FOUR DAYS!!!

I'm freaking out right now... I got my synopsis done and uploaded to the site, but the whole character planning thing is suffering (one would think that I would be finished planning as I started in SEPTEMBER!). I have a protagonist and and antagonist. And four supporting characters.

One supporting character is a tribute to a dear blogging friend that really has encouraged me in my writing.

I'm going to be downloading the free trial of Scrivner on the 1st... Although, I am worried that it won't save anything (you know how free trials sometimes don't save things so you want to buy it?)... Argh...

Susan's_Look_Alike, Scrivener is a program that lets you write and view inspiration photos at the same time. It's great for people like me who have trouble fitting all their windows on screen at the same time. It'll also track word count goals, and you can write notes to yourself about various scenes... There is a thread on the NaNo forums where you can find a link to the trial downloads.

Melian_Maia, I don't know if you're using a Mac or not, but I've found that I can access the files inside the .scriv folder just fine with other applications. I don't have a complicated file yet, but I think you'd be able to salvage all the text.

Sooo, I don't totally have a plot yet, but I think I'm gonna call my novel 'A Girl Called Almost'. And whatever you can get from that is about how much plot I have.

Meh... I cut my finger pretty bad on the meat slicer at work and I've got four stitches in it, so typing is gonna suck for the first little while. (It's hard to type without use of your right pointer finger!)

Oh, Meltintalle, that reminds me, I was gonna download Scrivener and try it out! I should get on that.

Someone please talk some sense into me!!
There are four days until NaNo starts, all right? I have my novel outlined. I've been planning it since last December (ish). The characters are there (if that makes sense). I have the title picked out. I have an idea for the cover design. I know what I want to write. I'm happy with it, m'kay?
But! An idea popped into my head tonight while I was washing the dishes. The first chapter of a book literally wrote itself in about 3 seconds. In consequence, I am now considering ditching my all of my previous planning and writing a story with no idea of where it would be going, no character ideas beyond an unnamed main character, no idea what is driving my main character's actions, no clue what his deal is. Just nothing. Nothing except this scene in my head that won't go away.
*dies* I am not usually this spontaneous, but I so want to try writing this book! Someone slap me and tell me to do the sensible thing, please!

Anyways, hopefully I'll talk myself out of this before NaNo starts, but I suppose this is what makes this whole process fun; the sheer randomness and spontaneity that comes as you prepare for it. Things start to happen. Too much fun.

@ sweeet, your opening line is simply brilliant! I am very interested to know where your book is going.

Really? A song title, not a lyric? I think I've been inspired by a lyric before, but not a title. I'm impressed.

Yep. Well, technically it was the title for the first book in the series that came from a song title (It was called Green & Gray. There is a song by Nickel Creek with the same name). The book I've been intending to write for NaNo is the sequel to that book (It's called Green & Scarlett.). I'm thinking there might be a third book, but I have no idea what I'd call that one.

--- flambeau

Someone please talk some sense into me!!

Do the write thing, flam! Write the new story! You were doing dishes, and that's always a good sign. (At the very least, jot down notes for that first scene so you can get back to it later!)

I suggest Green & Orange for your third book... the title being a colour association tracing back to background info for the song 'Green Grows the Laurel' in the Laura Ingalls Wilder songbook. Not that it'd have anything to do with your story, but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway...

I'm judging you...to be AWESOME! Are you going to do the older/strange names like Macbeth and Banquo, or are you going to stick with more regular names like Celia, Bianca, and Malcolm?

I'm not sure yet. So far I have Viola, Lysander, Kate, and Sebastian. I shall probably have Laertes, Mercutio, Tybalt, Perdita, Portia, Regan... And I am SERIOUSLY considering naming characters after the acting troupe and the fairies in Midsummer Night's Dream (Flute... Snug... Quince... Puck... Cobweb.... And I'm writing in a contemporary setting... heheheh) *cough* I'm kind of a Shakespeare geek...

Waait a cotton-pickin' second. Wasn't it you that got their plot for NaNo whist doing the dishes last year? Or was that someone else? Either way, doing the dishes is apparently not conducive to sticking to one's premeditated plan, so I'd advise you not to participate any other chores of the sort.

I say, do what you feel like doing! If you're more comfortable with your planned novel, do that. My first year doing NaNo, I seriously waffled between one story that I had planned for YEARS and another story that just popped up randomly (but still somewhat planned). I decided to stick with my "safe" story, and did my other story last year. I'm happy with how that turned out; I don't think I could have written my second story (Spirals) the first year. Way too emotionally driven and abstract.

Ok, so now I'm kind of panicking a little bit because I've got my story all nice and cozy in my head, but I haven't put a single blessed line of outline to paper. At ALL. I don't even have a novel cover yet, and I kind of need that to keep me inspired.

And on top of all that, stupid, stupid me basically committed herself to doing 5k every day for the first 10 days. I think I need to be committed to the loony house, to be honest. Oy vey...

flambeau, do whichever you want. I have not even attempted planning, other than knowing a few names, but I'm going for it anyway. (Actually, mine is more of a conscious stupidity, so I'm not sure it applies to your case. )

Finally! I've got my working cover finished!

Definitely not what I originally had in mind, but I kind of like the retro/vector vibe. It needs a lot of work if I want to actually use that cover on my printed book, though. The medal is one that I just schellped off the web, but there's a tutorial on how to recreate that in Photoshop so hopefully after NaNo is done I can re-do it from scratch and add the correct Olympic symbols, etc. And I need to fix the slight stripe pattern on the background sky and clouds. And put the gymnast somewhere else. And change the title font, because the font and placement is reminding me of Gettyimages watermarks. But other than that, not bad for a few minutes work...

Whatta ya think? Have you got a cover already? I'd love to see it!

I wish I had some advice to impart to those who are having NaNo crises right now, but since I'm new to this challenge, about all I can do is say I'm freaking out, too.

I really didn't expect my story to become so complicated, because honest to goodness I've only "known" about it for a month, and figured it would just be something simple to work with for NaNo. Well, it's been growing like a mad scientist's experiment ever since it entered my mind. It's bizarre, I know there are just a handful of days to go now, but major plot points and characters and scenes keep forcing their way in, and the weirdest part is they always seem to fit in with the existing story just fine. Almost as if the story is doing the telling and it's just bossing me around. Or those old dyslexic tendencies are resurfacing a little and I'm coming up with it in reverse. . . .

Uh, is babbling symptomatic of NaNoWriMo's special brand of insanity?

At any rate, I know there is going to be a ton of editing to do once December comes and I am completely flying by the seat of my pants at this point, but I'm really, really enjoying myself.

I love your cover, Gymfan! Very nice for a mock-up! I especially like the clouds/silver lining thing it has going on. I'd definitely pick it up for a look-see if I saw it in a bookstore.

This is my working cover. . . probably very little like what the story's cover would be like if ever I attempt to publish it, but I still like it the way it came out. (Doesn't hurt that it's very similar to one of my favorite paintings. ) It was cobbled together on GIMP from three paintings by Henry John Yeend King: the door is from Feeding Time in the Garden, the stone wall from The Peaceful Village, and the rest of it from In the Rose Garden, which is also the painting my avatar and signature are taken from. I hope Mr. King doesn't mind.

Here's my cover:

I, ah, got a little lazy while drawing the sword. But then I don't know what its distinguishing characteristics are yet. I'm also quite amused by the fact that the main character would be equally at home on the cover of a Western novel. I guess I should have given him a cloak?

My! Such nice covers you all have! Great job, Gymfan, Rose-Tree, and Mel! I will have to draw one...if I can find time. I'm so busy this weekend! But we shall see. I'm feeling inspired now. I'll probably make at least a banner for my siggy.

I really didn't expect my story to become so complicated, because honest to goodness I've only "known" about it for a month, and figured it would just be something simple to work with for NaNo. Well, it's been growing like a mad scientist's experiment ever since it entered my mind. It's bizarre, I know there are just a handful of days to go now, but major plot points and characters and scenes keep forcing their way in, and the weirdest part is they always seem to fit in with the existing story just fine. Almost as if the story is doing the telling and it's just bossing me around.

I love it when that happens! Although my NaNo story has been planned out for a while, and I guess it could be considered "safe", I'm sure to leave room for my characters to do what they want. Plots can change, and I don't expect mine to turn out exactly the way I've planned it. For instance, there's an assassin who's going after one of my characters...but I have no idea where, when, or how. But he'll show up somewhere because the evil king ordered him to.

Hey, all! I registered for NaNo this morning, and it's going to be my first year doing it. I have no ideas whatsoever, so this will be interesting to say the least.

Oh, and my username is "MakeitaMelody". I tried to add everyone from the NarniaWeb thread on the NaNo site, but I may have missed a few...my apologizes!

Now! Off to plan!

flam, I am in complete support of the last-minute-idea. Just so ya know. So if you want to be talked out of it, don't come anywhere near me in the next few days.

I still don't know what I'm going to write about it. If something miraculous doesn't fall on top of my head in the next few days (maybe I should go wash some dishes!), I'll just end up going with one of several ideas that are circulating lazily in my head.
I'm crossing my fingers for something miraculous, though.

I like you girls' covers! Mel, your comment about the rider fitting into a western novel made me laugh out loud. Please don't ask why (because I don't know).

Well, I think I've mostly talked myself out of ditching Green & Scarlett for the new and still unnamed idea. I've been planning it too long to not do it, and I really don't need to start another project until I've finished G&G and G&S. I'm definitely saving the new idea for a future NaNo though! I need some more time to figure out where the story is going before I write it (I'm pretty sure I've named my MC though. And his sidekick. Yeah, it's another male MC. Dee and I were talking last night about how I've never written a female MC. I don't know why that is, but I just can't figure out what to write about if it's a female. So strange.).

I suggest Green & Orange for your third book... the title being a colour association tracing back to background info for the song 'Green Grows the Laurel' in the Laura Ingalls Wilder songbook. Not that it'd have anything to do with your story, but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway...

I'll be sure to keep that in mind in case I do a third book.
I like your cover, btw! Great job on the drawing!

Waait a cotton-pickin' second. Wasn't it you that got their plot for NaNo whist doing the dishes last year? Or was that someone else? Either way, doing the dishes is apparently not conducive to sticking to one's premeditated plan, so I'd advise you not to participate any other chores of the sort.

That was Mel who did that last year, I believe. I will most certainly take your advice and refrain from doing the dishes for the next month (that means I can make Dee do them. ).
Woah. Your new word goal for the first 10 days is staggering. GO FOR IT!!!
Cool cover idea as well!

Uh, is babbling symptomatic of NaNoWriMo's special brand of insanity?

Most certainly. Had no one told you that yet?

flam, I am in complete support of the last-minute-idea. Just so ya know. So if you want to be talked out of it, don't come anywhere near me in the next few days.

Lol!

--- flambeau