I'm number seven! I'm number seven!

Winner.

hours before deadline: 3
# of chapters: 7
# of characters introduced in first 200 words for fear of running out of plot: 13 (+2 for desperate circumstances)
concept of time/continuity: none
days spent writing: 15
previous NaNoWriMo attempts: 2 (word counts: ~50 and 552)
# of times I forgot/misnamed one of my characters: ~2
# of words written when I had completed my planned plot: 2,000
words written with Write or Die: >45,000
total number of words: 50,008

I'll face it with a grin... I'm never giving in...

Somehow, it just doesn't seem right to finish this bad boy with time to spare.



Meh.

Are you going to take me home tonight? Ahh, down beside that red firelight?

Just wanted to pop in briefly to mention to everyone that I totally won last night.

(Ignore the bottom numbers; there's a glitch that delays the updating of the full-document word count. I obviously didn't select more words than there were.)

A by-the-numbers post will come on July 1, because though I've attained the initial goal, this sucker is certainly not done, because my pacing is awful I have a lot of story to tell.

Good luck to those of you still in it. Let's get enough winners to start a baseball team!

"I'll show you how it's done." - Me, June 8, 2009

Let's get this out of the way: Entering NaNoWriMo is a dumb idea to begin with, so jumping in after one week has passed is unquestionably idiotic, and a near-guarantee of failure, especially while working close to 50 hours a week. So why did I succeed after a mere 15 days?

1) My novel is about a writer who creates a NaNoWriMo novel. This opens up all sorts of possibilities...when I procrastinate, my character procrastinates. When I played Super Mario 3 instead of writing my novel, so did my character. There's lots of stuff in there that's fabricated as well, but the procrastination bits really helped to speed things along.

2) I had completed this contest twice before and knew what to expect. And since I was a week behind, I knew I had to write 3,000 words per day. By the time I was caught up, I had such momentum that ramping up production and finishing early was quite easy.

3) My story has no plot (and the protagonist notes this several times.) My two previous attempts did have one, and were a lot harder to write. I now know that you can get by on characters, settings, and theme alone.

4) My novel was set in the not-so-distant past (2002) which I found to be a lot of fun. There are references to 9/11 of course, and there are references to the dot com crash, GameCube, the Anaheim Angels winning the World Series, the iPod, the re-election of Grey Davis as Governor of California, Windows XP, etc. The characters also speculated about the not-so-distant future from time to time. The possibilities were endless.

5) I wrote on my old piece of shit desktop PC. Two reasons: my MacBook does not have a word processor that's worth two shits, and the PC is not connected to the internet, so the distraction was not constantly tempting me.

6) Timing myself. Knowing how fast I was typing the thing gave me a rough idea of how long it was going to take me to finish. When you translate 15,000 words to seven hours, forty two minutes, it means something completely different. Granted, anyone who has tried to write for seven hours and forty two minutes knows what that's like, and it rarely works out the way you think (unless you're like Chris and write the bulk of it in the last day.) However, it did allow me to manage my time much more efficiently and give myself realistic goals of what could be achieved in a given time period.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Working Title, by the numbers:

Words: 50,080

Chapters: 10

Shortest Chapter: 251 words

Longest Chapter: 15,039 words

Actual time spent in the contest: 15 days, 2 hours, 7 minutes

Actual time spent writing: 24 hours, 30 minutes

Longest writing session: 3 hours, 11 minutes, on June 21

Shortest writing session: 13 minutes on June 17

Most efficient writing session: 3,449 words completed in 1 hour, 29 minutes on June 21 (38.75 wpm)

Least efficient writing session: 1,441 words completed in 55 minutes on June 8 (26.2 wpm)

Fuck: 66

Shit: 55

Ass: 11

Cockadookie: 1

References to The Big Lebowski: 2 (Main character is named Arthur, after Arthur Digby Sellers, and a computer repair guy is named Knutsen.)

Words about the Oakland Raiders: 6,938

Words about Super Mario 3: 4,828

Words about Adaptation (a self-referencing film released in 2002, but after my novel takes place) 809

Words about craps and casino gambling: 4,523

Words about NaNoWriMo itself: At least 2,368

I consider it a challenge before the whole human race, and I ain't gonna lose

Well, that was easy. In fact, it was easy to the point that I don't even know why I didn't think I could pull it off at the beginning of the month. It only took me fifteen days to write the damn thing.

I'll be back on the weekend to wrap things up and do the customary "by the numbers" bit. But for right now, it's Queen on repeat for this three-time novelist.

Good luck to everyone stubborn enough to keep going.

Leaderboard: Week 3

This is becoming painful, but I'm honour-bound to post it. Not that I've found honour all that binding in years past, mind you. Nor does honour demand timeliness. Anyway:

Adam Demaniuk - 43,752
Jake "Rainbow" Troughton - 39,203
Amanda Henry - 27,352
Krystina Sulatycki - 21,416
Steve Smith - 15,363
Sarah Bidanjiri - 12,582
Dan Kaszor - 2,324

I'm virtually certain that Richard sent me his word count effective Sunday at midnight, but I can't find it. Anyway, it's somewhat moot now, since the bastard's finished.

Also, I'm totally going to finish my novel, in case any of you doubt me.

The Idiot Wind

I would write something here, but my hands are rigid from RSI. Maybe I'll update this with a By The Numbers thing tomorrow, but for now I've got Queen ready on the playlist (as appears to be tradition) and some obnoxiously loud squealing to do.

Good luck to all of you still in. This feeling is worth persevering for!

__________________________________

I'm just about done squealing now, so here is my novel 'The Thingy', by the numbers.

Number of words - 50,444
Chapters - 22
Days spent writing - 17
Most productive day - June 20th with 5,894 words
Number of times the write or die website was used - over 75
Average typing speed - 25wpm
Average length of typing session - 30 minutes
Hours spent at work during past three weeks - 135
Number of 50,000 word novels I theoretically could have written in that time, if I went pro and wrote instead of worked - 4.05
Chances of that happening - 0.0
Characters that found the smell of cranberries to be an aphrodisiac- 1
Principal characters that disappeared inexplicably from the main plot after 47,500 words - 3
Approximate proportion of the plot worked out after 35,000 words - 80%
Words written about Brean Down Caravan Park - 4,500
Words written before my protagonist had a name - 6,763
Number of times that I was tempted to have my secondary school geography teacher destroy all of humanity in order to avoid the necessity of a proper plot - 2

Thanks for inviting/challenging me to do this. It's definitely not something I'd have ever chose to do normally, and perhaps if my fingers recover, I'll give it a go next year too.

Leaderboard: Week 2

Presented without comment, but with plenty of drinking.

Jake "Rainbow" Troughton - 30,203
Richard Casey - 24,646
Ashleigh Brown - 17,617
Krystina Sulatycki - 17,135
Adam Demaniuk - 15,436
Amanda Henry - 14,333
Courtney Burr - 13,162
Steve Smith - 12,127
Sarah Bidanjiri - 9,523
Daniel Kaszor - 2,324
Heather Smith - 2,136
Steph Shantz - 1,061

Crossovers!

While I'm sure we're all delighted that things are going so well for Jake, I suspect that he's sort of unusual in this respect. Certainly things aren't going at well with my novel. The good news is that that's normal for week two. The even better news is that I've devised a madcap scheme to help us bust out of this funk.

What do network television shows do when they're out of creative juice and it's sweeps season? Actually, I don't really know; the world of television writing is pretty well entirely foreign to me. But one thing that I think they might do is crossovers: elements from one show imported into another, in the hopes (I assume - again, I don't really have any idea what I'm talking about) that audiences will follow.

So here's what I'm proposing that we do: anybody who's interested writes up a description of some element of their novel that they think could easily be imported into another novel. It could be a character, an event, a setting...whatever. Send it to me by Sunday at midnight, and I will randomly distribute these among participants. Then you have something new and exciting and not from your tired old imagination to spend some words on.

The downside, of course, is that in writing up the description, you'll be devoting words to something other than your novel, which you probably shouldn't be. But if you're like me - and my guiding principle in interacting with humanity has always been that everybody is like me - during NaNoWriMo writing about things other than your novel is suddenly extraordinarily appealing.

Meganovel

When I first participated in the U of A edition of NaNoWriMo three years ago, I passed the 50,000 word mark early on May 31. My story, though, was not done, so after taking a break to sing Queen while preening in front of a mirror (seriously: those of you who haven't won before need to know that the rush of hitting 50,000 words is better than sex. At least the way I do it), I slapped together a final chapter to reach a total of 51,166 terrible, terrible words. This, to the best of my knowledge, remains the longest novel yet written for our mini NaNoWriMo.

There's no reason why this should remain the case, though. In other editions of NaNoWriMo, like that big one in the fall, some people go well past the 50,000 word mark. I've even heard of a couple people finishing with over 150,000.

Now, I'm not completely-batshit-insane enough to be able to manage anything like that. But still, despite hitting a couple of writer's blocks the last few days, I'm having a pretty good month so far: as of the end of yesterday's writing, I was on pace to write nearly 70,000 words (69,870, to be precise). I don't know if my story has the legs to make it that far, but I'm pretty sure it has the legs to make it to 60,000 words. And if it does, I see no reason to cut it short just because I set myself a different goal.

So here's the point. My goal remains to write a 50,000 word novel in June , and I will still be elated if/when I reach that point. But I think I can reach that goal much sooner than the 30th, and if I do and still have stuff to write about, I think I can get as far as 60,000 words. Accordingly, I intend to give myself that opportunity. I will not say, "Hey, I'm 4 days ahead of a winning pace, I can afford to take a couple days off." I will strive to reach 50,000 words as soon as possible, by continuing to exceed the modest daily goals I've set for myself every single day. And when I get to 50,000 words, I will not say, "I've crossed the finish line, time to wrap this up." I will keep writing until my story is done or June is, however many words that results in.

I will not promise it, but I think I'm going to write a 60,000+ word novel this month.

Now, the next question is: is anyone else prepared to set themselves* a loftier goal than simply 50,000 words by June 30? (Yes, Adam, I already know about you.)

* That one's for you, Steve.

The Nuclear Option

So, with the first week of our homespun version of NaNoRiMo done, I find myself in serious trouble. Between work, moving to a new house and the process of planning a move across the country, I find myself seven days in and just shy of 3,000 words.

This does not bode well.

Now, usually, this would not present too much of a problem. I'd give it the old college try, but if in the end things did not work out, I would not be too sore about it. It's just a fun little distraction, yes?

But then I realized - I have been taking part in National Novel Writing Month since 2001, when I was still an immature, surly teenager (as opposed to my current status as a surly, immature adult.) And because there have been years that I've taken part in both the U of A edition AND the Normal November edition, (for the sake of your social life, don't do this)  it means this month marks my tenth month-long novel.

I wish to succeed on this special anniversary.

Therefore, I am pulling out the most powerful weapon in the 30-day novelist's toolbox. Threat of pain. Threat of torture. Before the fiction gods and everyone on this blog, I am making a pledge - promising myself a horrifying fate if I do not hit succeed:

I, Scott Lilwall, do pledge that if I do not hit the 50,000 word mark by the end of this month's deadline, I shall go to a bookstore and purchase the ENTIRE Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I will read it, cover to cover. I will display the books on my bookshelf for a period of two years after. 

I once was assigned to read the first book in a class that focused on the adaption of books to film. I dropped the class one chapter in because I couldn't stand reading further. I consider it the literary equivalent of waterboarding.

With this promise in place, I now feel success is assured.

So, as a tip for my fellow novelists who wants a surefire way of making your goal: assign yourself a harsh sentence for failure. There is no better motivation.

Leaderboard: Week 1

Well, it looks like I'm not the only one setting myself up for a magnificent late month come back - good work, all! Of those reporting, only two are on pace to finish, but there are a few more of us in the neighbourhood of the on-pace 11,667 words.

Krystina Sulatycki - 17,135
Jake "Rainbow" Troughton - 16,296
Courtney Burr - 10,292
Ashleigh Brown - 10,083
Richard Casey - 9,235
Steve Smith - 8,903
Sarah Bidanjiri - 5,099
Mikhaela Lynch - 5,017
Scott Lilwall - 2,948
Daniel Kaszor - 2,324
Justin Benko - 1,924
Natalie Climenhaga - 1,184
Steph Shantz - 248
Amanda Henry - 177

Chris O'Leary has dropped out (as has Adam Demaniuk who, in his defense, never actually agreed to join this year), but he's been replaced by Mikhaela Lynch (though the latter didn't actually submit a word count, and will be accordingly disqualified if she repeats this next week).

177.

So... I'm at 177 words.

Despite the math, I'm not quitting. Not just yet. Instead I'm planning on being at 30,000 words before next Saturday, 2pm. We'll see how that goes.

Why 177? No reasons nearly as good as Sarah's (sorry to hear about your son!), here's what the deal is. FYI.

Mostly, I haven't secured my E-town digs yet, and it feels rude to write novels when surfing on peoples' couches. Speaking of people and couches, it was sort of silly to sign up for this thing after being away. So many conversations to have, so much time.

And every time I fire up my busty ass laptop - and yes, it is busty ass - the rain broke it in Africa and now it's to the point that I can't move it at all while it's on without risking it dying without warning -
-anyway, as I was saying, whenever I fire it up, the novel appears, but so does a somewhat stress-induced desire to look for a job.

There's also the desire to win this silly contest conflicting with the desire to write about the last 6 months.

Like I said, not really very good reasons.

Almost quit

Aside from the jealousy of not having a group of crazy people to write with since I don't live in Edmonton (there's a certain someone I will kick in the butt if she doesn't go today - I mean you Nadia... although Steve, when I talked with her on the phone yesterday she didn't even know this blog existed...), I came very close to quitting. Has anyone else felt the same already? It was a horrible coincidence that my 2 year old son fractured his elbow on day one and has been in and out of the hospital throughout the week, and then had to have surgery under general anesthetic to realign his arm and put pins in it, then a cast (which will come off at the end of June). I'm already a slow writer to begin with and surgery day became a complete write off with him reacting to the drugs in his system and throwing up at least every hour (lovely, I know) as well as his refusing to eat for 24 hours. I had a mental breakdown, cried, and then, despite it all, still had a strong desire to keep on writing. Am I crazy? Or is it worth it? It'd be interesting to hear other people's struggles throughout the week(s)... even if you think they're mundane. Perhaps the solidarity of knowing you're not the only one struggling will help us make it to the finish line.

A minor character decides to take a more prominent role: welcome Richard

Introduction.
Hello. I am Richard, I don't believe I know any of you, bar Steve. Delighted to make your accquaintance. If my name rings a bell, it may be because you have read my dramatically unpopular, and mostly unread previous novels - the 1566 word novella Stupendous Failure, and the even more efficient, 17 word courtroom drama, The Judicious Sentence. Those, as you may have guessed were my previous two attempts at NaNoWriMo, and this, coincidentally, is my third. If you do not know me from those, then my name has only been singled out once elsewhere because I have the dubious honour of spread the U of A's chapter of NaNoWriMo to England.

If music be the fuel of fifty-thousand words

As I sit here in my tweed jacket, stroking my moustache and sipping my tea, I find myself wondering whether there is anything I can do to postpone the writing of my most recent novel. After kindly being granted permission by Steve to blog in these here holy pages, I thought I might ask a question regarding something I read in the No Plot? No Problem book. What music, if any, do you find helps you write? During my first day of writing yesterday, I found that the comforting lyrical & musical blandness of Eighties Cock Rock has helped me lose my Inner Editor and write eight pages full of poorly composed sentences, tied together with extremely tenuous plot-lines that spit in the face of every single element on my First Magna Carta.

The World Ended on a Wednesday.

742 words in, at one a.m. today, I found my protagonist ritualistically slaughtering a chicken. This is, evidently, what happens when your pre-novel planning and outlining consists entirely of "Oh, hey, that would be an entertaining opening line. I should totally write 50,000 words around it."

Dirty Secret

I'm trying to make this one good enough that I won't be ashamed to show it to another person. This may be a surefire path to failure.