NaNoWriMo, anyone?

Hey everyone, I was wondering if anyone else here is trying NaNoWriMo! For those who don't know what it is, it's National Novel Writer's Month, basically an event in which anyone who wants to take on the challenge tries to write fifty thousand words of a novel draft in a month. There's an official site for it and everything: nanowrimo.org. It's not a competition, and the reward for succeeding is an electronic certificate (gotten by copying and pasting the month's writing into a word counter, so it's honor based) and the sweet, sweet sense of accomplishment. And the joy of writing, of course.

This is my third year doing it, and I'm super excited, because I'm going in with my most brainstormed idea and characters yet. I finished the draft started during last year's NaNoWriMo about ten days before this one started; I had done 50,000 words during the month of November, but the story ended up needing another 80,000 to wrap up. First novel draft I've ever written through to completion, though not the first I've attempted; I'd gotten pretty far in on a couple of others (both of which were drafts for a single other plot idea, which I'm still quite fond of and hope to get back to in the future) in the past but always stopped because I believed key elements needed more planning and revision--I just wasn't satisfied with how they were turning out. This draft, this story, though... I was happy enough with it to finish it, and it was an awesome feeling! Anyway, now it's on to this year's NaNoWriMo and on to this new, shiny idea I've been brainstorming for and am super pumped to write about!   I'm currently at about 5,900 words, most of which was written in the first couple of days of NaNoWriMo; I'm still working on today's entry. Whee, I LOVE this event!

So, anyone else taking on the challenge as well? How's it going? Do you like to write while listening to music? Use any tricks to find inspiration? Did you do a lot of brainstorming in preparation, or are you just diving straight in and writing whatever comes to mind?

Best of luck to you! I've got a few writer friends who look forward to NaNoWriMo each year, and a lot of great work comes from that ~

However, I'm afraid I won't be participating-last month I participated in the October Game, a challenge to make a complete piece of artwork a day, every day for a month. Now that I know I have time for such a schedule, I want to push myself to work on other comic projects I'm excited about.

...Actually, I guess that means I'm working on making a graphic novel for NaNoWriMo-does that count?

Thank you! I really like those pieces you did for the October Game; I think my favorite's the story with the mice and the windows. It's adorable~

As for the graphic novel, hehe, well, you know what they say: a picture's worth a thousand words. Do you plan to have fifty or more pictures in your graphic novel?  

Cutekitty wrote:As for the graphic novel, hehe, well, you know what they say: a picture's worth a thousand words. Do you plan to have fifty or more pictures in your graphic novel?  

Ha! I like that. It's a top secret project, but it does have over fifty pages in it...
Okay then! My goal will be to complete as much of the novel as I can this month-at least fifty pages of it.

Ellen-Natalie wrote:

...Actually, I guess that means I'm working on making a graphic novel for NaNoWriMo-does that count?

I'd count it, I usually end up using Nanowrimo as justification for comic stuff too. How would that stuff correlate? I don't think word count would be very accurate at showing how much you've made for a graphic novel, considering it's a visual medium and all.

Good luck with it. I did it a few years ago. Almost reached the goal. It was a fun story, but writing to fit the month really forced the story.

Some day I'll rewrite it and put it up.

Thanks, hikaru. ^^ And I bet that story will be awesome when you rewrite it.

So. It's the last week. The final stretch. I'm holding steady at 39,900-ish words and have yet to write my entry for today, which I shall be doing shortly. In the next few days, however, I must get through:

-Three Japanese tests (...Yes. Three. In as many days. For one class. My sensei is testing different aspects--kanji, listening, and vocab/grammar)
-An organic chemistry exam
-A probability quiz
-A poetry recitation

...And I think I've got a cold. I feel slightly feverish and headache-y. Hopefully ibuprofen will kick in soon.

This is going to be interesting, to say the least. Well, if I do fall behind on my NaNo-ing, I can catch up when Thanksgiving break starts. I'll have tons of time then.

Oh, and Ms. Natalie, how's the graphic novel coming?  

I did meet my 50 page goal! But there's still a lot left to do-time to set another goal ^^ It'd be great if I could finish by next year~
Hope you feel better soon, Cutekitty-and best of luck to your tests!

And Hikaru, definitely share your stories sometime.

...Oops, I typo'd the wordcount. 38,900-ish, not 39,900-ish, is what I was at. *facepalm* Now I'm just a couple hundred over 40,000.

Anyway, thanks, Ms. Natalie, and congratulations on getting 50 pages of your graphic novel done!