Writing GTKY

[anastasia517]

It's been a while, so I thought doing this would help to get to know other people's writing.

1) Tell us a bit about your current project. (Title, genre, brief summary, whatever you want to share.)



2) What do you use for writing & planning your novels? (Computer programs, notebooks, maps, etc.)



3) What genres/age groups have you tried for creative writing? Are there any you haven’t tried that you would like to in the future?



4) How do you come up with titles!? (<-- Selfish question from somebody who can never seem to name her stories.)

[lilibet]

Jan 23, 2016 18:53:01 GMT -5 anastasia517 said:

It's been a while, so I thought doing this would help to get to know other people's writing.

1) Tell us a bit about your current project. (Title, genre, brief summary, whatever you want to share.) So I'm going back to my 2014 Nano. Right now I'd say it falls under women's lit but I recently started toying with making it romance (my 2015 nano was romance and I sort of like how that works). No title yet but it has music as a theme so I'd like to think of something witty with a play on words with a music theme. I"m horrible at naming things though. I worked as a copy editor and section editor at the school paper in college and doing titles was the hardest part for me lol.



2) What do you use for writing & planning your novels? (Computer programs, notebooks, maps, etc.) Honestly I've been writing in google docs because I don't have word on my laptop. I keep debating downloading Scribner as a number of my writer friends use it but I haven't bit the bullet yet. I do outline/jot notes in a notebook. I try to always have a notebook handy in case inspiration strikes. I'm notorious for getting a story idea as I'm trying to fall asleep or walking the dog or something lol



3) What genres/age groups have you tried for creative writing? Are there any you haven’t tried that you would like to in the future? I've done nano and won 4 years in a row now and so far I've done women's lit, what I was calling young adult at the time but was probably more new adult, women's lit, and romance. It might be fun to try children's lit or science fiction but I'm not sure I have the right knowledge base. I'll probably try to do YA again sometime as I love what that genre has become and I have some ideas floating around in that genre. Also I have a couple friends who have released YA books and it seems like such a great community of writers.



4) How do you come up with titles!? (<-- Selfish question from somebody who can never seem to name her stories.) Ugh, I don't, lol. I think I did name my 2015 nano (I forget what I named it though at the moment) but otherwise everything has been called 2013 Nano or just Nano. lol.

[EnchantedSoul]

1. I don't really have a current project. I've kind of been trying my hand at a few different pieces. I recently wrote a poem and wrote a piece on my last child's first birthday. I have ideas for a series of picture books but haven't set anything in motion. In other words, nothing.

2. I only use an old school, red notebook with a picture of the Eiffel Tower on the cover.

3. Children are my passion. I hope to get heavily into Children's Lit and make it my home. The poetry and birthday piece I wrote, were not for children. This is new for me and I'm feeling like I just don't have the voice for it. I'm going to keep trying, though.

4. I easily come up with titles. I can't for the life of me get the story going :-P

[Deleted]

1. The project I'm actively working on right now is a YA dystopian series. The first book is titled Call to Action, but god knows I'm struggling with the title for everything after that. It's set in the near future and the entire world is controlled by one power-hungry government who is systematically killing "extras" in order to get perfect numerical equality across the board. So these teenagers start an underground podcast-type-deal and a rebellion forms around that. I'm currently revising the main series and trying to write a couple novellas, because I might try to start e-pubbing this monster later this year.

2. I usually have a cheap spiral bound notebook devoted to each project. I use this notebook to do what little outlining I do, revision outlines, character information that I need to keep track of, and also scenes that I write away from my laptop. In the case of the series I mentioned above, the notebook that's devoted to that looks like it's exploded.

3. I mostly write YA, because I'm fairly certain my brain is still stuck at 16 years old. I've tried my hand at historical fiction (ehhhh...not going so well), and romance (same), but YA seems to be what I always get back to.

4. Usually I struggle with titles. Every so often, there's a title that comes to me easily, but that doesn't happen very often. Please see my current series where only the first book has a title, and I refer to everything else as "Care 2", "Care 3", and "the novella".

[anastasia517]

lilibet That's a great NaNo record! I understand the desire to have a good knowledge base for what you're writing, but I think for something like sci-fi it really depends how extreme you're going. Something Hunger Games-esque wouldn't require as much as something like The Martian. I am glad to see somebody else has issues with titles!

EnchantedSoul I'm impressed that you are trying your hand at a lot of things. I find the idea of children's lit intimidating because you have more constraints. Do you have something specific that you're thinking of trying for your next children's story?

@writererin That story sounds really interesting. (And yet another who has trouble with titles, maybe this is a more common problem than I thought.) I like how you refer to it as your monster, since that is the same term I've used for the book I did last NaNo (... and 3 other NaNos/Camps over the years). How much do you want to change about the plot of the series in re-writes before trying to publish?

[anastasia517]

1) Tell us a bit about your current project.
What I'm tackling now is a re-write of a novel I did for Camp NaNo in 2014.  It's my first attempt at sci-fi and adult protagonists in the "real" world, which is a bit intimidating.  It has to do with human cloning after a nuclear war.  It is currently untitled, because I am terrible at titles (see question #4).

The project I've been working on for a long time, including in November, is a contemporary fantasy set in the real world that deals with elemental magic.



2) What do you use for writing & planning your novels? (Computer programs, notebooks, maps, etc.)

I write in Microsoft Word and have a lot of planning there as well.  For my series, which I'm working on with my sister, it works because we e-mail things and they are easy to print off.  There are random notes in a binder that keeps everything more or less organized.  I also like having notebooks because writing things is fun, which is what I'm using for the book I'm working on now.  Pinterest is also something I'm using for both.  I've heard good things about Scrivener, but I'm not sure that it's worth it to learn a new program when I have many folders-within-folders already that works for me.



3) What genres/age groups have you tried for creative writing? Are there any you haven’t tried that you would like to in the future?


My first 3 NaNos were historical YA, the first couple heavy on romance.  Most of my work falls into the contemporary fantasy genre, but I don't know what age group it would be since the characters cover a wide age range.  And, like I said, I'm dipping my toe into sci-fi with what I'm working on now.  As for what I haven't tried but I'm willing to give a shot, I think I'm willing to try just about anything for a short story but I make no promises for novels.



4) How do you come up with titles!?
In case it wasn't obvious since I wrote this, I have issues with this.  I have one title that I love since it has a double meaning, depending on your perspective of the events in it.  I'm not sure I will come up with another one like that in the near future.

[Deleted]

Jan 25, 2016 16:37:57 GMT -5 anastasia517 said:

@writererin That story sounds really interesting. (And yet another who has trouble with titles, maybe this is a more common problem than I thought.) I like how you refer to it as your monster, since that is the same term I've used for the book I did last NaNo (... and 3 other NaNos/Camps over the years). How much do you want to change about the plot of the series in re-writes before trying to publish?

Thanks!  Hopefully it's as interesting as I like to think it is.  As far as changing about the plot...as I'm revising, most of the big plot points are still in there somewhere.  Some things have just been rearranged.  And then there are a few plot points that have been tweaked a little at the suggestions of my critique partner (and, before her, the writing group we both used to be in).  But right now I'm still revising book 2...the third book is going to need almost a full over-haul, I'm pretty sure, because it's a hot mess I drafted during NaNo a couple years ago.

[EnchantedSoul]

anastasia517
I'm struggling with whether or not I want to lean toward a series of picture books dealing with children and their (sometimes invisible) disabilities/differences. Otherwise, I feel pulled toward the We Need Diverse Books movement. I will likely focus my writing in that direction for now. I have a degree in Psychology and am a former Social Worker so the need to help is still there, even though I SAH now.

[mrspez07]

Hi ladies. I am brand new to the sub board but wanted to get this out there.
I turned 40 a few weeks ago which has really made me refocus on what I want for the rest of my life (my style, richer relationship with DH, and....refocusing on my 20-yo goal to write a book, just to name a few). I don't really know where to start. I have a few vague ideas (one fiction, one non-fiction), but I would love any ideas, feedback on where to start. I would also be interested in doing a monthly or weekly writing challenge to motivate and challenge me if anyone would be up for that. Not sure if my goals really line up with the NaNo direction, so let me know if there are better forums for this kind of getting started phase.

[anastasia517]

Feb 5, 2016 23:14:25 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

Hi ladies. I am brand new to the sub board but wanted to get this out there.
I turned 40 a few weeks ago which has really made me refocus on what I want for the rest of my life (my style, richer relationship with DH, and....refocusing on my 20-yo goal to write a book, just to name a few). I don't really know where to start. I have a few vague ideas (one fiction, one non-fiction), but I would love any ideas, feedback on where to start. I would also be interested in doing a monthly or weekly writing challenge to motivate and challenge me if anyone would be up for that. Not sure if my goals really line up with the NaNo direction, so let me know if there are better forums for this kind of getting started phase.

Hi and welcome!  I was out of town for the weekend or I would have gotten back to you sooner.  We have been pretty dead for the past couple months but I am taking it upon myself to get things going again at least somewhat.

Believe it or not, a few ideas is really all you need to get started writing.  Some people find it helpful to have story bibles, plot charts, character pages, etc. ready to go and others are content to hop right in with just the idea.  What works best for people varies, so try your hand at different things until you figure out what works best for you.  The main thing is that you will have to start actually writing sometime and that time will probably be before you feel comfortable with your idea.  But don't panic, because I promise you that is normal.  I'm sure most, if not all, of us have felt that way on many projects.

The NaNo goal overall is to write 50,000 words or more in the month of November or to write a goal of your choosing in the Camp NaNoWriMo months (usually two months between April-August, depending on the year).  It is that simple and that hard.  The beauty of it is that the deadline forces you to overcome your fears and to get things rolling.  There is magic that happens when you force yourself to power through many days in a row.  As founder Chris Baty said, eventually characters will start doing things even if you don't expect them to.

If you look back you'll see that many of us are multi-year winners.  Others are new.  Some of us are long time writers who are trying out new things.

I'm planning on posting more new threads, including one with challenges & the like for February, in the near future.  Please stick around and if you have anything you want to share or get reassurance on, just ask!

(P.S. You may want to get used to long answers from novel writers.)

[anastasia517]

Feb 14, 2016 13:09:28 GMT -5 incogneato said:

1) Tell us a bit about your current project. (Title, genre, brief summary, whatever you want to share.)

Current book is a science fiction adventure/coming of age story about a young woman living as an indentured servant who finds herself accused of a crime and stows away on a passing ship. From there she and the ship's Captain decide to go looking for her mother, who was a planetary explorer that vanished a decade earlier. It sounds so hokey, and probably is, but it was a fun first project.






2) What do you use for writing & planning your novels? (Computer programs, notebooks, maps, etc.)


This time, nothing. I had a very basic synopsis (basically what I wrote above) in my head, with no actual plan, and just sat down to write and followed where it went. Now that my first draft is done I'm going back and mapping out the timeline, etc, so I can streamline it. 






3) What genres/age groups have you tried for creative writing? Are there any you haven’t tried that you would like to in the future?

This is it!






4) How do you come up with titles!?

This one finally named itself. I had chosen a character name and had no idea how to name the book and then I woke up one morning and saw a way to tie the character's name to the planet where the story takes place, and that was that. 

I think most things sound hokey when summarized really briefly without a lot of rewording. A lot of mine definitely do! What made you decide to try NaNo for the first time?