki, the point is you wrote it. A bunch of people just fly blind into this and have a great time writing the most unthinkable prose imaginable. Cut loose and enjoy your authoritative self.


Yeah, I know that. I'm just sometimes overanalytical and always thinking about others instead of something that would work well with my skills.

BTW, if y'all wanna buddy up with me...my nick is easy. It's SakakiOnsei

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 6:18 pm
by ChristianKitsune
Since we have to LINK our user names: here's mine! ^_^
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/449453

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 7:48 pm
by Sakaki Onsei

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:07 pm
by ChristianKitsune
So...So I'm reading a few threads and I'm kinda getting a little terrified. XD I haven't written much... but since my story is in the romance category, I'm reading up on what some people HATE.

And I'm not saying my characters fit these Mary Sue/Gary Stu archetypes, but does anyone else worry that their characters COULD?

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:46 pm
by Peanut
I've joined. I probably will end up with Fish in the "Well at least I tried" category but hey...at least it gives me an excuse to write prose again. User name is kirdtgo by the way...Peanut was taken so yeah...

User Profile, yeah its nothing special...maybe I'll add pictures or something if the site and websense allow me to...

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 9:16 pm
by USSRGirl
Mary Sue/Gary Stu's are hard to avoid unless you have a schizofrenic accountant who has no romantic interests, a wonderful childhood, and no known enemies. And I am to my dismay guilty of making many, many Mary Sue/Gary Stu's and going "Agh! I wrote this?!" after. XP I think the beauty of NaNo is no edits - even if it ends up as a big long splotch of literary stuffz and cliches.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 9:30 pm
by Fish and Chips
USSRGirl (post: 1267830) wrote:I think the beauty of NaNo is no edits - even if it ends up as a big long splotch of literary stuffz and cliches.
Aha! The reason I am so far behind revealed!

Though it's not really editing but processing that's going to kill me.

The problem with Mary Sues is the criteria for them is actually fairly broad. Everyone ranging from the Child Prodigy to Anyone Who's Had a Terrible Life Ever is a Mary Sue, much like anyone with emotional character development is automatically Emo. Don't worry too much about it, just write them down. You'll have all of December to cut out half of what you wrote in November.

Not that "Good" Mary Sues aren't possible...

PostPosted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 9:42 pm
by EricTheFred
I'm not healthy enough to go for it this year, but I've done it before. Have fun, all.

PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 5:29 am
by ChristianKitsune
Yah,I never understood how people can be so crazy about the Ms/Gs because...heck doesn't EVERY story probably have something like that? I mean can there even BE a story without it? without someone who is above average?

The thing that gets me isthat people are so quick to fling those archetypes in our faces and bash...but really, there ARE a lot of kids with troubled pasts, and there are special people...

PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 6:23 am
by EricTheFred
By some people's definitions, the following are masculine Mary Sues:

Aragorn,
Dirk Pitt,
Jack Ryan.

And one of the greatest female Sci-Fi characters of all time, Honor Harrington, easily qualifies.

Personally, I don't like declaring every larger-than-life character as a 'Mary Sue'. The original complaint were obvious author's fantasy characters inserted into fan-fiction, and I can see those as legitimate gripes, but when you are writing original stories rather than fan-fiction, larger-than-life characters are a standard. So what if the character is unusually young, handsome (or beautiful), capable and intelligent? A little too good to be true? That's what makes them interesting to read about. Not too many Romance novels out there about girls with buck teeth and weight issues, nor Westerns about nebbishy little guys in glasses (even though one real-life wild west character started out this way and grew up to be President!) It might be a little sad to realize this, but frankly, it's the truth.

PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 6:26 am
by GeneD
I won't be participating as it's exam month for me, but good luck to everyone.

Rushia, I like your lead character's name. XD

PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:09 am
by Peanut
You could also say that these larger then life characters give us something to try and live up to. After all, most people wish they were smarter, better looking, more atheletic, etc... Personally I find nothing wrong with larger then life characters.

PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:18 am
by Aletheia
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/48508

2834 words so far. I was going to work more on it this morning, but I ended up sleeping. >.<

PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 11:02 am
by LadyRushia
I always define a Mary-Sue as a character who has too much of those qualities that make characters interesting in fanfiction and maybe certain novel series that are widely popular today; but Mary-Sues in fanfiction are much worse than anything I've seen in published work.
GeneD wrote:Rushia, I like your lead character's name. XD

y thank u lol. I actually have a friend if mine to thank for her name and R.K.'s, XD (I miss creative writing class).