Skip To The Stuff About New York, It's Good
The good part about waiting until the halfway point of NaNoWriMo to hold the first meeting of the West Side Drinking Writing Group is that only the serious participants are still around. The bad part was all the serious participants are busy, you know, writing.
I arrived at Quencher's at 6:20 p.m. with no idea if anyone would show up but assuming that no one would. And, I need to go with my gut since no one did. Either that or I really relate to the main character in my novel, Liam, because his group meets without him too (though he gave an informal goodbye to you Cane and Candle crew "off screen"). There were three people meeting in the back room discussing something but I saw no notebooks or laptops so it could have been pretty much anything.
Just in case anyone did decide to show up, I sat by the door. I saw no one come in and look confused so I felt pretty confident leaving at 7:30 p.m. and going to Walgreen's to buy Hawaiian Punch and Kool Aid Blasts for this 80s themed party we're having at work tomorrow (and smileydevil it will please you to no end to know that it was someone born in 1981 who came up with the idea - "borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered 80s" and all that).
So now I'm back at home and ready to write again. It was actually a pretty productive evening as I got a nice $2 PBR in me and some $4 pizza so I'm pretty relaxed. And I topped the 25,000 target already today at work so anything else is just double your word count to get final gravy.
That and I made an outline of what's happened in the novel so far. I recommend this to everyone though I'm not sure how to analyze it.
I came up with seven subplots that are active in the novel right now. I think that might be a few too many but they're in there now.
At least I should have at least enough to get to 50,000 if I just end the rising action now (which would be quite a bit premature) and wrap up all the loose ends. While my exercise ended up yielding unwieldy results, doing this really lets you know where you stand. If you can come up with concise plot summaries for everything that you've written so far, chances are you're doing things as close to "right" as NaNoWriMo gets. If you only come up with one, chances are you're writing a story and not a novel.
Sorry, but it's the truth. :)
Of course it's NaNoWriMo so if you're just writing a 50,000 word story then you're still writing 50,000 words.
I actually listened to the Official NaNoWriMo Podcast on the first day it was available today and I feel bad for those who are behind the pace because they're probably saying right now, "wait, I don't have a jetpack." But it was a great podcast in general if for no other reason than infanttyrone was a featured voice telling his incredible story of marathon writing from last year.
That, and it mentions NaSoAlMo (National Solo Album Month), the goal of which is to record a solo album in 30 days that's at least as long as The Ramones eponymous release (which the site calls the best short album that anyone has ever heard - paraphrasing a little).
If you're anything like me, you're surrounded my musicians as opposed to other speed novelists and this is something to keep them busy in November so they don't question why you would write a novel in 30 days.
A more useful link I came across today, however, is Overheard In New York, a link worth checking out even if you're not writing a NaNo because it's a fascinating collection of real conversations heard on the street of New York City.
If dialog is an enemy, this site will definitely help you vanquish the foe. If not, the snippets of people interacting is just friggin' hilarious! This is my personal favorite:
"July 25, 2003
Nice guys can relate
A hipster girl, walking down Bedford Ave in Williamsburg, talking on her cell phone:
"I didn't realize what a good boyfriend Matt was.... yeah... he's too nice, too together, too in touch with his emotions... his only problem is that he doesn't smoke pot.'"
There are plenty of juicy morsels there for those who hate Williamsburg, which is apparently everyone I came in contact with in New York City including those who live in Manhattan or New Jersey.
If nothing else, this proves no matter how crappy you think you character's verbal interactions are, chances are somebody, somewhere has said something twenty times more implausible. It's a real pick me up on a lot of levels.
Now here are some personal letdowns:
2004 NaNoWriMo: 30,827 words (went to see The Pixies on this night last year so I should close the gap a little)
2005 NaNoWriMo: 25,021 words
reliantfc3: 26,120 words
incendiarymind: 25,021 words
I arrived at Quencher's at 6:20 p.m. with no idea if anyone would show up but assuming that no one would. And, I need to go with my gut since no one did. Either that or I really relate to the main character in my novel, Liam, because his group meets without him too (though he gave an informal goodbye to you Cane and Candle crew "off screen"). There were three people meeting in the back room discussing something but I saw no notebooks or laptops so it could have been pretty much anything.
Just in case anyone did decide to show up, I sat by the door. I saw no one come in and look confused so I felt pretty confident leaving at 7:30 p.m. and going to Walgreen's to buy Hawaiian Punch and Kool Aid Blasts for this 80s themed party we're having at work tomorrow (and smileydevil it will please you to no end to know that it was someone born in 1981 who came up with the idea - "borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered 80s" and all that).
So now I'm back at home and ready to write again. It was actually a pretty productive evening as I got a nice $2 PBR in me and some $4 pizza so I'm pretty relaxed. And I topped the 25,000 target already today at work so anything else is just double your word count to get final gravy.
|
That and I made an outline of what's happened in the novel so far. I recommend this to everyone though I'm not sure how to analyze it.
I came up with seven subplots that are active in the novel right now. I think that might be a few too many but they're in there now.
At least I should have at least enough to get to 50,000 if I just end the rising action now (which would be quite a bit premature) and wrap up all the loose ends. While my exercise ended up yielding unwieldy results, doing this really lets you know where you stand. If you can come up with concise plot summaries for everything that you've written so far, chances are you're doing things as close to "right" as NaNoWriMo gets. If you only come up with one, chances are you're writing a story and not a novel.
Sorry, but it's the truth. :)
Of course it's NaNoWriMo so if you're just writing a 50,000 word story then you're still writing 50,000 words.
I actually listened to the Official NaNoWriMo Podcast on the first day it was available today and I feel bad for those who are behind the pace because they're probably saying right now, "wait, I don't have a jetpack." But it was a great podcast in general if for no other reason than infanttyrone was a featured voice telling his incredible story of marathon writing from last year.
That, and it mentions NaSoAlMo (National Solo Album Month), the goal of which is to record a solo album in 30 days that's at least as long as The Ramones eponymous release (which the site calls the best short album that anyone has ever heard - paraphrasing a little).
If you're anything like me, you're surrounded my musicians as opposed to other speed novelists and this is something to keep them busy in November so they don't question why you would write a novel in 30 days.
A more useful link I came across today, however, is Overheard In New York, a link worth checking out even if you're not writing a NaNo because it's a fascinating collection of real conversations heard on the street of New York City.
If dialog is an enemy, this site will definitely help you vanquish the foe. If not, the snippets of people interacting is just friggin' hilarious! This is my personal favorite:
"July 25, 2003
Nice guys can relate
A hipster girl, walking down Bedford Ave in Williamsburg, talking on her cell phone:
"I didn't realize what a good boyfriend Matt was.... yeah... he's too nice, too together, too in touch with his emotions... his only problem is that he doesn't smoke pot.'"
There are plenty of juicy morsels there for those who hate Williamsburg, which is apparently everyone I came in contact with in New York City including those who live in Manhattan or New Jersey.
If nothing else, this proves no matter how crappy you think you character's verbal interactions are, chances are somebody, somewhere has said something twenty times more implausible. It's a real pick me up on a lot of levels.
Now here are some personal letdowns:
2004 NaNoWriMo: 30,827 words (went to see The Pixies on this night last year so I should close the gap a little)
2005 NaNoWriMo: 25,021 words
reliantfc3: 26,120 words
incendiarymind: 25,021 words
posted by incendiarymind at 6:10 PM
2 Comments:
Hey, don't feel so bad about your wordcount. I'm also behind compared to the first year I did Nano at this point in the month. And at least you're slowly catching up to your writing buddy/enemy.
I also heard the podcast and I was mostly struck by how particular regions seemed to be more productive than others. I wonder if it has more to do about small states having larger populations than any single city...
I think what is causing Maryland to have such a high word count is that their ML is being really pro-active about having people affiliate with the region. Ours in Illinois::Chicago hasn't once mentioned to people, "hey, for your words to count on the list, you have to choose Illinois::Chicago as your home region under your user options."
If I ruled the world. :)
This was the time last year that I went to New York City so I think my 2004 word count will fall soon enough. Especially since this book is a lot more complex than last years. No more flowery prose than the last one, but more story.
Thank you for your kind words. It's looking like us NaNo bloggers are getting sparce. Glad yours is still around.
Post a Comment
<< Home