November 2017 - NaNo Week 4

We've entered the final stage. The bog gets thicker, though things start to break loose and you can really start seeing the end again. If you've like me, having that looming deadline tends to make me push harder.

The purple bar on the NaNo site is in your future.
If you're on track, end of today should see about 36,700 words

A few end game tips, only for NaNo
-- Convert all your contractions to the multi-words they are. Wont becomes will not, Can't becomes can not (yes, make it two words, even if the grammar check objects, you can fix it in first edit pass.)
-- THIS is the time to write PURPLE PROSE. *ducks flying tomatoes* Think about it. This how verbose and overly loquacious a block of purple prose is. How much the description and drama fill the page. USE it dang it. Again, it can come out in the editing.
-- If you're uncertain of what word to use, put in the four best options, then keep writing. That gives you three extra words and options during editing. Put the thesaurus down for now and just write.

Be on the look out for our winner's lounge. (It's suffered a small explosion of confetti storage so has been unable to open until now.) Once you've reached that magic threshold, come declare it!

We'll hold a post NaNo open discussion on lessons learned starting in December.

LOL. Thanks for the pick-me-up er pick me up (three words!)

I hit 45K today so hoping to finish this weekend!

Majkia! Well done!

You beat me to it - I'm about 800 words out, so hopefully finish shortly. Though the fountain of inspiration is pretty dusty dry right now :/

Just completed the challenge. Purple! Yay!

Done :) Happy with bits of bits of it. Unfortunately very small bits. But every little helps, right?

>5 BekkaJo: Same with mine. But done is done! Congrats!

As I try to tell people on Facebook, Nano has two missions, to me anyway.

Mission one is to get that first draft.

Mission two is to teach you who you are as a writer. What works best for you, what doesn't. For some, the deadline just isn't doable. For others, it is the only way to write. Some learn the best genre for them to write in, or which one to avoid. I know some learn if they can really write by the seat of their pants or if they MUST have some organization going into a project.

All of these are important. Even if you don't reach 50k, you learn about yourself and who you the writer are.

Today I wrote more than 5,000 words. I have 2,500 to go with one day left to do it. Wish me luck!

Go go go!!! So close - you can definitely do it!

Thank you, BekkaJo! I did it! Dragged that story kicking and screaming across the finish line, but I got my pretty shiny purple bar!

So, anyone actually finish telling their story? Mine's about halfway finished at 50,313 words. I suppose I could find an ending for it in a chapter or three, but really there is a lot more to the story than that.

Well done :)

This year was a bit odd - I ended up with two finished (albeit rough) short stories, another roughly completed novella (around 30k) and less than 1/4 of a third.

Mishmash!

>10 Storeetllr: While I won NaNo 5 times, I never wrote "the End" on any of them...

>11 BekkaJo: Thanks, Bekka. And well done to you too, mishmash or not, 50,000 words is 50,000 words!

>12 gilroy: Haha, I am the same. Last year's was close - I just needed one more chapter to tie off the strings - but every other win (6 in all, including this year's) are far from "The End."

>10 Storeetllr: >12 gilroy: >13 Storeetllr: Nah, even the times I reach 50K it's usually around the mid-point of the novel rather than anywhere near the end. Or if the end is included there were also a lot of parts skipped and unwritten yet.