Tuesday, September 06, 2011

NaNoWriMo roll-call

I was going to preface this with this year's web badge, but they aren't up yet...

I know we're still a few months out, but since it came up in the type-in and since I've seen a few whispers elsewhere...who's planning to participate in NaNoWriMo this year?

And for those of you wondering 'What's a NaNoWriMo?', go here and be enlightened. Essentially, you spend any free time you can wrangle up during November writing your brains out to get to 50,000 words. (Unless you're Mike Clemens, in which case you spend one week's free time writing your brains out at X-TREME WARP SPEED, and then spend the rest of the month twiddling your thumbs and smiling indulgently at the rest of us still slogging and stumbling and whimpering through the muck.) (Not that I'm bitter.) (OK, maybe I am a little.)

This will be my tenth year (!!), which is sad, in some ways. I am exactly the sort of person who the NaNoWriMo naysayers ridicule: all that writing, and for what? Most of the stories are still utterly unfinished, many of them are not worth finishing. But you know what? I've had fun, and I've made friends along the way. That's good enough for me.

I don't exactly have a set-in-stone plot (do I ever?), but thus far, I'm thinking something off the beaten track: kind of a detective novel set in the future, in a world where magic has become part of the "real" world, which...complicates things a bit. And so far, I'm thinking I may write by hand again. Except, this time around, I'll actually transcribe as I go, more or less. I'm still working on transcribing last years--finishing that is one of my goals for September, actually.

How about you? Any clue yet what you'll be writing about? What typewriters/pens/pencils/paper/computer software you'll use? Any special plans you'd like to share for keeping organized/focused/caffeinated/sane?

14 comments:

sjb said...

I'm in. I have absolutely no set plans for this November, but I fully intend to participate. I finished my 2010 novel at Camp NaNoWriMo this year, so that mental baggage is out of the way. My tools haven't been set yet either. I watched your pencil odyssey last year with awe and I've got a dip-pen and a bottle of India ink that is calling to me... who knows?

Simon (sjb)

mpclemens said...

Well, smugness is part of NaNoWriMo, isn't it? Already thinking about what this year's novel is going to be...

Richard P said...

Having fun and making friends are more than sufficient reasons for doing it, I say.

I plan to rip off the plot of one of the oldest stories in the world, and elaborate on it with unrestrained, Rabelaisian abandon. Weapon of choice? Not sure yet. Last year I found that the Royal KMM, though not the most glamorous typewriter, was the fastest and most reliable.

Duffy Moon said...

Note that this will be year #5. That's FIVE years of the Typewriter Brigade. And it all began on a little blog you may have heard of called "Strikethru".
Ah, memories.

notagain said...

I'm in, tentatively, if I'm not starting a new job or buried in a project like remodeling. Heck I may try anyway. It really did me a lot of good last year.

Mike Speegle said...

Are we talking about this already?! I'm not ready! it's too much! *Sob sob*

Art said...

Good Lord. Five years for me too. Wow. That's really crazy. I've been writing seriously for about seven now, but wow. I still can't boast a finished novel, just a lot of random awesomeness, but it brought me to Script Frenzy, and that can boast several awesome screenplays.

This year? I think that part of what I write will be the addition to my 07 pre-NaNo inspiration--I've added two whole sections and writing them has been slow. Other than that, I'm not sure. I'll probably do the novelized version of another possible screenplay--though it may never get there. Last year's screenplay didn't translate, but the crime thriller did (and is almost done, when I get the chance to finish it... And I think I might even share i!) I've got a few fallbacks of old characters that I still enjoy writing, so I could always use them, but yeah...

Weapons? Macbook, Netbook, and pen/pencil and paper for sure. I don't know if any typewriters will be involved, honestly, mostly because of lack of really good functioning typewriters and the whole timing of it all. It's really easy and convenient to open up a notebook or netbook or start writing in the midst of my class notes... not so much with the typewriter.

Yes, I know that's a copout. But November is still 2 months away. We'll see what that time brings.

Cheers, and sorry for the longwindedness!

Art aka theanab

Anonymous said...

I'm primed for another try. Last November was a washout with travel and family matters. Very frustrating. I have several ideas for a story and plenty of time to decide which one.

This is definitely Typewriter Brigade territory although I don't know which machines yet. I may give the desktop typers a rest and just use the portables. Decisions, decisions! I'm guessing 5 to 10 % will be with a fountain pen since I carry the Lamy Safari with me everywhere.

Jeff The Bear

MTCoalhopper said...

I have cleared my schedule, and have started making arrangements so it stays cleared (telling family to leave me alone) for the month of November. Last year was a muddle of work, a college course, and... a lot of distractions.

Weapons of choice: pen, ink, and paper for rough draft jotting, but vintage Remington hardware for the serious writing. There's even a designated workspace in my plans.

Tentative plotting involves airship pirates.

Art said...

@MTCoalhopper: Aren't airship pirates the best? I've got plans for a story that features them, but haven't written it... I think you might just have inspired me to go back and take a second look at it...

Elizabeth H. said...

Lots of names here! Good to see. I think it's going to be a fun one!

SJB--I can't imagine doing NaNo with a dip pen--that'd be crazy hardcore, for sure! But it might be fun to do some bits and pieces that way, particularly on the weekend. Keep us updated!

Speegle--you can do it you can do it you can do it. You can. Same goes for you, notagain, whatever may come. Here's hoping things go well for you.

Duffy--I think you're still the head of the Typewriter Brigade. Can't wait for the forum refresh so we can all start checking in! I can still check in, right??

Art and Jeff--I'm with you on the convenience of pen/paper. I do like typing, but it's a lot easier to smuggle a notebook to work in my backpack and do some scribbling during lunch. I *am* thinking about using loose-leaf paper in some fashion this year, though (either Circa bound or just 3-hole punched) so as to easily mix methods. I have...um...plenty of paper.

Oh, and airship pirates sounds intriguing! I had space pirates in 2007(?), but that's not really the same thing.

Since yesterday, I've come up with a main character (Ace Moses, private detective), a sidekick (Persimmon, a frequently sulky fairy who was assigned to him more or less in payment for his solving a case for the fairy queen) and some idea of what the world is like and how magic came to get all mixed up with the real world of the future. Now I just gotta stew about it for nearly two months...

Strikethru said...

Wowwww, your 10th year??? THat's impressive.

I am tempted to try a fountain pen nano, even though of course, that would last about half a day before my hand fell off.

Elizabeth H. said...

You know what could be fun, at least if one wasn't hung about about getting to 50k? Theme weeks: one week pencil, one week of pen, one week of typewriting...and something else.

OldFashionedGirl said...

And a week of transcribing and frantic laptop typing to make the deadline, right?

Sadly, I fell off the Nano bandwagon a year ago, and I don't think I'm getting back up this year. I had a blast every time I did Nano, but I know I wouldn't be able to pull it off this year without letting go of some very dear projects, including some of the more "serious" writing I've been doing (ranging from poetry to my new favorite, the short story, to a Big Massive Research Paper that I intend to have drafted before Christmas). I'll be waving my pencil for all of you from over here on the sidelines!