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NaNoWriMo 2005

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17:22 / 17.11.05

Hee! Nearly tied. Just stick in another couple of adverbs and we'll call it even.

22:11 / 17.11.05

When's the next word war?

22:30 / 17.11.05

584 this time - i'm getting faster all the time - but have just got to the end of the action i was describing... and it was really unpleasent..

22:34 / 17.11.05

At the moment we seem to have got into a habit of having one at midnight UK time... Although Sekhmet and others might well be up for one at 6pm uk time...

13:37 / 18.11.05

I'll not be around at midnight tonight, so I'm going to do the 6pm one, with Sekhmet, if he/she is up for it...

or I'll do it alone.

14:32 / 18.11.05

Probably not going to be around at 6 so I had a go at 4pm UK time and clocked up 478 words (The start of a new chapter...)

23:29 / 20.11.05

Crap. Only eleven days left.

No hope...

10:03 / 21.11.05

So retrench and scale back your amitions for the 30th - maybe you can't get 50,000 - how about 30,000 or 25,000 -

Then, as with the 24-hour comics you have two choices the Bissette variation of lust leaving it when the deadline hits or the Gaiman variation - finishing iot off afterwards.

The Gaiman variation would seem to be the one closest to the aims of Nanowrimo...

13:16 / 21.11.05

Yeah, it's funny, but I don't think this thing is going to end at the deadline. I'm not winning NaNo... but I kinda want to finish this book...

16:17 / 21.11.05

You finish the book as swiftly as possible you've won...

20:03 / 21.11.05

Pah.

That's one word closer. I've lost enthusiasm, and interest. I have nothing to say. I can't even find anything to write about.

16:33 / 22.11.05

But, neukoln... I thought things were going so well...

(*cries*)

Ye gods, is anyone coing to finish it? Sleaze? Anywhere close? Liger? How's it going?

19:39 / 22.11.05

But, neukoln... I thought things were going so well...

Yes, I was going well. But then I dried up. I really thought it'd be a piece of piss... I thought it would just require the discipline of sitting down and writing. But, when you have nothing to say, well, nothing happens. It's given me a new respect for fiction writers. I thought we all have a story in us - but clearly some of us don't. Or maybe they take years to come out.

I don't know how much I've written, but it's not much more than 20,000.

23:11 / 22.11.05

I've got 27,278 words so far tonight. Way behind, but I figure if I keep chugging at it, I'll catch up eventually.

I hope...

03:25 / 25.11.05

When's the next word war?

i read this (scanning too quickly) as 'when is the next world war?...

i thought mebbe i'd missed a plot development by someone and skipped through the next few posts to find out something like 'well, turkey invades iran in june 2017 and the israelis throw their lot in with the greeks, who oppose anything turkish on principle, then the azerbaijani empire launches a nuke attack on india and it's all hell from there...' or something.

how disappointing...

so, all of you must be almost finished 50k words now, yeah?

08:39 / 28.11.05

Close to the line now. Anyone still in it? You can do it!

23:31 / 28.11.05

I'm still in at 38,111 words and I'm afraid I'm starting to run out of story...I've begun to resort to little cheats:

1. Dividing all my contractions. Don't becomes do not, what's becomes what is, ect. as in "What is happening? I do not know what is going on!"

2. Dividing compound words. Treehouse becomes tree house, without becomes with out.

3. Engaging in long, stream-of consiousness "author's notes" throughout the text.

4. Opening chapters with lengthy quotes from outside sources.

My rationalization for this behaviour is that these things are all part of the first draft writing process. In a couple of months, when I go back and begin the process of rewriting, they'll all be removed or integrated more fully into the story as I see fit .

02:48 / 29.11.05

When in doubt, illustrate! A picture is worth a thousand words! Any of us is just 50 pictures away from winning this thing!!!

So, yeah, I'm a technical failure at just over 5000 words... but that's 5000 more words than I was otherwise going to write.

14:07 / 29.11.05

If I hit it for a couple of hours today and tomorrow I might break 20,000.

Next year I'm going to have to set aside two hours a day just for this, since I seem to crank out an average of 800 words an hour...

05:36 / 30.11.05

Is anyone else still doing this? Is anyone winning?

13:38 / 30.11.05

If anyone's winning it's because they haven't been spending time posting to this thread...

20:35 / 30.11.05

Is anyone else still doing this? Is anyone winning?

Scene One: Eight exhausted Barbelith nanowrimers are standing shoulder to shoulder. A Marlon Brando voice from backstage shouts "Please, step forward all those who finished nanowrimo 2005". Neukoln doesn't move. Flowers fall on those who do. Two guards (dressed in gorgeous 1930's Hugo Boss) approach Neukoln and lead her away by the elbows. Neukoln is handed a syringe of household bleach + methadone, and is locked in a room with a pair of Alsatians. She is instructed to become the ending of her own story.

Scene Two: Return several weeks later. The guards unlock the door to reveal two very bored Alsatians eyeing each other from opposite corners of the room. In the centre a pile of pristine white bones sparkle. A laptop on a small table facing the window flickers. One of the guards walks over to it. Microsoft Word document... the Word Count pop-up visible... 49 998. He pauses a moment, then types "The End". They both laugh and leave the room, followed first by one, then the other Alsatian.

20:40 / 30.11.05

Everyone report in with your final count, eh?

01:14 / 01.12.05

Holy crap.

Liger's profile on the NaNo website is showing a final total of 50,007 words.

She won. I am agog.

GO LIGER!!!

01:26 / 01.12.05

Hee hee! Thanks Sehkmet!

Here's a shout out on my blog.

My novel is absolutely terrible, by the way.

I guess that's what rewrites are for, eh?

02:22 / 01.12.05

(* pats Liger on back very hard *)

18:51 / 01.12.05

yah liger, yah liger!!

massive respetc!

21:16 / 01.12.05

indeed - got very derailed with computer problems (an impromtu trip overseas didn't help either...)

22:05 / 01.12.05

Oh yes, well done. You have my admiration. I admit I thought it was going to be a piece of cake - that you'd just need some discipline. However, I just didn't have 50,000 words in me. Hats off to those who do.

15:34 / 02.12.05

Sorry about the 'puter problems, sleaze. That blows. At least you have an excuse, though...

What was everyone else's final count? I barely broke 16,000.

Figured out my average writing pace, though, so I think if I can devote 2 hours a day to it next year...

00:45 / 07.12.05

I ended up finishing the first draft of approx. 70000 words on the 21st and a second draft of 55000 words by 3:33 am on the Tuesday (I know, I know, that isn't the point - but what sport is there in just writing for bulk? I could have met my deadline by the 6th). Didn't bother uploading to the site since it was shite and I was exhausted. The third draft, however, will approach passable.

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