h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: NaNoWriMo - One Month, One Novel, No Problem - A27952905
Author: boredlaura - don't kill trees, inconvenience electrons instead - U172849

Peer Reviewers meet NaNoWriMo.

I'm not sure about this one, it just doesn't sit as comfortably with me as my last few, but I open the discussion to the floor regardless.

it seems fine to me

you might want to check the NaNo site - I know from doing it a couple of years ago that at least one writer has had their NaNo published.

This is good! Have you done it yourself? Can you tell us about the sense of achievement (or otherwise) you got when you finished it? Can you say whether it improved your ability to write well?

Or if you didn't do it, can you get these from someone who did?

As a keen NaNoWriMoer, I'm delighted to see this Entry.

Small typo: rudimentarty > rudimentary

In answer to Pointing..., I finally finished one last year - I didn't have a novel by the end, but an uninhibited and to be honest far-more-vibrant-than-normal 50,000 words that I wouldn't have had otherwise. I recommend it!

I like Baty's quote from the website: 'Win or lose, you rock for even trying.'

Nice entry.

Will anyone else be attempting the challenge this year?

*puts hand up*

I forgot last year

I can tell you though, that when you start, and you're thinking "1,666 words a day? I'll never manage that" it seems almost impossible that you can make it to 50,000 and/or the end of the month.

And then when you get started, and you realise that on the first day you've done 2,500 words and you don't want to stop, you wonder how you can restrict yourself to 50,000 words.

Then after a few days, round about 12,000 words you can't do a day for some reason and you start to get twitchy because it's like an addiction.

Then you catch up and you're ahead again for a few days and everything is fine and dandy.

Then you get writer's block. And you start to make lovely coloured spreadsheets to average out how many words a day you have to do if you miss a day... miss 2 days... miss 3 days... then you start to dream about typing and writing and you start to panic. Then you realise why you should never delete anything - just make parts you want to cut or edit or whatever a different colour - then you go back to your spreadsheet.

And then it all starts again, and on 30th November you post your 50,122 words with a huge grin on your face, and for a few days you're walking on air, and all your RL friends think you're mad. But your invisible (NaNo) friends are all doing the same so you feel part of something.

and, if you are me, you print out 3 copies of your certificate, just in case you lose one.


oops... got a bit carried away there!

I shall attempt it.
My friend introduced me to it a few years back and attempted it herself, but I always forgot until afterwards. Besides, writing a novel is not exactly easy.

But this year I'm going to give it a spin because I have an idea and need the goal. I never get anywhere unless there's a goal to complete. So 1,666 words a day it shall be.

Two thirds of a word? I wonder if anyone's ever taken it so far as to not only average 1666.666 words per day but to actually write that many words each day, maybe leaving off the last two letters of a word.

Anyways, I've heard of this idea, and I think it's a pretty interesting concept. I've never been much of a fiction writer, and I've tried, but it really does stimulate a person just to get the juices flowing and start thinking about what you want to say, and how best to evoke a thought. Just getting a novel written is a powerful thing, no matter how bad it is. And this is a good, conventional entry. Well-timed too

so, let's try to get it in the guide before November starts

anyone got anything to say about the actual entry?

Not much. It looks good to me. Maybe some of Sho's description of participation could be included? Or perhaps comments from other past participants, especially successful ones, describing how it 'feels'? Possibly quotes could be got from the website forum.

well, I definitely feel that a wee bit of info is needed about the success of some writers

I found these people (jammy people!) in the FAQ

Jon F. Merz---NaNoWriMo novel: The Destructor (2003)
Lani Diane Rich---NaNoWriMo novels: Time Off For Good Behavior (2004) and Maybe Baby (2005)
Sara Gruen---NaNoWriMo novel: Flying Changes (2005)
Rebecca Agiewich---NaNoWriMo novel: Breakup Babe (2006)
Francesca Segre---NaNoWriMo novel: Daughter of the Bride 2006)
David Niall Wilson---NaNoWriMo novel: Vintage Soul (2007) and The Mote in Andrea's Eye (2006)
Gayle Brandeis---NaNoWriMo novel: Self Storage (2007)
Kimberly Llewellyn---NaNoWriMo novel: Cashmere Boulevard (2007)
Geonn Cannon---NaNoWriMo novel: On the Air (2007)
Lisa Daily---NaNoWriMo novel: The Dreamgirl Academy (2008)
Jacob and Diane Anderson-Minshall---NaNoWriMo novel: Blind Curves (2007)
James R. Strickland---NaNoWriMo novel: Looking Glass (2007)
Kathy Cano-Murillo---NaNoWriMo novel: Love Shine (2007)
Ann Gonzalez---NaNoWriMo novel: Running for My Life (2008)
Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen---NaNoWriMo novel: The Compound (2008)

A couple of additions inspired by the comments.

Anything else?

oh I like it


*settles down with to wait for a friendly** scout*

** not to suggest that there are unfriendly scouts...

Thanks for the read. Just wanted to say, I'm doing Nano this year.

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any chance of getting it on the FP close to the beginning of November so it's not too late for people to join in