On NaNoWriMo and Yuletide

[dolorous_ett]

Every year I think how wonderful it would be to do NaNoWriMo. I'm convinced I could do it, and it would be marvellous to get the creative juices flowing in a way that's not borrowing someone else's ideas on one level or another. Unfortunately it's the one month of the year when it's completely out of the question for reasons of work. Again. I

Comments

[bookwormsarah]

I did Yuletide for the first time last year and I really enjoyed it. I did struggle for a while, but was proud of my finished piece and had some lovely feedback. It was a bit scrappy for a long time (I am weak at plotting stories) but in the end it all came together. It is also lovely to see it in a big archive, and 3000 words (which I think is the minimum) isn't very much really...although it does feel it at the time... I did find the prompt useful, although it fitted in with the idea I had when I signed up for that fandom.

Sorry, I ramble.

[dolorous_ett]

Sounds like a lot of fun - if only it was at a time of year that didn't involve a Xmas deadline! I really would like to give it a go, though - I love the idea of small fandoms, and it would be fun to play in a universe that's not Harry Potter.

Is there a link to this story? I must have missed it when it came out!

[bookwormsarah]

To my story? It was a Ballet Shoes continuation and can be found here http://www.yuletidetreasure.org/archive/39/beyondthe.html. Last year we had the assignments in mid October (seems to be running later this year)...

[dolorous_ett]

That looks like really good news. *is interested*

[lareinenoire]

I have never been able to do NaNoWriMo because of the timing -- November is just such an awful month for anyone working in academia at any level. Why can't it be in the middle of the summer, I wonder?

For what it's worth, I've more or less decided to do Yuletide this year, mostly because it will provide an outlet for the various plotbunnies hopping round in my head without making me feel too bad about not doing actual work. ;) Plus, I'm told it is all sorts of fun, and I've started writing in more obscure fandoms in general these days.

[dolorous_ett]

I know - November is a ghastly month for anyone in higher education. I can't imagine students have it much easier.

I wonder if there's an Antipodean equivalent that takes place in May, or something? I'd be up for that!

Good luck with the Yuletide story - I bet you could have a lot of fun with that.

[nineveh_uk]

I enjoyed doing Yuletide last year, though it was pretty stressful towards the deadline. I don't know that it helped me write, but it did make me write something, anything! I'll be signing up again this year, because it was fun, and nice to be in the archive, but it was not without its less fun moments. One thing to bear in mind might be to consider how you feel about challenges with prompts in general. The Yuletide ones are pretty broad, but I've more or less given up the others, because I find it difficult and frustrating.

It is really nice to be enjoyed at Christmas, though, and as a reader I got a fantastic story that I'd never have read without it.

[dolorous_ett]

You have a good point about prompts. I managed with what I thought was a pretty lame one in the one fic challenge I did - I coped in the end, though it was hardly a brilliant story, and plainly the person who handed out the challenge didn't think much of it either... Though at least it would get me writing something.

Christmas fun is good, though. And meeting more people who write good stuff is very good, and a rare treat at any time. Will muse more on this.

[waterbird]

I finally did NaNoWriMo last year and it was a great experience. I wrote about 62,000 words and ended the month with a very rough draft of a novel-length fic. (I was initially going to write original fiction, but then I got a hopped upon by an enormous, irresistible plot bunny a couple of weeks before kick-off.)

It was really exhilarating to be in that hyper-creative mode, forcing myself to write at least 1700 words a day -- and sometimes as much as 3 or 4k. The story still isn't finished -- it's been really hard to squeeze in writing time the past few months, but I'm still very excited about it and am planning to get back to work on it this fall.

I haven't done many ficfests, but I found NaNoWriMo to be much less stressful than the ones I have written for (Springtime Gen and HD World Cup) -- I guess because I was writing solely for myself without any worry about what the response would be when it was posted, or if people would like it, etc.

[dolorous_ett]

That's a pretty impressive word count, especially for just a month. And the feeling of writing so much must be really quite a thrill.

BUT WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE NOVEMBER? I can hardly wuss out of work commitments to write fic, even original fic! *sulks at the unfairness of it all*

Interesting that a situation in which you have to produce more words is actually less stressful... I wonder what that says about you as a writer?

[dolorous_ett]

That shows you're a really nice, considerate person... but isn't the best recommendation for me right now - I always seem to have people waiting for me to finish things!