NaNoWriMo 2012

[Crittias]

National Novel Writing Month 2012 begins in just a few weeks! I'll be co-running the show in College Station, TX again. Still working on my story idea. This year my wife will be gone for most of the month, so with the exception of two weekend trips, I've got all my free time entirely to myself. Not sure if that'll be good, or bad.

So, who's in for NaNoWriMo 2012?

[bapenguin]

I'm gonna give it another shot this year, it's been a few years since I tried.

[Crittias]

Originally Posted by bapenguin

I'm gonna give it another shot this year, it's been a few years since I tried.

Sweet! Glad to have you with us! If there's anything you need, holler.

[Ink Asylum]

I will hit the word count this year, having gotten at least halfway there twice before. Instead of one story, though, I'm going to do a collection of short stories. Maybe that will help me not run out of steam.

[Crittias]

Originally Posted by Ink Asylum

I will hit the word count this year, having gotten at least halfway there twice before. Instead of one story, though, I'm going to do a collection of short stories. Maybe that will help me not run out of steam.

Cheater!

jk, whatever works, right? Will the collection have a particular theme?

[Ink Asylum]

"Ideas I can't get out of my head."

Here's the list so far. It's mostly sci-fi.

White Noise - A moon base uncovers a structure deep below the surface shortly before all contact is lost from Earth. The only signal transmitting from home is static, and the implications play havoc with the minds of the crew.


For Sale: Earth - In the year 5842 a college graduate receives the planet Earth as a gift from her well-off parents. Her dream is to restore the depleted and toxic former homeworld to a pristine state, a process which takes decades and is seen as pointless by anyone but her.


Trial by Combat - In a world where the option to have your judgment determined by the outcome of battle never went out of style, a prosecuting lawyer nearing the height of his career begins to question the justice of the system.


Diving - Thanks to advances in technology, the window for resuscitation has increased dramatically. “Divers” are emergency specialists trained to plunge deep into the minds of the recently deceased, finding and dragging them back to life. As remarkable as it is, the debate rages about the true nature of their craft.


Omninet - A group of inventors discover a technology that allows for instantaneous, essentially free information transmission over any distance, which changes the nature of communications. When it’s revealed that humanity wasn’t the first to do so they’re introduced to an alien race with disturbing proclivities, and no way to cut off contact.


NY, 01001110 01011001 - Technologies converge in the near future, with a citywide network, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality linked together by a research team. The goal is to put powerful functions and information at a user’s fingertips, but it becomes increasingly difficult to tell the virtual from the real when both exist side by side.


Fermi’s Solution - When a pair of burglars break into the wrong house and steal a strange vehicle they find within they’re soon arrested, but only after they’ve travelled millions of miles away. Brought to an offworld prison, they learn that there’s a reason alien races don’t make contact with Earth.

[Crittias]

Good grief! Any one of those could make a great novel! But perhaps starting as shorts is a good way to get the ideas onto the page. A jumping off point.

Awesome that you have so many ideas! I'm struggling with mine, mostly because I'm starting to run into the issue of current concepts overlapping with past ideas/themes. I want to differentiate, but I want to stay true to ideas that inspire me.

[Ink Asylum]

Thanks! That's a jumble of ideas I've had crop up in the past 5 years ago, but never got to do anything with. I figure if I start them as short stories I can at least see how they pan out. Maybe I won't get to them all, but I hope it can get me to 50k.

[Dark Acre Jack]

Yeh, most likely. It was supposed to jump-start last year's writing efforts and after successfully completing it I only ended up writing like 3 pages all year. Hopefully this year will be different.

[evilgoodwin]

I came up with this a year or two ago. I think it's this very site that made me write the first iteration of this story. But I figured I'd try to run with it now that I've finished the first draft of my first story last night.

Foreigner
A scientist created the first genetically engineered race on Earth. These beings are technically human, save for the horns that grow out of their heads. They can perform human tasks better, and faster than a regular human being, which leads to a public outcry against them that soon turns to violence against them, labeling them as "The Foreigners." The Foreigners cannot fight back, though, as they were created without hostility or aggressiveness within them.
However, there can sometimes be mutations. After a violent attack on her lab, Marilith finds a way to overcome her genetic predisposition and find those responsible.

[Xerxes]

I'm in.




I'm out. Saved myself some time there.





Just Kidding!

[KamaItachi]

I'm in, I'll be trying to work on a fantasy detective story. I have no idea what to call it.

[evilgoodwin]

Originally Posted by KamaItachi

I'm in, I'll be trying to work on a fantasy detective story. I have no idea what to call it.

Castle Blanca.

[KamaItachi]

Holy crap, I'm using that somewhere!

[Crittias]

Originally Posted by evilgoodwin

Castle Blanca.

[OldeWolf]

Reckon I could join in. I'm not too clear on what's expected of me within the guideline of this NaNoWriMo. Website wasn't too clear, including on the idea of word count. Anyone give me a superficial rundown on this?

[Crittias]

Originally Posted by OldeWolf

Reckon I could join in. I'm not too clear on what's expected of me within the guideline of this NaNoWriMo. Website wasn't too clear, including on the idea of word count. Anyone give me a superficial rundown on this?

Ideally, you write 50,000+ words during November, all part of a single, self-encompassed novel(la). You don't start before midnight on November 1st, and you complete all 50,000 words before the end of November 30th.

There are no referees, and the only thing that verifies your wordcount is an automated wordcount widget on the site. If you want to submit "and and and and and..." for 50k, you're welcome to do so. You'll show up as a Winner on the site, and only you will know if you cheated or not.

As an aside: every year there are people that post absurb wordcounts: hundreds of thousands of words completed in 30 days. People have done the math, and some of the extreme wordcount numbers are literally humanly impossible given the timeframe and the maximum counting/dictation speeds available. It doesn't matter. You're on your own recognizance. The only person you're cheating is yourself.

And as far as "cheating" goes, lots of people use NaNo to pursue goals outside the original concept. For instance, many people use November to write a series of short stories (ala Ink Asylum's plans), or to write 50k additional words on a current manuscript. Is it strictly what you're supposed to be doing? Probably not. Do you know who cares? Nobody!

That said, writing 50k original words dedicated to their own unique story is a really special feeling. It's impossible to convey to someone that hasn't done it at least once. I recommend going for the original concept, just to get the big story out of the way, one time in your life. It's definitely worth it.

[OldeWolf]

Alright, I'm in. Already got dozens of ideas in my head since I was 5 years old. Would love to be an established writer. Speaking of that, is there any copy right protection for our written work during this time?

[Crittias]

Originally Posted by OldeWolf

Alright, I'm in. Already got dozens of ideas in my head since I was 5 years old. Would love to be an established writer. Speaking of that, is there any copy right protection for our written work during this time?

You never need share your work with anyone, so no need for copyright. At the end, if you really want/need to see "Winner!" show up on the NaNo site, but are paranoid about posting your manuscript to the automated script for wordcount, there are threads that show you how you can take a copy of your manuscript (not the original!) replace every word with "aaaaa" and then have that counted.

[OldeWolf]

I'm not exactly paranoid but more so that I'm clueless on how authors makes sure they have their works protected before being published so they can get a honest chance at such a path. Or maybe I am being paranoid.