I up for NaNo I'll be doing it for the first time, I did campNaNo and that was fun, so I'm really looking forward to NaNo, I'm really excited about my novel, I started planning it way back in summer and have been itching to start writing it for so long, but I'm going to wait till november, it's only a month and half away
I'm SO excited cause my dear artist friend drew the cover for me and it's so so so amazing, I'll post a picture soon

I think I've already said this a few times, but I am more than ready for NaNo. Very excited about it, I have a cover picture, characters and a plot. A lot different from last time, when I realized I was doing it the day after it started, but hopefully it won't be harder.

I've been thinking about NaNo as well. My characters still have some untold tales and future adventures, but unlike the past 2 years, a specific plot idea has yet to come to mind. Still, I'm looking forward to it!

I'm definitely doing NaNo this year. Moreover, I'm bringing back the subject of my very first NaNo story, back in 2007: The State of Mass Confusion! There are going to be new characters and even wackier adventures this time around. (It's going to be written as a stand-alone story rather than as a sequel, though.)

I am so excited for NaNo. I've already got my plot and I'm slowly developing my outline.

Since I'm still waiting for my new computer, I've been trying to get as many character illustrations done to get my characters on paper, so I can actually see what I picture in front of me.
I want to make an illustrated guide book of my world, and have it serve as a reference for all of my ideas when I actually get to start writing again.
Things like character ages, what they wear and what weapons they use.
I'm also writing short stories from my world, mostly stories about important historical characters. Which is really fun especially if it explains or gives more of an understanding to certain people and places in my main books.

that does sound really neat 7chronicles, I wish I could draw the characters of my story, unfortunatly art was never really a strong point, but I am learning though, so maybe someday

Does anyone else here dislike editing? I just hate doing it, I especially feel bad when I have to completely change something either because it was poorly written, or because it doesn't go very well with the story. That is what I have to do with my novel, there are some scenes that have to be totally changed *sigh*
And I am not sure how I did this, but somehow I moved my story back two years and yet one of my characters is still 16 by the end of the story. Originally the beginning of the story was supposed to happen in 1789, which is when this character is born, then I moved her birth date to 1787, yet when I calculated it, Julie is still 16 in 1804

I LOVED editing my NaNo Story, because I could feel how much better I was making it, and I just enjoyed it.

Wow, Elanor, that is really fantastic that you actually managed to get to the editing process of your NaNo! I've never managed to get that far...and always end up just chucking the whole story out the window.

Here are a few pieces of short fiction, should you be interested. I wrote them all this last spring/summer. Enjoy. I really enjoy criticisms (polite ones) and comments. I'm trying to improve on writing.

In the Land of Queer Adventures: by Ruby Gamgee

The Three Children and The Lightning Fairies: a Fairy Tale by Ruby Gamgee

The R.O.O.B. Squad: by Ruby Gamgee

...I wish I could draw the characters of my story, unfortunatly art was never really a strong point...

Ditto here! I have mental images of my characters and would love to see them on paper or computer monitor, but the art-talent muse never visited me. I've considered bribing/commissioning my artistic friends to draw them for me.

...I LOVED editing my NaNo Story...

Glad you enjoyed this process, and could see improvement in your story.

I'm one of those oddballs who usually edits what I write - NaNo is good for me in that it gets me to ignore that temptation - even to the point that I'll edit stories I've already completed (like previous NaNo stories - though those are usually small things like word choice or sentence structure, as opposed to more significant changes). It's not necessarily that I enjoy it; it's just the way I'm wired, I guess.

Thanks for linking some of your work, Ruby. I look forward to reading it soon.

Yay I can't wait for NaNoWriMo! I'm going to attempt two stories this year! I have a primary story which is what I'll write for first, and if I have time I have a secondary story. Crazily enough, though, my primary story is the one I don't have a defined plot for! Lol! I have an outline, cover, and characters for the secondary one, but barely anything for the primary! Oh well, I'll just have to get cracking!

Well, i realize most people are out and NaNo'ing this time of year; but since i'm never able to keep up with these threads, the quietness is actually in my favor. Sort of. Anyway.

I'm working on a crossover fanfic right now, and in the interest of finishing it, i've set it up in a highly structured fashion: ten hundred-word stories (drabbles) for five different characters, each on the same ten topics/settings/ ... uh, kinda hard to describe. Basically, i'm describing something that happens to five different people at five different times, though it's the same thing happening to each of them. Wait, i'm not sure that's any more explanatory. Anyway, i've got three of them done, and am almost done with the fourth; though i'm not completely satisfied with how parts of it have turned out yet.

I think the 100-word limit is a great writing exercise; it forces you to be concise, choose good words that can convey more than one thing, and pick a very small number of points to make - all things i could work on, i'm sure, though especially the last one. They are also a lot easier to finish than long stories.

Random question for writers of fanfiction: do you like crossovers? I love crossovers; so much so that i have a folder in Google Docs devoted to my crossovers, and it has over thirty docs in it.

I've heard of drabbles, Arwenel, and read them on other fiction sites, but haven't tried my hand at them myself. You're quite right about them forcing writers to be concise, choosing just the right words to convey the most meaning.

Ironically, perhaps, that such a strictly-enforced word limit is rather the opposite of NaNo, which inspires us to get words out to reach that 50k limit.

Do I like crossovers?

I've found some very good stories online. One memorable story was a crossover between Gargoyles and Narnia, of all things (several characters end up on the Dawn Treader). It was actually quite good, respectful of both sources. Naturally they encounter Aslan, but I think it was done well.

I've only written one - a crossover between Gargoyles and Avatar: The Last Airbender. (My ditto story/NaNo characters ended up in the Avatar world. That was easy to do since they routinely use a dimensional portal/wormhole in their adventures).

It may have come out as a rather odd story, not strictly adhering to each original universe (though I did try ), but I really enjoyed writing it!

I was wondering about Showing vs. Telling. That's an issue which isn't very clear in my mind.

I've often noticed there will be a sentence that sounds perfectly fine to me, yet other people will criticize it. Whenever I ask why they dislike it, they usually answer, "Because it tells instead of shows." I want to understand this more fully, so I can avoid this problem in my own writings. As it is, I don't understand it, nor would I be able to identify it if the problem arose in one of my books.

Technically, since it's a book and not a movie, we authors are telling everything, since we're telling a story. I understand "Show vs. Tell" in movies -- you just show something happen, instead of letting one of the characters state it in dialogue. But what about in books?

What things should an author "show" instead of "tell", and how is this done?

~Riella

In writing, showing vs. telling works kinda like this:

Telling: Steve was mad. He didn't want to move and leave all his friends behind. He hated that his dad had to get a job in a different state.

Showing: Grace called up to her son, "Steve, how's packing coming?"

Steve stomped down the stairs. "I'm not gonna do it!"

She sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "Steve, honey, I know you're upset - "

"I'm not going to Vermont!"

"Well, where are you going to stay?" She asked, with some exasperation.

"I'll stay with Jimmy! Or Sam, or Ryan, or Tommy! I'm not moving to Vermont!"

---

In the first, the author just lays out everything for the reader. In the second, she gives the readers a chance to pick up on things themselves.

I'm not an expert on this by any means, but i hope the example helps.