NexuNaNoWriMo 2011

Post by **Dray** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 12:06 pm

That is, Nexus National Novel Writing Monkeys!

...er...

Yeah!

Anyhow, consider this a thread for all things NaNo related: procrastination, pep talks, challenges, "why is this so [X]?!" and so on!

NaNo begins in TEN DAYS! Let the count down begin!

jess d · Post by **jess d** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 6:27 pm

Holy.... 10 days?!?! Already??? Guess it was a good thing I was brainstorming ideas at work today >.>

Post by **StarFyre** » Sat Oct 22, 2011 1:52 pm

Huh. Where'd October go..?

Post by **Dray** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:05 pm

It's still here, honestly! Really! >_>"""

Sorry I haven't replied back. Cramming as much random things into my days before November hits as possible in order to enjoy my freedom whilst I have it.

I was wondering if anyone would like to join me for a chat session... (will have to figure out a place to congregate!) on the 30th (tomorrow) or the 31st (HALLOWEEN!) to finish working on plot points! It might be a somewhat quiet chat, but having a place to lurk with one another (and perhaps get started on November 1st, if we're going over the 31st and doing some midnight writing!) would be great!

It might be a good place to drop some last minute critiques or pitches to one another, too!

jess d · Post by **jess d** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 9:41 pm

Chat could be interesting - I would go for the 31st, as I don't have work the next day (which works nicely for starting NaNo, coincidentally XD), but I don't know how many people might be doing Halloweenish stuff. I know I'm not, as I work that day, and I think my husband has work that night, or something silly; they threw a random schedule change at him for the next few days, and I am still not sure when he is and isn't working!

delyar · Post by **delyar** » Sat Oct 29, 2011 9:58 pm

I have a birthday party on Halloween until like 9 PM but would be interested in lurking when I get home. I can't guarantee I'll be much help as I have a paper due on the 2nd but I can try to multitask. :)

Post by **Dray** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 10:23 am

Kat's apparently working super early tomorrow, so I think we're going to be spending our evening watching scary movies -- and giving away candy, if there are kids coming to our door. XD Maybe. We'll see.

Anyways, if our internet connection wasn't so terrible, I'd suggest a live-stream or tinychat or something, but maybe if we can dig up that RP room we were using, that will suffice! (I'll see if I can't find it and toss up a link. I'll lurk in it tomorrow throughout the day just in case people show up. :3 Maybe I'll toss in some small prizes for activity or something.

Post by **Dray** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 10:52 am

DOUBLE POST TIME!

It looks like Xalia's RP board still exists, here: http://www.dragonbackdesign.com/chat.php

I'm going to be doing a small activity bonus game tomorrow: for every hour that folks are around when I do roll call, each person gets ten build grist (for which I'll eventually get a better name. XD) Build grist will be used predominantly in that Nexus Colonization game -- it's used to make physical changes to the environment: building a second level to a character's home, purchasing pets or livestock or farm-land, trading between characters and the native people. It can also be used out of character to trigger special events: spending smaller amounts of grist would trigger a small, random event that focuses a character of your choice (something like a writing prompt, or a roleplay prompt.) Spending larger amounts would give you control over the event -- so you could choose an event, and it might focus on more people. Build grist may also have heretofore unforseen uses in the game, as well.

If you're not interested in joining that game, I'd be willing to trade build-grist for little prizes like flits or character sketches, though they may not be redeemable until after November's over, since NaNo... yeah. X3

jess d · Post by **jess d** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 2:05 pm

Sounds like fun! I will try to pop in after work sometime; so probably after 7pm, central time XD

Post by **Dray** » Sun Oct 30, 2011 2:34 pm

Wooh! I'll be sure to lurk and say hello!

Post by **Dray** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 7:19 pm

I'm lurking now in the chat room, though Kat and I are taking turns working on our Nano-docs and watching halloween movies, so I may be quiet for a couple of hours here and there!

Grist Tally:
Jess D: 10

delyar · Post by **delyar** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:30 pm

Totally failed at showing up because my friend's birthday shindig went late and I have somehow acquired something similar to tonsilitis (not now, body, I have class and NaNo and social stuffs). Sorry about that!

Yakima · Post by **Yakima** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 10:21 pm

Hi! I started a novel...again. THough with comp this quarter not sure how well this will work. It's about Falas...going back in time to write the founding and everything now that I have a timeline and what not.

I also have a new laptop (mac...it's shinny...and it has OS X Lion...). And...I have a wacom tablet after all these years finally! Yay! (Drew a picture of my hobbit on it today...it looked funny.

I have NO idea how you guys managed those awesome dragons you did with these things...either that or I just need to practice more*

So yeah, I'm alive and trying NaNo this year as LotRO caused me to forget last year. Whoops. (not the hobbits fault...it was the elf's.) I also have Trillan on this thing which logs me into all my messengers so you yahoo people can see me again.

I think...heehee

Okay, going to turn this off and go to bed. I'll try to lurk in the chat room this weekend when i'm not nuking things on my rune-keeper in middle-earth.

*salutes*

Post by **StarFyre** » Thu Nov 10, 2011 5:19 pm

<.< I have been doing... not a lot at all, beyond the latchhook and trying to stay warm in this gorram sieve of an icebox that my parents call a home. Too. Fricking. Big for one person. Or even two.

Ah well. I doubt I'll manage to get anything significant done for Nano, but I am managing to do some lilbits of writing here and there, which is a step up from previous, so I'll take what I can get.

Post by **Dray** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 2:56 pm

Kat and I just hit 50K words yesterday! 8DDDDDDD

In celebration, we're taking a nano-weekend day off and chillin', maybe a little illin'. It's a bit sobering: I was expecting to get at least half of the planned chapters for this story done by now, but we're still in Chapter 1... about half-way through, no less.

:I I guess this is what the revising season is for.

As for being cold, ughhghghghg, I know how you feel. That was our house before we moved. (Now we have rooms that are individually monitored and can have different temperatures. >.> I am loving having the super-warm bedroom and the nice-cool everything else.)

What can I do to help encourage you to get s'more writing done? Nothing's worse than feeling behind on a schedule. ;.;

Post by **StarFyre** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:21 pm

Geezus, 50k already? Even if it's between two people, that's still pretty impressive.

The problem with the house is that it's a hundred years old (plus a decade or two) and has these absolutely huge windows that (at least in a few remaining rooms) are still the ancient glazed and bubbly glass and pendulum weights to hold the large inner window up when you open it. Leak like a sieve. ALSO, because of the way the house is constructed, my room is open on the north, east, and west, sharing only one wall with the rest of the house. While it makes for some spectacular views of sunrises and sunsets, there is very little that the insulation can do to keep the temperature stable some nights.

*counts* Mmmm... 10 rooms downstairs, and another... 6 upstairs, with a hall running the entire length of the building upstairs. Then the attached (small) greenhouse, another 6 (unfinished) basement rooms, and that's about the extent of the house. And a cistern in the basement, though without the gutters in working order, it hasn't really been filled much these past years.

As for what to do to encourage me... I have no idea. I try to write, and I just lose all interest and inspiration. I have half a dozen different starts scattered through the document I opened, but I can't seem to keep to anything.

Post by **Dray** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:30 pm

(We've been spending about four hours a day just writing. It's intense!)

Holy cow, that sounds like an absolutely huge house. O_O No wonder it's a bit drafty! (I'm currently living in a tiny three-bedroom town-house with five other people. It's a bit... cramped for my style. XD)

I guess in that case, setting a word-count goal for a particular story and just forcing yourself to reach it, maybe rewarding yourself for making it there, would be a good way to get things done? I know that inspiration can be awesome when it strikes... but it is unfortunately not very consistent.

Post by **StarFyre** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 7:35 pm

It really is a huge house. The square footage is absolutely astonishing, and except for the bathrooms and mudroom, there's no room smaller than 9x9ft in the entire place. Also, we have like.. 9-10ft tall ceilings. And you wonder where I get my grand visions of huuuuuge dragons and even grander rooms =P

I've tried that, though probably not as strictly as I should, but it's hard to focus when I keep getting frustrated. That frustration is why I'm so pleased that I've done anything, even if it's barely 3k words. Blrrrrr.

Post by **Dray** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:36 pm

Ha ha, no kidding. XD Mind if I come chill (har har) at your place for a while? That sounds like the amount of space that I would luxuriate in!

I think for Nano... at least in my experience, setting up a few plot points below where you're writing in your program helps a lot. Even if it sucks, you can just forge ahead and keep checking the word count. Setting a goal you know you can reach (finding out how many words an hour you tend to write, then deciding how many hours you want to spend helps!) can be a way to keep to your goals!

Post by **StarFyre** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 12:24 am

Hah! If you want to travel the god-only-knows-how-many-hours to get here =P Also, the house sits on like.. 15-20 acres of land. Something like that. Or maybe more, I've never paid attention to how big our fields are.

I've never thought about doing that. Though it'd probably help to have some idea of an overarching plot to begin with *snark* That's part of the problem, I just can't seem to find a plot. I've got worlds and worlds of ideas and people and cultures... and I keep coming up blank with plots. *shoots muse in the head with nerf gun, trying to get it to get off the worldbuilding kick and onto storyboarding*

Post by **Dray** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 1:38 am

Pfft, just clone a Reno.

Everyone could use one of those. :P

Post by **StarFyre** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 4:04 pm

o.o .... After spending a few hours reacquainting myself with the people of the Clan, as well as the backstory that I gave the two Renos... I might just write their story for kicks and giggles. After all, writing something is better than nothing, neh?

Post by **Dray** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 4:31 pm

And satisfying those unseemly urges to write for characters with a BAMF-streak can be a lot of fun.

>_> I'm pretty convinced that anybody who was reading the story I'm writing would want to punch the main character's head in within two pages of meeting him. Hopefully by the final edit, he'll be tolerable enough that people will be willing to read through his changes to being less of a complete prat. ^_^"

delyar · Post by **delyar** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:53 pm

I completely bellyflopped on my NaNo but I made a wiki of stuff I make up for it so I can reference back to it better.

I also managed to write some 2.5K words in the one sitting I did manage to get... before midterms and Skyrim got to me.

Post by **Dray** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 10:53 pm

Aww well, getting organized is a huge deal, so having that done is totally gratz-worthy. :)

I've been hearing a lot about Skyrim. XD Not you, too!

Post by **Dray** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 12:05 pm

Kat and I just made it last night at around 11PM. 100 000 words! 8D We were only just getting to the good stuff, unfortunately. I think that we're going to take a couple of days off and then keep going, since we want it to be a real thing and not just a NaNo certificate that says 'a winner is you in 2011!'

How'd everyone else pan out?

delyar · Post by **delyar** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 3:21 pm

100% flop. I'm not surprised, school and life and Skyrim happened.

Glad to hear you two hit that mark - that's intense!

Post by **Dray** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 3:58 pm

I was in a good place for it: no jorb and no social life really. >_> Better keep this writing up while that lasts!

jess d · Post by **jess d** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 9:49 pm

Kept writing, but not quite enough to make it XD Made a little over 15k, which was better than last year, but not quite my best yet (made 32k one year). But! I am having a lot of fun with the story, and fleshing out Malnev a little more in the process, so I plan to keep going, and getting it to 50k or higher by early next year

Post by **StarFyre** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 10:00 pm

I totally flopped, but that was rather expected, since I spent most of the month doing latchhook instead. Ah well.

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