NaNoWriMo in the Playground 2015: Writers Unite [Archive]

Duck999

2015-10-23, 07:38 PM

NaNoWriMoitP: Writer's Unite
To keep each other from insanity

Like last year, we will once more have a thread, and National Novel Writing Month (http://nanowrimo.org) will return to the playground. For those who haven't heard of it but enjoy writing, I suggest a look at it. The goal is to write a 50,000 word story, or 50,000 words of a story in the month November. If that is too much for you, say you are busy with school or work, you can have a lower goal. The point is to write and be dedicated to it.

This thread is ideal for discussing story ideas, getting inspiration, or just having friends here to keep you sane while you write. Need help with key plot points, ask here! Need help with keeping up with writing and work, ask here! Go questions, ask here!

I will be participating this year, hoping to go on a 2 year streak of success. I have a few story ideas, though I'm not sure what I will use.

Alent

2015-10-24, 12:39 AM

I'll be trying again this year, as usual. Hope to succeed for the first time.

I'm planning on writing a "Stranded in another world" story with some vague inspirations from "stuck in my MMO" and "Stuck in an RPG" stories. I've been building my outline and naming characters so I don't hit a "I have to name this guy" snag, and been trying to blast through all my IRL high stress support work before November for a change.

This story caught my imagination during planning because I've been using it to deconstruct the usual Theorycrafting gamer personality by putting one in a world where every "low optimization" option has an actual cultural purpose that can't be abstracted into a simple MMO. The MMO that the main character knows is also an imperfect narrator, so while he'll be in a world he "knows" because it features in the MMO he plays, he's not in the MMO and it's only going to be detailed as the MMO's designer has personal knowledge, potentially causing him problems when he bets on things being the same and... some of them aren't! :smallamused:

Mercenary Pen

2015-10-25, 04:01 PM

Intending to participate- if I can actually get the words flowing (had some trouble with getting even bad words on paper earlier in the year)

Lentrax

2015-10-25, 04:36 PM

I am going to try, again. This time, though, I'm not in school, so no added stress there. Maybe I'll get there this year!

I have two goals:
1. An introduction to the world of Arret, the world my Arbiter's saga is centered around.
2. My super top secret Star Trek Strange New Worlds short story, focusing on my crew from STO, and their intersection with certain other plot elements from TNG-era.

Talanic

2015-10-27, 10:58 AM

Good luck guys! I won last year and it felt great, but I'm not prepared for this one and will probably not make the attempt.

Probably. Maybe. I don't know, I need to get over some stuff. I could do a (badly needed) rewrite and upgrade of last year's novel...

FinnLassie

2015-10-27, 11:53 AM

I'm strongly considering to participate this year, but I really have no clue what I'd write about. I've been mulling ideas in my head for a full year already, but... nothing's really clear. And I need to have some sort of a plan, so I won't brush it off immediately. And I know I'll likely not get to the 50k, but at least 10k would be awesome.

Kymme

2015-10-27, 02:00 PM

I'll be participating this year, for the first time! I'm confident I'll be able to it, but I'm probably going to slowly unwind over the course of November until I'm some kind of auto-writing wretch.

I'm going to try for a kind of "split-perspective" story where the narrative cycles through four different plotlines. Here's to hoping I can tie them all together by the 50k mark. :smallbiggrin:

Mercenary Pen

2015-10-27, 03:17 PM

Eldan

2015-10-28, 04:35 AM

Itt will probably end for me like it ends most years. I'll spend the first week or so utterly unable to come up with even the vaguest story outline. During the second week, I'll settle for just writing something in a D&D setting, because at least that's the environment taken care off. Then I won't be able to think of any characters or locations. In the end, I'll end with 300-500 words.

It's depressing, really. That's how it went the last three or four times.

asdflove

2015-10-28, 07:40 PM

Well I'm going into this years NaNoWriMo with more confidence than ever since I wrote... 76,302 words this month. If I can do that in less than all of October I can easily manage 50,000 in November! :smallbiggrin:

Grinner

2015-10-28, 08:01 PM

I have a few ideas I've been putting together...1,666 words per day seems like a lot...If I can set aside time, I might make an attempt. I certainly don't plan to succeed, but I'll try.

Itt will probably end for me like it ends most years. I'll spend the first week or so utterly unable to come up with even the vaguest story outline. During the second week, I'll settle for just writing something in a D&D setting, because at least that's the environment taken care off. Then I won't be able to think of any characters or locations. In the end, I'll end with 300-500 words.

It's depressing, really. That's how it went the last three or four times.

Hey. It's cool. Writing is hard and, ultimately, a futile gesture. What's important is that you try.

Also, may I make a recommendation? If you're stuck for ideas, swing on by seventhsanctum.com. The website hosts many different random generators for things like names, locations, and plot ideas.

Well I'm going into this years NaNoWriMo with more confidence than ever since I wrote... 76,302 words this month. If I can do that in less than all of October I can easily manage 50,000 in November! :smallbiggrin:

Are you a machine?!?

That's impressive.

asdflove

2015-10-28, 08:41 PM

Are you a machine?!?

That's impressive.
... I know it is! I STILL DON'T BELIEVE I MANAGED TO DO THAT. :smallbiggrin: But I was just writing at least one chapter every day, and most of them were like... 3000 or so words long. So, yeah. But of course the first time I've ever succeeded in writing THAT MUCH THAT FAST is was for a fanfiction... :smallsigh:

Lethologica

2015-10-28, 09:46 PM

I don't know if I'm going to do NaNoWriMo per se, but I want to do something for it.

That said, I do know I'll go nuts if the apostrophe in the title is there for the whole month. :smallredface:

Duck999

2015-10-29, 05:17 AM

I don't know if I'm going to do NaNoWriMo per se, but I want to do something for it.

That said, I do know I'll go nuts if the apostrophe in the title is there for the whole month. :smallredface:

I don't know what you are talking about... or how that got there.

@asdflove:
That's a lot of writing. I had trouble keeping up with 50K. How much free time did you have between all the writing (though I assume you considered your writing time free time)?

@Everyone who doesn't think they can do this:
You have to go into it with a positive attitude. If you don't believe in yourself, you won't do as well.

asdflove

2015-10-29, 09:20 AM

@asdflove:
That's a lot of writing. I had trouble keeping up with 50K. How much free time did you have between all the writing (though I assume you considered your writing time free time)?
... Most of my time is free time. I'm a recent graduate of High School who is taking a break before college and has yet to find a job. But, eh. I never felt like I didn't have free time. But again, most of my time is free time.

Duck999

2015-10-29, 05:24 PM

... Most of my time is free time. I'm a recent graduate of High School who is taking a break before college and has yet to find a job. But, eh. I never felt like I didn't have free time. But again, most of my time is free time.

I'm still held up by school. Taking more difficult classes than last year too. I will hopefully be fine.

Some of my story ideas:
-A world in which everything about you is determined by an ID card. If it is stolen, you are nobody. The plot would revolve around someone or someones that steal(s) ID cards, and can get access anywhere with the right card.
-A world where discoveries of the 17th and 18th centuries are suddenly disproved. The world is thrown into chaos being the center of the universe, witches existing, etc.
-Many other dystopias are in my head.

Talanic

2015-10-29, 11:55 PM

-A world in which everything about you is determined by an ID card. If it is stolen, you are nobody. The plot would revolve around someone or someones that steal(s) ID cards, and can get access anywhere with the right card.
-A world where discoveries of the 17th and 18th centuries are suddenly disproved. The world is thrown into chaos being the center of the universe, witches existing, etc.
-Many other dystopias are in my head.

The first one seems a bit absurd from just the snippet there - unless there's boatloads more safeguards in place than just 'don't drop this card', I can't see why anyone would ever choose to live in a place that ran by those rules. And if those cards only apply to the lower classes, then stealing cards wouldn't actually grant anyone an advantage. If it did apply to all classes of society then it's on par with having a flashing red "SELF DESTRUCT" button, labeled and placed on the OUTSIDE of your unstoppable war machine, begging to get pushed.

Relax the dystopian elements slightly (making ID retrievable, if difficult) and I'd be more intrigued by counterfeiters than thieves - people who make cards that are entirely bogus, or extend the records of a dead child to adulthood for use by someone else. What would it take to invent a life to the point that it could fool the system?

The second one is nifty as well, and the questions it raises are more in line with what I'd like to see in a story.

Duck999

2015-10-30, 05:20 AM

The first one seems a bit absurd from just the snippet there - unless there's boatloads more safeguards in place than just 'don't drop this card', I can't see why anyone would ever choose to live in a place that ran by those rules. And if those cards only apply to the lower classes, then stealing cards wouldn't actually grant anyone an advantage. If it did apply to all classes of society then it's on par with having a flashing red "SELF DESTRUCT" button, labeled and placed on the OUTSIDE of your unstoppable war machine, begging to get pushed.

Relax the dystopian elements slightly (making ID retrievable, if difficult) and I'd be more intrigued by counterfeiters than thieves - people who make cards that are entirely bogus, or extend the records of a dead child to adulthood for use by someone else. What would it take to invent a life to the point that it could fool the system?
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/phineasandferb/images/0/08/DoofenshmirtzPnFArt.png/revision/latest?cb=20130525031211
But in seriousness, there would definitely be some sort of larger security measure around the cards. Like when you swipe it somewhere it also takes a fingerprint or eye scan or something.

The second one is nifty as well, and the questions it raises are more in line with what I'd like to see in a story.
Some parts of that would be easier to write than others. Witches suddenly exist? Sure. The earth is the center of the universe? Not sure how that would happen with nobody noticing. I could make it so the universe basically reloads. And suddenly gravity is different, planets are made of light, and the earth is the center of the universe.

Also, another idea I've had for a while:
A world where only a select few can lie. The biggest problem with that is getting past the logistics of people only speaking the truth. Does that include telling stories? Can someone say they will do something and then have circumstance stop them from doing it? To what extent must people speak the truth and only the truth.

asdflove

2015-10-30, 08:53 AM

I'm still held up by school. Taking more difficult classes than last year too. I will hopefully be fine.
Well, I wish you luck! :smallsmile:

Some of my story ideas:
-A world in which everything about you is determined by an ID card. If it is stolen, you are nobody. The plot would revolve around someone or someones that steal(s) ID cards, and can get access anywhere with the right card.
-A world where discoveries of the 17th and 18th centuries are suddenly disproved. The world is thrown into chaos being the center of the universe, witches existing, etc.
-Many other dystopias are in my head.
Both of those sound interesting, though the ID card one is in need of a little work to make it make sense.

My story that I'm doing for this NaNo is a dark fantasy based on Alice in Wonderland in which teenaged royal sibling from Wonderland- who were forced to flee when they we children by a hostile takeover of their kingdom- suddenly have their lives pretending to be humans shattered, as their past in Wonderland catches up with them, and it drags some of their human friends with them.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/phineasandferb/images/0/08/DoofenshmirtzPnFArt.png/revision/latest?cb=20130525031211
But in seriousness, there would definitely be some sort of larger security measure around the cards. Like when you swipe it somewhere it also takes a fingerprint or eye scan or something.
Which solves some issues, but makes stealing them a lot less useful for your premise.

[SPOILER]
Also, another idea I've had for a while:
A world where only a select few can lie. The biggest problem with that is getting past the logistics of people only speaking the truth. Does that include telling stories? Can someone say they will do something and then have circumstance stop them from doing it? To what extent must people speak the truth and only the truth.
That's actually really cool! Would forgetting a promise you made count as a lie? Would having misunderstood something and repeating the misunderstanding? Etc. Interesting to think about.

It also reminds of an idea I heard once. I don't know if my brother came up with it, or if it came from reddit, but I thought it was interesting. An alien species who has no concept of fiction looking over broadcasts they're picking up from the very distant Earth and trying to put together a cohesive timeline for us, and slowly realizing that humans just... make things up.

Duck999

2015-10-30, 01:30 PM

That's actually really cool! Would forgetting a promise you made count as a lie? Would having misunderstood something and repeating the misunderstanding? Etc. Interesting to think about.
The first question there is one of the major things I would need to figure out. If nobody can physically lie, can promises not be made, since they may not be uphold-able? The misunderstanding thing is another one of the things I've considered. Would you be able to learn if something is true simply by trying to say "1 plus 1 equals 3" and no sound coming out? Maybe their minds just never think of anything false. What if they believe something is true when it isn't? These are what have kept me from using this story. I can't figure all this out. Maybe NaNoWriMo will force me too.

Also, in this world, the main character is someone who inherited the ability to lie from his/her father, and his/her mother does not know about it. If this person lied to someone else, would they be able to repeat the lie, thinking it was false? What if the main character walked up to someone and said "I am a frog?" What kinds of issues would this cause? Maybe there would have to be some restriction from him saying things that are not true and cannot be believed to be true.

It also reminds of an idea I heard once. I don't know if my brother came up with it, or if it came from reddit, but I thought it was interesting. An alien species who has no concept of fiction looking over broadcasts they're picking up from the very distant Earth and trying to put together a cohesive timeline for us, and slowly realizing that humans just... make things up.
That sounds very humerus.
http://preview.turbosquid.com/Preview/2014/05/19__15_04_31/1SigImage.jpgbb0adc04-396f-4908-8592-8a431832408eLarge.jpg

Lethologica

2015-10-30, 03:59 PM

Making a commitment you later find out you'll be unable to keep is not a lie. But overstating the strength of that commitment would be.

One straightforward implementation of the 'no-lie' system is having no filter between thought and speech. If you think Barbara looks fat, you say so. If you'd rather make something up than answer the question, you say so. It's possible to say things that aren't true, but because you've said they aren't true, the total statement is still true.

A related but stricter implementation is simply having no concept of falsehood or omission. You don't know what it would mean to make something up or hold something back. This is the setting premise of The Invention of Lying, for example.

Alternately, speaking falsehood could be an absolute cultural taboo. Then you get people who learn to dance around each other with delicate phrasings of the truth or truths left half-spoken, without ever actually saying something false. This society could turn out to be just as deceptive as the real world. And having an excellent memory is priceless in this society.

The strictest implementation is, as you say, that no one could even unknowingly speak a falsehood, such that you could gain information about reality simply by trying to put that information into words. This is too constraining for anything but a short story concept, IMO. However, a slight alteration can fix this: make it so that no one can speak a falsehood about things that have already happened, leaving the future uncertain. Then place the characters in a situation where information updates rapidly--what you learn today might not be true tomorrow. Especially interesting once you start asking about people's intentions, since they can change their intentions with new information, e.g. by asking about your intentions, and so on.

Aedilred

2015-10-30, 05:21 PM

It also reminds of an idea I heard once. I don't know if my brother came up with it, or if it came from reddit, but I thought it was interesting. An alien species who has no concept of fiction looking over broadcasts they're picking up from the very distant Earth and trying to put together a cohesive timeline for us, and slowly realizing that humans just... make things up.

Have you seen the movie Galaxy Quest? Your idea sounds a bit like that.

asdflove

2015-10-30, 06:43 PM

Have you seen the movie Galaxy Quest? Your idea sounds a bit like that.

It's not my idea. I heard it from my brother, but no I've never even heard of it.

Duck999

2015-10-31, 05:42 AM

Gah! I'm not ready! I haven't picked a story yet. I think I'm just going to go with the lying one.

However, I have the hardest part I still need to figure out:
|NAMES!:smalleek:

Grinner

2015-10-31, 07:09 AM

Gah! I'm not ready! I haven't picked a story yet. I think I'm just going to go with the lying one.

However, I have the hardest part I still need to figure out:
|NAMES!:smalleek:

The way I see it, you've got four options:

You can pick names in some way symbolic of the characters. (i.e. Luke Skywalker)
You can pick random appropriate names. (i.e. Tasha Davis)
You can pick random inappropriate names. (i.e. Giggles McGee)
Or you can do all of the above.

Duck999

2015-10-31, 07:53 AM

The way I see it, you've got four options:

You can pick names in some way symbolic of the characters. (i.e. Luke Skywalker)
You can pick random appropriate names. (i.e. Tasha Davis)
You can pick random inappropriate names. (i.e. Giggles McGee)
Or you can do all of the above.

All of the above sounds good. With character names in video games and such, I enjoy throwing things into Latin through google translate. However, those don't always sound good, so I may need to throw something at random naming.

Coda

2015-10-31, 06:04 PM

I've tried to do NaNoWriMo in the past, and I hope to make another attempt this year, but it seems like every time November rolls around I don't have a good idea for a story. :smalltongue:

Lentrax

2015-11-01, 12:20 AM

Well, as it's now technically 1 November.... Good luck everyone!

Alent

2015-11-01, 01:00 AM

Gah! I'm not ready! I haven't picked a story yet. I think I'm just going to go with the lying one.

However, I have the hardest part I still need to figure out:
|NAMES!:smalleek:

There's a reason I started naming characters a month in advance! :smalltongue:

Kidding aside, We're off! Good luck, everyone! :smallbiggrin:

Duck999

2015-11-01, 08:31 AM

I've tried to do NaNoWriMo in the past, and I hope to make another attempt this year, but it seems like every time November rolls around I don't have a good idea for a story. :smalltongue:

And I haven't decided my story yet! This is going to be an adventure for the both of us!:smalltongue:

Edit:
Has anyone gone to write-ins? What exactly happens at them? I need to decide if it is worth the drive there.

Mauve Shirt

2015-11-01, 04:34 PM

GAAAAAAAAAAAAH WHAT AM I DOING
Oh do we post these here?
http://nanowrimo.org/widget/LiveSupporter/mauve-shirt.png

Write-ins run by Nanowrimo tend to be conversations about your stories over snacks, followed by a few hours of silence except for the clicking of keys and frustrated sighs.
I host some of these but they're more boozy than Nano's, and have no Nanowrimo swag.

Lentrax

2015-11-01, 05:33 PM

One day in, and I am...

*checks word count*

500 words in.

*facepalms*

This is gonna be a great year....

Duck999

2015-11-01, 05:37 PM

One day in and I am..
0 words in.

I had a lot of stuff to do for school today, so I still haven't decided which story I'm using. On the bright side, I've earned myself two personal achievement badges for this.

Where do I get the little sig word count thing?

Mauve Shirt

2015-11-01, 06:50 PM

Where do I get the little sig word count thing?

If you have an account on nanowrimo.org, just go to http://nanowrimo.org/widgets

asdflove

2015-11-01, 07:11 PM

I went to a kick off party last night, which was fun and I wrote almost 3000 words. Which was REALLY nice.

Duck999

2015-11-01, 07:48 PM

Mercenary Pen

2015-11-02, 07:37 AM

I'm very proud of myself for living up to my expectations.
PROCRASTINATION!

I may have a story idea to use. It will definitely involve some sort of training or nation of assassins. The name I came up with pains me.
Assassin Nation
Though I'm guessing it has been done many times before.

Could be worse, you could be writing about a polearm instructor named Hal Bird...

In the interests of maintaining my self-appointed title as master of procrastination, I'm just going to leave this (https://soundcloud.com/debsanderrol/writers-block) here.

Grinner

2015-11-02, 08:31 AM

One day in, and I am...

*checks word count*

500 words in.

*facepalms*

This is gonna be a great year....

Hey, don't worry about it. Even if you don't finish by the month's end, just do that 99 more times, and you'll have written a novel.

Closet_Skeleton

2015-11-02, 11:05 AM

Managed 444 words yesterday. Then I got too sleepy.

Was going to go for a neolithic fantasy novel. Roger Zelazni's Lord of Light meets Jean M. Auel with as little of Stargate/Zecharia Sitchin as possible.

+ Inevitables, because I have to bring in inappropriate D&D elements somehow.

Duck999

2015-11-02, 04:06 PM

Could be worse, you could be writing about a polearm instructor named Hal Bird...

In the interests of maintaining my self-appointed title as master of procrastination, I'm just going to leave this (https://soundcloud.com/debsanderrol/writers-block) here.

Master you say. Look at your word count, then look at mine. Though I finally know where my story is going... kind of. I have the ending, the main character idea, and where the story is taking place. I wrote the beginning without knowing what the main character was doing.

Mercenary Pen

2015-11-02, 08:07 PM

Master you say. Look at your word count, then look at mine. Though I finally know where my story is going... kind of. I have the ending, the main character idea, and where the story is taking place. I wrote the beginning without knowing what the main character was doing.

Yup, master... I procrastinate, and I still get the words :smallamused:

Talanic

2015-11-03, 01:17 AM

I skipped day 1 due to various circumstances. Day 2 sees me at 1600 words in, so I'm only a day behind. Not ideal, but as I'm doing a complete rewrite / overhaul, I know the major beats of what I'm writing already.

Alent

2015-11-03, 04:16 AM

I only made it up to 900ish words on first day, but second day was a total loss, one of the homes I did some computer work in today had a Scented candle in it. Passed out for a good 5 hours when I got home and spent the rest of the night trying to catch up on everything. :smallsigh:

On the upside, my outline is getting stronger and stronger, and tomorrow should be a short workday, so I have plenty of chance to catch up.

Edit: I decided to stay up way later than I should and got up to 1400 words, so... there's that.

Duck999

2015-11-03, 05:19 PM

Updates from Duck's procrastination:
I finally decided if a certain character would be a main character or "love" interest. I put love in quotes because some amount of my story is about the main character's lack of feelings. Though I'm not sure how consistent Iw ill be in that lack.

FinnLassie

2015-11-03, 05:26 PM

Welp, another year with a failure to start within the first few days of the month. I think I'll focus on just building a background for my story this November, and maybe work on it for the year... and start clean up/ continue writing next NaNoWriMo.

Durkoala

2015-11-03, 06:46 PM

Hi, I wanted to take part in this year's NaNo, but like Duck999, I can't decide on what I should do. I've got several story ideas, but I don't know which one to do.

These are some ideas I've had that I'm fairly confident I can make something out of if I can start writing them:

* A superhero in the post-apocalypse
* A clown fighting vampires
* Twilight fanfiction, as a hannibal lecter take on the story.
* Twilight fanfiction, where in the distant future, a group assembles to kill Bella.
* A girl discovers her horse is a lovecraftian creature that wants her help.

All of these have some fleshing out beyond what's written here, which I'll post if anybody's interested, but these are the basic ideas.

Duck999

2015-11-03, 08:23 PM

At this point, you have to decide quickly if you don't want a lot of stressful writing time later on.

Some criteria for the story you choose:
- It has to be going somewhere
- This somewhere cannot be too direct, or it won't be 50K words
- You have to be able to make the story work it's way to the ending slowly without dragging things out way to much (ex: Main character has fights with many people in a row to achieve one objective)
- Most importantly: Make sure you are interested in it, or it won't be worth the time

Alent

2015-11-03, 09:35 PM

Durkoala: I think the Girl and a Lovecraftian Horse idea has some merit. Post Apoc Superheroes have been done to death, Clowns vs Vampires seems more like it belongs in a comic, graphic novel, or movie format rather than a book. You only listed three options, right? I only see three options. :elan:

Welp, another year with a failure to start within the first few days of the month. I think I'll focus on just building a background for my story this November, and maybe work on it for the year... and start clean up/ continue writing next NaNoWriMo.

If you really want to fit in the event timeline, there's always Camp NaNoWriMo in April and July, which is basically the same thing with a "pick your own target" rule instead of 50,000 words.

If you just want to participate but got delayed, there's nothing wrong with just shifting your days. Start on Nov 15th? End on Dec 15th. The challenge is "Write it in 30 days for yourself", not "Write it during the 30 days we host the event."

Here goes catchup day attempt for me. Here's hoping it ends up being easy to recover missing time when writing about MMO players being trolls in a BG. :smallbiggrin:

Duck999

2015-11-03, 09:50 PM

With writing very little over the first day, my goal now is to stay at minimum one day behind. I'm close to that, but to tired to match it completely today. My goal is to catch up (and try to get ahead) when I have a smaller amount of other things I need to do.

Closet_Skeleton

2015-11-04, 07:43 AM

Convenience: Being able to write a space-opera flashback when one has temporally run out of ideas about how to describe neolithic farming.

Durkoala

2015-11-04, 06:55 PM

Mercenary Pen

2015-11-04, 08:03 PM

They have? I actually had to google for examples other than my inspiration and even then I only found Age of Apocalypse, Old man Logan and Thundarr the Barbarian, only two of which I was even vaguely recognised.

I believe that Ex-Heroes and subsequent books by Peter Clines may also fit that category (going by the blurb on the back, not read them yet)

Alent

2015-11-04, 08:34 PM

They have? I actually had to google for examples other than my inspiration and even then I only found Age of Apocalypse, Old man Logan and Thundarr the Barbarian, only two of which I was even vaguely recognised.

Thundarr! I fondly remember watching that show. (But I don't remember anything about the show itself other than the moon cracked in half? :mitd: )

As far as examples go... the X-men have an entire post apocalypse setting that they keep revisiting and spinning off alternate timelines of. I haven't looked at that series outside of the bad 90's cartoon of it, but Cable and Bishop's entire gimmick was their home time being post apocalypse dystopia, and it kept showing up in it quite often. There's others. "Marvel Zombies", Judge Dredd, Elseworlds, etc.

Most superheroes get post apocalypse oneshots. Superman had one called Superman: at Earth's End. If you include Superheroes in Dystopias that visibly indicate an apocalypse of some sort happened without explicitly stating such, the list grows exponentially.

That's not to say there's anything wrong with your inspiration, just that including the words "post apocalypse" in it means it has to work hard to stand out if you decide to do anything with it after NaNo. If you're just writing for fun, write whatever's fun. :smallcool:

I hope the anti-twilight joke came across as intended. :smallwink:

Duck999

2015-11-06, 08:04 PM

I never much believed in listening to music helping my writing, but i found a wonderful song. I was watching the Bob Ross Twitch stream when it ended (yes, I was using good writing time, but it was not a waste). At the end, a great song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLO7tCdBVrA) came on. While it's about painting, most of it applies to writing, and it is a great song. Just in case anyone is in need of some good writing music.

On another note, I may have time to write and catch up tomorrow. Though I still have something else to do this weekend...

Alent

2015-11-07, 05:20 AM

Duck999

2015-11-07, 09:03 AM

Bob Ross Autotune FTW! I love that song. :smallbiggrin: One of my grandmothers liked to watch his painting every single day, never missed it. Watching his show always makes me a little nostalgic for that era.

I'm making progress on getting caught up. Closing out the 6th at 7379. Feeling like my lack of sleep is creeping into my work, I keep having to rewrite sections because the energy is just missing or I somehow completely fail to write what i'm thinking.

Twitch had 170K people watching Bob Ross, more than people watching the Hearthstone World Championship at the time.

You seem about where I am in terms of writing. Today I'm hoping to catch up by doing two (or more) days of writing. It's just a happy accident that this is double up day.

Durkoala

2015-11-07, 04:47 PM

Thundarr! I fondly remember watching that show. (But I don't remember anything about the show itself other than the moon cracked in half? :mitd: )

As far as examples go... the X-men have an entire post apocalypse setting that they keep revisiting and spinning off alternate timelines of. I haven't looked at that series outside of the bad 90's cartoon of it, but Cable and Bishop's entire gimmick was their home time being post apocalypse dystopia, and it kept showing up in it quite often. There's others. "Marvel Zombies", Judge Dredd, Elseworlds, etc.

Most superheroes get post apocalypse oneshots. Superman had one called Superman: at Earth's End. If you include Superheroes in Dystopias that visibly indicate an apocalypse of some sort happened without explicitly stating such, the list grows exponentially.

That's not to say there's anything wrong with your inspiration, just that including the words "post apocalypse" in it means it has to work hard to stand out if you decide to do anything with it after NaNo. If you're just writing for fun, write whatever's fun. :smallcool:

I hope the anti-twilight joke came across as intended. :smallwink:

I haven't seen Thundarr myself, so I'm even more in the dark than you are.

Thanks for the examples, I didn't know that it was such a popular genrette. The idea of what a superhero's duties after the fall of civilisation are and how a symbol of hope is supposed to act when the situation calls for the preservation of resources and looking out for yourself over others seemed like interesting ideas to work with, but on reflection I probably will try for My Lovecraftian Pony after all as I'm finding it easiest to think up ideas and scenes for that.

Oh, I got the anti-twilight joke. The reason I put those forward is as a parody of the authors of twillight and 50 shades essentially publishing fanfiction of their own books.:smallwink: I might have tried to do one of them, but then I realised that I would have to actually read twillight...

russdm

2015-11-07, 09:06 PM

I have a few story ideas bouncing around. Sadly, I keep struggling in getting them down, and I am mainly writing them simply because they are stories I want to read. I also don't know how much others would enjoy them either, so it feels a little pointless to put them down on paper.

1) My first idea is about an elf who leaves home in a sort of self-exile due to not being comfortable with the traditional elven view of seeing humans as solely animals to be destroyed or whatever the elves feel should happen. A darker fantasy version of Middle-Earth or D&D places, but where nearly ever race doesn't really like each other, like humans and dwarves are frequently at war (Constant war just about sums up Dwarf-Human relations), elves treat dwarves like rats to be exterimatinated (completely destroyed like you would do with a rat infestation), some races like Orcs are completely different (Orcs are being influenced by Warcraft and the Elder scrolls). I wrote a thread, "Kurathas" about the world in the world building area.

2) The second idea is about a dirty cop that investigates the death of a Chinese diplomat that might have been carried out by CIA. Feels more like a way of making snarky comments than anything.

3) A story set in future that is science fiction military based with child soldiers, a cryofrozen person that wakes up and just stuff. Also, snarky comments.

4) The story of Duck Death, set in the Kurathas place, which details the failed expedition to a lost dwarven fortress. Started as a campaign journal for a character in a game, but I added more for fun. Lots of Dwarf action with an equal amount of drunkenness and crazy.

I am trying to figure which of these I really should invest in doing for the Writing month, since they are all in progress in about equal amount so far. The dirty cop story has the most pages written down, but it is still in early storyline material.

Zelphas

2015-11-08, 01:24 AM

Hello, all! I didn't know this existed! This is my fifth year at Nanowrimo; I managed to do it three out of four other times, so here goes nothing!

My idea started out as a way to write about a fun character I made for a Mutants and Masterminds game here on the forums... that sadly died almost before it started. That wasn't enough to actually have a story, though, so I ended up throwing Norse Mythology, some Russian folklore, a magic system based on specifically delineated rituals, and possibly a drug cartel now... I don't really know what's happening in my story anymore, but I'm just under 14,000 words, so I'm not too worried.

Best of luck, everyone!

-Sentinel-

2015-11-09, 11:36 AM

I've fallen a bit behind due to my perfectionism: I just can't keep myself from editing, even though you're not supposed to do that during NaNo! Also, my job already involves typing on a computer 40 hours a week, so when I get home, I don't always feel like sitting down and writing some more. I'll probably keep falling behind, especially given that I'm losing most of a weekend due to family business. I don't care. I'm having fun. My local NaNo community (Ottawa) is fantastic, and the social experience is just as great as the writing experience. Last weekend we had a pizza + bowling night.

My word count sits at around 12k. I'm aiming for 30-40k by the end of the month. I also hope I'll have the motivation to keep writing in December, unlike most years.

Duck999

2015-11-11, 07:03 PM

I'm really bad at focusing. I spent most of my time today playing video games instead of writing. I'm two days behind now, which isn't too bad. I think there was a point last year when I fell far behind too. This weekend, I am determined I will actually try hard to catch up. I'm getting over a slightly more boring part of the story now, so I should be able to write faster.

Glass Mouse

2015-11-20, 11:13 AM

Duck999

2015-11-20, 05:18 PM

Oh hey, this exists! How's it going for everyone?

I had a really strong start, but then a week of pretty much nothing. I'm trying to get back on the horse but I'm finding it hard to trust my story after I got through the first half. A common problem, I assume.

You'll be fine. I wrote nothing over the first 2 days (maybe 300 words a day). This week though, I've written at least 2000 words a day. I'm catching up a lot now. I believe you can do it as well.

Mercenary Pen

2015-11-20, 05:44 PM

Work days are hitting my word count at least a little (some days I've written less than 300 words), but I'm fighting back on my days off to at least keep nearly on target. Just need to get my head in the game on sunday and I might even manage to keep my lead as I head toward the finishing line...

Alent

2015-11-20, 06:02 PM

Duck999

2015-11-20, 10:17 PM

I'm pretty far behind now, I think I might be able to finish on par, but I will probably be finishing on the 15th. :smallsigh: I didn't catch up like I thought I would and had a week of stress induced writer's block. Work went nuts on me and then when I thought things were back to normal it went up to 11 as my family went out of town. It's starting to settle back down, so I'm hoping to catch up... somehow.

Remember the spirit of NaNoWriMo. It exists to get you writing. If you can't get 50K for whatever reason. Set your own goal. Plan for 40K or 30K on the 30th, or plan for 50K on the 15th. Whatever you want.

Closet_Skeleton

2015-11-22, 06:39 PM

I probably won't finish, but 50% there in 2/3 of the available time isn't bad for someone who hasn't written anything in years.

Ways people have died so far in my novel:

Failure to regain control of ones own cells.
Severe offscreen parental neglect.
Old Age.
Eaten by dragon.
High energy particle weapon.
Lightning (aka breathed on by dragon).
Anti-matter lightning (aka breathed on by a really pissed off dragon).
Unexpected black hole.
Exposure to supernova while far outside the recommended safe distance.
Stepped on by dragon (aka unsafe proximity to dragon).
Lightning again. (aka listening to dragonsong at an unsafe distance)
Bled on by dragon (also: unprotected exposure to dragon blood).
Mountain impalement related nuclear reactor meltdown.
Being the biggest, baddassest goat around at the wrong time.
Unexpected exposure to Jovian atmosphere
Bitten by even bigger dragon despite being one yourself.
Eaten by chaos monster.
Being in possession of a soul combined with unsafe proximity to chaos monster.
Inefficient management practice related disease epidemics.
Flashflooding.
The shadow of death itself/inopportune exposure to the platonic concept of mercy.
Being both the platonic concept of mercy and then recognising your own insanity.

asdflove

2015-11-23, 12:35 AM

*cheers victory several days early and with one chapter left to write!*

Duck999

2015-11-27, 10:08 PM

I meant to catch up on Thanksgiving Weekend, but instead I fell behind. Tomorrow, I plan to catch up. Actually, this time. I will try to get at least 46,000 words so I only have 2000 words each day the last two days. I will try to write more though. So, if anyone sees me around here too much tomorrow, please send me a derogatory PM reminding me to get off the internet and get writing.

Closet_Skeleton

2015-11-28, 07:29 PM

I have a small chance of finishing. I can totally write 4500 words a day in theory but have never managed to start early enough.

Glass Mouse

2015-11-29, 06:06 AM

Same, only I also have a few major work/school projects I'm behind on. I think I'll dial NaNoWriMo to 1k words a day, and then finish whenever the story is done unfolding.

Though it would be cool if I could find a few hours today or tomorrow to give it a good last sprint!

Mercenary Pen

2015-11-29, 12:19 PM

Started the day with about 45,400 words, but I'm making a last big push to get this over with... see you all on the other side.

Duck999

2015-11-29, 06:04 PM

Congratulations to all of you who finished already! A day early though? Quite the overachievers aren't you?:smalltongue:

I didn't catch up yesterday. Family was still here from Thanksgiving. I'm catching up today though. It's exciting to think that I will be on track for the first day all month. Previously, I got 300 words behind, but never on point. I'm ready to win now.

Edit: I did it! I'm not done, but I got on track. I only have about 1,500 words to write tomorrow. I can do it easily. I have victory in my sights.

asdflove

2015-11-29, 11:08 PM

Congratulations to all of you who finished already! A day early though? Quite the overachievers aren't you?:smalltongue:

Finishing a day early isn't overachieving! Finishing a WEEK early however? :smalltongue:

-Sentinel-

2015-11-30, 12:01 AM

Fourth-time WriMo, first-time winner! Just validated at 50,564. :smallsmile:

50,000th word: "proved".

Closet_Skeleton

2015-11-30, 06:31 AM

Still got 4500 (aka 3/2 what I've ever managed before) to go.

Glass Mouse

2015-11-30, 06:12 PM

Aaaaand November is over in my timezone. Phew! I managed to squeeze in a good 9k words today, so I finished very close to the goal. Not perfect, but holy beep I've never been this close before. I haven't written this much (nor an actual novel) since I was a teenager, and it feels GREAT!

The story is still far from done (I think I need 1/3, but knowing me, it'll probably balloon), but I'll try to stick to my "1k a day until done" plan, because whoa. This is how I need to write. I do well with the Stephen King style writing process!

Congrats to everyone who made it, or who just got close or exceeded their own expectations!

Closet_Skeleton

2015-11-30, 06:22 PM

40 minutes and 836 words to go.

Glass Mouse

2015-11-30, 06:29 PM

You can do iiiiiiiiiit!

Closet_Skeleton

2015-11-30, 07:15 PM

I cheated the last 95 words to make sure I'd get it in on time, not sure how the system actually worked not having ever got this far. Didn't take me too much more to finish for real.

75 pages doesn't feel like much of a novel.

Duck999

2015-11-30, 07:46 PM

The length of the novel depends on font and size. Along with that, a book tends not to be full paper size. It gets longer.

On another note: I did it! YAY! I have two more words than I had last year. However, I am not anywhere close to done with my story this time. I'm not actually sure when I will finish it. I hope I get around to working on it in free time. Maybe I'll just finish it next November...

Edit: I remembered I still don't have a name for the main character. At some point, I need to find and replace "maincharacter" with an actual name.