Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Wednesday's Writing Update: Gearing Up for NaNoWriMo 2011


Happy Wednesday!

I’m still doing my best to catch up on everything before November 1st. Not everything will get done, but that’s okay. Nothing is so pressing that I can’t squeeze in a few minutes to do it during November or wait to do it in December.

Also, in November, I’ll be a bit slow getting around to everyone. Writing will come first. But I’ll get to everything I can as time allows.


Okay, show of hands, who is doing NaNoWriMo? Good and please be sure to leave your screenname so I can add you as a buddy. I’m bookworm0753.



I’m doing something rather crazy this year. I’m writing two novels for NaNo.

Mock Cover
The first one is Starred, a YA Contemporary. I’m writing Starred very differently. For one, there will be Acts and Scenes, although still written as prose instead of stage directions/dialogue. Two, I’m writing it randomly. There are 30 scenes, and I’m going to use Random.org to choose which two I’ll write a day. If I finish two scenes early one day, I’ll go to the next random scene. My goal is to finish Starred by November 15th and hopefully have it be at least 50,000 words.

Mock Cover
The second novel is The Last Prophetess, a YA Futuristic Fantasy. The Last Prophetess takes place 3000 years after The Phoenix Prophetess. Blame Apenth for giving me this crazy idea to write the two novels. It’s all his fault. *winks* I plan to write this novel like I normally do with chapters and consecutively. I haven’t figured out how many chapters there will be yet, but I hope to finish it by November 30th and have it at least be 50,000 words.

Yes, I know I’ll have to bulk both novels up later, but the goal is to get both stories down. In a month. Yeah. It may not happen, but I’m going to try. I’m looking forward to it.

What’s the fastest you’ve ever written a novel, i.e. first draft?

15 comments:

Nicole Zoltack said...

A completed first draft? Champion of Valor took me two months. That's my fastest, which isn't really that fast.

Good luck finishing two novels in November! I'm hoping by the end of this year to have two more novels done. But one is MG so at the most, it'll probably only be 45K. Definitely makes it more manageable for me.

Talli Roland said...

Two novels, eep! I usually write a first draft in six weeks.

mshatch said...

wow. I'm impressed. It takes me a year to write a single draft - if I'm lucky.

Will Burke said...

That's madness! You're mad! Best of luck to ya. I`ll be sure to buddy you; I`ll be Will burke93.

Miranda Hardy said...

You are ambitious, that's for sure. My NaNo name is DreamyCowgirl, I think. It will be one busy month.

TL Conway said...

I love this idea of 2 books in a month. I'm even MORE fascinated by the idea of using random.org to determine which scenes you will write. I realize blogging will be sporadic or less during the month, but I hope you share with us how it's going!

My Nano name is _trixie_. Let's find each other! (BTW, is the friends function up yet on the new site?)

The fastest I've ever completed a novel? I usually finish before Thanksgiving, so maybe 3 weeks? It's garbage, but it's somewhat done!

Lindsey Duncan said...

Best of luck!

I am doing Nanowrimo, but I'm not actually signed up to the forums. I might still have my login from way back the first two years I did it, but ... I don't need forums to be eating my time. ;-)

Christine Rains said...

I think you can do it! *grins* The fastest I've done the 50,000 words was ten days. I think I finished off the whole novel before the 30 days were up. It's going to be so much fun this year! :)

Sarah Tokeley said...

Good luck with the experiment! I've signed up for the first time this year.

The fastest time I've ever written a first draft is nine or ten days - but it was less than 40k :-(

Nicole Pyles said...

Good luck!! I think I will do it! *raises hand frantically* I just haven't signed up yet (although I think I may have a screen name already due to a previous attempt a few years ago). I also bought a book called 26 Day Novel to help me out, so I will see how it goes...

Carol Riggs said...

Woo, good luck on the NaNoing!! I'm not participating, but I like to cheer others on. :) (I have no problem writing novels w/o NaNo.)

ali cross said...

How FUN! Okay, first I have to say, I think it's a fabulous idea to write STARRED in acts and scenes since obviously it's a book about movies/acting/theatre. So cool!

And I totally think you can write both books in the month. I believe in you!

Also, I'm an underwriter as well. ALWAYS have to beef my stories up later. I'm doing NaNo! We can cheer each other along :)

Aubrie said...

Wow, I've never heard of writing two novels for NaNo! That's crazy awesome!

C D Meetens said...

Good luck with the two novels. I can't imagine trying to do two. I had enough trouble keeping up with one! I'm looking forward to hearing more about "The Last Prophetess" :).

Shannon Lawrence said...

Wow, good luck with that! I'm going to do a modified version of NaNo, which I think I'll post about on Tuesday. I don't have something new I want to start right now (I have plenty new to start, but don't want to throw in right now), but I have a lot I want to accomplish and want to use the month to get jump started after some slow going.

Both books sound interesting. Will you be posting your progress on your blog?