After going to school for writing but then doing nothing with it and instead starting a family.. I'm so excited to write again. My other half has already been on me about actually doing it this year! (I always talk about it)

I think I'm just going to run with the ideas though. I'm going to get a basic starting idea and run from there :D

Got my OneNote notebooks ready.

How do you all usually prepare? With 9?days to go I would like to try preparing but I never know how to start... which causes me to have a slump after about a week and a half. any tips? <3

I feel that in my bones. I used my English/Literature degree (3 credits short of a Creative Writing minor) for all of a year in any sort of professional setting and NaNo is really about all I do with it now. My goal for 2020 is to finally get an entire rough draft finished. I've got more than enough half-written novels lying around to make that goal achievable.

This year's story only just started coming to me this past weekend. Assuming my mind doesn't change on me at the last minute, it's a horror mystery. A couple of siblings return to their childhood home when their older brother disappears and they discover that it's practically a ghost town now with a missing persons list a mile long. The extent of my planning for NaNo is typically just main characters, basic setting, and a vague concept for the plot. I used to make moodboards and stuff to help with visualization but the site I used for that doesn't exist anymore so I'm trying a Pinterest board for this one.

Honestly now I'm kinda blanking out. I think it might be my meds. Hopefully going to try the fantasy/adventure one and/or finish writing a different story.

@/Emelia Ooh, how cool! I rarely write sci-fi, but I'd like to try my hand at it again sometime! :o I always come up with ideas for sci-fi stories, but can't get them past the concept stage~

@/LadyLola LOL, that happens to me all too often, so I can relate. It's definitely easier to write something you're currently passionate about, in my opinion, even if you have less groundwork!

I'm a mix of nervous and excited, haha. Looking forward to starting, but fearing the unknown later down the road... I'm writing an outline at the moment, but don't figure I'll finish it before November. Once I reach the end of the outline, who knows what's gonna happen, pffft~

[edit] I legit didn't realize there was a second page until after I typed this reply HA!

It depends, for me! I'm doing more prep work this year than I have previously, but usually I have a few tricks for keeping myself going. One of which is looking ahead to scenes I really want to write. If I know I have something to look forward to, I'm much more motivated to keep going. What are your favorite things to write? Dialogue, fights, suspense? Whatever it may be, I'd recommend some self-indulgence in the form of making room for those things here and there, so that you're enjoying the actual writing aspect. I, personally, love to write fights and chase scenes, so I put them in my novels a LITTLE more liberally than I need to. I can always cut them out later if it doesn't serve the story, but if it keeps me writing during NaNoWriMo, then it's worth it to me LOL.

Ahh, I hope you can get yourself organized in time for NaNo! If you need any help with planning or working out plot holes or something, I'm sure everyone here - myself included - would be happy to help! :)

@/Coraychi that was my problem with sci-fi too for a while. I recommend really sitting down to get to know your technology before you go with the story. If you have a strict set of pre-made tools, it makes it a lot easier to write, like magic in a fantasy.

@ Emelia That makes sense! Definitely eliminates problems later down the line, LOL, I've run into quite a few issues with magic systems halfway into a project due to a lack of proper planning. :( It's always fun to branch out and write new genres though, so I'll have to consider some sci-fi plot lines after November! :)

Nervous as all hell!

I haven't got a bit of planning ready and I haven't decided between the Call of Cthulu-esque Whodunnit and the High Fantasy Save The World But In Hell so what little time I have left for planning is basically useless until I can pick

No it's fine, I know what to do and stuff. In college I did get a minor in creative writing. I'm just having mental issues and my meds don't exactly help. Doing some basic exercise might help though.

I'll muddle my way through as always. Maybe THIS year I'll actually get to the end of something.

- Looking forward to writing with you too! :D This year's gonna be a gong show! Was planning on planning, but moving is a BIG chore, so I haven't had time to do much of anything this month except trips to the bank, packing, more trips to the bank, trips to the lawyer. Calling all the places to get my address updated. >.<

you guys are all so much more put together- I don't plan stuff I just wing it lol

I haven't tried to do NaNo since high school lol. but I think this year I'm going to give it a shot -- in the past few months I've been working on a long-form project that I think, for the first time, might actually go somewhere. it would be great to use this opportunity to make myself dedicate more time to actually writing it instead of just doing a lot of planning/notetaking/behind the scenes stuff. It's an urban fantasy with a mostly LGBTQ+ cast and social activism overtones.

Oh man! That kind of writing can be really hard to pull off. It can be difficult to balance the message with the story and characters without coming across as heavy handed. Kudos! I dare not try that at my current writing level. >.<

I think I've done it all the ways! I've started with elaborate outlines, some backstory already written so I know my characters, and a plot arc in mind. I've also seat of the pants'd it. There was one year when I was busy with RL commitments and basically half my story was angsty diary entries!

I think it really depends on your style of writing, honestly. I'm a perfectionist and find I get bogged down in "Making Sure It's Perfect", so for me, just blazing forward helps. Others find the structure of outlines and character sheets helpful.

I haven't tried NaNo for a few years - it's been a nice break since November tends to be busy. But this year, I have a story burning my brain and I'm going to try an outline this year. We'll see, since I'll have to do quite a bit of research in the...checks calendar two days I've got!

I decide just yesterday that I am gonna give it a go again this year. Not gonna have any time for planning so the first week will probably be brainstorming more than anything... The story itself will probably be novella length (20k to 30k words), so it wouldn't be enough words on its own anyway.

I am so excited to start :) Hopefully there will be more pieces connected in my planning before Friday (eep!) but stay tuned for some sprints.

I had fun playing with Google's flip coin tool too. (Big decisions like Will so-and-so die, should they eat cake or cookies, etc)

congrats on your move! Hope it all settles down for you soon!

- Won't have internet until after Nano starts :( Maybe that's a good thing, but I better remember to pull my WIP off google docs while I have wifi!

With work, my 14 month old, and my side crocheting business, I have no idea how I'm going to meet 50k. But I'm going to give it an actual try this year! I'm S. Robyn on Nano if anyone wants to buddy up. I actually don't think I have any buddies on there. xD

Woo, November is basically upon us now!! It's still not midnight for me just yet, but I think I'm going to wait until I wake up tomorrow before I start writing anyway. I'm more likely to actually write something decent once I've gotten some sleep LOL~

I'm sure other people have started already, so if any of you have, how's it going so far?! 👀