Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with nanowrimo

Perhaps a chair coated with glue?

BitterOldPunk — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:09:03 -0800

With NaNoWriMo looming ever nearer, I would like to hear your best tips, tricks, habits, and techniques for staying chained to the keyboard. Realizing that the point is to get 50,000 words written, I've jettisoned all illusions of producing quality, publishable prose. My only goal is to finish without having to copypaste "All work and no play makes BOP a dull boy" five thousand times. I have a (rather vague) outline, I have some preliminary character sketches, and I have every expectation that the first ten thousand words will flow fairly quickly. But. I suck at follow-through. I have the attention span of the common housefly. So, writers: how do I stick with it, fight through discouragment and ennui, and produce 50,000 reasonably coherent words?

Note: I'm not looking for tips like "prepare moar" or "work your plan". I'm looking for how to stay motivated when the fun stuff stops and the hard work begins.

The ideas, what to do with them?

TomMelee — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 06:14:45 -0800

How do I force myself to write? I have the ideas...I have the time, I think I even have the skill. I just don't have the follow-through. Lemme explain.

I'm always coming up with compelling story lines. Like...always. Several times a week, easy. Some of them are dream-based, some are true-life-experience based, and some...well, some I just don't know where they come from. I've started a couple 5th-graderish books several times, but I always leave them a couple chapters in. I've let people read them, and they always want me to finish them, but I just...don't.

When I was a late teen I used to write a lot of awful poetry but also some decent prose. Short stories because I never could think of where to take them.

So anyway, last night I had this crazy thriller-murder-torture dream centering around cyber-stalking and mefi meetups, and I think it would be a fun story to write and a fun story to read.

But I know I'll never *finish* it.

So tell me, if you write, for publication or otherwise, how do you stick to it? I flit around a lot from one task to another, that's a big part of it. Do you outline first? Do you storyboard? Do you just outline blocks of time and force yourself to write?

I wrote a novel. Now what?

letahl — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 10:32:07 -0800

Can I use viral marketing techniques to get my first novel published? I wrote a novel (Nanowrimo), and I actually like it. Its still in draft format, so it needs some editing, but it is structurally sound. My question is, "Now what?"

A website with a little popularity is going to do an article on me and my novel, and it goes up on Monday. It should drive some traffic to the lowkey writing blog I started recently. I have NOT done much to this blog, just used it more as a static page to point potential clients to for freelance writing assignments. So what should I do to that site by Monday to further a goal of getting this thing published?

Similarly, is there a way I can use viral marketing to promote an unpublished book such that I don't have to go sending unsolicited manuscripts all over the place? The latter sounds like a pretty brutal way of trying to get published.

About me: I'm a freelance lawyer and have published academic articles, magazine articles, and done a good bit of freelance writing. This is my first novel.

Resources: I have a well-developed blog on my primary area of scholarly interest, but its not on point with my novel. I could potentially use that as leverage for promoting my book. I'm on the major social networking sites (facebook, twitter, linkedin, inactive on myspace), so I am open to using those. I am capable of building a website for the book, but that seems a bit ridiculous. I'd rather use the writing site I linked to.

About the book: The novel tells the story of a remote Alaskan village after a large-scale economic collapse. The book follows the people in this town, over the course of a single winter, trying to make a life for themselves in difficult conditions. It is character and plot focused (not premise focused). It has around 60 short chapters.

Any help with strategy as of this point would be greatly appreciated, if in the form of links to potentially helpful AskMe posts or other websites. Even if you think of something that may be helpful to me, but which answers a question I'm not asking, please do share.

To Book or not to Book?

Xurando — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:13:58 -0800

How much of book one do I have to explain in book two, if book two is part of a series I'm writing? Last year I started writing an epic novel and got through part one and eighty thousand words. Then I got busy and put the writing down expecting to pick up part two any day, but I haven't.

To get motivated again I signed up for NaNoWriMo. The problem is I can't use any previous writing in NaNoWriMo. I have to start part two like it's book two even though eventually they will be part of the same novel.

How much of book one do I have to explain? It's a complicated plot, but my preference is not to explain it all. Will this approach hurt the writing?

Novels set in the 1970s?

Potomac Avenue — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:33:47 -0800

What are some good novels set in the US of the mid-late seventies? Specifically I'm looking for ones dealing with the wild political election of 1976, the bicentennial, and assassination attempts on President Ford, but I'd be interested in anything written fairly recently set in 1974-1979 on any subject.

(Tags explain why I'm wondering!)

Busy my Autumn!

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:48:59 -0800

So I just broke up with somebody I've been dating for several years. For the next few months I want to keep busy, improve my health, and do some things with my spare time. I'm thinking nanowrimo in November, and maybe something like the 100 pushup challenge. I'm cycling to work. What other daily self-improvement-y 'lifehacks' will make me healthy, happy and wise as I get over the bump? I assume I'll get some responses like "You can't avoid thinking about/working through this breakup, and it isn't healthy to do so" or "stop avoiding the difficult parts of your life!" I completely agree with that sentiment, and thanks for them. But it takes me a long time to drift into sleep in the evenings, so I've pretty much got a half-hour every day set aside where I can't think about much else.

I'm looking for projects and things that can be done cheaply and slot easily into a day - the press ups example being a prime example of 'takes-up-ten-minutes a day and has tangible improvement'.

Help me fix myself up as I'm sorting myself out.

So you have an accident at sea; who investigates?

Tenuki — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 20:10:06 -0800

So you have an accident at sea; who investigates? Say you have an American citizen sailing out of an American port in a small boat. Half way to Hawaii (or Africa) the boat sinks. Eventually the captain is rescued and returned home. Who if anyone would investigate the accident?

Best WordPress setup to publish a NaNo novel on the web?

pzarquon — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 17:29:07 -0800

So, with NaNoWriMo coming next week, I've been looking up past questions on music to write to, novel writing and organizing applications, and ways to write anywhere. But... what would be the best way to publish your NaNo novel on the web as you go? I'm thinking WordPress. Yes, I know, there are 'first rights' and other concerns if you're hoping to do something with your NaNo novel after November, but most of my writer friends do this for fun, and we like to read along as stories come together (or fall apart).

In the past, I set up Movable Type blogs, and tweaked the template so that entries were posted to the main index in chronological order (rather than reverse chronological). Of course, that was just a kludge, and now everyone's in love with WordPress. It's adaptable, and there are a wide variety of templates are out there... so I'm thinking that's the way to go this year.

Is anyone familiar with any "novel-ly" WordPress templates or widgets? Some easy theme to turn a basic blog into a way to elegantly present serialized fiction? On look and feel, something using fonts that look very... book-like (lots of white space, larger than average serif type, etc.)? On function, something less chronology or date based, and thinking more in terms of chapters.

Or is there a better way? If you wanted to post your NaNo novel online as you churned out your daily quota, how would you do it?

My characters are running away with my novel!

sperose — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 21:54:30 -0800

Please help me find something to organize this monstrosity of a novel. Oh yes, there is definitely So I've been doing this Nanowrimo thing for 2 years. This will be year 3. I have a crazy cast of characters, and no actual plot line (aside from a very general idea) to speak of. What I am looking for is some type of free (preferable)/student discounted/super cheap software or internet thingy that will help me track what my characters are doing/what I want them to do. Sort of like putting notecards on a posterboard with lines going horizontally from each of the characters.

Basically, I would like to/need to have some sense of continuity in this novel that started out as a drunken joke. Plus, I'm starting to confuse myself when re-reading it.

Thanks, Mefi.

ps: Windows XP. I dig Word.

Write anywhere?

icetaco — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 07:47:29 -0800

November is National Novel Writing Month, and I've got 50,000 words to write in 28 days. Isn't there a free web app that would allow me to write anywhere, without having to upload/download any text docs, but simply write/edit online and save changes?

que musica por escriba!?

delmoi — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 18:54:01 -0800

NaNoWriMo is comming up. What sorts of writin' music can you think of? I'm not personally participating in NaNoWriMo, but I am working on a novel right now. I've got the Propellerheads and Orbital on right now. I'd like some complicated, sophisticated techno with no lyrics to distract me. If you can think of some non-techno lyric free music feel free to suggest that as well.

Is anybody planning to participate in nanowrimo this year?

codger — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 07:46:35 -0800

Two weeks and counting... Is anybody planning to participate in nanowrimo this year?