Monday, November 7, 2011

CHRONICLES OF NANO PLUS ROW80

I don't even know what that means...I mean for me. Except, I made the insane decision to join a bunch of other  sanity challenged folks and signed up for nano to write a 50k word novel in the month of November. Ye-ah baby. And now I shall make you suffer as well.

You are welcome.

I've done this dance before, never winning -- that is, never writing 50k. I have however started December bleary and cranky with 36k. Which aint shabby. And while most of it was not worthy of actual paper it was the start and middle and end of a young adult novel. So, what I had girls and boys was a really shitty first draft -- just like Anne Lamott says you need in Bird by Bird. http://www.amazon.com/Bird-Some-Instructions-Writing-Life/dp/0385480016

Yay! I had a really (really) shitty first draft. I think I got extra credit for the extent of the shittiness.

I plan on doing it again, only this time I'm aiming for 50k words of crap!

I've somewhat outlined my novel and have scenes brainstormed, so as not to get stuck. So far, so good. I have a respectable amount, not what I need, no. I'm not above cheating though. Here are some of my plans -- already in effect:


I will not use contractions! None of this "aren't" and "we'll" -- those are two words that can magically be made into four!


I will use many pretty adjectives. Many glorious and florid and descriptively seductive adjectives (adverbs as well)!


Full names only! Just like Stanley Gardner in his penny a word Perry Masons -- Tess O'Dell, and Sebastian St. Camael, and Miss Margaret Carmilla, thank you very much.

Duplicate statements ie: "You are a fool! A complete and total idiotic fool!" See? Instead of her saying, "Idiot!" with only one measly word she's saying a slew, a veritable slew of 10 words. Hah!

That's what I've got so far, as I think (and use) more, I'll let you know. Tongue firmly in cheek.

ROW80
I'm kicking a** for my ROW80 goals, well, for my daily word count Row80 goals, since my goal was 100 words a day, last I checked I was at 8,000+ for November -- but I'm changing some of my other goals. 
Blog posts: I'll aim for 2 -- both check-ins, since I've been missing those.
Check-ins with other ROWers: I'll still aim for 5      
Think that was it

I'll also keep you posted as to my nano state.

Are you a participant? Are you a mental basket case? Not yet. Tell me about it.



8 comments:

  1. I absolutely, positively, undoubtedly love your "cheats."

    Although I didn't sign up for NaNo, I do have enough on my November To Do list to threaten my sanity - but just enough to keep things interesting.

    All the very, very, very, very best. *grin*

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  2. LOL. Those are excellent word padding techniques for NaNo ;) Remember, no hyphenated words either!

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  3. Ha! Thanks Stephanie! November is a "killer" for me too -- lots of birthdays and we host Thanksgiving...it certainly does keep things interesting. T%hanks for stopping by.

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  4. Hey, thanks Ryan, I'll remember that. I have AirPirates in my novel, they are now Air Pirates, two words, thank you very much!

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  5. I'm a total mental basket case. I've failed NaNo three years in a row now, and just keep coming back for more. 36k is still a lot more than I've ever had so far, though, so you're ahead of me in the game there!

    I love your NaNo tips, by the way! They are most excellent and incredibly inspiring and let us not forget that run on sentences with the excessive use of conjunctions can be very helpful but don't forget that you can always add more things and build your sentences even longer if you try...!

    ...see? I'm already practicing!

    Best of luck to you!

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  6. I love it!! L.S. you made me laugh out loud. I love laughing out loud and I too love run on sentences -- I just can't do them as well as you...

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  7. I have a lot of "and" and "but" and lists of things. And also a 900 word dream scene. LOL I'm checking that book out now, looks good thanks!

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  8. CrystalCip, thanks for stopping by, I love the 900 word dream scene. I have so many "just" and "nearly" and well, anything along those lines, yet I feel like ( I mean as if) those aren't cheating because my heroine is a young woman, 16, and I'm sure she needs to emote!

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