Pending NaNoWriMo 2011

It is quickly approaching that time again when thousands of writers undertake the task of writing a 50,000 word novel through the month of November.

Yes. November is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I did attempt this challenge last year, but I think I got to about 18,000 words and I just got so stuck. I missed a day, and then two days, and then it all pretty much fell apart. I think it is an interesting challenge, and it would be such an achievement to reach the end of November knowing I had written a novel. Please visit this site to sign up, or for more info.

So in my second year, I have decided to start to prepare to writing every day. So am going to do a Post-A-Day, in a bid to inspire myself. I think it will be a big help this year, as last year I was going in blind, and was unsure of the actual volume I had to produce. As much as you try to imagine having to post over 1,500 a day, it is hard to picture until you actually do it. As you will know if you have read this blog before, I have no problem with speaking my mind and writing about anything. So I can’t imagine this post a day thing to bother me. But I say that. I do post frequently, but it comes in spurts.

So, wish me luck on both post-a-day and NaNoWriMo. And if you read this, let me know if you take part in anything to try and challenge yourself.

Hey ho NaNoWriMo.

Progress report time, on the 3rd of November, the 3rd day of NaNoWriMo and I seem to be doing ok so far.

Monday got off to an awesome start with me achieving my target of 2,500 words, and I felt like this whole task seemed to be a lot more reachable than I originally thought. But after a difficult Tuesday, where I had lost ‘the flow’ and things weren’t coming to me as easy as they were the previous day.

Today I was up before 9am, and I had crossed both the 4k and 6k mark before lunch. This made me feel rather good, and I had a clear idea of how it would go in my head.

Yes, all the planning is in my head. I have no written down notes on how each chapter goes, I just have a rough idea of where the story is going. Yeah, now thinking about it, I should have made an actual plan.

A bit late for that now. :S

The basics are this, Caley Hamilton is a 25 year old shop worker who has got herself stuck into a rather lonely rut since leaving school. She makes friends with Sid, a girl who changes Caley and turns her life upsidedown. How will Caley cope when she is forced to live outside the protective bubble she has spent her life hiding within?

Sorry for the ‘barely anything’ update, but I am spending all my time writing at the moment, soo… 😛

 

Musical Tuneage: McFly- Dynamite

NaNoWriMo wordcount- 6,007 / 50,000 words (13%)

Book of choice: Paper Towns by John Green

Looking For…Something!

My emotional state as at a high, and I have an abundance of plot ideas and character rundowns in my head.

It only means one thing.

It’s time for NaNoWriMo!

For the uneducated, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a task where you have to write a novel of 50,000 words in length throughout the month of November. This was something I watched from affar last year, but this year I have decided to take part. I thought that it would see me working on a schedule again, and see if I can get things moving in other paths of my life.

So, my aims are to write 2,500 words a day. This means that it will only take me 20 days to write the novel, and then I could have time to change anything. Also, that would allow me a couple of ‘off’ days, in case I have to be away doing something else. I think that this daily target, makes the overall goal seem more reachable.  Which is how I work better, if I give myself smaller targets, then I should be able to achieve bigger things.

And because I have been spending a lot of time reading novels and articles, I am getting a lot of ideas for it. One of the main themes, I have decided, will be obssession. I am doing this, because this is something I have a lot of experience in, as I obsess over A LOT. And I have seen it recommended, that it is often best to write about things that you have some experience in. That’s how many writers start out, they write something which has paralells to their normal, every-day existance.

So I have a starting point. My main worry, is that I let the story peak to early, and end up just filling in the rest of the required word count with rubbish. But I have the basic storyline mapped out in my head. I have been reading my favourite books,  to try and give myself ideas on how to keep a story flowing. Also been watching a few of my favourite films, like High Fidelity, Clerks, Mallrats and This Is England.  The reason I have done that, is because I love films with really well thought out dialect between characters. This is something that I have been looking at, as a bit of a guide, as to how the dialect is successful.

I know there is no prize, and there is every chance, I could end up hating the story and fail completely. But it is worth a try, and I think it is a great way to challenge yourself. And it would show that I can produce something, within a schedule, if I really work for it. I am also hoping, that by thinking about it beforehand, I won’t have a massive panic, and write rubbish, which would make me doing the task worthless.

I want to get something out of this, which could be productive as something I can keep. Yes, I do plan to write something that I want to keep and share. I want to experience that pride again, when someone is impressed with what I have written.

So, wish me luck. As from tomorrow, NaNoWriMo begins, and as does my journey to writing my first Novel.  *Hehe-that sounds cool*