What I've Learned From NaNo

astonwest

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Thought it would be good for those who've finished (or accepted defeat...those who are still in the chase should be writing and not reading these boards ;) ) to give some personalized "lessons learned" from their NaNo experience...

1. 50K words is hard work...it took me writing every day since Nov. 1, several hours per day, to hit the 1667/day mark. To be a writer of that speed would require me to give up on most things in life...

2. I'm much better at writing when I have my plot lined out. The last 10-15K of this novel was on-the-fly writing, and was vastly harder for me to do than the first part.

3. I definitely work much faster with my internal editor turned off. Whether this helps matters when I get into editing remains to be seen.

4. Tracking my progress is something I should be doing even more than I do (through my monthly and weekly goals). When I see where I am compared to where I need to be, word-wise, it drives me to work harder toward those goals.

Any one else care to share?
 

Clair Dickson

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I write better when I'm not trying to buy a house...

And I have a really hard time not thinking about changing things I've written. I like going back and reworking things much better than just pressing forwards.

That I'm an idiot. Oh, wait, I already knew that before November.
 

Fenika

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There are benefits to writing crap*

*as long as it's not crap intentionally, but crap b/c you aren't worried about the prose or w/e
 

Mad Queen

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I cannot write anything worth reading without an outline.

Oh, and NaNoWriMo is not a good time to learn touch typing with the Colemak keyboard layout.
 

Kitty Pryde

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Hmm, I'm in the Accepted My Defeat camp. Here goes:

I learned that I was so devoted to my half-finished novel that I couldn't abandon it for a whole month.

I learned that 50K isn't a very realistic goal for me right now! I did write 20K, much of which is decent. I found the whole experience pretty inspiring, despite my Fail, and I've set a goal of 30K for December.

And I learned not to get so engrossed while writing on the subway that I don't notice the Sheriff trying to talk to me (but that's another story for another thread!).
 

AnnieColleen

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2. I'm much better at writing when I have my plot lined out.
...
4. Tracking my progress is something I should be doing even more than I do (through my monthly and weekly goals). When I see where I am compared to where I need to be, word-wise, it drives me to work harder toward those goals.

Yes. These two things.

If I don't have a clear idea of where I'm going, procrastination kicks in big-time, and what I do manage to write gets wordy and meandering. I am so very definitely an outliner. Also a worldbuilder -- if I have too many "fill in the blank later" moments, I get stuck. I need to be able to, at minimum, just plug in something cool and justify it later.

And, "beat the spreadsheet" is a definite motivator for me. I had daily and cumulative goals laid out for the whole month, color-coded for performance, with notations for how far ahead of each day's cumulative goal my total was. Lots of little numbers to beat = much more fun than just one big number to reach.

And 3,333 is just a bit high as a regular daily goal, but easily doable for NaNo. (Though my mother might disagree ;) and my hands are starting to)

(Disclaimer, I haven't hit my final goal for the month (THE END), but I've hit the 50K and 100K goals, and more than my minimum for today, and the plot's on track to finish on time, so I'm posting here anyhow. :tongue)
 

Gogirl

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I need to know where the story is going when Nano-ing...
I need to not answer the phone...
I need to turn stay off the Internet...
Turkey day=Nano-death.
 

DamaNegra

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I learned that a vague outline helps me focus my writing... and keeps my plot from running out of steam. I learned that 2k words a day is nothing for me, I need to start setting higher goals for myself.

I learned that I might actually write something semi-decent.
 

Yeshanu

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I learned that if I write three to five hours, twice a week, I can turn out 50k words in a month.

I learned that I'm not really as blocked as I thought I was.

I learned that I have more than one book in me.

I learned that I can have fun and write at the same time.

I learned that writing for the amount of time I spent writing during NaNo doesn't take so much time that I have to give up anything I like or need to do -- I just have to cut down slightly on a few non-essentials, and I've got enough time.

I learned that a big motivator for me was companionship, and friendly competition. (Also known as word wars.)
 

Scribhneoir

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I learned that:

1. I write faster on my Neo than on my laptop. That little screen has its advantages.

2. When I'm tired and forcing myself to write just a paragraph for form's sake, that paragraph can turn into 2500 words and suddenly I'm not tired at all.

3. I love detailed outlines. (Okay, I didn't really learn that this time around, but I did confirm it yet again.)
 
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For me, NaNo didn't teach me anything new, it just confirmed my former beliefs about my way of writing.

And yep, that small Neo screen is a blessing.

Folks, try not to kill off your laptop just before NaNo; getting a new computer will distract you and make it difficult to move over to your Neo. Although, when I did, I got 5k done in one evening.

It's just...this new laptop is so shiny...
 

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I learned that the 50K words per month that I had formerly though "impossible" is actually possible, and I could have done more.

I learned that I can write just as good a story on the fly as I can "obsessing" about material.

I now feel that I can totally write (Rough draft, several re-writes, and final polish) a book in a year, instead of the 2-3 years I had been giving myself. This has given me the confidence to get the rest of my writing done, and actually try to start getting it published.

I learned that writing about certain things come naturally to me, and flow from my mind while writing other things throws a shoe in the works, and now feel that writer's block is really more about picking projects I am not interested in or can't handle, or simply don't want to do. So, if I have a story I really love, writing is easy.

Oh, I'm adding that I also learned that you can give yourself 3 hours a day and get the work done if you chunk it up. I did not need to write in the binge/purge way (5000 words one day, a day of rest, 3000 words and so on) , I could have shlepped along at 1,667 words per day and done the same job.
 
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Captain Howdy

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Great thread topic, I'm glad somebody thought of it! I learned that:

1. I REALLY need to make myself outline before I start writing a novel. Which is one reason why Twisted Oaks just slogs on slowly after two years. I had a fairly strong outline for the first act of my NaNo which was a breeze to write up to around 25K and after that I was only able to wing it and finish it because my only goal was word count by month end, not quality or cohesion.

2. I am more of a Character driven writer than a plot driven writer. I made up quite a few back stories on the fly and ended up with some very enjoyable people (even the bad guys) but the characters didn't always want to stick to the plot.

3. Once I ignore the phone and the email and set a timer, I can actually bang out 1,000-1,500 words in an hour...no fretting over word usage or sentence structer allowed, just get it out!

4. I tend to tap a lot of subliminal stuff if I start writing early in the day, before checking email, weather, showering, etc.

5. It's more fun to write when you have "friendly competition" and other writers egging you on. The NaNo forums were really quite a blast!
 

Saint Fool

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I write better when I have a goal to meet AND when there's someone watching me meet it so I'm going to have to find a way to do that.

1500 to 1700 words a day is doable. In December, I'm going to see if editing the previous days work AND meeting the current day's writing goal is doable. (My inner editor was throwing tantrums by Thaksgiving, let me tell you.)

Before Nano started, I created a spread sheet that gave me total word count, words left to go, % of daily goals met and graphs. I've always kept a word count journal, but for me, this worked much better.

Finally, writing comedy is hard work. (Which is why the book became far too serious in the last 10 days of NaNo.) I didn't realize how much time I spend on planning the set up and crafting the joke for the payoff. If I Nano next year, it's gonna be sturm and drang all the way, baby.
 

DisenchantedDoc

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Things I leaned during NaNo:

1. Competition is a great motivator. There were nights I went back to my laptop and added another thousand words just to keep up with some of my buddies.

2. I write best in my own little world: a spare room in the basement with my Zune blasting, far away from my hubby and my dog.

3. It's amazing what happens when you let your characters run amuck. I was worried about getting to 90K (still not there yet), so I turned them loose, and they proved to be quite entertaining.

4. The only reason I was able to write so much was because I was sitting at home all day, burning leave. If I had to work a full day and then write, I doubt I would have been able to finish.

5. And lastly, I blew off that fatigue and nausea I was feeling over the last few weeks as NaNo anxiety until I found out Monday I was about 8w pregnant, making me realize I've become totally disconnected from the real world during this month. Now if I can just get over the initial shock and write that last chapter...
 

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NaNo confirmed that I'm a sprinter, not a marathoner. I do best with short stories or essays instead of full-length novels but this was an excellent experience!
 

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~ I learned that NaNo is a great way to conquer procrastination and indecision (rather than obsessing, if I backed off the answers would come on their own).
~I learned that while I don't need an outline (just a premise, interesting characters and a strong conflict) it does help to have a vague idea of the ending (my beginning and middle were much stronger than my rushed ending).
~Ditto to what others have said about the Neo, I was much more productive on my Neo than my laptop or PC-that little screen is ingenius.
~Not learned but rather confirmed, that hubby is an unsupportive butthead (while I was validating my word count and trying to download my certificate he was yelling for me to take the baby even though he knew what I was doing and how important it was to me....sigh)
 
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rhgibson

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I do work best when I have an outline, but I have never been able to sit down and write a (literary fiction) novel--my ultimate goal--because I've never been able to come up with an outline. Before Nano, I was reading craft books, John Gardner's 'Art of Fiction' for one, that talk about the idea that a novel can start out with an interesting character or a theme and then it builds from there, that the characters, setting, and plot can grow together. So, I decided I'd try Nano without an outline.

It's been an amazing experience. I'm still not sure where the novel is going. I'm maybe about halfway there and it will need extensive rewrites, but I am certainly on my way. So that is great.

The main thing I learned is that I've been wasting far too much time and am capable of so much more. I set myself a goal of 2,000 words a day and really that was easy. I would like to continue (although not write on weekends) at about that pace or maybe 1500 a day of new work and then spend the rest of the day on edits and studying other novels for structure, etc., and reading craft books.

It makes me laugh now when I think that before Nano I spent a couple of months struggling through a short story that is less than 5,000 words. I'm still not finished it, and after Nano I intend to whip it off. I mean, really, 1,000 words? Ha! A piece of cake.

This site has been incredibly helpful. The word wars in particular have been very motivating. I hope we can continue!!!

(and congratulations DisenchantedDoc on your news)
rh
 

Yeshanu

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Things I leaned during NaNo:
5. And lastly, I blew off that fatigue and nausea I was feeling over the last few weeks as NaNo anxiety until I found out Monday I was about 8w pregnant, making me realize I've become totally disconnected from the real world during this month. Now if I can just get over the initial shock and write that last chapter...

:hooray:

Whee! What a thing to learn. :)

I'm really glad the Neo owners spoke up about their experiences. I was talking to one of my local WriMos, and he was saying that I should consider a bottom end laptop instead of a Neo, specifically because the Neo only has that small screen. But I could see where only being able to see the last two or three lines of text might help me write faster and better.
 

AnnieColleen

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I actually struggled with the small screen, because it threw off my mental word-count estimator. I kept thinking that if I'd written that many screens, I must have a lot more words -- and no. But, it is incredibly handy to take places -- I got 1400 words done when the power went out while we were waiting to see a play! -- it's better on my wrists, and it does make a nice change.

(And provides amusement as well, but you saw that. :) )
 

katiemac

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Neo derail--

The small screen intimidates me only because I don't want to ruin my eyesight any more than I already am. Is it at all difficult to read? Good to know it's helped people with their wrists, though, mine are in terrible shape.

/end derail


Will be back to post what I learned when I've beaten the word count.
 
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The Neo has a green LCD screen so it shouldn't cause headaches/migraines and the like. Also, you can adjust the font size.

I like the fact the screen is so small; it prevents me going back, editing, derailing myself. Of course I end up wth continuity errors, but as I use the Neo for first drafts only, it doesn't matter too much.
 

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1. I can overcome my tendency to procrastionation - it's all just a matter of focus and willpower.

2. It’s so much easier if you actually like the story you’re working on.

3. Gummi worms, while not a healthier snacking choice than chips or goldfish crackers, are a better choice because I tend to eat them slower and don’t eat as many in one sitting.

4. While I’m able to work on more than one WIP at a time, I make much better progress if I focus on one project until it’s done.

5. My mind does not work on a linear track.

6. I prefer to write the first draft in single space rather than double space.