National Novel Writing Month challenge
Joyce Fetteroll
It's getting to be that time again [:)]:
National Novel Writing Month challenge!
(http://www.nanowrimo.org)
The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel (about 175 page) from
scratch between November 1 and midnight November 30.
(I went most of the month pronouncing it nano-REE-mo but it's
actually nano-RIGH-mo of course to go with "writing" ;-)
Yes, it is doable :-) Yes, it's a lot of work. And a lot of fun :-)
My daughter (13 then) and I both did it last year and got our 50,000
words in. We'll be doing it again this year. I think 6000 people
managed to do it (out of lots and lots more who started and didn't
finish of course!)
Registration opens October 1.
50,000 words is actually a novella. A novel generally has at least
100,000. But the point is to force yourself to push the words out and
let them take you where the words and your characters want to go.
There's no time for editing. There's no time for pre-editing --
criticizing before the words even get written. There's only time for
writing :-)
And as I said amazing things come out. A lot of crap comes out
too ;-) But ideas will come out and you won't know where they came
from, ides like nothing you could ever have planned on.
You can plan -- think up a basic story outline -- but no writing
until Nov 1.
I began with no plan [:)] I had three fantasy characters pop into my
head: a dragon rider and a tiger rider and a monk (like a Buddhist
monk with fighting skills) who was probably romantically involved
with one of them but they were both really mad at him for some
reason. I had no idea why [;)] It was going to have to do with flight
that was a passion of the dragon rider and she was going to lose that
at one point. And there would be demons. And that's it.
We set ourselves a goal of 1700 words a day which is 51,000 words.
That gives next to no leeway for days when writing doesn't go well or
when something comes up (like Thanksgiving!) But it's also mega-
incentive to get back on track the next day. I don't think I went
more than 2 days without catching up so it's a good kick in the butt.
I think I'll try 2000 words/day and see how that works this year.
Considering that the novel I've been picking at for the last 20 years
hasn't gotten beyond (it's embarrassing to say ;-) 100,000 words of
notes, actually finishing something and seeing the ideas flow without
being planned was enlightening to say the least :-)
When you're done you upload it to their automated word counter to
verify that you've produced 50,000 words. There's no one judging
quality or checking to see if you've uploaded 50,000 of the same
word ;-) It's a personal challenge and all you get is a link to a
certificate you print out and personal satisfaction -- and a novel of
course! -- so there's nothing to be gained by cheating. You don't
have to have finished your story. You just need to have produced
50,000 words before midnight November 30.
And that's about it. There's more information at the website and feel
free to ask me questions.
Joyce
Answers to common unschooling questions: http://home.earthlink.net/
~fetteroll/rejoycing/
Weekly writing prompts: [email protected]
National Novel Writing Month challenge!
(http://www.nanowrimo.org)
The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel (about 175 page) from
scratch between November 1 and midnight November 30.
(I went most of the month pronouncing it nano-REE-mo but it's
actually nano-RIGH-mo of course to go with "writing" ;-)
Yes, it is doable :-) Yes, it's a lot of work. And a lot of fun :-)
My daughter (13 then) and I both did it last year and got our 50,000
words in. We'll be doing it again this year. I think 6000 people
managed to do it (out of lots and lots more who started and didn't
finish of course!)
Registration opens October 1.
50,000 words is actually a novella. A novel generally has at least
100,000. But the point is to force yourself to push the words out and
let them take you where the words and your characters want to go.
There's no time for editing. There's no time for pre-editing --
criticizing before the words even get written. There's only time for
writing :-)
And as I said amazing things come out. A lot of crap comes out
too ;-) But ideas will come out and you won't know where they came
from, ides like nothing you could ever have planned on.
You can plan -- think up a basic story outline -- but no writing
until Nov 1.
I began with no plan [:)] I had three fantasy characters pop into my
head: a dragon rider and a tiger rider and a monk (like a Buddhist
monk with fighting skills) who was probably romantically involved
with one of them but they were both really mad at him for some
reason. I had no idea why [;)] It was going to have to do with flight
that was a passion of the dragon rider and she was going to lose that
at one point. And there would be demons. And that's it.
We set ourselves a goal of 1700 words a day which is 51,000 words.
That gives next to no leeway for days when writing doesn't go well or
when something comes up (like Thanksgiving!) But it's also mega-
incentive to get back on track the next day. I don't think I went
more than 2 days without catching up so it's a good kick in the butt.
I think I'll try 2000 words/day and see how that works this year.
Considering that the novel I've been picking at for the last 20 years
hasn't gotten beyond (it's embarrassing to say ;-) 100,000 words of
notes, actually finishing something and seeing the ideas flow without
being planned was enlightening to say the least :-)
When you're done you upload it to their automated word counter to
verify that you've produced 50,000 words. There's no one judging
quality or checking to see if you've uploaded 50,000 of the same
word ;-) It's a personal challenge and all you get is a link to a
certificate you print out and personal satisfaction -- and a novel of
course! -- so there's nothing to be gained by cheating. You don't
have to have finished your story. You just need to have produced
50,000 words before midnight November 30.
And that's about it. There's more information at the website and feel
free to ask me questions.
Joyce
Answers to common unschooling questions: http://home.earthlink.net/
~fetteroll/rejoycing/
Weekly writing prompts: [email protected]
[email protected]
Joyce, I just c&p'd your post over to Word and had it count the words.
597. Some of that was yahoo stuff at the bottom.
So for about 3 longish emails a day, I could write 50,000 words in a month?
(For Joyce, who is able to do about 1000 words per email, and still have the
writing be succint and to the point, it should be a piece of cake!)
How much time does it take you to pound out your 1700 words a day?
I'm not a story teller. I know I don't have a novel in me waiting to get
out. Can it be non-fiction?
Still, I'm thinking of trying it. We can't do any writing before 11/1, not
even writing an outline?
Karen
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
597. Some of that was yahoo stuff at the bottom.
So for about 3 longish emails a day, I could write 50,000 words in a month?
(For Joyce, who is able to do about 1000 words per email, and still have the
writing be succint and to the point, it should be a piece of cake!)
How much time does it take you to pound out your 1700 words a day?
I'm not a story teller. I know I don't have a novel in me waiting to get
out. Can it be non-fiction?
Still, I'm thinking of trying it. We can't do any writing before 11/1, not
even writing an outline?
Karen
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 10/15/05 11:21:59 AM, tuckervill2@... writes:
It's just a matter of personal integrity.
I had someone cheat at Scrabble once, using upside down tiles as blanks. I
didn't like her anymore. She was still happy with herself, though.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>I don't think they check or even have you sign an oath.
> Still, I'm thinking of trying it. We can't do any writing before 11/1, not
> even writing an outline?
>
It's just a matter of personal integrity.
I had someone cheat at Scrabble once, using upside down tiles as blanks. I
didn't like her anymore. She was still happy with herself, though.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Joyce Fetteroll
On Oct 15, 2005, at 12:33 PM, tuckervill2@... wrote:
involved email can take me 2 hours. But I feel like my thoughts are
more orderly afterwards :-) But piece of cake. No. No one sees what
goes in. They just see the end result! ;-) Which is why I was driven
to put the website together. All those hours and nothing permanent to
show for it! I've probably written a dozen novels worth over the
years ;-)
Kathryn thought 5 hours and that's probably right but it never felt
that long and it didn't seem that hard to find. There never seems to
be enough hours in the day and yet when we don't do anything but the
essentials (like shopping for food and cooking) we found enough time
to devote to writing.
want :-) As Sandra said, no one checks. There's just automatic word
counters to count the words. If you can use it to do something you've
been wanting to, go for it :-)
NaNoWriMo with an already begun *novel* is so can enter with a "let's
see where this goes" attitude rather than having the characters
already set and on a path. That won't apply to nonfiction, I think.
For those who do try with a novel, you'll find that week 1 is pretty
easy because anything can happen and new characters can pop in
unexpectedly. It's sort of like releasing a herd of wild horses. Week
2 is harder because that's when things need to start making sense ;-)
So it's like rounding them back up again. Then the 3rd week
everything is headed where it should go and week 4 is home free. :-)
Joyce
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> So for about 3 longish emails a day, I could write 50,000 words inThat's a good way of looking at it :-)
> a month?
>I never feel succinct. I always feel wordy! But honestly a lengthy
> (For Joyce, who is able to do about 1000 words per email, and still
> have the
> writing be succint and to the point, it should be a piece of cake!)
>
involved email can take me 2 hours. But I feel like my thoughts are
more orderly afterwards :-) But piece of cake. No. No one sees what
goes in. They just see the end result! ;-) Which is why I was driven
to put the website together. All those hours and nothing permanent to
show for it! I've probably written a dozen novels worth over the
years ;-)
> How much time does it take you to pound out your 1700 words a day?Well I deliberately left that out so as not to spook anyone ;-)
Kathryn thought 5 hours and that's probably right but it never felt
that long and it didn't seem that hard to find. There never seems to
be enough hours in the day and yet when we don't do anything but the
essentials (like shopping for food and cooking) we found enough time
to devote to writing.
>It's supposed to be a novel but why not use it for whatever you
> I'm not a story teller. I know I don't have a novel in me waiting
> to get
> out. Can it be non-fiction?
want :-) As Sandra said, no one checks. There's just automatic word
counters to count the words. If you can use it to do something you've
been wanting to, go for it :-)
> Still, I'm thinking of trying it. We can't do any writing beforeOutlines and planning are okay. The reason for not beginning
> 11/1, not
> even writing an outline?
NaNoWriMo with an already begun *novel* is so can enter with a "let's
see where this goes" attitude rather than having the characters
already set and on a path. That won't apply to nonfiction, I think.
For those who do try with a novel, you'll find that week 1 is pretty
easy because anything can happen and new characters can pop in
unexpectedly. It's sort of like releasing a herd of wild horses. Week
2 is harder because that's when things need to start making sense ;-)
So it's like rounding them back up again. Then the 3rd week
everything is headed where it should go and week 4 is home free. :-)
Joyce
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Pamela Sorooshian
On Oct 15, 2005, at 9:02 AM, Joyce Fetteroll wrote:
novel.
Novella. A prose fiction longer than a short story but shorter than a
novel. There is no standard definition of length, but since rules of
thumb are sometimes handy, we might say that the short story ends at
about 20,000 words, while the novel begins at about 50,000. Thus, the
novella is a fictional work of about 20,000 to 50,000 words. Examples:
Henry James, Daisy Miller
Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Henry James, Turn of the Screw
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
So - 50,000 words could be considered a minimal length novel or a
really long novella.
(Make it 50,001 words, if that makes it feel more 'honest' to call it
a novel <BEG>.)
There is lots of stuff on the NaNoWriMo website to do to get yourself
all geared up for the November 1st start date, too.
Rosie has just finished reading, "No Plot, No Problem," a book about
NaNoWriMo.
She could not be MORE excited about writing her second novel! Too
cool. And to think - we could be doing school-at-home - assigning her
to write paragraphs or 5-paragraph essays. <G>
-pam
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> 50,000 words is actually a novella. A novel generally has at leastWell - 50,000 words is a commonly-used cut-off BETWEEN novella and
> 100,000.
novel.
Novella. A prose fiction longer than a short story but shorter than a
novel. There is no standard definition of length, but since rules of
thumb are sometimes handy, we might say that the short story ends at
about 20,000 words, while the novel begins at about 50,000. Thus, the
novella is a fictional work of about 20,000 to 50,000 words. Examples:
Henry James, Daisy Miller
Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Henry James, Turn of the Screw
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
So - 50,000 words could be considered a minimal length novel or a
really long novella.
(Make it 50,001 words, if that makes it feel more 'honest' to call it
a novel <BEG>.)
There is lots of stuff on the NaNoWriMo website to do to get yourself
all geared up for the November 1st start date, too.
Rosie has just finished reading, "No Plot, No Problem," a book about
NaNoWriMo.
She could not be MORE excited about writing her second novel! Too
cool. And to think - we could be doing school-at-home - assigning her
to write paragraphs or 5-paragraph essays. <G>
-pam
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]