Is anyone here participating in NaNo this year? I'm getting my prewrite/planning started so I'll be ready to go on November 1st. This will be my first time in a while writing realistic fiction instead of fantasy, so I'm both excited and nervous!

I'd love to hear from anyone else about what you're doing, how you're planning, anything! And of course next month we can update each other on word counts, etc.

Good luck you totally got this!! I wish you the very best~

Sadly I never could take part in this... my issue is I have to pretty much lock myself away and write to avoid distraction and actually get stuff done. Maybe one year I'll try for real but for now I just sit and envy all the amazingly talented people who actually can do it!

NaNo! <3 I participate every year, but I'm garbage at actually finishing. xD

I've been working on characterization and some outlines the last couple of weeks? I kind-of want to just turn a wall into a giant post-it board of things I need to do/write.

This will be my first year participating!

But I have two novel ideas and I can't make decisions to save my life.

I have been thinking about it! I have a real novel idea for the first time in years. I have participated plenty of times in the past but I only ever win when I'm journalling, not when I try to write fiction. Maybe this year will be different, but my fallback plan is to write fanfiction if I start petering out. I just wanna start writing regularly again! It's so hard. :s

I usually forget to plan, then forget that it's November, then somewhere around the 5th I actually start participating.

What do you guys do for planning stages? Outlines, chapter planning, character development? I'm pretty bad at planning anything ahead.

I was hoping to participate this year but the past few months have been really rough and I haven't gotten all my prep done. I could try to cram it all in to the next 11 days, but I don't think that would do my story any justice and RL probably wouldn't let me focus on it anyway.

I've considered doing something that is somewhere between a rough draft and a detailed summary for a series. Maybe even for a couple different series if I need more words. It'll pull me out of the reasonably productive groove I'm in right now though so... It's probably not the best idea even if it gives me something to do. However, after managing to make the word count the past two years, I know I'll feel weird about having nothing to show for November 2016. It'll basically be this big blank spot that will bug me if I participate in the future.

Ugh, I just don't know. 😩

This is year 13 for me and the dreaded tie-breaker. I've hit word count 6 times and fallen short 6 times. Been on a roll the last few years, though, so here's hoping.

My planning, if I do any at all, is mostly character development and scribbling down ideas for things that might happen. I've jumped in and even won a few times without any idea what I was going to write or who I was going to write about but I usually at least have some names and a general concept. This year I've got a handful of characters, a general plot, and some potential scenes.

I used to work in a literacy program with kids and I find that the storytelling advice I gave them is actually pretty good for all ages. Write whatever and however works best for you. There simply is no right or wrong way to go about it. Even if all you get is a bunch of scenes that are only tied together by certain characters or even just by the world they're in, that's still something and it still counts. Also, some of the best advice anyone ever gave me was to learn to let go and accept the concept of the "s***ty first draft," which is to say that the first time you write anything new you are writing a first draft and absolutely everyone's first is crap. No matter who they are or how well they write, their first draft is always going to suck when compared to the final product. Learn how to write without revision and only look back to remember where you are and how you got there. My rule for NaNo in particular is to never change anything I've already written unless it's going to add more words.

And that is probably more words than I have ever written in any single post on Subeta.

Planning isn't necessary for every writer. Personally, I'm definitely a planner. I spent a solid part of the past two years working on "templates" (that could probably also be called forms) to help me organize my story information. These personalized templates have pointed questions and useful notes as well, which I add and subtract from as necessary. I've got several story concepts and being able to just go and grab the applicable template for the aspect I am working has helped me tremendously. In particular, it's streamlined my note-making, so that I know where to look now. Before I would try to keep everything organized but it would just become an over-whelming mess. I don't think it helps I write a lot of fantasy/supernatural based stuff which takes more world-building than something set on modern-day Earth with everyday people. But... I just generally make it a habit when I am writing of either having too many distracting thoughts or simply not enough applicable ones if I don't have a solid reference point to remind me of where I am at.

For someone who wants to be more organized but doesn't need to be super-organized like me, I would say that making a readily accessible list of basic information is a good place to start. (Things like the general concept, main protagonist, main antagonist, major secondary characters, time frame... Maybe inspirations, genre... Basically the key points that will be applicable throughout.) I would also suggest outlining. There are so many different ways to do this... Good ol' Roman numerals, a "proper" synopsis, tent poles/seven-point story structure, beat sheet, stream of consciousness, visual storyboard... The list goes on... It's just a matter of whatever helps you get the general concept of the story written down so that you'll have something to reference. It can be incredibly detailed or very basic. And don't worry about sticking to it once you get writing... You can add to it, subtract from it, edit things completely out. A story outline done in the planning stages serves more as a guide than a rule. Creating a character profile (especially for your main/major characters) can be surprisingly helpful when it comes to figuring out the details of the story. Though there are many things that can — and usually should be covered, depending on the story — I find the most important thing for me is figuring out their personality. It informs everything from the way they interact with others to the way they dress. It explains why they did this and why they didn't do that. Looking at different personality type theories (e.g. Jung; Myers-Briggs; Enneagram) is an good way to find a broad range of information to build from. I usually write two or three paragraphs on the topic of personality but even a few words can help serve as a reminder.

Those are really the only three things I do in my planning stage. What makes it such a process for me 90% of the time is that I take it beyond the basic, breaking them down into pieces and examining the different aspects closely. I use Scrivener so I can create folders and text files inside of the Scrivener project main file for whatever story I'm working on, but you can basically do the same thing with folders on your computer or folders/sheet protectors in real life.

Basically, just having any and all notes on hand — organized in a way that is easy accessible for you — helps when you are trying to focus on the actual process of creating the story. If you realize your notes aren't enough, try to figure out what's missing and make more. If you realize that you didn't actually need all the information you gathered up, then keep that in mind next time. Eventually you'll figure out how much planning ahead is necessary for you, whether you should do a little or a lot or none.

I'm writing a space opera this year. Soooo excited!

I do NaNoWriMo every year with my girlfriend. I don't ever finish a novel because I am horrid. :P I'm really going to work hard on the novel I started last year, though, because I really like it.

Hey y'all!

I'll be participating in Nano this year.

I have something of an idea and I've been batting back and forth on some more important points now for about three months XD So close to Nano and I haven't made the decisions.

BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS-- once November 1st hits I'm going to start going and won't stop until the book has ended. (Even if that means 50,000+)

Anyway, I never plan either.x_x I don't do outlines.

I am doing Nano =D I've decided to close down the shoutbox so I don't get distracted. Still deciding on my ideas, might do a novel of short stories =D

9th year doing NaNo! I had a totally new idea I was going to plan out but got super busy last minute, so now I'm going with an alternate choice with characters I know a lot more about. I'm so ready for this v

Planning on it this year because I'd feel terrible if I didn't, but I have no ideas and no motivation this year. This will be the first year I kind of have to drag myself to it.

D:

Arghhhhh so I tried NaNo once, about... ten years ago? And it didn't work out too well. So I have stayed away from it every year. Until now.

I think I'm gonna do it, guys. I have a concept I've had floating in my head for about six years now and I'M FINALLY GOING TO PUT IT TO GOOD USE, DAMN IT.

I'm terrified somebody hold me ;n;

: Yes, I will do NaNoWriMo again this year, (it will be my 9th year.) I love to encourage others and will cheer each and every one of you in your efforts.

I am SO excited to get started!! I have been planning for awhile!

I'm doing Nano a bit, but I'm being honest with myself because I know I'm not going to finish a novel lol, instead I'm using it to focus on the idea I've had in my head for years now, and have started over several times. I'm still mapping out characters and plots and stuff, but that's the fun part I think :P

- That's kinda what I'm doing. I just have a bunch of short stories in mind for some characters I have that have been just swimming in my head, I need to get them out. So, not writing a novel this year, just gonna write as many of those little short stories I can.

- Sounds like me. This is my 8th year doing nano, and I haven't managed to complete a single thing! But I love world building and stuff, so if I try to write a story 'intro' it ends up being basically all 50k words.

- Space opera! That sounds like fun!

Nice to see a lot of familiar UNs on here from previous Nanos!

I've decided not to do NaNoWriMo this year. I also skipped Camp this year after doing one in July 2015, so this will just be a gap year all around which makes me feel better. LOL

That said, I do intend on making an effort to write almost every day this month. I know what I want to do and I'm looking forward to it. However, I'd like to be able to keep track somehow and I'm not sure exactly how I want to go about it... Definitely won't be word count, because some of it will involve streamlining random notes and that means taking away not adding. (And this is pretty much the only reason why I am not officially participating. -sighs-) I'm gonna do some digging and see if I can find something that strikes my fancy.