NaNoWriMo is now in full swing. It’s day 9 and my intent to blog every single day during NaNo has gone completely down the drain... oopsie o.0 But I’m here now and ready to fill you in on my fun adventures of NaNoWriMo for the last 9 days while I take a small break from actual writing.
Amazingly I am well ahead of the suggested word count. Using some very complicated maths (read common sense) the creators of NaNoWriMo figured out that the participants need to write 1,667 words a day to hit the 50,000 word goal. The suggested amount for today, Day 9 is 15,000. I am on 41,742. Clearly I’m working well beyond the predicted amount a day. It probably helps that I have no job and very little by way of a social life. I have been writing every day though, getting used to my characters and each day I find myself writing more and more. It’s been taking me less and less time to warm up and getting into the writing groove as I call it. Although there are a few flaws and small holes in what I’m writing I realise it’s just a first draft and many of these things can be easily fixed when I go to edit.
Amazingly I am well ahead of the suggested word count. Using some very complicated maths (read common sense) the creators of NaNoWriMo figured out that the participants need to write 1,667 words a day to hit the 50,000 word goal. The suggested amount for today, Day 9 is 15,000. I am on 41,742. Clearly I’m working well beyond the predicted amount a day. It probably helps that I have no job and very little by way of a social life. I have been writing every day though, getting used to my characters and each day I find myself writing more and more. It’s been taking me less and less time to warm up and getting into the writing groove as I call it. Although there are a few flaws and small holes in what I’m writing I realise it’s just a first draft and many of these things can be easily fixed when I go to edit.
Distressingly though my characters keep hijacking the story. It’s supposed to be a supernatural thriller. Instead my main characters (commonly called MCs in the forums) have taken over and turned the story into a chick lit romance that just happens to have vampires and werewolves and other supernatural creatures. I’ve shrugged my shoulders and decided to just try and gently steer them back in the right direction. If I try and force them back on track there’s a strong chance that they could screech to a halt and refuse to play. What makes me laugh the most about the whole situation is that I never used to believe that characters could take over. I just figured that this was just crazy writers speaking who took themselves too seriously. In this case I’m glad I was wrong. It really does happen that you want the story to go one way and then your characters take an idea and run off with it in an opposite direction then you intended. More and more, especially in the last few days, I’ve found myself yelling at my computer and my characters to stop it and do as I say. It’s gotten so bad that a member of the regional chat-room (a happy advantage of NaNoWriMo) sent me a link to an image that he says basically sums me up right now... it’s now my desktop background.
The chat-rooms are another good part of NaNo, participants are split into regions, based on the area they leave and many of them have chat-rooms. In the Notts NaNoers chatroom I’ve made some pretty good friends (at least I like to think so) that I see once a week in an actual pub. We talk, we eat and we generally relax and unwind (often hitting each other with wooden spoons for misbehaviour). I’ve been to two meetings so far and the group members only seem to be getting crazier. I feel right at home. Happily these meetings continue throughout the year although it changes to just once a month after November. I’ll be sad to see an end to the weekly meetings as I have so much fun at them, often staying much longer then I intend to. My parents are just glad I’m out the house.
The chat-rooms are another good part of NaNo, participants are split into regions, based on the area they leave and many of them have chat-rooms. In the Notts NaNoers chatroom I’ve made some pretty good friends (at least I like to think so) that I see once a week in an actual pub. We talk, we eat and we generally relax and unwind (often hitting each other with wooden spoons for misbehaviour). I’ve been to two meetings so far and the group members only seem to be getting crazier. I feel right at home. Happily these meetings continue throughout the year although it changes to just once a month after November. I’ll be sad to see an end to the weekly meetings as I have so much fun at them, often staying much longer then I intend to. My parents are just glad I’m out the house.
Hopefully I’ll have another update for you soon. In the mean time, you other NaNo-ers out there: Have fun and Happy Writings!
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