Well, as far as characters and names go, I have four main characters, and thanks to Ithilwen('s randomly-selected pages of books), I also have their names:

Instinct - A high school girl who is just having average teenager troubles with love and life.
Moment - A young man and new pastor who has great ambitions for changing the world but is struggling to keep things in his home world with his wife stable.
Third - A girl who recently graduated college. Shy and with almost no self-confidence, she always talks in the third person, and is also quite the "nerd" in various ways.
Crush - A college boy who is more interested in partying it up than anything else and who likes playing up his "bad boy" persona.

I guarantee all of you, The State will do horrible, horrible things to all of them, and they will most definitely not be the same at the end of the story.

I don't have an outline yet, because i still haven't decided what i'm doing ...

I usually outline my NaNoWriMo stories, so i'll probably outline whatever i write this year. If i don't work on last year's, in which case i'll have last year's outline to work from.

Really should find some time to work on this.

Well, as far as characters and names go, I have four main characters, and thanks to Ithilwen('s randomly-selected pages of books), I also have their names.

I'm curious about this method of name selection. I didn't see it mentioned earlier.

my character names so far:

Kaylee Prescott
Resa Anderson

only two = lame
I'm still thinking I love choosing names, and I like to find names that arn't really typical (i.e. Bob, Jane, Jason)

here's my book cover - I might make another one in case I can try and make it a bit better...
(click to make bigger)

All right. So I've decided to do Nano again. Instead of writing my novel, I'll be editing it (I've already spent several months on this manuscript). That places me squarely in the Rebels category.

It's a religious thriller (I love saying that, because it sounds like such a hilarious contradiction) set in a fictional country. My characters names:

Ty Keawe (It's Hawaiian)--An ex-convict turned handyman turned hitman
Luke Weaver--A pastor, teacher, father and husband. He's my hero.
Miri (Miri hasn't got a last name yet, poor woman)--An EMT

Names aren't usually much of a difficulty for me. I usually cycle through a few names in my first draft, but pretty much everyone ends up with a name similar to the one they started with. I started off with Luke being called Mark, but then when he'd get to talking with the archangel Michael, it'd get confusing. And when Mark and Michael were talking about Mark's son Matt...well, I decided that Mark just had to go. Hence, Luke.

I have to admit, Stardf, your book sounds like quite the adventure. I'm tempted to try something like that myself someday.

Queen Susan, I don't think Rylan sounds too medieval as long as you pair it with a proper last name. Rylan Astin sounds okay to me.

Has anyone ventured much onto the Nano forums? I've checked things out a bit around there, particularly in the 'Christian Teens' thread.

Well, as far as characters and names go, I have four main characters, and thanks to Ithilwen('s randomly-selected pages of books), I also have their names.

I'm curious about this method of name selection. I didn't see it mentioned earlier.

Mainly because I came up with that method on a whim and on the spot.

Basically, take a couple of books near you, turn one to a random page, and go to the third sentence on that page. Find a word that seems like it can pass as a name (not any actual names). Repeat as necessary.

Glad to hear it, Shadowlander and wolfloversk! I hope it helps.

Basically, take a couple of books near you, turn one to a random page, and go to the third sentence on that page. Find a word that seems like it can pass as a name (not any actual names). Repeat as necessary.

Oooh, that sounds like a cool idea! I still need to pick about... six names (secondary characters and my Big Bad), so I may have to try this.

I haven't officially signed up yet, but I happened to think about NaNoWriMo a few days ago and decided that I really should do it this year.

I've had an idea for a Roman Britain historical fiction story in my head for a couple of months, but I feel totally unprepared as far as research. Would you guys recommend trying to learn it all in the next two weeks so I can actually try to be accurate? Or should I be really casual and make up stuff that sounds good? In that case my book would probably end up as a Rosemary Sutcliff/Kipling imitation.

I've never attempted anything this long before, so I'm also thinking I might have my hands full without a lot of stress about historical accuracy. Maybe I should go back to that ancient plot I planned in junior high...

Edit: I forgot to mention that after reading 8 pages of your inspiring comments, I'm now drawing out character/plot webs and thinking about searching for Celtic/Roman names online.

hogglestock: I would definitely give doing historical research a go, it is amazing what you can learn in two weeks, and take lots of notes, about dates and small details and whatnot, so that you don't have to memorise it all, but will still know and have it handy for when you're writing.

As for starting research, I'd say just jump right into it- pick a spot, an incident, an issue, a subject, and just learn what you can about that, and it will invariably take you naturally on to the next thing, and from there to the next, and so on. It's a really rewarding experience. It's not as daunting as it sounds. I am doing a historical fiction novel this year, which has involved a lot of historical research, all of which I have really done in one month, so I can somewhat understand about that aspect. But it's so much better than just making it up as one goes along.

hogglestock, I have to say Sutcliff/Kipling seems like it would be pretty decent, but then I'm a fan of both.

I would not recommend trying to learn it all, that'd be overwhelming. But a little research can go a long way. If you have an idea of the basic plot and setting, I'd recommend looking up resources related to the plot and time period. Who was in that geographical area? What sort of trade went on? And then you'd research the trades and history of some of your characters, and then keep doing research in November as you have time or the situations you write require it.

Argh...I have a few more novel ideas added in since my last time posting. I think I'm going to have to settle on the children's novel for simplicity's sake. I don't have enough time left to collect enough thoughts on any of the others before starting.

Oh, and I saw a question a bit back about favorite writing spots...well, I can't write by hand, or it would be my room, because that's my haven. But my computer is downstairs in the schoolroom, and I don't have a laptop, so that's the only place I write.

Well I'm finally getting the beginnings of a plot. I'm going to work on it more in a little but basically it's going to be a quest to find 4 powerful/magical gems. I've got a few characters in the works as well.

Oh, and I saw a question a bit back about favorite writing spots...well, I can't write by hand, or it would be my room, because that's my haven. But my computer is downstairs in the schoolroom, and I don't have a laptop, so that's the only place I write.

Really? That's interesting because I have the opposite problem. I find writing on the computer is harder to get into creatively than writing with pencil and paper. Of course, I have to type for NaNo, but I try to avoid writing on the computer whenever I can help it. I even do a lot of my editing by hand - I print out sheets of story and end up scribbling all over them. The ideas flow so much easier for me that way. But the downside is I have to type it all out when I'm done, which is time-consuming.

I don't really have favorite writing spots. Our computers remain fairly stationary, and with eight people in one house writing by hand mostly occurs where i can find the place rather than in preferred locations. I'm a homebody too, so i rarely write anywhere else.

Well, i've decided on fanfiction this year, but not the one i was working on last year. Maybe that'll come up again next year ... or something. Anyway, since this year was similar to last year in that i had the idea seize me early in October and have no original fiction ideas, i decided might as well just go with it.

It's going to be a crossover between Leverage (cable TV show) and The Hunger Games trilogy. It will consist of five 10,000 word stories (give or take), each from a different character's perspective, in first person present tense. So i'll have to take a break from some of my other stories to make lists of stylists, prep teams, mentors, arenas, other tributes, stuff about the districts, not to mention all the re-reading and re-watching i'm going to have to do.

I think what NaNoWriMo really helps me in focusing on one single thing, even when i don't feel like working on it. That's an area that definitely needs more work in my life.

Writing spots: A laptop. That's a must - I hate desktops.
And somewhere where I'm not usually. Not at home. At a coffee shop, or a friends house, or something like that. Something cozy, with comfy chairs and some low noise is nice.