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News to Me

  • Nov. 18th, 2009 at 6:44 AM
NaNo 2009
birdhousefrog
Having only barely reached 25k last year, this is new territory. Who knew there could be such a wall at the 25k point? Boredom? The feeling that you just can't write another word? And I'm not even working on the same characters or plot the whole way through. This has been an eye-opening experience. I'm now jumping between two drafts to keep myself going. Slow, but still inching forward.

Frog Out

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( 35 comments — Leave a comment )
karen_w_newton
Nov. 18th, 2009 01:45 pm (UTC)
congrats on doing to well! If you need to, give yourself a brief break and then go back to it.
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birdhousefrog
Nov. 18th, 2009 02:11 pm (UTC)
I think I already did! Now it's starting to flow out of me again.
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tomdoyle
Nov. 18th, 2009 01:51 pm (UTC)
What's going to happen to your pace at Philcon?
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birdhousefrog
Nov. 18th, 2009 02:13 pm (UTC)
Ummm, the theory would be that without my normal set of household distractions (which are legion) that I shall have no difficulty doing the avg daily word count during Philcon. ha, ha, ha. But since I'm not ahead of my count, unlike some forward-thinking folks, I shall have to try.

Distract me and you die! (Or is that just a challenge?)
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(no subject) - tomdoyle - Nov. 18th, 2009 02:37 pm (UTC) - Expand
(no subject) - birdhousefrog - Nov. 18th, 2009 02:43 pm (UTC) - Expand
(no subject) - tomdoyle - Nov. 18th, 2009 03:09 pm (UTC) - Expand
(no subject) - birdhousefrog - Nov. 18th, 2009 05:07 pm (UTC) - Expand
(no subject) - klingonguy - Nov. 19th, 2009 12:39 pm (UTC) - Expand
(no subject) - birdhousefrog - Nov. 19th, 2009 01:15 pm (UTC) - Expand
(no subject) - klingonguy - Nov. 19th, 2009 01:21 pm (UTC) - Expand
(no subject) - birdhousefrog - Nov. 19th, 2009 01:27 pm (UTC) - Expand
dqg_neal
Nov. 18th, 2009 02:36 pm (UTC)
My first Nano I found I had to write notes at any time a thought came to me. At the pace I was writing I didn't have time to let the brainstorming part of my brain catch up and figure out the next part of the story. I blame my day job that requires me troubleshooting problems.


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birdhousefrog
Nov. 18th, 2009 02:46 pm (UTC)
I do too. Since I don't write these from outlines, but only have vague ideas, I have to write down whatever leaps into my brain whenever it does. Which includes potential endings about 3/4 of the way through the story. I end up with a draft that's woefully out of order, with a few wrap-up scenes at the very end that need to be inserted much earlier in the draft. And a lot of stray "I hate this, I hate this, this sucks" comments.

I did notice that I did better this year than last at laying out the story itself and not needing to write my way into a couple of the ideas. So the more I do this, the better I get. Or so I imagine in my frenzied state.

Oz
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rolanni
Nov. 18th, 2009 02:54 pm (UTC)
You're probably just tired, period.

You need to remember that NaNoWriMo imposes a number of artificial conditions, including the air of competition and the obsession with word count.

I have several times now written a 100,000 novel in three months, start to finish (which, for me, is fast) -- 33,000 words/month, a mere 1,100 words a day. But novels need reflection, too, and the characters need time to build connections to each other and to the story. In reality (again, for me) a novel is written in doodles of 1,000 to 2,000 words a day, and white-hot bursts of 5 - 8,0000 words -- after which my brain is mush for a couple days.

Personally, I think NaNoWriMo has an extremely limited utility, with perhaps the same adrenaline-laced thrill that an all-nighter before the Big Exam. What it doesn't do very well is teach people how to pace themselves for the long trek that is writing a novel.

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fjm
Nov. 18th, 2009 03:58 pm (UTC)
Not sure I agree with the last comment. I think it depends where you are starting from. I am clearly going to make it, althouhg its only the fifth piece of fiction I've written in a decade. Something about that "whole month thing" has kept me abandoning it when I'm bored (like now) and I'm still plodding on. I won't ever write this fast again (I don't think) but doing so has broken some kind of barrier of both amount and completion.

Edited at 2009-11-18 03:58 pm (UTC)
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(no subject) - birdhousefrog - Nov. 18th, 2009 05:14 pm (UTC) - Expand
fjm
Nov. 18th, 2009 03:56 pm (UTC)
Yep. Boredom
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birdhousefrog
Nov. 18th, 2009 05:11 pm (UTC)
no, no, no, not just boredom for you. There's also the post-sickness, convalescent, boredom going on, the listless feeling.

Then again, maybe you need to blow something up? Start a fire? Murder? Heinous crimes against humanity by the peerage? :D
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(no subject) - fjm - Nov. 18th, 2009 05:12 pm (UTC) - Expand
(no subject) - klingonguy - Nov. 19th, 2009 12:41 pm (UTC) - Expand
arwensouth
Nov. 18th, 2009 05:01 pm (UTC)
Yeah, I was having some issues with, "Gee, there's really nothing much going on in this story here." I decided to throw in a murder and some angst, and that got things moving again. Whew!

Though I guess, "When in doubt, write porn!" is probably not going to work for what you're writing, is it? {GRIN}
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birdhousefrog
Nov. 18th, 2009 05:09 pm (UTC)
Actually, both drafts I'm working on are allowed some sort of pr0n or er0tic leeway. So the being bored part is amusing me, too, because how can I be bored with writing THAT? :D
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(no subject) - kelly_yoyo - Nov. 18th, 2009 06:41 pm (UTC) - Expand
(no subject) - birdhousefrog - Nov. 18th, 2009 07:02 pm (UTC) - Expand
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birdhousefrog
Nov. 19th, 2009 02:21 am (UTC)
Needed something, that's for sure! Today I just went to square one on the one story and just wrote what I was seeing. I had ideas for vignettes, but not substance, no plot. But as I described the scene, other characters appeared, conflict began, and then, OMG, Plot! Ha. Had to make annotated notes so I won't forget.
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kelly_yoyo
Nov. 18th, 2009 06:40 pm (UTC)
Keep going, you can do it! Yeah!
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birdhousefrog
Nov. 19th, 2009 02:31 am (UTC)
You need to do some writing, too! Thanks for the cheering!
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hyperbard
Nov. 19th, 2009 12:36 am (UTC)
Yay, keep at it!
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birdhousefrog
Nov. 19th, 2009 02:31 am (UTC)
You too! You're hanging in there with the word counts!
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(Deleted comment)
birdhousefrog
Nov. 19th, 2009 02:32 am (UTC)
It did, in the most bizarre way, too! Gave me new characters and a plot for a story that had only some vignettes.

And look at your word count (Plus pretty pic!) Go you!
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mount_oregano
Nov. 19th, 2009 10:09 pm (UTC)
Surmount the word count! Go Frog Go!

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birdhousefrog
Nov. 20th, 2009 02:18 am (UTC)
Oh, now that one was really good! Given 30 days of cheering, you can indeed come up with a good one. Pom poms and all.
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(no subject) - birdhousefrog - Nov. 20th, 2009 02:19 am (UTC) - Expand
(no subject) - mount_oregano - Nov. 20th, 2009 09:44 pm (UTC) - Expand
( 35 comments — Leave a comment )