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National Novel Writing Month 2019: When in doubt, write Nanomachines!

PKthndr

PKthndr

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,579
WC: 2080

It took me a bit to get going, but once I hit my stride it felt really good. This new mechanical keyboard I got makes typing a dream. I'm pleased with what I've written, and I think it's a strong start to the month. I can tell I've improved since Camp Nano in April.
 
PKthndr

PKthndr

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,579
Slash Ess said:
WC: 1667

First time doing this

Y'all got any advice when you didn't plan and kinda hate what you have going so far?
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I'd say to just keep on going each day with the goal of making each writing session better and better. My rule I set for myself is that no matter what I must hit 1667 words at least each day. That way I eventually build up a buffer i can fall back on, or I finish ahead of time. Don't worry if you think it's bad. It's all good practice and you can always revise later.
 
Evilisk

Evilisk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,821
Slash Ess said:
WC: 1667

First time doing this

Y'all got any advice when you didn't plan and kinda hate what you have going so far?
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Like PKthndr said, don't worry if it's bad. Everyone's first draft sucks. Also don't delete, edit or rewrite anything.

If you need to, open a separate document and highlight sections you don't like. You can add comments like "I don't like this part, don't keep it in the edit" or "I like this part, maybe I can flesh it out" and make a lot of notes for yourself, but don't actually make any changes yet.
 
Man God

Man God

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,775
2689 as I get into the beginning of chapter 3.

My rule as far as editing goes is that if a spelling or grammar mistake is going to throw you off you better change it, otherwise only edit if something is going to add a ton of words/set you on a path to further story ideas.

I guess I have been using this original outline more than I thought I would. I decided to write the tale of:

THE TIME I DIED AND WAS REINCARNATED AS A LATE NIGHT ANIME BLOCK PROGRAM EXECUTIVE

instead of the more fleshed out idea that came to me a dream a few weeks ago because the positive response here got me thinking I could do this one as well. I've just

killed off the boring protagonist after he griped a lot and then had a boring explanation of his role in society. Now he's in an astral plane looking place that's as nondescript as he is.

It's real easy to write boring.
 
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Weiss

Weiss

Member
Oct 25, 2017
52,275
Alright, here we go with my epic subversive Cyberpunk parody that I'll wash out on again.
 
Ghostofst4rm4n

Ghostofst4rm4n

Member
May 21, 2018
165
Baltimore MD
WC: 2340

Got in a really good groove and worked through some ideas about my opening I was not happy with initially. I feel like I'm at a good stopping point. That and I'd like to watch some of the Giant Bomb extra life stream. Good luck and keep on writing ya'll that are close to your goal for the day.
 
plagiarize

plagiarize

Trifecta Secured. Let's get to work.
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
18,103
Cape Cod, MA
Waiting for my new noise cancelling headphones to finish updating so I can get started. Eurgh. Why did I hit update on these babies before I started writing? Why do they take nearly an hour to update?

This first chapter was supposed to be the easy bit.
 
Bing147

Bing147

Member
Jun 13, 2018
1,481
Started out well with about 2600 words but I can already feel that going in without an outline this year (I literally forgot about this until 2 days ago when it randomly popped into my head... this is my 3rd year doing this and I spent most of my summer working on another novel I wanted done before Nano but somehow I forgot...) is going to catch up to me hard at some point. I came up with an idea I liked literally last night (my idea until then was to try writing an idea I've been thinking through for the last 2 years but can't figure out what the conflict is... as if I was going to resolve that DURING Nano...) but have no clue where it's going. At least I haven't spent two years trying to solve this problem.
 
BDS

BDS

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,845
I have officially written my very first chapter! Current word count: 2751

If you guys would like to read the synopsis of my story...

Valeria Hawking never intended to start a war.

As a young archaeological student on the planet Newtonia, humanity's home in the centuries after climate change ravaged Earth, Valeria is content to study the ruins of a long-dead civilization and ignore the uncomfortable tensions of a society wracked by rampant income inequality and a tyrannical military dictatorship.

But after she uncovers an ancient artifact that could be the key to unlocking the powerful secrets of the precursors, Valeria is recruited by a resistance movement that is searching for a powerful weapon beneath Newtonia's surface -- one that could spark a full-scale civil war against the oppressive Republic. As she struggles with her new allegiances, Valeria meets new friends, tangles with dangerous rivals, and finds herself at odds with her own father, a high-ranking official in the president's cabinet.

To uncover the secrets of Newtonia's past, Valeria will have to wade into a conflict that will determine humanity's future among the stars -- and embrace her destiny as a part of something bigger than herself.
 
vainya

vainya

Member
Dec 28, 2017
358
New Jersey, USA
WC: ~1000 (I'm handwriting my story and I typed out 2 pages front and back to get the word count and multiplied by how many front and back pages)
I don't know what I'm doing, but I like it.
 
Kalentan

Kalentan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,867
WC: 2830

Not as much as my first day last year but I'm still happy. Things should progress much better now that I reached Chapter 1.
 
OP
OP
FlowersisBritish

FlowersisBritish

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,401
HOLY HECK!

I feel like I look away for a second and then BAM we've got so many people on the board with their first words!!!! Welcome aboard all you new comers and best of luck. And all you old timers..... well you know the speil already!
 
zulux21

zulux21

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,143
FlowersisBritish said:
HOLY HECK!

I feel like I look away for a second and then BAM we've got so many people on the board with their first words!!!! Welcome aboard all you new comers and best of luck. And all you old timers..... well you know the speil already!
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I guess WC 1992
I'm still not doing this most likely but until I fully give it up count me I guess.
 
Korigama

Korigama

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,002
WC: 568

I could've done better, but considering the fact that this is an editing project this year where I'm revising an old story from the beginning, I'm not feeling much of a sense of urgency at the moment. This is even with far more drastic changes to come as a result of downsizing the starting main cast and still having no idea what the main plot will be.
 
lostconst

lostconst

Member
Oct 27, 2017
583
wc: 1,399 (okay, I could have typed one more word, but hey). Not the best, but I'll catch up tomorrow. Still such an absurd story, but it's just fun/silly at this point.
 
Man God

Man God

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,775
WC: 3001. Finished Chapter three. I only have another five or so chapters in my outline and a vague Idea about the ending, but I can see this going about twenty more or less even chapters which would get me about the right word count.
 
Timu

Timu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,423
10455 words on day one
On Chapter 3
My novel is 25 Chapters in total
Yeah 50k words isn't enough for this...
 
OniLinkPlus

OniLinkPlus

Self-Requested Ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
600
WC: 1017

I've never written a story before but I've wanted to for a while. I'm not even remotely expecting to win, so I'm just going to have fun with it. Aiming for 30k instead of the full 50k.
 
plagiarize

plagiarize

Trifecta Secured. Let's get to work.
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
18,103
Cape Cod, MA
Don't beat yourself up for a weak start. Try to write something every day and don't worry too much about how much. It'll add up before you know it, and as you get into the swing you'll probably find those targets looking a lot more realistic!

I'm glad we're starting with a weekend, because I tend to get a good haul in on Saturday and Sunday, hopefully giving me a nice cushion for the inevitable days where life makes it almost impossible to find an hour or two to sit and bang away at the keyboard.

Embrace the fear of laying track in front of the train. No time to think. Just write.
 
Timu

Timu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,423
FlowersisBritish said:
Too bad you're on my list and I ain't checking it twice!




HOT FUCKING DAMN!!!!!!!
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I didn't expect that either. Funny enough some of the sections don't have much dialog in them and then you have entire sections with zero dialog at all.
Man God said:
Let's do the math here. Looks like 85-90k. Might put in a robust epilogue and get a double double.
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Yeah I designed the novel around 60k but ended up writing more since I needed the extra words to flesh things out so 80k+ is probably likely to finish the novel.
zulux21 said:
beat my two high scores from 2017 by a little over 400 words :P
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That's...just nuts.=p
 
Lowblood

Lowblood

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,629
Wasn't going to participate this year, but I was thinking about it on the drive home today and decided to go for it. Only hitting half the benchmark tonight but that's fine since I decided late and spent a lot of time sketching out characters and settings.

Gonna rework something I finished in a prior Nano but wasn't particularly satisfied with. Gonna take the characters from that and slap them into a different plot I had that lacked characters. Should work fine.
 
OP
OP
FlowersisBritish

FlowersisBritish

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,401
Slash Ess said:
WC: 1667

First time doing this

Y'all got any advice when you didn't plan and kinda hate what you have going so far?
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Click to shrink...
If you're not a fan of what you're writing than try and take it in a direction you'd like. When I run into the issue, I try and think, if I was reading this book, what would I think would be fun to have happen now.

OniLinkPlus said:
WC: 1017

I've never written a story before but I've wanted to for a while. I'm not even remotely expecting to win, so I'm just going to have fun with it. Aiming for 30k instead of the full 50k.
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That's the spirit! Winning is great but really NaNo is about getting you to write. Especially if you haven't written before but always wanted to. Don't worry too much about hitting that 50k and just try and write as much as you can.
 
Unicorn

Unicorn

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 29, 2017
6,282
Slash Ess said:
WC: 1667

First time doing this

Y'all got any advice when you didn't plan and kinda hate what you have going so far?
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Last year I took about 20 mins to VERY roughly outline 10 chapters. As in having 2-3 events/things in each chapter and then thought about plot to happen. I spent so little time I didn't feel guilty when by chapter 7 things were slightly different and chapter 10 was not even close to what I "planned."
 
W-00

W-00

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,792
WC: 1736

Not a bad first day for someone who still doesn't know what the hell they're writing.
zulux21 said:
just click until you find something that... well clicks :P
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This was actually useful, so thanks. It gave me an idea for a scene partway into my story, so that's where I started writing. It looks like I'm writing isekai trash, but I'm not sure which, exactly, of my isekai trash ideas I'm writing.
 
Jakenbakin

Jakenbakin

Member
Jun 17, 2018
5,253
1,624 words for day one. I kind of procrastinated until about 1am then just spent an hour and a half writing. I am going into this with nothing but the vague idea of a protagonist gimmick and generic Midwestern USA ish setting, and knowing that I wanted it to start in a car. I hope this goes well, I really want to be halfway decent at something right now in my life and this would make me feel so much better about myself as a person.
 
Plasticine

Plasticine

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,712
WC: 1528

Not a bad start. I've never written science fiction or fantasy before. Everything I've written is straight horror, so there is no "world building" perse. Right now it feels like I'm kind of flinging everything into the pot and hope it comes together. Here's a brief segment from the opening if you're so inclined to read:

He moved across the wasteland.

Everywhere the world was dead or dying. Twisted skeletons of steel stretched miserably towards the wasted sky. Mangled and burnt metal husks. Man made wonders broken, abandoned and forgotten. The wind howled like a wounded animal through the concrete frontier.

There was a storm coming.

The technicolor heavens soon would break open and baptize the blackened earth with toxic rain. He had maybe an hour to get back to the crawler. Fulber hoped that was long enough to find what he was looking for.

The old world was dead, but its treasures remained. Junkheads sifted through the ashes of yesterday and returned to Delta One with valuable salvage for today. Copper wire and scrap iron all had value through either legitimate channels or the black market. There was a fortune waiting, but you had to be willing to look. Nobody was more willing to look than him.

Five days out, he came across the battle wreckage.

Fulber had never risked anything longer than a three day journey before. There was plenty of salvage closer to Delta One, so there was no need to take the crawler that far out. But he wanted to score something special that would earn a massive payday. As the Nemesis Wing came into view, Fulber knew he had found what he was looking for.
 

Ivy Veritas

Member
Jan 5, 2019
123
WC: 2087

I needed to take a break from my Patreon project, so I started a new fantasy series, though this one will probably get assigned to a different pen name. Hopefully I can concentrate on my Patreon project for the next two or three days, so I can get my patrons their next chapter release.
 
Master Milk

Master Milk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,910
WC: 0

didn't even pretend that i wanted to open my laptop yesterday lol, i'll do something today though
 
Gibson

Gibson

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,379
I didn’t write anything today.

I’m not worried though. I have three days of zero plans before I fly to England, fully devoted to my writing!
 
Gibson

Gibson

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,379
Plasticine said:
WC: 1528

Not a bad start. I've never written science fiction or fantasy before. Everything I've written is straight horror, so there is no "world building" perse. Right now it feels like I'm kind of flinging everything into the pot and hope it comes together. Here's a brief segment from the opening if you're so inclined to read:

He moved across the wasteland.

Everywhere the world was dead or dying. Twisted skeletons of steel stretched miserably towards the wasted sky. Mangled and burnt metal husks. Man made wonders broken, abandoned and forgotten. The wind howled like a wounded animal through the concrete frontier.

There was a storm coming.

The technicolor heavens soon would break open and baptize the blackened earth with toxic rain. He had maybe an hour to get back to the crawler. Fulber hoped that was long enough to find what he was looking for.

The old world was dead, but its treasures remained. Junkheads sifted through the ashes of yesterday and returned to Delta One with valuable salvage for today. Copper wire and scrap iron all had value through either legitimate channels or the black market. There was a fortune waiting, but you had to be willing to look. Nobody was more willing to look than him.

Five days out, he came across the battle wreckage.

Fulber had never risked anything longer than a three day journey before. There was plenty of salvage closer to Delta One, so there was no need to take the crawler that far out. But he wanted to score something special that would earn a massive payday. As the Nemesis Wing came into view, Fulber knew he had found what he was looking for.
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I love this! Thanks for sharing!

Your real strength here is sentence length. A nice variety of long and short to keep the pacing nice and snappy. Would read more :3

Also if anyone else is up for sharing a snippet I’m perched to read.
 
Grudy

Grudy

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,934
WC: 3353

I'm just glad I made it to the benchmark. The fact that my Nano is my main novel project is making me write much slower than I expected. I have an outline and everything but its not helping that much.
 
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