I have absolutely no idea what I'm writing this year. At all.

I have ideas--one is a murky Thumbelina retelling and the other is one I just thought of about a girl who finds clues to her past in old fairytales, but who knows? I'm blank.

I was considering writing an audio drama of one of my favorite novels--rebelling and all that. Sheesh, I should look at my idea notebook.....

I'm really busy this fall, though. I have to get some writing stuff together to send to colleges by late november. So perhaps NaNo will just be a sideproject this year and the main goal will be writing every day to finish my portfolio.

GOOD HEAVENS! A peptalk by Lemony Snicket?!?!? I have to read it! I must write so he is peptalking to me! Lemony Snicket! He's the greatest of EVER!

It's hard to believe there is less than one month until the madness begins! (perhaps 'begins' isn't the proper word to use there. I'm not sure it ever really stopped. ) I've been anticipating this for several months now.

This will be my second year participating. I did it last year and I got sick during the first week, which wrecked my writing for several days and so I was behind on my word goal for the entire month. I ended up writing 3000 words a day most of the time in order to catch up. I finally reached 50k on the final day. That has got to be one of the greatest feelings ever! Unfortunately, I did not ever finish my novel (it's only about half done, if that). This year, I'm going for something that I hope will be a bit easier to write (less factual = easier. Okay, not always, but whatever. ).

Random side note; my favorite memory from last year was staying up until 4 a.m. one night writing. I got caught up to my word goal, and then promptly went and slept until 11 o'clock.

Anyways, I just reactivated my account on NaNo, and posted in the thread over there so you all can find me (I'm flambeau over there as well). I look forward to doing this all with you again!

Let the plotting begin!

--- flambeau

I'm thinking of doing NaNo this year...what exactly am I supposed to do? (besides writing the novel )

Hey everyone!

It's my first NaNo, and I'm beginning to wonder what I've gotten myself into. November is a busy month to begin with, between school, our fall theater production, and thanksgiving. But I'm going to give it a try nevertheless.

At this point, I'm sort of torn between two ideas. The first is one that's been floating around my head for a while, and I have a general plot in mind, but the details are still pretty sketchy. The second would be the sequel to my work-in-progress, which I have all planned, scene by scene. That would be the easier choice (and really fun to write too), but part of me really wants to try something new. And the first concept is pretty cool! I don't know what to do! Hmm. What do you guys think?

Here's looking forward to writing with you all! I'll go post on that thread. I'm Silvera on the NaNo site.

I'm really excited for NaNo this year!!! It'll be my second year doing it.

At this point, I'm sort of torn between two ideas. The first is one that's been floating around my head for a while, and I have a general plot in mind, but the details are still pretty sketchy. The second would be the sequel to my work-in-progress, which I have all planned, scene by scene. That would be the easier choice (and really fun to write too), but part of me really wants to try something new. And the first concept is pretty cool! I don't know what to do! Hmm. What do you guys think?

I'm right there with you. I have had several ideas, but narrowed it down to between two of them. I like both ideas, but number two is going to be much easier to write (it's plotted out and outlined), so I'm probably going to do it.

I'm MelianTaralom on the NaNo site. EDIT: I have lost the password to that account and the corresponding email has been erased. My new NaNo username is Melian.

Hey all! This is my first year during NaNo...I'm really excited about doing it. It sounds like a real challenge, and yet lots of fun...and everyone I know who participated last year said it was a great experience. I'm DragonGirl28 over there.

Hi y'all! Ooh, it's almost NaNoWriMo time! I'm so excited! Except Gymfan15 called my non-plan a plan to fail... Kidding, kidding! I do actually hope to plan this year, instead of making it up as I go along.

Heya, Silver! You were wondering what you got yourself into? A whole ton of craziness! Fun craziness, but craziness none the less! I'll have to head over to the NaNo site and add you as a friend. I'm AppleRain, over there, just so you know.

Narnian Archer, You really should do NaNoWriMo, it's tons of fun! As for what all you'll need to do, I'm not really sure how to explain it. The process is fairly simple (in theory, least ways) all you'll need to do is sign up at the site, write a certain number of words a day (they should let you know how many closer to November), update your word count, and gloat at the end of month to all your friends! Well, actually when you're done writing you'll need to verify your word count, but that can be explained when we actually get to that point. Anyway, now that I've confused you more please do do NaNoWriMo, it is such fun!

Count me in! This is my first year doing it, so I'm really excited!

I'm going to do a little bit of planning, jot down a outline and draw out a few character bios, think about it as much as I can, and then hope for the best when November 1st hits. The next two months are going to be so crazy. Crazy fun, anyway.

It was only about a week ago that I decided, "Yes, I'm doing Nano this year, busy or not," so I hadn't even decided on what kind of story I wanted to write. I had a few old plot ideas I knew I could work with, but I wanted to start with something fresh. So one afternoon I was browsing the Writer's Thread and ran across one of my previous posts, and was staring at my username while wondering what on earth I was going to write about, and suddenly thought, "Hmmm, what about a fairytale about a rose-tree dryad?"

It's pretty crazy to start building a story from the ground up with only one month to go, but hey, insanity is the nature of this endeavor. It's going to be a fairytale/fantasy story. I'm actually pretty excited about it.

So, for the rest of this month I'll be working on getting acquainted with the characters and figuring out what this story is trying to tell, and then write with wild abandon when November dawns. Can't wait.

At this point, I'm sort of torn between two ideas. The first is one that's been floating around my head for a while, and I have a general plot in mind, but the details are still pretty sketchy. The second would be the sequel to my work-in-progress, which I have all planned, scene by scene. That would be the easier choice (and really fun to write too), but part of me really wants to try something new. And the first concept is pretty cool! I don't know what to do! Hmm. What do you guys think?

Ooh, that's a tough choice. If I were you, I'd probably make the decision based on how you think your November is going to be. If it's going to be really, really hectic and you'll have to budget your time to include NaNo, you might want to go with the sequel story since it's already plotted out scene-by-scene. If you think you'll have enough time on your hands to really get creative, freak out over plot holes, rejoice over sewing up said plot holes, brainstorm and discover, I'd say go for the new idea.

But then again, what am I saying? I know the next two months are going to be jam-packed for me, and I'm going with a brand new idea anyway. Don't listen to me. Whatever you choose, I'm sure it's going to be awesome!

So excited. . . can't wait for November to arrive!

Prepare to be shocked...I'm thinking about doing it this year. I've always enjoyed writing, although in the past I usually fizzle out around the 5k mark. It's tough work but quite a bit of fun and rather therapeutic. I'm hoping that I have enough time between work and home life. I have a somewhat solid plot in my mind, a sci-fi post-apocalypse sorta book in the vein of The Stand, but not quite as gritty. Couple of questions first...

- Do these things get published?
- How hard is it to register?
- When does it officially begin?

I'm working on planning mine right now: working out the plot, naming characters, and all that. The planning is going pretty well! I am now sold out on planning ahead of time.

Welcome aboard, Shadowlander! Your novel idea sounds intriguing.

I'll take a stab at answering your questions:

1. Some do get published, but since the point of NaNo is to write a lot (50k in 30 days), it emphasizes quantity over quality. The editing and publishing would come later.

To quote the What is NaNoWriMo site itself:

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

2. Registering is a piece of cake. Go to this page and follow the instructions.

On page 1 of this thread, Gymfan linked to the NaNo forum thread for NarniaWebbers.

3. November 1. October can be used to think about your plot and characters, and so on, but the writing doesn't begin until Nov. 1.

How do they monitor whether you begin on November 1? What's to stop someone from getting an early start and just tossing it in Nov. 1? And no, that's not what I plan on doing, but I've always been kind of curious how it works.

Shadowlander, I think it goes on the honour system? There ought to be something about it, somewhere. *goes off to look*

Yeah, it's basically an honor system. The only real reward is knowing you've done it, after all, so there's no need to have any kind of enforcement.

I could really use some inspiration here. I have a bunch of little ideas, but nothing big. And i have 11 titles without stories that i would love to use for something.

How do they monitor whether you begin on November 1? What's to stop someone from getting an early start and just tossing it in Nov. 1? And no, that's not what I plan on doing, but I've always been kind of curious how it works.

There are all these rules about Nano that are honor system and that I, frankly, don't understand the purpose of. There are rules that say that you're allowed to do certain kinds of preparation and not others. I find the rules kind of dumb. NaNo is for each individual person. The purpose is to write a novel in a month. Does it matter how much prepping you do beforehand? Or does it matter if you start a day early? You could always end a day early. Even if you "lose" and don't finish, at least you got a few thousand words written.
I guess I just find it ironic that an event meant to inspire so much creativity places all these parameters and cultural laws around it. I personally don't think there should even be an "honor system." My philosophy is: "write." Maybe some people disagree though.