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Post by Poofiemus on Oct 3, 2007 23:36:59 GMT -5
Yeah, the fact that it's so slow is definitely a problem. I think that every year they must underestimate the number of participants or soemthing. Well, this is going to sound odd, but I've ditched my old novel plan. I'm going for just developing a few characters and winging it. And taking lots of dares. Lots and lots of dares.
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Post by Pipe Organ Wolf on Oct 3, 2007 23:56:59 GMT -5
I really hope you're not giving it up entirely. I was rather interested!
I've started typing up short documents with ideas and filing them. Whenever I'm backed up against a wall, I pull out the file. Either I find something that gets me going in my original direction, or I find something and just run with it. No sense in wasting ideas. lol
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Post by Poofiemus on Oct 4, 2007 2:01:56 GMT -5
I haven't given it up, but it just didn't suit me at the time. With so much of my time being sucked up by my classes this semester, I kind of feel I would be happier working without an outline. Besides, even though people who wing it often run into trouble word-count-wise, I envied that freedom last year. I guess I thought, "Don't knock it till you've tried it!" Still, the triple novel's on hold while I wait for a time when I don't mind working with such a tight outline. Usually, I just keep my stories filed in my head. I've found that, in the case of key plot points at least, I'll end up stewing over them until I get them just right. Then, when I sit to write, it's all just connecting the dots. I will keep a list of the character's physical attributes and of where thigns are located, though. Details like that tend to slip through the cracks when I'm so concerned with the drama of the moment. =P That's how I worked last year. I had a skeleton of plot points and I had my characters. The rest was just letting it all run its course. With the triple novel I've put on hold, though, I want to use time travel to connect them. I also want to play with the reprecussions of what the time travel does. Considering that there's a huge swath of the middle arc where I'm not even sure what happens, this is a problem. I want to spend some more time stewing over this one before I make the outline, and I definitely want a real outline on this sucker before I write. And with my current plan...Well, it's kind of anything goes. XD I'm going to have a tender love scene where all the dialogue is in Japanese, but the narration is in English. Oh, and another character decides to believe that he's an omlette. For no reason. Thank the dares for these.
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Post by dragonchampion on Oct 4, 2007 7:53:26 GMT -5
I haven't located my USB yet and the story I was talking about hasn't had any new thoughts for it pop up so I started a new story, again. This one has seven main characters, the twist they're all siblings. And I threw in some supernatural and magic stuff just make things more interesting and help the story progress in a unique manner.
I just like to right out the bios for my main characters, and occasionally the weapons and gear they have. So if my mind wanders I can keep on track with how they would respond to the situation.
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Post by Poofiemus on Oct 4, 2007 16:43:38 GMT -5
Dude, save SOMETHING for NaNo! After all, like they say on the FAQ's, "Previously written prose is punishible by death."
Also, you might want to think of a redundancy system for your novel(s). What I did last NaNo was that I saved my novel to my hard disk, and then right before I closed it each time I did a save-as and saved a copy on my USB drive as well. I've heard of people emailing their novels to themselves and using Googledocs as backup systems as well.
Of course, the obsessive backing up just sort of comes with being a NaNo participant, I've discovered. I remember once last year a fire alarm went off in my dorm building, and before I even grabbed my coat or keys I saved a copy of my novel to my USB stick, chanting "NaNo NaNo NaNo!" at a frantic pace. I was a little embarassed to realize afterwards that I was willing to forego necessities like keys and coat for my novel, but that's how it seems to go. ^^;
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Post by madsniper on Oct 4, 2007 18:32:21 GMT -5
*lol* Obsessive backing-up is a trait all creators should develop, really. Poof, go ahead and make the DNS club thread, I'd feel kinda pretentious making it myself.^^ So, Nano forbids entering novels that have already been started? Cuz I'll have to warn my sister about that if that's the case. Okay, I'm starting a Nano thread in the General section, so let us resume this conversation there!
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Post by Pipe Organ Wolf on Oct 5, 2007 7:57:22 GMT -5
I do the same thing when writing music. I've totally got you topped, though. When on a serious writing kick, I'm saving to the hard drive, printing multiple hard copies, and saving to multiple USB drives. Unless I'm actively typing, I keep one drive and hard copy in the office. It's just across the parking lot, and in a completely different building. I get rather paranoid about the idea of fire.
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Post by madsniper on Oct 5, 2007 13:32:29 GMT -5
I suggest also keeping a disk with the entire work on it at a friend or family member's house. Can never be to careful.
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Post by Poofiemus on Oct 6, 2007 1:06:32 GMT -5
Well, when you're changing it at a rate of almost 2K words a day, doing that is a bit impractical, but after November's over that's perfect. I've also heard of people who burn their novels onto CDs and store them in fireproof safes after November's finished.
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Post by dragonchampion on Oct 6, 2007 13:02:15 GMT -5
We use 2 have one of those, until it decided 2 not ever open again. We just let it be for a few years then when the stress got 2 b 2 much my dad went mideval on it, with and Axe; Hammer and chisel. ______________________________________ Yes i know that I have a typo. I do that sometimes
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Post by webrover on Feb 2, 2008 12:32:14 GMT -5
Do what RA Salvatore does when he runs out of idea's for a particular leg of his protagonists journey. SWITCH TO ANOTHER CHARACTER. I mean, give another perspective on the tale, it not only look's good, but makes people think "Wow, that's in-depth and plot revealing."
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Post by dragonchampion on Feb 2, 2008 13:13:49 GMT -5
Not that easy, I've got all the main characters bunched together right now.
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Post by webrover on Feb 2, 2008 23:45:16 GMT -5
Dosnt have to be a main character. I remember him going off on a tangent about a mason, building a part of a wall, and by chance, overhearing a conversation about the story, or something like that. Of course, the guy dies mysteriously. Just something to convey a passing of time.
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Post by Poofiemus on Feb 8, 2008 14:48:32 GMT -5
Rover's got a point. And even if your characters are bunched together physically, it doesn't mean they're exactly with one another psychologically. If you switch to a different one of them, it sometimes gives insight into how they view one another. Good character development, especially if you have character-related plot twists planned in the future.
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Post by dragonchampion on Feb 8, 2008 17:27:38 GMT -5
I see your point, I just added another main character in so I'll see where that takes me for a while, I'm planning on having nine main characters. One for each elemental force, plus one extra to represent a special significance I have created.
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