NaNo?

[CovenantJr]

Good luck (again), boyo.

[I'm Murrin]

Six hundred words for the first hour and a half. Not bad, for me. I had no idea what I was going to do for it, but things are falling into place surprisingly easily--the stuff I wrote today seems to be moving to accomodate a few ideas I've had before, putting them together in a different way. I don't have any large stuff, like a plot, but all sorts of little details are coming from the older work.
It looks like a Del-fi story, but it's coming out different, changing as I write. I think what began as Del-fi a year ago might turn into something that works well in this context.
Still need a plot, though.

[CovenantJr]

It'll come, believe me. In the most unexpected ways.

[I'm Murrin]

Pausing to make a sandwich at 1184. Not coming easily today--continuing the same scene, but I really don't know where I'm going with it. I have to pull another 500 words out of somewhere in the next two hours.

So am I the only one doing this here, or are the rest all too busy writing to pop in here as often as I do, great procrastinator that I am?

[I'm Murrin]

1434, and I've hit a minor snag: my character is at work, but i don't know what his job is. All I know is all his work is done virtually, through a direct neural link to the computer.
Half an hour to add 200 words, but I can't possibly continue without saying what he does.
And the NaNoWriMo website appears to have been overwhelmed.

[CovenantJr]

The NaNo site is really, really slow ever since November started looming on the horizon.

To answer your question, I'm not doing NaNo this year because I've started an Access course and it's pretty intensive. I spend enough time typing away at my computer without having to worry about thousands more words each day.

[I'm Murrin]

I've dropped behind today (by 700 words), but somehow I'm not worried about it. I'm actually feeling more comfortable than usual with this, and expect to be able to make up any lag over the weekend. It didn't help today that one of my housemates from last year who didn't stay in uni has come up to visit, and brought Battlestar Galactica DVDs.

[I'm Murrin]

Also, I need to learn to ignore the majority of people on the NaNoWriMo forums. Otherwise I find myself getting annoyed at the fact that, for example, most of the people in the fantasy forum don't even seem to be capable of grasping the concept of magic realism, contemporary fantasy, or just the whole area of speculative fiction in general. Note to self: don't try to hold random strangers to your own high standards.

[CovenantJr]

Oh I know. They are absolutely horrific. It doesn't help that a good 50% of them are about 13.

[I'm Murrin]

My writing's been a bit off-and-on most of the time so far, but I got a good 2000 words done today, and hit a brief smooth spot toward the end as things began to sort themselves out in my storyline. This progress still leaves me behind schedule, because yesterday saw more time lost to the visiting friend. I'm at ~5k, when I should be heading for 7k by now.

Back to the 'smooth spot'. When I say it was brief, I mean brief. But as easy as it was to write, I have a feeling it might not have been done quite right--it's not quite infodump, but it's one person speaking about a technical topic for a long stretch, with only brief narration. I'd be interested in opinions: does this seem acceptable, or should I lay off the loquaciousness? I'm interested because I have to continue with this scene tomorrow, and I might handle it differently if it's not working.

The room Tanner led him to was identical to his office in Design, and held an identical chair. Tanner noticed his reaction to this, and explained, “The hardware has changed little from the models you are used to. The software, however, is quite different.”
He indicated a terminal on the wall and Simon moved over to stand near him as he tapped commands into the screen. Pieces of coding and diagrams flashed up on the screen as he spoke.
“There has been a complete overhaul of the way the software interacts with your cerebral implant. As a result, you should find connecting to the console a much more, ahem, pleasant experience.” He stopped tapping at the terminal for a moment and turned to Simon with a serious look. “You might be best advised, however, to avoid staying connected for extended periods of time. There will be no difficulty for you working your normal hours on the project, as long as you take a lunch break, but the new software can be, ahem, somewhat of a drain on your system.” The researcher returned to the terminal display. “That brings us to the most important change that has been made. The system no longer models itself as an analogue of the world we see around us. In fact, in order to make better use of the full capability of the human mind, the system architecture is modelled in several extra dimensions.” He pulled up another diagram, this one crowded with lines and notations, and Simon leaned closer to make out some of the detail of the image. “The human mind is perfectly capable of performing a number of operations at once. Often people make the mistake of thinking there are only two levels to our thought, the conscious and the unconscious, when in fact there are many variations of both.” Tanner’s voice was picking up speed, and he seemed to become more absorbed in the topic as he went. “To give a simple example, your mind can take in and analyse the information from your senses—what you see and hear as you walk across town, for example—while at the same time keeping an entirely unrelated train of thought in a separate level of your consciousness—this would be what can be called your inner voice, the part of the mind of which a person tends to be most aware.” He glanced at Simon to see if he was following. “There are even multiple levels to that part of the consciousness. A person can hear a piece of music in the morning, and have it running through his head for the best part of a day without interrupting his—ahem—usual mental activity.”
Simon had given up trying to follow the information flashing across the terminal screen, and instead listened only to the researcher’s voice, trying to come to grips with what all this meant. This was what R&D was working on? And successfully, if he believed what Tanner was saying. But what had his supervisor said yesterday? This will be the first time they’ve been put to full use.
He had the distinct feeling that he was being lied to.

[CovenantJr]

I think it works fairly well, not too infodumpy - but perhaps a little long. I just felt an ending to the paragraph coming up about two thirds of the way through.

[I'm Murrin]

It's the halfway point, so I thought I'd pop in for an update.
I'm 10,000 words behind, because of one day missed in the first week and three in the second, as well as a couple of below-target days. Heading for 15,000 words tonight.

[duchess of malfi]

This year my goal is to write a decent short story rather than a novel length manuscript.

It is very slowly coming along.

[I'm Murrin]

For people who want to do something like NaNo, but without the tight pace:
community.livejournal.com/novel_in_90/profile
750 words a day, 90 days. I thought about joining in, but don't think I'll manage it.

[CovenantJr]

For people who want to do something like NaNo, but without the tight pace:
community.livejournal.com/novel_in_90/profile
750 words a day, 90 days. I thought about joining in, but don't think I'll manage it.

I like that idea. The objective is different to NaNo. The aim of NaNo, as I understand it, is to force you to be creative without the constant revision so many of us indulge in. This 'Novel in 90' seems to be more about giving you a feel for a professional writer's life, chipping away at the novel while also continuing the usual day-to-day stuff.

[CovenantJr]

Also, I need to learn to ignore the majority of people on the NaNoWriMo forums. Otherwise I find myself getting annoyed at the fact that, for example, most of the people in the fantasy forum don't even seem to be capable of grasping the concept of magic realism, contemporary fantasy, or just the whole area of speculative fiction in general. Note to self: don't try to hold random strangers to your own high standards.

I just saw:

Kinds of magic systems involving writing/words?
Does anyone have some examples of ones that have been done that way? I'm thinking something where there are already words on, say, a sheet of paper, and you have to use them somehow.

[I'm Murrin]

Could make an interesting device. You have a book of spells. The written down spells themselves are the magic--you can't read them or anything like that. So: you tear out the pages. One by one, you break the book apart until there is nothing left...

On the other hand: if you have an interesting idea, you don't just find out how the last person did it and copy them, ferchrissake. Have some imagination, people!

(Yeah, the implicit acceptance of the whole "it has to have magic (with spells!) to be fantasy" is still stupid, but there's no use arguing the point, because they'll never learn.)


[And you know what? I have an image in my head, now. He has longish hair, he's a little distant and abrasive. He doesn't bother arguing with the others, because he knows what has to be done. I can see him tearing a page from the old, battered book and stuffing it into another man's mouth. Forcing him to chew and swallow.]

[hierachy]

Anyone doing NaNo this year? I am, but I started LATE so have to play catch up! Not so easy when the entire thing is pretty damn fast paced to begin... but here goes.

[I'm Murrin]

I'm not doing NaNo, but I'm trying to write every day this month, even if it's only a few words and a bit of editing of previous stuff.

[aliantha]

Well, here we are in 2008. Anybody doing it this year? Batty has already signed up and is pestering me to do it, too.

If I do, I'm not sure I'll bother to register with NaNo. And I sure as hell won't bother checking out the forums, based on the sterling recommendations from CovJr and Murrin in '06...