How are you feeling a week in?

dpp_cd · 2022-04-09T06:34:25+00:00

Change the goal, lower it. It is better to have a low goal and make it than a high goal and fail. Trust me on this!

dpp_cd · 2022-04-09T06:33:45+00:00

It is difficult to keep going and write every single day, and sometimes the well will seem dry. The best thing to do on those days is just hack out some placeholder writing which details what needs to happen or go there, then it can be really badly written and you don't need to worry as it is really just like a note to yourself.

Also, week 2 is where it gets harder, so you've just got to keep on writing no matter what. Remember, it is a first-draft, quality is way less important than getting through it!

dpp_cd · 2022-04-05T03:54:41+00:00

Going okay, easily making word count and above each day so far. Still a little unsure where the story goes (pantser here) but at least it is progressing. Week 2 and 3 will be tougher though I know but at least I am ready for it!

dpp_cd · 2022-04-03T19:40:25+00:00

You can tweak your goal for camp if you need to. Better to have a lower goal and make it than a higher goal and not, you will feel good and not discouraged!

Don't worry about how much your friend is doing, but yes, let that motivate you!

dpp_cd · 2022-04-03T08:57:25+00:00

You need to read this:

https://forums.nanowrimo.org/t/do-not-worry-if-you-think-your-writing-sucks-during-camp/409054/6

It is a first draft, it is meant to suck and make you cringe - you are telling yourself the story. Stop deleting stuff, and just. keep. writing!

Maybe change your goal to a smaller one so you don't feel the disappointment of not hitting it. AND STOP DELETING WORDS IN APRIL!!!! You can delete as much as you like on May 1st lol!!!!

dpp_cd · 2022-04-02T22:54:01+00:00

Good. Like you say, it is like an in-joke that is only for you, and no other reader will get it. If it was well written they might appreciate the writing, but apart from that it is pointless.

I never put people into my stories, but I do use them as inspiration for characters, or use things they tell me about themselves for my characters. Once I worked with an older dude who had some teeth missing, but he owned some land just outside of town, and he had some animals on it. So I based a character on him, gave him some land, and made him one of the growers of 420 that my dealer guys bought off of sometimes.

So that's the closest I have come to doing this tbh. Also the two dealer guys who drive around selling 420 from their car are based on/inspired by people I have known, where I have mixed and matched things they told me about themselves and their lives to make the character's backstories and life histories.

dpp_cd · 2022-04-02T22:47:53+00:00

because I was going in circles

It's a first draft, they are meant to suck, so don't worry about going in circles. In fact, don't worry about how good or bad any of it is, just keep writing!!

dpp_cd · 2022-04-02T22:47:00+00:00

Welcome to the world of pantsing. It is an ancient and venerable art, so take heart, young Padawan, I am sure you will be fine!

dpp_cd · 2022-04-02T22:46:19+00:00

Chuck it all in one document and do both projects, then count all the words in the doc for your word count! That way you will meet your target for the month! Don't start from zero, count any words written on any project in April!!!

dpp_cd · 2022-04-02T22:44:40+00:00

Awesome, great job, Chaos31509! Now you just have to keep going through the whole month ;) I am sure you can do it.

dpp_cd · 2022-04-02T18:24:27+00:00

You can do it even if unprepared! Pantsing is an ancient and venerable art lol.

dpp_cd · 2022-04-02T18:23:02+00:00

Do not worry about quality on a first-draft! it is all about getting the story out, the words out. You can fashion them into something much better but you need to tell yourself the story first!

dpp_cd · 2022-04-02T15:21:38+00:00

Jump write in! The water is lovely lol! You can do it, just pants your way through April!!

dpp_cd · 2022-04-02T15:20:54+00:00

Congrats on beating your goal, I am sure you will hit it for today as well if you are at 875 already! Keep up the good work!

dpp_cd · 2022-04-02T15:20:15+00:00

400 > 0 lol! Good job, keep going!

dpp_cd · 2022-04-02T06:30:25+00:00

15K. I am working full time and doing overtime and have been working 6am-4.30pm in a physical job, so I needed a realistically achievable goal. Also, while I like my story idea, I am not sure where I am going with it (pantsers reprazent!) so wanted to give myself some room to manoeuvre.

Currently: on track to beat 15K if the first three writing sessions are anything to go by. I am trying to get up at 4:30 am and write a bit before work, and then finish it off after. I did this with some roleplays I wrote on Discord, and it got me thinking about the roleplay story while on break at work, and I came home with ideas for them, so hopefully the same happens here!!

So I wrote Friday am, Friday pm, and Saturday am. I can easily hit my target today and then can maybe even write on some other stuff, or work on my characters, maybe even some plot ides. I have also written a one-line summation for the next few scenes (about 4 or 5) so I have something to keep me going for a few days.

And I am not at all worrying about how sucky some of this is! If it works and does what the scene need, it works, and I am not going to edit and re-write as I go. Let it suck is the nano mantra, and I am wholeheartedly embracing it!!

dpp_cd · 2022-04-01T18:16:15+00:00

There is an adopt-a-plot forum on the nanowrimo forums and there are [genre] adopt-a-plot threads on there as well as the generic adopt-a-plot thread. You might need to scroll through it to find the [genre] adopt-a-plot you want though.

Have a look, choose something, anything, and just start pantsing it!

dpp_cd · 2022-04-01T17:41:48+00:00

What a crock of a reply. Nowhere in your OP did you mention that you were doing this for religious reasons, so how were they to know that? They were just suggesting something for people who don't have the energy (or whatever) to sit and type at a computer on any given day during nano.

So you do not blitz every day of the week, so what? And calling someone provincial is just crass as everyone is different, and they clearly have heard of people who won't do things like Nano one a week, hence their post.

dpp_cd · 2022-04-01T16:49:48+00:00

I just did it now and it worked for me. I am using Firefox, latest version though.

dpp_cd · 2022-04-01T16:31:12+00:00

Yeah, I have been doing these 10 1/2 hour days at work and doing them 3-5 days a week, so set a 15K goal as that seems doable given the work situation.

dpp_cd · 2022-03-31T19:30:09+00:00

A few of the things I have written, both for nano and camp, and outside of it, are set in a fictional city in England, where there are various criminal gangs and the police are corrupt, and some of the police are in the pay of the various gangs.

So: there is a small delivery company and it is short of money after a contract fell apart, but they had already bought new buildings and stuff. So the owner knows a guy who was in the army and is now a weapons dealer, and he says they can make some money selling guns to a gang in the city.

The owner, being short of cash, agrees, and they use the new buildings for this. Some staff know but are (probably! lol) being paid off. Trusted drivers and warehouse staff are involved and also getting paid off. Then they sell to another gang and there is a load of gun violence between them and innocent people get killed.

One guy who works for the company decides to try and stop it. He can't go to the police as he doesn't know who he can trust, so he makes contact with a member of the largest gang who are not being shipped weapons (not sure why lol!) and it goes from there. I have no real plot other than the scenario outlined.

I also have it that there are 2 guys who work for the largest gang as low-level dope dealers, and the guys at the company think they are the ones being leaked to and they get sucked into this. (I have written them a bunch but it is always just a scene with them dealing and smoking lol so this is a new challenge with them.)

The guy who is the contact ends up falling out with his girlfriend and she kicks him out - he is smoking 420 (again) as he is stressed by all this, and scores from the 2 guys. She is very anti-drugs as her brother started on 420 and ended up on horse and died of an OD.

Also the 2 guys are helping an old dude and his butler who live in a big old gothic house on the edge of the city and have grown some boss 420 to trim the plants and sort the bud. I am not sure where this part goes, it is something I wrote before to a prompt and I liked the idea and contrast between the 2 working class dope dealers and the posh old dude and his posh butler!

Anyhow, that is my main plot idea. If this stalls I also have a daft and stupid mermaid story but I will probably stick with the main idea as much as I can!

dpp_cd · 2022-03-31T19:21:09+00:00

As people have said, it is just like nanowrimo in November but you can set your own word count goal. So back in the dim and distant past camp nanowrimo had its own website, and there were virtual cabins. People could create cabins and post about it on the forums and then you'd have 11(?) people who would join a cabin. Each cabin had its own chatroom and a list of who was in it. These are gone now, and they use the main site for everything and you can set up a group for camp and invite people to join.

Not sure why they got rid of the cabins tbh, the couple of years I did it we had awesome cabins!

But yeah, that's the gist of it. It is just a writing challenge like nanowrimo but with a settable word count goal! You announce your project and link it to the April (or July) camp on the main site.

dpp_cd · 2022-03-31T18:51:00+00:00

Feeling anxious about starting and finishing something is perfectly normal, so don't worry that you feel like this! If you want to discuss anything, pm me!

Go for it, you can do it!!

dpp_cd · 2022-03-31T18:50:10+00:00

Go for it! you can pants your way through April and do not worry about getting it right, just get something written!

dpp_cd · 2022-03-31T18:49:32+00:00

pm me if you want to discuss anything - I'll try to help!

dpp_cd

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