DIY Planner - NaNoWriMo 2008? - Comments

sara, Look for my post

innowen — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 08:43:04 -0400

sara,

Look for my post (coming soon) on how to do it by hand. This year, my friends who have done nano by hand are doing it on computers... while i am going to write my story all analogue. :)

I has tips.
/innowen

Heck yes. This is my 7th

innowen — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 08:41:46 -0400

Heck yes. This is my 7th year and my first year doing it completely pen and paper based.

i'm crazy.
/innowen

NaN0 2008, 7th year or BUST!

innowen — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 08:40:56 -0400

Oh, I'm in. :)

This will be my 7th year doing NaNo. and my first year doing it by pen and paper. I'm working on this year's DIY post promoting it.

/innowen

Writing buddy? Word war?

Superpooky — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:34:39 -0400

What's that all about then?

I've had a glance on the forum at my local groups and they're talking about meeting up and the like. Who could have time to meet, be sociable and write 50000 words ;-)

Looking forward to it now

Even if you fail, it's fun.

gill_smoke — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:19:52 -0400

This is my third year. I've failed my first 2 attempts but ever the optimist I'm going for it again.

Get a writing buddy and try some word wars, again even if you fail it is the attempt is what matters.

I always feel like finals week in school, cram, cram, cram!

Amazing!

Superpooky — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:04:42 -0400

I imagine I wont format much. I use an eee pc on the train and just typing away on a shoogly train is difficult enough. Now isn't shoogly a good word. Make sure you get that in your novels somewhere..........

Nanowrimo

ladyjustice7 — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:56:02 -0400

It's completely normal to feel that way. I have participated for several years now and every year I feel the same way. Sometimes I have a plan and sometimes I just fly by the seat of my pants. Either way it's a blast! Just have fun! You will love it and want to do it every year.

Bingo on the secret to NaNoWriMo word count

Rocket Jones — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:00:45 -0400

The emphasis is on putting words on the page. Ignore the internal editor. Ignore the spell checker (as long as you can read it). All the "make it pretty" work happens after you've broken through that creative dam and have let your words flood the paper.

word count formula

Katrina — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:47:40 -0400

According to the romance writers of Australia site [romanceaustralia(dot)com]

Computer word count and publisher word counts are different
eg
To a computer, the encyclopaedias = 2 words.
To a publisher, the encyclopaedias = 3 words.
If you're a publisher, a word = 6 spaces, including empty spaces.

Publishers came up with this definition because they want to know how much space your manuscript will take up when printed.

So the formula they use is
A4 paper
non-proportional or mono-spaced 12 point font
3cm margins
25 lines per page
30 cm margins on A4 paper will give you approximately 60 spaces per line.

If you adjust your right and left margins so that you have exactly 60 spaces per line, then:
10 words x 25 lines = 250 words per page. This count includes empty spaces and empty lines.

Use of a non-proportional or mono-spaced font is essential. This formula won't work with proportional fonts, because proportional fonts will not give you a uniform number of spaces per line.

Calculating the word count then is easy. Simply divide the number of your pages by 4.

200 pages divided by 4 = 50 (thousand) words
220 pages divided by 4 = 55 (thousand) words
320 pages divided by 4 = 80 (thousand) words
340 pages divided by 4 = 85 (thousand) words

So, if you are printing twice as many words on a page, then 100 pages would be 50,000 words.

cheers
Katrina

P.S. I believe the one of the secrets to writing a lot relatively quickly is to edit it after you've finished and not to worry about the quality as you're writing. I think the competition is in part about getting into the habit of putting many words on paper to get over hesitating about writing.

What does 50000 words look like?

Superpooky — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:19:56 -0400

I've registered for this year though I'm very doubtful if I truly have the time to write a 1000 words. Most I've ever written is the odd short story, taken time over it and poetry so number of words not very impressive!

So what does 50000 words look like. How many pages of font 12 typing will be around 50000 words? Would it be about 100 pages?

The scientist in me cant help calculating that would be over 3 pages of writing every day. It is quite a challenge particularly if you would like it to make sense as well.

It seems like a fun thing to try though even if you end up using some of what you've written in a completely different way. I want to try to type on the train and in my lunchtime so we'll see what happens with that.

All I need now is an idea that would fill that number of words........

You would not be able to

Tournevis — Sat, 4 Oct 2008 15:24:57 -0400

You would not be able to have the word count verified by the site. You could do it, but they could not validate it.

innowen?

Tournevis — Sat, 4 Oct 2008 15:24:08 -0400

I saw you were registered. Are you doing it to this year?

Tournevis!

Tournevis — Sat, 4 Oct 2008 15:23:19 -0400

So I am under my proper pseudo, finally! Find me there!

What about...

Katrina — Sat, 4 Oct 2008 14:10:13 -0400

would 'writing' a book by dictating it to a voice recorder count?

I've got an old cassette recorder, a shoebox-full of old cassettes,
... and a near-endless ability to talk ;)

Tried it twice, didn't win either time

Rocket Jones — Sat, 4 Oct 2008 09:34:06 -0400

I'll probably try again this year, and will probably not make the goal either. And that's ok, because the idea for me is to have fun and put words to paper.

NaNoWriMo 2008?

ktb — Fri, 3 Oct 2008 09:01:46 -0400

Is anyone else signed up for this year? I have never done it before but last year promised myself that I would go for it in 2008. Then suddenly it's just a few weeks away and I seem to have no ideas at all. I write nonfiction so it's a big leap for me. I'm terrified but excited at the same time. I guess this is normal?

Kate
www.atypicalgamer.com

D*I*Y Planner - NaNoWriMo 2008? - Comments