NaNoWriMo and Writing Programs

[† Emotional Outlet]

(If this is in the wrong section, feel free to move it!)

NaNoWriMo -- National Novel Writing Month

I don't know how many of you folks know about this writing "contest", but I figured I might bring it up. For those unfamiliar with it, it's a writing contest with a simple goal--write 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. It's something I've done since 2005, missing only 2008 because I had finished basic training in September and was settling into my technical school by the time it rolled around.

Contest is in quotes because you aren't really competing against anyone else but yourself. Winning usually gets you a neat little graphic, but occasionally there are offers done on the site. This recent iteration of NaNoWriMo gave people the opportunity to get a 50% off coupon for a Scrivener licence and a 20% off coupon for participants.

So, I guess this topic is rather two-fold, since I figured making two topics was a bit ridiculous. Have any of you guys participated in NaNo? How did you like it? Are you interested in trying out/have you tried out Camp NaNoWriMo (the official summer NaNo)?

I always plan on doing NaNo every year and I do--unfortunately, the military is sapping my creativity and strength, so it's been difficult for me to pull through. Hopefully this year it turns out well, haha.

As for the writing programs part--what do you guys prefer to do your writing on? Do you just pull up Microsoft Word (or whatever the Mac equivalent is) and get into it from there? Is there another program you prefer to use? Do you write with paper and quill? Got a thing for typewriters? Do you use toilet paper and diner napkins?

As for me, I bought Scrivener and find it rather interesting. I like it a lot--it makes it easy to take and keep notes organised, gives you neat little features you didn't know you needed (setting a word count goal for every chapter I set up in it? Oh god, yes), and the full screen writing mode is so sweet. Prior to that, I just pulled up Word and got into it from there--and prior to that, it was WordPad, haha.

[BrairMoss]

I have never even heard of that "contest" before, but it sounds... interesting. It is just too bad that it happens in November, the month of my Midterms for school for the last.... 3 years and counting. That program mentioned.... Scrivener... again never heard of it. Although that may simply be that I prefer to take a pad of paper and a few pens and go to the park or school near my house (down near the Niagara Falls if I can manage) and look for things to write about.

[† Shazi]

I always use open office writer. i switched when word started their bullshit tabs thing which made no sense, i like having all my toolbars where i need them IN PLAIN VIEW. but always before i start typing i give myself time to handwrite a draft on pen or paper

this Scrivener sounds interesting, i will have to look it up to see what it's like. i have been thinking about replacing OO since it started pulling some bullshit that just started getting really annoying. *runs off to google*

[† Emotional Outlet]

Camp NaNo does happen in the summer, if that's something you're willing to try. We could also do our own version here at Kametsu at a different time that better suits our schedules, haha.

I think Scrivener is a great program--you can use as much or as little of it as you want. It might be a little confusing at first, but the corkboard and the little notecards are immensely helpful. There are free alternatives, though, of course.

There are links here to various programs depending on whether you use a Mac or PC. I haven't gone through any of them yet, but it seems promising.

[† Shazi]

i would love to try a kamtesu thing like that, however 50,000 words is a pretty steep ask for some of our members. if we could, i would love to have a two month comp to write somewhere between 15-20,000 words, unfortunatly a lot of our members have hectic lifestyles and may not be able to produce that, even in the span given.

if i had a spare 40 i would aquire Scrivener legalliy, unfortunatly, i'm poor and can't even afford meat every day of the week. i will save up my money and get this amazing looking program, but in the mean time open office it is.

[Pinkie Pie]

On my desktop, I use Word and it's amazing only if I change the color of the page since I don't like the white staring at me. On my netbook, I use Open Office, which is less awesome, but better than nothing.

But I also love writing on notebook paper, especially the themed kind. I wrote one of my most disturbing creations on Hello Kitty paper and the sense of irony I get whenever I see it is priceless.

When it comes to a writing competition, I think a Kametsu version would be a wonderful idea. The only problem is that if it was in the 10k word range, I'd make it pretty quickly since when I have something going, I usually end up writing 2k+ word chapters.

Maybe instead of having one set word count goal, it could be tiered based on what people have posted before. People who write more get a higher word count goal. People who write a little less might not get something so high. It might be a little less intimidating if it was like that, especially to people that want to try it but don't really write long chapters.

[† Emotional Outlet]

While the specifics of the competition are being ironed out, I wanted to share an article with the forum since someone just asked me what the purpose of such a competition is.

"What's so wrong with NaNoWriMo?"

Although, I will say my favourite way of putting it is "If you finish NaNoWriMo, you have something to edit. You can't edit nothing, but you can edit crap." I know a lot of people have picked up writing (to include myself), but left it to the wayside for one reason or another. A little friendly competition like this where you aren't being judged on quality, aren't being judged on how GOOD your writing it, but rather judged on one simple criterion (did you write a story with at least this many words), can be extremely motivating.

Not everyone gives themselves the opportunity to just WRITE, to write without worrying about whether it's perfect or if anyone would want to read it. Not everyone gives themselves permission to write something that might be outrageous and dumb just to get it off their mind, to see if they can realise an idea of theirs. It's not perfect and you won't come out of it with a perfect draft. No one does.

It's disheartening to hear people say they won't have time to even write a thousand words in the space of two months, when there are people with children, full-time jobs, and a home to take care of who still manage to handle NaNoWriMo (the full 50k in thirty days) and even go so far as to aim for loftier goals like 100k.

[lemmingllama]

I did participate in this one year, but my story was complete crap and was like a fantasy retelling of my day to day life with a bit of violence. I liked mainly writing it up on Word and writing down jot notes on a pad of paper. As some people may know by my threads, I get random ideas that are normally complete garbage yet can still be interesting. So doing activities like showering became difficult since i had to keep on hopping out to write down stuff. All in all, I deleted the whole work about 2 years ago since i never planned on trying to work on it any more.

Another fun goodie that is on their website that made me laugh

getting sponsors for your novel will dramatically increase your commitment to making it to 50K! It’s the gift of fear that keeps on giving!

[† Emotional Outlet]

So, I've been using Scrivener for some time. Just wanted to share a few screenshots. Writing with it has been interesting--initially I ignored a lot of features like the corkboard, labels, and keywords, but I've started using them recently and they've been pretty helpful, actually.

One of the biggest changes for me organisationally is the timeline. I've marked off the cards with different colours to note which part of the text they're about. My notes for what should happen in a story are usually nonexistent--and if they do exist, they're on a piece of paper floating around my desk. I'm considering moving the timeline to the research Scrivener file I have for this story, which is where I put all my character notes.

I love the split screen function--it saves me from needing to have two instances of Scrivener open (I usually do anyway--one for the story and one for research, as I mentioned). You'll see there's a Research section in the project that I don't use, haha. Part of the reason why I have a dual monitor set up is so I can have my writing on one screen and my notes/research on the other.

The keywords are interesting and I'm still refining my system, but basically what I hope to accomplish is just being able to quickly figure out some simple things. For example, has Tristan ever been in Jules's apartment, or was he only talked about? When was the first time Tristan and Jules showed up in the same scene together?

Anyway, I really like the program and think it's well worth the money if anyone was considering it.

That aside, did anyone do Camp NaNo? I meant to, and then I left the military and moved. Whoop.

[Minkseru]

I tried NaNoWriMo and failed miserably looking foward to it this year.

If we did do something on the forums maybe run the first contest at a low word count like 5 or 10k in a month? It really is a reasonable goal. Presuming of course you are going on the ideal of 5 character word count.

Another option would be a chapter count. Write 10 chapters in a month. Leave a loose interpretation of what a chapter quantifies, such as it could be 3-5 paragraphs.

As far as myself I like open office writer, and notebook+pencil .

[† Emotional Outlet]

Haha, the first iteration of KamWri was mostly a free for all and it didn't garner much attention. The one after was a word limit challenge (5k), which people complained was too little. So we left off word count requisites and shortened it to a two week affair, asking people to submit whatever they had written, finished drafts or no, given certain requisites (have to feature in some way a type of character, certain event has to transpire). KamWri was left off at #4--we had up to six, but the forum rollback ate the last two.

I hope we get a few people from the forum to do NaNo this year. It's more fun to do with other people, haha.

[† Emotional Outlet]

In case anyone was interested in buying Scrivener but don't quite want to pay full price, there's a 20% off coupon here. I don't know for how much longer it's viable--I plugged it in just now and it seemed to accept it.

[DrumRoll]

and should someone be looking to acquire this program through dubious means..........

[† Emotional Outlet]

I'm sure you could find some way to circumvent the registration/serial number, lul. I haven't looked into any cracks for it since I think it's well worth the price and already own it, but you could probably request it in the premium section and it'll turn up eventually, haha.

[DrumRoll]

I'm just trying a program (demo) of 'write it now'

seems interesting....

[† Emotional Outlet]

Just to be sure, it's this one, yes? How have you been finding it?

It does look interesting--not as pretty as Scrivener, but seems to cover a lot of the same areas and beyond. The character sheets seem fascinating, but perhaps more detailed than I would put into a character. I'll think I'll try the demo some time this weekend. It's definitely a lot pricier, though!

[DrumRoll]

I've found it to be very good so far. being able to keep all your created charaters in an archive at your fingertips is fantastic!

But as you said, the price is very hefty for such a 'ugly' piece of software.

still, it came 1st when compared against its peers on one of those ten out of ten things:D

[† Emotional Outlet]

Just a reminder that NaNoWriMo 2012 is just around the corner. There's also some official swag if you're into that. Don't know yet if there are any winner incentives, but hopefully all that'll come out around October.

So if you're the planning/outlining type, now would be a good time to start!

[† Emotional Outlet]

Another bit of news for NaNo '12!

Couple days ago they posted this on the official blog. Leave a comment on the article with your NaNo username and you can win the chance to attend a pre-NaNo class. It looks pretty cool, so I'm throwing my name into the draw, haha.

And a couple of links for character creation if any of you guys are into that kind of thing.

[one] [two] [three]

Edited September 27, 2012 by Emotional Outlet

[DrumRoll]

I don't find writing a story hard. What I find hard is condensing it down to a manageable size. I started writing a story for kametsu but then I felt the need to flesh out the characters/world etc etc and all the other material needed to make a half decent story. I just stretched on and on.....and then I'd have an epiphany and the entire stroy would been altering:(

I adopt the rather curious role of a perfectionist, although I am well aware that anything I write is far from perfect.

although, if there was a kamwri competition where we wrote in teams or a rudimentry story was outlined (reducing the time spent appraising the reader of the backstory etc) then I'd definately be up for it:D

Edited September 28, 2012 by DrumRoll