The Official "Why I Didn't Finish my NANO" Thread.

I refused to compete. I can't take the freaking pressure of the Club 100 at this point! No way was I going for 50,000 words in a month. (Actually, I did them, just on a variety of different projects, but that's beside the point!)

Hang in there, B! I feel your pain.

Well, cut a hickory switch and meet me out back. I started off in a blitz and bombed out at 8,227 words on Celluloid Dreams, because I didn't have a clue of where the story was going after I nailed a good hook chapter. Had a great premise, but it fizzled after I talked it away with my roomates ad nauseum.

Starting a new project now--have all three acts and characters together and know precisely where it's going. This time mouth shut.

Celluloid Dreams--trunked.

Tri

My excuse? Life, the universe and everything!

I'm finally starting to pick up momentum but too late, too late. *sigh* The story of my life.

But I've really enjoyed the NaNo experience. I made a couple of new friends and it's given my writing a much needed boost. I'll be better prepared next year, hopefully with the sequel to this year's nano novel.

triceretops said:

Celluloid Dreams--trunked.

Tri

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You can't hook someone and then say you won't finish it! That's....that's....

Next year be like me and just don't start! My excuse:I already had a novel under way and I thought it would fizzle if I left it for a month. That and I don't think I could do 50k in a month.

I didn't finish NaNo because I didn't do NaNo.

Of course, that seems to be a theme of this thread, judging by some of the other posts here...

Because I didn't feel like it. I got about 20,000 words, which I will later use for something. Maybe cleaning up spills in the kitchen?

I couldn't do NaNo. There's just no way I can write that much in a month (I have a job and 2 smallish kids). Maybe things will be different next year and I'll give it a go. I did get a lot done on the beta draft of my wip, though. While it's still too short, it's almost ready to go out to the guinea p... I mean, betas, on Dec. 9 (scheduled beta date).

Ehrm, stuff got in the way? It was just bad timing for me. Better luck next time and all that jazz...

Ian D. Mecantie said:

I didn't finish NaNo because I didn't do NaNo.

Of course, that seems to be a theme of this thread, judging by some of the other posts here...

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Count me in on that one.

OK, so I only found out today what NaNo actually IS. I can try, but I don't think that I'm going to make it.

It's kind of a downer that it is at the end of the year. It reminds me of all the other things I didn't finish this year. I'm going to have my own NaNo in February, 2007, when the year is still new and full of potential.

i finished nano with one single .22 shot

aghast said:

i finished nano with one single .22 shot

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I thought I'd do it this year, and hauled my El Cheapo trusty laptop to the library after work for a few days to write. I got a few thousand words in of writing, went back and read it - vomit on the page.

I guess it's nice to realize how fast the average person is capable of writing - I just wish I could be that fast and any good.

NaNo wasn't the smartest thing to attempt when I haven't been committing to my writing at all lately.

50k a month is just ridiculous when I can barely commit to 500 words a day lately.

No one's fault but mine. I have to step up and be serious.

Michelle

You still have one day left, right?

Just couldn't place myself in a situation where I was puting words on the page just for quantity. Such is the pace of Nano that I would have been heaving ink with no thought of characters, plot or even clarity. I wanted to cruise along and I did for a while, at normal speed, but I had a dud book and had to start over again.

I mean, does anybody really take a Nano novel and extended it, and push past 50,000 to really make something out of it? I would admire such a skill to get a good solid draft out of a book written so quickly. I wonder how many Nano books hit the agents and editors in January. It's certainly a good exercise anyway--like spring training for the real game.

Tri

triceretops said:

I mean, does anybody really take a Nano novel and extended it, and push past 50,000 to really make something out of it? I would admire such a skill to get a good solid draft out of a book written so quickly. I wonder how many Nano books hit the agents and editors in January. It's certainly a good exercise anyway--like spring training for the real game.

Tri

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Tri,

If you check out the official NaNo website, there are a handful of people whose NaNo novels turned into a pro sale. Not many, but it has happened.

Every writer writes differently. Some people take a week to write 3000 great words. Some can write 1000 good words in an hour, and spend a few minutes at the end of the week making them great.

Serenity and I tried NaNo this month (with a much higher personal goal, since we are co-writing), and so far have produced 68k worth of good (in my opinion) work. It's a sequel to the first book we wrote together (which is now out with a beta), and it's just as good, if not better than, our first. I don't think of our efforts as "salvagable," because it isn't just words spewed onto a page. It's our novel.

We just write fast.

As Carson would say, "I did not know this." Of course it's wonderful that this can result in true sales. I certainly understand the motivation factor. I wish I could do that. Alas, I'm a bit slower. But congrats to those who go on to polish their work and make a sale from this. I'm truly envious.

Tri

Nano, and by relation, Club 100, have made me worry about how I'll do under a real deadline. I normally am incredibly prolific and can write at the drop of a hat. The mere idea of Nano sends me packing, and though I have, for the past 3 years, tried to 'write alongside' some of my friends who take the challenge, I have less written output in November than most other months.

Club 100 helped me get my queries (which I HATE to do) and submissions (this work hated only a little less) out at a pretty good clip. Why? Because part of my 'pledge' was that I was counting the words in query letters and submission cover letters. Pathetic? Sure. But I'll take what I can get.

Not that I have managed to make the 100 words for 100 days straight. I tend to do thousands of words with no issue...but it's the 'every day in a row' thing that gets to me. I normally DO write every day...unless 'someone' tells me to, and then I stop. (Ah, still a rebel after all these years.)

I am not writing to have a job, because I already have a career that I'm good at and enjoy. I'm writing because I WANT to and I'm trying for publication because I WANT to. The moment it turns into 'work', I start rebelling.

Nice that I know this. So far, it hasn't done much to give me impetus to write something creative under the current Nano/Club 100 regime. But, hey...I need 6 more submissions to meet my AW submissions goal, and, for some reason, THAT goal inspires, rather than stalls, me. Go figure.

My excuse: I was travelling abroad and erm.... broke all my fingers? Yeah, that works. I broke them all.

Walking in the woods can be dangerous if you're not awake, man. Lots of night animals with teeth and bacterial saliva. Not good.
Well, at leat you don't cook in your sleep like I do. I've almost burned the house down many a time. Luckily, I only sleep smoke now and occassionally decide that falling asleep on the stairs is a good idea.

Try Lunesta or something like it. It helps a lot. Also, I'd say write more. Perhaps you're head's buzzing around too much during the day and not settling at night.

I didn't write a single word of completely new fiction in November.

I had planned to, but I got an email from my contact at a major publisher saying that the senior editor would be looking at my submission in the new year and could I give it a quick polish and a final scan for typos.

So I spent November working on that novel instead.

Dave, you SLACKER!

Many congratulations! That's great news!