National Novel Writing Month 2017

[oldunusedaccount 11]

nanowrimo.org
November 1st - 30th.

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Welcome to the fourth National Novel Writing Month thread hosted on the MLP Forums! In our previous years (2013, 2014, 2015), we've seen a bit of a bad trend of host inconsistency and late threads, and this year is no exception! (@Kolth, @RockinRarity, come back to us!)

What is National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as "NaNoWriMo"?

NaNoWriMo is a competition to write a novel between November 1st and November 30st. You think that's easy? Here's the catch: a novel is defined at being a minimum of 50,000 words. But don't let that number discourage you. Broken down into the 30 days of November, that's on average 1,667 words a day - which most people can achieve with relative ease. The tricky bit is staying consistent with writing those short bits for 30 days. That's where this thread comes in!

Okay, sounds cool. So where can I sign up for this "competition"? And how do I "win"?

Head over to nanowrimo.org (but then come back here when you are done). And it isn't a "competition", per se, though that's what they call it. NaNoWriMo is more of a self-challenge, You "win" the competition by meeting your goals. And anyone can win - but only those who persist will.

And keep in mind that NaNoWriMo's 50K limit is not set in stone, nor is there a strict requirement to write a novel. If you think 50K is too ambitious this year, go ahead and reach for 30K, saving the full 50K goal for next year. If you don't want to write a novel but rather multiple short stories, go ahead and write a bunch of short stories that total up to your word count goal! If you've already begun on a novel and have been meaning to finish, go ahead and let this competition be your excuse to pick it up again.

There is only one real rule: only the words you write in November count toward your goal. Already have a 3,500 word start? Doesn't count toward your goal. Having words written prior to the competition isn't forbidden, but your new word count must start at zero on November 1st. This challenge isn't about finishing a race by taking shortcuts; it's about finding the motivation and teamwork to accomplish!

So, what is this thread for?

This thread serves three main purposes:

1. To keep you, the writer, accountable.
2. To allow authors to bounce ideas off of each other
3. To help new writers find the tools and groups they need to get started!

As for keeping you accountable, drop a comment below if you are participating. Include your author name and your overall goal. I'll add you to the leaderboard here, and you can see how you are comparing to other writers. Send me a pm or drop another comment anytime with your new word count, and I'll get it updated ASAP.

And new writers, feel free to ask questions below!

What should I write?

Anything that comes to mind!

If you have an idea or two that's been bouncing around for a while, give it a shot. If it's an mlp fanfic, all the better: you have a whole community of MLP nerds ready to help you expand your ideas.

If you have absolutely nothing: sit down, put on some moody thinking music to get your mind meat churning, then write down quick descriptions of whatever story ideas float by. Write up a whole page or more! Don't worry, most will be awful, or at least fatally flawed. Odds are, though, at least one of them will be a good one. This process of generating thoughts is called "brainstorming" in the writing world. It's used in all stages of idea creation, and the best part is that multiple authors can brainstorm together! Ideas galore!

Who else in the brony fandom is participating in NaNoWriMo?

- Equestria Daily is once again hosting their National Pony Writing Month event!, headed up by Novel Idea. They will be running posts on EqD throughout November, and Novel Idea will be running a discord channel on Equestria Daily's discord server. I highly recommend any writers trying to get their work out there to check this event out! Keep in mind that this event is for MLP Fanfiction!

- FIMFiction has an active NaNoWriMo Bronies group, run by Moonlit Path. The group has three levels of difficulty: 25K, 38K and 50K. At the end of the month, anyone who met their goal can post the story to the group. Again, stories posted to this group (and on the site in general) are specifically for MLP Fanfiction!

- And the associated NaNoWriMo Bronies discord server: discord.gg/3pz4bc6, lead by myself and a few of the admins from the FIMFiction group. This server has general chit-chat channels, its own leaderboard, and regular novelist challenges like "writing sprints" and idea prompts for those wishing to participate. These of course will be starting in November. Though most members of the server will be writing pony fiction, it's not a strict requirement of the server.

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Resources:

Official NaNoWriMo website: https://nanowrimo.org

Young Writers Program for NaNoWriMo: https://ywp.nanowrimo.org/

Scrivener NaNoWriMo Trial: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/nanowrimo.php

True Novelist: https://www.truenovelist.com/

FiMFiction - the largest my little pony fanfiction platform on the internet: https://www.fimfiction.net/

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Leaderboard

• Lucas Aldebrandi  - 0 out of 50,000
• Valeska - 0 out of 25,000

Edited January 11, 2018 by Lucas Aldebrandi

[Valeska 184]

I've always known that NaNoWriMo took place in November, but I've never taken the time to sit down, write, and take it seriously. I find myself having a lot of free time lately, so I think this year I'll finally give it a try. I have a few fimfic ideas floating around my head that are just dying to be put on paper anyway.

I guess I'll set my word count goal at 25k under my author name, Valeska. I'm honestly not sure if that goal is too high or too low because I've never written that much over the course of a month. I do know that I am a strong writer. I just need to get my ideas down on paper instead of hesitating or putting it off.

I do have a few questions. Is it okay that I'm not aiming for one piece of writing with a full novel word count? I see myself adding up the word count with smaller writings, such as fimfics, articles, and personal testimonies.

If I reach my word count goal early, can I add more words to my goal to challenge myself further? Mainly I'm asking because I honestly don't know my full potential in writing long pieces.

If I already have a work of writing in progress, can I keep working on it, but only count the words I write after the start of November? I don't particularly want to hold off writing until then, but if it can't be helped, then I guess it isn't the end of the world. 

And lastly, I find the process of bouncing ideas off of other people to be hard. Mainly this is due to feeling awkward about asking someone what they think of the idea. Plus I often find it hard to pitch the idea without having to explain the whole story to make them fully understand my intentions behind the idea. Do you have any suggestions that might better help me?

Overall, I am very excited to be participating this year! I am expecting great things from myself and everyone else who participates. I look forward to reading your responses to my questions when you get the chance. Thanks a bunch!

[SparklingSquirrels 21,341]

Oh yeah, this thing! I remember that Kolth tried to organize a forums group writing project during the 2015 event. A bunch of people signed up but it fizzled out, then only Denim&Venom and I were left, but that fizzled out too.

It was fun while it lasted though . I don't have the time to participate, but I just wanted to say good luck to everyone who does!  

[oldunusedaccount 11]

@Valeska, Added with 25K. I suggest that you still try for 1667 words a day at first, and if you can keep that up, yes, hit the full 50K! You may just surprise yourself.

And yes, you may write several pieces totaling your writing goal. Lots of short pieces makes for an excellent first NaNo (and I am going to recommend it since we started here on 10 days before November). Traditionally, the challenge is to complete one single novel, and if you love NaNoWriMo this year and come back in future years, I do highly recommend you someyear try doing a traditional 50K novel. There is nothing as satisfying as having made a single 50K+ written work yourself!

As for an early start, but not counting those words, yes you can do that. BUT! If you are a planning kind of person anywhere else in life, you probably need some sort of planning process with writing too. If that's the case, please please please spend the full 10 days brainstorming - holding yourself back from actually getting to writing - and just think of ideas, settings, characters, plotline, whatever. The longer you spend holding yourself back from writing, the more ideas you will accumulate to work with.

Edit: Note though that some people are discovery writers, meaning they plan out a story start, they let their writing take them where it will. Please don't take it that I'm saying "spend 10 days planning your whole story", just spend 10 days thinking about any portion of the book. Ending ideas, along-the-way ideas, quirky character interaction ideas, whatever. Just also make sure you do set aside some thinking time about the beginning, because discovery writer or no, you have to have some idea of what you are trying to write before you start writing or it's probably going to be a mess.

As for idea bouncing, the easiest way to communicate ideas to other authors is by knowing their jargon, and a big portion of writer jargon is in tropes! You can learn more here: http://tvtropes.org/

Happy noveling!

Edited October 20, 2017 by Lucas Aldebrandi

[Standard User 2,127]

I SWEAR I'M HERE DAD.

Hi everyone! Aldebrandi managed to magically revive me for this event specifically. Of course, I show up the day of, having contributed nothing. Ha-ha, that Kolth...what a scrub.

Anyway, I'll be around to help, offer encouragement, etc. Might even participate, although given my senior-year workload, I definitely won't have time for the big push to 50,000. I'll think it over today and get back to you, @Lucas Aldebrandi. In the meantime, I need to reacquaint myself with the Forums...

 

(EDIT: I still have the Writing Centre in my signature...oh, how time flies.)

Edited November 1, 2017 by Kolth

[Ganaram Inukshuk 3,682]

Out of everything that's happened so far this year (Pencil Sharpening Day and Candy Distribution Night) and everything upcoming (National Sleep In for an Extra Hour Day, National Coma Day, National Buy All the Things Day, National Regifting Day, etc), I forgot all about National Writer's Block Month.

I'll think it over, but if I do participate... I don't have a set word goal and if I did, it'd be a floating point number like last time.

[oldunusedaccount 11]

November is arrived! Here in the first few days, most of you will be writing your first chapter and building your first act. Some words of advice from successful authors:

Quote

"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor. Perfectionism will ruin your writing, blocking inventiveness and playfulness and life force. Clutter is a wonderfully fertile ground -- you can still discover new treasures under all those piles, clean things up, edit things out, fix things, get a grip."

~ Anne Lamott

 

Quote

"Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."
~ Harper Lee

 

And if you're lost at how to even begin, check out this article on How to Start Your First Chapter.

You have a story in your head, and it is your goal to put that story into words. The world needs your novel.

Good luck! Happy noveling!

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@Kolth, @Ganaram Inukshuk, good to hear. If you decide to join, reply with your author name and word goal. 

[Ganaram Inukshuk 3,682]

Alright, I thought about it, and I can't participate in NaNoWriMo, mainly because I'm too busy as it is, I've found flat design art to be a much better creative medium and I'd rather refine that instead, and I've never had a proper chance to refine my writing style for it to be usable. That said, is there an art equivalent to NaNoWriMo and if so, when?

[Denim&Venöm 18,974]

Wondered if this was still a thing. 

I'm down w participating.