NaNoWriMo is coming! Who's writing this year?

[Katika]

I didn't see a thread yet for this year, so thought I'd ask!  Who all at the Arena is participating in NaNoWriMo this year?

I totally am!  I'm a little bit daunted this year because I'm not completely sold on what it is that I'm supposed to be writing, but this will be my eighth year and it just feels wrong to not participate

I'm looking forward to hearing about everyone else's stories and progress and hope that we can all keep each other motivated through November!

[melodys_angel]

.........

Every year it creeps up on me, and every year im not ready.

I NEED to sit down and write my novels but I need organization first...and ive just been way too busy!

I don't know.  If I find a bit of time I might start.  Its really been bugging me to write these novels.

[Katika]

The first time I heard about NaNoWriMo was in December and I was super bummed because I had to wait a full year for it to come around again.  However, the next one coming up was the kick in the pants that I needed to finally finish the book I'd been working on for the previous four years (yikes!) and I've been able to push out a drafted manuscript of all of the other books that are in the same storyline each year ever since.  It is a fantastic way to get you to "force" out something you've been meaning to get around to.  Try not to worry about making it perfect the first go-around.  Editing is for the rest of the year

[Sora]

I am! I've participated for the past 2 years and I'd like to make it a yearly thing.

The thing is, I've got a choice for 3 stories this year - 2 are fanfics, one of which would continue a series I have.

The 3rd is completely original but - it's a serious story. And because of that, I'm having a terrible time trying to connect with any of the cast >>;

[kaoskat]

Have fun!

[HelloGoodbye]

I think I'll do it (or try, anyway, I'm really busy at the moment...).  I have this story that I have restarted multiple times, and I really think that it has potential, but I can't make any headway on it if I keep scrapping it and starting over whenever I feel stuck.  It's become a bad habit, really.  I think that this may give me the kick to actually keep going with it!!

[Corona]

I'm attempting the visual artist version, NaNoDraMo. 50 sketches/pieces in a month. I can't write at all other than articles on gaming.

[ringwraith10]

I might try, but I'm also participating in SciFi month in November, and I have other, more important writing to focus on, too... But I've been doing NaNoWriMo for 4 years (I won in 2010 and tried but was mostly horribly lazy about it every year after), so I may make a bit of an attempt.

[StoryDreamer]

Sadly, probably not, too much work writing to do. I might try to finish my ebook though!!

[Karma]

I'm thinking of it... either my sort of fairy tale book or what might become a podcast. I can't decide!

[Kitkumi]

I am going to try. I want to write, and with a new job that is no where near as stress inducing as my last one, I am hoping to really have the energy to do it.

[Eskara1862]

Me! Me! In fact, last night was my region's kick-off party. I had a blast meeting fellow writers and getting revved up for NaNo. Last year was the first year I did it and I won with 58K. I'm sure I can do it again this year!

My problem is, which story should I do? I've got three good options, but can't really decide which. Any ideas?

1) Truth Will be Told- Explores how far someone will go for love. Is it truly worth it to love someone so deeply that you loose who you are? I'm taking a white knight and slowly turning him into a crime boss,  all for a woman. This is last year's novel and really needs to be re-done. I changed their age halfway through and some major plot points, so the whole thing really needs a re-write.

2) Some Sort of Matter-  Two friends are separated by war when an alien race invades their homeworld. One is enslaved and forced to help produce war machines for the enemy while the other becomes the leader of a Resistance cell. Can the leader find his friend and bring down the enemy? I wrote the first chapter of this back in February and haven't touched it since. I really want to get it done because it's such a good idea and is really taking up too much space in my head. If I can get it written, then I can focus on other things.

3) Finish about four or five short stories that are half-way done. I know the purpose of NaNo is to write a comprehensive piece, but it would really help me to get those half finished pieces out of the way so they're not niggling at the back of my mind.

What is everyone else working on? Genre? Basic plot? Who's a plotter/architect and who's a pantser/gardener?

[Alexia]

I am not as prepared as I would like to be but I totally pantsed it last year and won so I guess it isn't a bad thing!

[Katika]

2) Some Sort of Matter-  Two friends are separated by war when an alien race invades their homeworld. One is enslaved and forced to help produce war machines for the enemy while the other becomes the leader of a Resistance cell. Can the leader find his friend and bring down the enemy? I wrote the first chapter of this back in February and haven't touched it since. I really want to get it done because it's such a good idea and is really taking up too much space in my head. If I can get it written, then I can focus on other things.

Personally, I would do this one.  I think you'd be better to rewrite/edit up last year's NaNo in a time when you can concentrate on making on the changes the way they need to be (as in not having a time constraint - plus it'll be much easier to determine your word count if you're not needing to sort through "old" and "new") and I have trouble keeping short stories short when word count is the goal.  But that's just me

I'm writing the fourth book in my series this year, which may end up being edited together with last year's NaNo when I finally work to the editing phases of this series.  I write fantasy, and this book is following my MMC, Mathias Sagewind, on his quest into the hells to try to save his pseudo-daughter/leader of the only force currently standing against the undead.  I used to try to outline everything I did carefully, and it worked for my first two NaNos... and then I started to get to know my characters too well, and they started getting comfortable enough to run away with the plot and I eventually gave up on actually directing them.  I know a handful of key events that have to be reached and where I need to end up, and then I sort of let them figure out for themselves how we get there

[ringwraith10]

Part of my problem is that 50,000 words is a little too short for me, and the one year I won I hit the word count and I was still around the mid-point of my novel. I guess I need to use a story idea that can be shorter and then outline it better so I know exactly how many pages each section of the story should take.

Considering I have to write about 100 pages for my thesis, though, I really need to be spending any writing time I have working on that. That's the one that's actually going to be published, anyway.