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Post by chao nli on Oct 25, 2012 5:50:23 GMT -5
For me the amount of outlining depends on the genre I write...
Regular NaNo is a regular romance, so no big outline needed. I have the main characters and usually the charaters' environment (like family and friends) also provide me with the sub-plot. Setting is always connected with Christmas, so once I decide on the location I need a few local sights and I'm about set.
For camp I tried a totally different genre and found that I can't wing it. I had already done some decent background outline, but about half of it was missing in the end and it seriously stumped me. Needless to say that I didn't win camp.
And then there's fanfiction, which is the only genre where I use timelines. But that's because I always try to be in canon as much as possible and I always cringe when other people have the protagonists listen to an MP3-player in the early 1990s or use antibiotics at the battle of Waterloo. Or for simplicity have all characters be the same age despite canon clearly stating age differences.
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Post by PFA on Oct 25, 2012 12:15:43 GMT -5
I tend to have a vague idea of what I'm doing and wing the rest of it. XD Probably not the best plan, but
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Post by Birdy on Oct 25, 2012 16:45:13 GMT -5
I tend to have a vague idea of what I'm doing and wing the rest of it. XD Probably not the best plan, but Same here. xD; *highfives* |
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Post by Zylaa on Oct 25, 2012 16:56:32 GMT -5
I write towards scenes. XD I have scenes in mind and vague plot ideas of how to connect them.
F'rinstance, for this NaNo I have maybe five scenes towards the beginning, four in the middle, and three at the end where I mentally have everything pretty well planned out, from the dialogue to the movements the characters make to what they're feeling. I know the order for all of them, and I have a vague idea of how to get from one to the other (some vaguer than others). Aside from that, no formal outline.
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Post by Terra on Oct 25, 2012 17:06:10 GMT -5
...Dang, I still haven't really made any plans for my short story quasi-NaNo thing. xD
I mean, I've done a little brainstorming, but I haven't done any real planning.
I guess I'm gonna wing it then? Whee...that's gonna go well.
(At least they're not full-length novels...)
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Post by PFA on Oct 25, 2012 21:43:06 GMT -5
I write towards scenes. XD I have scenes in mind and vague plot ideas of how to connect them. F'rinstance, for this NaNo I have maybe five scenes towards the beginning, four in the middle, and three at the end where I mentally have everything pretty well planned out, from the dialogue to the movements the characters make to what they're feeling. I know the order for all of them, and I have a vague idea of how to get from one to the other (some vaguer than others). Aside from that, no formal outline. That's kind of how I write, too. XD Of course last year I had the horrible problem that I had gobs of scenes I wanted to do and got to none of them.  |
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Post by Kristykimmy on Oct 26, 2012 7:17:50 GMT -5
I write towards scenes. XD I have scenes in mind and vague plot ideas of how to connect them. F'rinstance, for this NaNo I have maybe five scenes towards the beginning, four in the middle, and three at the end where I mentally have everything pretty well planned out, from the dialogue to the movements the characters make to what they're feeling. I know the order for all of them, and I have a vague idea of how to get from one to the other (some vaguer than others). Aside from that, no formal outline. That is totally how I've got this story going on in my head, which is killing me since I want them out. I'm almost as excited for November as I was last year, it can't come soon enough. |
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Post by Breakingchains on Oct 26, 2012 14:35:18 GMT -5
My pre-planning is taking me a lot longer than expected... I want to give it as much time as it needs to stew in my head, so I may end up not participating, or joining late.
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Post by M is for Morphine on Oct 27, 2012 18:15:43 GMT -5
So, it's the last weekend before Nano. A lot of areas are having their first meetups and some kick-off parties. There was one in Philadelphia today.
Anyone go to one, or will be going? How much does the offline presence enter into your NaNoing?
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Post by Kristykimmy on Oct 27, 2012 18:57:24 GMT -5
So, it's the last weekend before Nano. A lot of areas are having their first meetups and some kick-off parties. There was one in Philadelphia today. Anyone go to one, or will be going? How much does the offline presence enter into your NaNoing? Nada. No one in RL even knows I'm doing NaNo. Then again, no one in my family probably even knows what NaNo is, so I haven't bothered mentioning it. I get enough crap about my 'Neo fanfiction' as they love to call it, as if that makes it shameful somehow, so they'd probably love to rip my ideas apart. XP *huggles you all* Which makes me grateful for the people here who encourage me to write. |
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Post by Sheik on Oct 27, 2012 19:12:20 GMT -5
So, it's the last weekend before Nano. A lot of areas are having their first meetups and some kick-off parties. There was one in Philadelphia today. Anyone go to one, or will be going? How much does the offline presence enter into your NaNoing? I'm not personally going to one, but my brother is soon. I was considering asking him to take me along, but I figured it'd be awkward with the age gap between me and the rest of them. XD I don't think anyone besides my family knows I'm doing NaNo (or knows what NaNo is anyway). My friends are probably sick of me talking about my writing, so that rules them out. XD *hugs Kristy* lessthanthreeee <3 |
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Post by Breakingchains on Oct 27, 2012 20:50:41 GMT -5
I've never attended a kickoff. I've thought about it, but I'm not sure I really want to.
I dunno, it's just, I like to argue talk about writing, and I like teaching new writers the ins and outs when they have questions, but writing itself is such a solitary pursuit for me. Talking about my own work or working in a roomfull of writers both seem tremendously awkward. xD My family knows, that's pretty much it.
Kristy: Wow, I'm sorry. :< It never ceases to baffle me how many writers' families are discouraging or even hostile about writing.
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Post by Kristykimmy on Oct 27, 2012 21:51:29 GMT -5
BC: S'okay, because I'm gonna be a famous writer and they'll be sorry when I talk about what jerks they were on the Today Show. (I can dream, right?) XDDDD
Gotta quick question, do you think Katie Carry sounds too much like Katy Perry? Because, she's not modeled on her or named for her, and I only noticed this after I'd already fixed my character in my mind with that name, and I seriously don't want people thinking I named her after Katie Perry.
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Post by PFA on Oct 28, 2012 0:15:33 GMT -5
There was a kickoff in my area this year for once, like literally 5-10 minutes away maybe, and I was really tempted to go to it just because I could. Buuut in the end I didn't. XD; I'm kind of a socially awkward person who doesn't really like to talk about her writing out loud anyway, so
(also there's that thing where I'm kind of doing an NT story this year and I thought that would be awkward)
As for offline NaNoing in general, my family knows I'm doing it, and a few of my RL friends at least know I've done it before—I actually brought my NaNo winner certificates to a "show off your talents" display thing for a youth group once—but I don't tend to talk about it overmuch because of the previously mentioned socially awkward thing.
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Post by M is for Morphine on Oct 28, 2012 2:37:17 GMT -5
Haha, yeah. I've got mad social anxiety. XD But if something social comes up I generally force myself to go to it because otherwise it's so easy for me to get stuck in an ' avoidance cycle'. Because heaven knows I don't need to get worse.
I was awkward and I basically wanted to die, lol. But I broke out of my comfort zone and met some kind, supportive people.
It started with a seminar, which in my mind I was picturing to be 'person stands in front of a room and talks to us', but was really a more participatory round table thing. They went around the table and had us introduce ourselves, with our name and how long we've been doing this, and a quick summary of our nano idea. It was funny, because everyone else there was far more outgoing and talked at some length. When they got to me I spat out like two sentences.
The seminar was general advice with people sharing what helped them finish before. A lot of very experienced people pitching in, including a seven time winner. Dang.
There was a kick-off party after, so we could all meet each other outside of a setting where we'd be trying to get stuff done. There were some pre-planned ice breaker sort of activities, one of which was actively horrible (a writing prompt thing with a partner where we were to share what we had at the end) but the table went all the way to the wall and there were like 8 people between me and the door so escape was not possible. Oh, how I wanted to.
The other thing was a 'scavenger hunt' where they gave you a list of things and you had to find other people with those qualities. I was about the only person in the room for 'has a character that is an animal or inanimate object', which was funny.
So other than briefly wanting to become one with the carpet it was a pretty positive experience. I loved hearing other people's ideas.
Also wow, it sucks that your family is so unsupportive Kristy. : / I hope you get to make that Today Show dream come true. |
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