askerian: Serious Karkat in a red long-sleeved shirt (Neji_Dubious)
askerian ([personal profile] askerian) wrote2011-11-20 05:21 am

So, about NaNo...

-___-;; like every year, a quick start and then I stalled. The issue here is my beginning wasn't well defined, so I dragged things on and lost the rhythm for a bit, temporarily found it again, and then ran straight into "okay, this is taking a direction I was NOT aiming for", which is always an issue when you know exactly where you want your people to be in chapter four or five of the story but you don't have a clue how to get them there. I'm going to try to continue working on this version of the story's beginning, but even though there are moments I like in it, I don't think it's the right start for the story I wanted to tell, either. I definitely don't work well without a detailed plan.

(also i've been binging on sunhawk fics and any other long GW things I could get my hands on, which does not help any. XD;)

[identity profile] ellenel13.livejournal.com 2011-11-20 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
I have found, in my accomplished four months of fic writing, that killing off a character usually untangles the plot.

[identity profile] ellenel13.livejournal.com 2011-11-20 05:19 am (UTC)(link)
Write them out crappily so you can get to the point you want and then come back and fix them once you got your end goal?

[identity profile] the--ivorytower.livejournal.com 2011-11-20 05:35 am (UTC)(link)
I am an evil, lazy author and add in a [timeskip] tag to the next point I have a solid idea to write from. I'll go back and fill it in.

[identity profile] the--ivorytower.livejournal.com 2011-11-20 05:42 am (UTC)(link)
*patpat* I understand. I wrote the ending for one of my long fics before I got there and now I've decided to change it completely because I fell in love with a new idea.

[identity profile] lana-san.livejournal.com 2011-11-20 08:09 pm (UTC)(link)

You are indulging in Sunhawks' fics during NaNoWriMo? You're crazy! Not only do those things take longer to read than whole series of published books, but they are so well written and emotionally draining that you can barely pull yourself away to eat let alone write your own fiction! Brilliant yes, but all-consuming too.

[identity profile] editrixfox.livejournal.com 2011-11-21 05:10 am (UTC)(link)
I. Absolutely. Agree. Sunhawk should be winning a Pulitzer's for her fanfiction. And shame to you, 'Suka. You should know better. .... And now I am itching to read some more Sunhawk. ....It's a good thing I've got most of her long stuff saved to a word doc so I can read it whenever I want. Come to think of it, I don't think I have Rain saved yet. Hmm. Anyway. I know how it goes, I've got a similar problem. It's easy to figure out how you want a story to begin and end ... it's filling in in-between that can get complicated. So many different ways you can route the story to get to the same end. Good luck.
ext_725085: (hugs)

[identity profile] midget-arnold.livejournal.com 2011-11-21 12:34 am (UTC)(link)
Well. It could be worse.

My word count blows. DD: I have, however discovered something delicious. I reward myself with chocolate every thousand words. If you're not really into chocolate, you could substitute it for something else. Sometimes my will breaks and I awaken from a haze to find myself covered in chocolate wrappers and my computer shutdown from the cat napping on the keyboard.

But that's okay. Because the point of NaNo is to have fun. Writing is too, and that's kind of what I've been trying to relearn this month. If you work better with a detailed plan, take some time out and write one up. Maybe brainstorm one up with a buddy. Try to think of this as a way to get a first draft written, rather than a final perfect draft. :) If all else fails when you're done, you can use bits and pieces of the story to breathe life into a new Franken-story.

[identity profile] luvsanime02.livejournal.com 2011-11-21 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
*Joins you in reading some Sunhawk* I can never get enough of her fics, especially the Ion Arc ^__^

I know exactly what you mean. I didn't know where to go next in my story, like I wasn't sure of the plot at all, and I ended up writing some of the scenes that were supposed to happen near the end of the fic, except now I think they're happening somewhere in the middle, because an entirely new element got introduced when I was writing them, and while now I'm filling in how I'm getting from point B to point N, I still have to figure out the new plot beyond N, which was the previous Y or so -.-

On the other hand, while I keep having to push myself, and I need to write something in the next two hours and change (keeping with my 'at least 1,667 words a day' self-imposed limit), my current word count is 34,701 words. I think I want to get to 50k as fast as possible, just so I can edit the darn thing, lol.

[identity profile] nemi-chan.livejournal.com 2011-11-23 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
To help you write more:

writtenkitten.net/

[identity profile] sunhawk16.livejournal.com 2011-11-27 12:19 pm (UTC)(link)
*makes weekly dash through LJ*
*gobbles up ficbits*
*stumbles over mention of name*
...
...
*dies*
#O_O#