National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2010: is over. :( Come in and see who won!

The end of the year is creeping up on us and soon 2010 will only be a memory and we all look forward to what 2011 has in store, but wait! There is still more to look forward to before we get that far. Yes, there are the winter holidays and the Americans have their Thanksgiving but, eh... what we really look forward to near the end of the year is closing in upon us. What is that you ask??

The insanity of writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 short days, of course!

Yep, November is only one short month away so now is the time to start getting excited, to start outlining and preparing your characters -if you didn't already start long ago. Or, if you prefer to write as it comes to you it's time to start stocking up on all those goodies and caffeinated beverages you will need for the epic adventure that is:

National Novel Writing Month!

If you are wondering what the heck you just stumbled upon in this thread read on. If you are an old hand at the lunacy then check out the bottom for discussion!

What is NaNoWriMo?
In its most basic definition NaNo is writing a 50,000 word novel in the 30 days of November. Many people get much more out of it, some people don't, it's really up to you what NaNo is about. If you've always wanted to write a novel but never got around to it, this is your chance. You'll be doing it along with thousands of other crazy people, so don't worry about being alone in your insanity!

NaNo is not about writing the next best seller (though it has been known to happen) or writing the perfect story, it's all about the writing. Repeat after me: "It's all about the writing."

You will write some utter crap so turn your inner editor off now or it's going to be a long month, but in writing impetuously you may find that giving yourself the freedom to just write, without worry, results in some truly amazing prose!


How do I participate?

You go to the NaNo website and sign up. Don't be alarmed if it takes a while for the site to load, it tends to be a little busy this time of year! Then starting at midnight November 1st (and no sooner!) write your heart out! You can write in a notebook, on your computer, heck, you could write on your walls, just as long as you don't write the same word over and over again!

Don't forget to check out the official How NaNo Works and What is NaNo? pages.


I've signed up, what do I do now?

Well, you can start outlining your story, make your characters, do some research (but remember, no actual writing until November 1st!) or if your more of a fly by the seat of your pants kind of writer you can check out the Forums at the official NaNo site and discuss pretty much anything with your fellow Wrimos!


What Do I Get If I Win?
Nothing!!

But seriously, you get to know you wrote a novel in 30 days. How many people can say that? Even if you don't make it to 50,000 words you've done more than the majority of people in this world will ever do! They also make some shiny web badges so you can show off to the the internet how awesome you are!

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So you've decided to tackle the challenge? Great! Welcome aboard! Post in this thread and let us know you are participating and if you use a different screen name at the NaNo site let us know that as well so we can find you and make you a writing buddy. Once NaNo starts keep us up to date on your progress and it will be shown beside your name on the participants list.


[color=purple][b]Fun Factoids NaNoWriMo 2009[/b][/color]
[b]37 people[/b] signed up to participate in the fanfic NaNo thread
of those that signed up, [b]26 people[/b] participated (at least by posting their word count in the thread)
[b][color=crimson]10 of those people won[/color][/b] (36.5% of JC fanficers that participated)
[b]6 people[/b] made it over half way (> 25,000 words) but came up short
[b]633,753 words[/b] were written in the 30 days of Nov

 

Participants List:


Those who wrote and posted that they wrote in November are bolded.
Winners (reaching 50,000 words) are limegreen

ahhhrealmia (interstella555)
Alley_Skywalker: 30,536
BultarSwan (Extra Crispy Muses): 12,882
anakin_girl
Commander-DWH: 50,063
Ceillean: 51,000
CelseteAntola: 19,784
Corellian_Ale
DarthIshtar: 3,000
Draconarius: 3,143
earlybird-obi-wan: 60,352
Earwen_Lightrider (NataLekku): 50,000
emerald54: 88,481
Etain: 50,101
FelsGoddess (kcfels): 50,031
Flowerlady: (swe23): 55,693
Idrelle_Micovani
Iverna (nightmaretrinity): 52,127
Jade_Max: 52,114
JediMara77: 73,359
Jedi_Perigrine: 51,247
kayladie97: 1,448
KELIA: 51,146
LAJ_FETT: 51,038
LillyHobbitJedi (LilyCat03): 10,538
Master_Jaina1011 (shammer): 3,586
mavjade: 50,840
Mechalich: 115,600
moosemousse (moosemouse): 50,107
Iryla
Lolly_Tolly
Sauntaero: 14,770
SithGirl132: 52,802
star_writer24: 1,097
Storms_Legacy: 2,541
TheMacUnleased: 50,033
TKeira_Lea
Ubersue: 2,500
ViariSkywalker (invisiblesun): 15,038

 

I'm pretty sure I will be doing it again. Right now I am job-hunting but if I don't find anything in October I'll have plenty of time for NaNo in November.

As in past years, if someone wants to make a few icons I'll mention loading them in MS.

As far as the questions go, I've done (and won) NaNo since 2005. I recommend Chris Baty's book No Plot No Problem for NaNo noobies. (Amazon is your friend here. That's where I found my copy).

 

I've done NaNoWriMo four times now. The first time I failed miserably and it was a complete disaster. The last three years I've struggled at the finish line but I've always made it to 50,000 words in the end. My only problem seems to be getting the words in and not running out of time to do it.

My advice to newbies is to just write and write and write. Don't worry if you can't write 1,667 words on a particular day and don't stop if you reach that number but can write more. The more days where you write a lot the more days you can have when you don't write much. It doesn't even have to make sense. Remember, NaNoWriMo is all about writing 50,000 words, it's quantity over quality here. Still, the more times you do it the better you'll get at writing.

Also, it's worth remember that you're a winner even if you don't write 50,000 words. Just taking part means you've made an active decision to try something that most people won't. You'll still have the beginnings of a novel and you can still finish it off later.

So, to everyone who's taking part this year, good luck! Have a great time and, above all else, enjoy yourself.

 

I will be attempting it again this year. I had participated before in the past but I never quite reached the goal as I tend to run out of steam about the halfway mark so I'm not sure what advice I could give other than to try to prevent that from occurring.

 

See, I have a novel that I've just finished writing. But I may try my hand at writing one of the other ideas that I've had my head working on.

 

I participated once (in 2008, I think), and got to the 50,000 words. But the thing is, November is a really bad month for me. Considering all of my school and theatre stuff, I don't think I'll be able to devote the time to writing. But I may get a bout of insanity and decide to do it anyway.

 

I think I'm going to do it this year since I have a fanfic novel going right now and a sequel planned. I've never done this before though; I just got back into writing over the summer after a hiatus of about five years.

The reason I'm joining is that it will give me further incentive to write every single day, and writing every single day helps me overcome writer's block. And because I'm competitive with myself and I just want to see if I can do it.

 

I'm in. I've participated and won for three previous years, and I'm in for a fourth year. I'm not sure just what I'm going to write yet, since I have several ideas bouncing around in my head. Sooner or later I'll grow enough brain to not do this, but it's so fun...

 

About all I have at the moment are a couple of vague characters, a top-level idea (no side plots yet) and that it will be horror.

 

I participated and won last year - I loved it, but I suffered from burnout for like three months after that (because I forced the last three days out in one da so that I could be done early, I think, and that felt like it about killed me mentally). So, I'm debating participating again, but using a different method and style. My college coursework might just kill it, too, so I don't know. I'm going to think about it - who knows, really.

My advice for people participating is this for the first time: just keep writing. Don't worry too much about your word count, and don't force yourself to write if you can't get it to come out. If you get writer's block for one section, you can skip to a section that you can write for until you can pull that block down. And, most of all, have fun and enjoy yourself when you write.

 

I decided to do it this year, one because it could get my butt in gear to actually write write write, and two help get the novel I want to write out of my head!!

We shall see, being a newbie and all!

 

I really admire you guys who sign up to do this. I've always wanted to, but November's a bad month, between upcoming finals and Thanksgiving, which takes almost a week. One day I'll try it

And I second LAJ - if you want any specific 2010 nano icons, let me know adn I'll put 'em up.

 

I think I'm going to participate this year though I won't write SW, but rather something original. Hopefully I can make up for my one failed attempt.

 

I made some icons!

All the icons, which includes icons from previous years too. I think some of the old ones are still good, except perhaps the ones with dates on.

 

I have a quite well-developed idea about a matchmaker's apprentice that Kateydidnt keeps pestering me to write, so if I do decide to stop revising for a bit and write a new novel, I'll be writing that. I've won Nanowrimo once. And the whole "turn off your internal editor" thing really doesn't work for me.

 

I've mentioned the icons in MS.

 

Just a note that the NaNo forums are now online for 2010 and existing users can update their user information for things like years done NaNo and years won.

 

Participants List updated!
I didn't add those who are on the fence, if you all decide to participate I'll add you! As for those who say November is way to busy, that's part of the fun! I think November is busy for most everyone... I thought it would calm down when I graduated but November is one of our busiest months at work... lots of people with respiratory problems in the winter. Even if you are busy give it a try and you might find you have more time than you think!


This is my fourth year participating and I have yet to win. I've made it significantly further every year, with a little over 30,000 words last year so I'm hopeful for this year! My advice for noobs would be to write every chance you get and do your best to get ahead. You will be tired by the end of the month and it's hard to catch up, at least it is for me. I second the recommendation of No Plot, No Problem. I got it last year and it really is inspirational!

 

I have an OC and now an interesting story for him. I will participate

 

I am going to try to participate this year. I've never been able to before.

 

Same here, this will be I think my 5th year participating (4th officially), and I've never even come close. But I'll definately give it another go this year.

 

If I had been able to turn off my internal editor, it would have taken much less time for me to finish the novel I'm editing right now. And there would be a lot more to edit.

 

Is anyone going for a higher word count this year? I'm thinking of going for 300,000 word as that's what The Black Library want for their novels. I have no idea if I'll make it that far though, as I've always come just short and struggled to make it past 50,000 words. I'm also not sure if I can write 10,000 words a day.

 

I'm going to stick with 50K words- applying to grad school and doing my own research project is definitely taking a lot of time out of my life. I decided to write Star Wars fanfic again- a friend and I came up with a wonderful fanfic idea that I've wanted to write for a long time, which is actually likely a 100K word story, but I'll see what I can do. It's going to be a rather ridiculous NJO AU with lots of Sith and general weirdness. Ideas that were developed at midnight or later are usually like that.