Nanowrimo Prep

The official rules of Nanowrimo forbid working on the 50,000 words of the novel before November 1st. However, you're not completely forbidden from working on the the book before November 1st:

http://nanowrimo.org/faq/rules/ wrote:

Do I have to start my novel from scratch on November 1st? Can I use an outline?

Yes.

This sounds like a dumb, arbitrary rule, we know. But bringing a half-finished manuscript into NaNoWriMo all but guarantees a miserable month. You’ll care about the characters and story too much to write with the gleeful, anything-goes approach that makes NaNoWriMo such a creative rush. Give yourself the gift of a clean slate, and you’ll tap into realms of imagination and intuition that are out-of-reach when working on pre-existing manuscripts.

Outlines and plot notes are very much encouraged, and can be started months ahead of the actual novel-writing adventure. Previously written prose, though, is punishable by death.

(Emphasis added.)

Outlines, plot summaries, character profiles: Nanowrimo doesn't start until November, but we can start working on these now! Developing the story’s world and characters will help when November comes around.

This is a general discussion thread for the Nanowrimo prep process. Not sure which idea you want to work on? Share story summaries and see which one other Villagers like best. Not sure about certain plot elements or character motives? Share it here and ask others their opinions!

I'm going to do this! Last year I failed because of school!

So question? Does all of this have to be original? I'm thinking of writing a story of my original characters and friend's original characters in the pokemon world. Is that okay?

Fanfiction is A okay!

Awesome! I'm so going to use that story idea then. Though I did start on chapter one awhile back...

However I am not happy with so I can work on an outline instead and rewrite chapter one when the time comes. I need to figure out an evil team and figure out their plans that are not too typical.

That sounds like a good idea! I have a few ideas, but I'm partial to one in particular. I started writing the beginning of it already, but I'm willing to rewrite it.

I have a prompt which has 100 words written. I'm going to use that little prompt to write my book. I'm winging it. I'm not even gonna do this plot/doctoring stuff. I'm gonna make chibi up as I go. xD

Kind of like with the clue games!

That's a fun way to go, too. XD

Maybe I should make mine a crazy crossover, like my sister's birthday gift. Hmm...

Just make sure you can write 50,000 words worth! xD

Any good ideas for an evil organization in the pokemon world? XD

What about a corporation that uses pokemon as slaves? And the main characters have to figure out a way to free them? and hey what kind of pokemon is used? Perhaps pikachus are being forced to use all their electric powers to power a city until they are drained and actually die?

What kind of evil can happen in a pokemon world? How can pokemon be exploited?

These are good thoughts! I could probably form them into one! Thanks!

I hope so! =)

and hey if you are participating let us know under what is nanowrimo! =D

I've got a few ideas, but the two I'm most interested in I don't want to work on for Nanowrimo. (I want one to be a comic, and I want to spend more time developing the world of the other story.)

The others would be better for Nanowrimo but I don't have any character/plot ideas. Or, I do have plot ideas, but they're really vague. Things like "A college student illegally brings a cat to school, which angers the cat god, who turns the student's five housemates into cats. Now she must take care of all six cats."

or

"A girl finds a necklace in the dumpster. It gives her the ability to fight as a magical girl during her dreams! Because she's fighting in her dreams in a parallel world, she doesn't loose any class time, doesn't risk getting hurt, etc. It's perfect! *cue everything going downhill*"

bahahahah! The second one sounds awesome!!!!

I'll be honest, my plot is very vague. It looks like this:

Main character: Female.

Plot: Something to do with woods.

Woot!

The female is the anthropomorphization of the woods?

Nope! xD It's that vague! Lol!

ZodiacRain wrote:
"A girl finds a necklace in the dumpster. It gives her the ability to fight as a magical girl during her dreams! Because she's fighting in her dreams in a parallel world, she doesn't loose any class time, doesn't risk getting hurt, etc. It's perfect! *cue everything going downhill*"

I think I want to work with this idea. So I guess the next step would be developing the characters and the world. This is all I've got so far:

*The characters and transported to two separate dream worlds. Later on, they appear in a third one; it's when this third world is revealed that the tone of the story becomes much darker. I'm picturing the main characters being used as tools in a civil war in the third world.

*The main character: Genki middle-school or high-school aged girl. At the moment I'm picturing the generic magical girl protagonist: happy, hyper, eager to take on such a "risk-free" job.

*Main character's "muggle" friend: I've only got a stock archtype in my head for her, too. She's much less bright/cheerful to counter the protagonist's cheerfulness. She's concerned by her friend's discussions of her dreams and becomes more concerned as time passes on.

*The other magical girls and boys: I think the main character would be the youngest on the team. The others would be much older than her, though their appearances in the dream world might not reflect that. There'd be a mixture of boys and girls. I'm currently picturing a team of four, 2 men and 2 women. The other women is in a huge state of distress, very depressed at her involvement in these activities. The main character tries to cheer her up, but it doesn't work very well.

Maybe one of the men would be older than the main character- old enough not to be excited about their activities, but young enough to still be optimistic. The "You'll become me in a few years if you're not careful" type character.

Any suggestions/opinions on the characters? ^^

Bumping!

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to participate in Nanowrimo this year. I'm graduating in December, so November is very likely to be the Month from Hell for me. I don't think I'll be able to add writing a novel on top of it.

I've been developing the characters and plot I mentioned before. I've now decided some overarching themes/motifs for each of the main characters, along with countries of origin. Now I'm going to do some research on these character's countries of origins before I decide on more details of their personality. I won't write the story for Nanowrimo, but I do plan on writing the story!

You must still write the story!!! I can be your beta reader! And you can publish it and send me a signed copy! And I can take pictures with you holding the book next to me and my children! and then I can have bragging rights!!! BWAHAHAHAHHA!

i haven't done this is forever. I have so much to work on and i never get to my writing anymore. I have an awesome idea and a great cast i just dont have time to get their story down. They keep talking in my head and I want to write for them i just cant find the time.

I know how that is. Or being too tired to write.

I'm not sure why they decided to have the challenge in November. It's often one of the busiest months, at least for students and certain careers, so it's odd that they would pick it. I feel like I'd be more likely to complete the challenge during a less bus month.

(Besides the fact that 'November' sounds better in the title; NaNoWriMo sounds better than, say, NaMayWriMo or NaOctWriMo).

Right. In fact I'd say June or July would be the better months. It's SUMMER!

see i never have time. I hardly have the time to be where i am and my art is well going to be my living so i need to work on that more than the other.