If you hit 50K, share your final word count. If you didn’t make it, but you tried, you’re still a winner in our book. Here’s a secret: EVERYONE who does NaNoWriMo is a winner no matter how many words you write.
Now it’s time for the debriefing. Tell us how it went, what you learned, and if you wrote anything you’re proud of during the month. Feel free to share a snippet from your story below.
And again, to everyone who wrote at all for NaNoWriMo, CONGRATULATIONS!
Dec 1, 2023Liked by Jackie Dana, Chevanne Scordinsky
I hit 60k and wrote everyday for 30 days. Hooray! And I created a monster. It's not a complete story yet but getting there. And it's just a first draft.
Dec 1, 2023Liked by Jackie Dana, Chevanne Scordinsky
A big congratulations to all writers who participated and persevered through November's novel-writing challenge. Irony upon irony, other writing tasks prevented me from joining in, which means I will replicate the effort in December, albeit without a catchy abbreviation. Here's to finishing the first draft before 2023 ends. I will be curious to watch this space for any good insights and lessons learned from November's hardy scribes.
thanks, Jackie! I appreciate it. Well, I'm 50K in and about 40K to go, so it is feasible. I will report back on new year's. Happy writing and happy holidays!
I have always , for years since its inception, been very disturbed and insulted by this project.
VERY few writers have EVER ANYWHERE written a novel in a month. It is not impossible; you could have a perfect POSITIVE storm of circumstances in anyone's life- extended inspiration, a partner either rich or willing to economically provide for you so you need not worry about going to work, an inner power surge and monumental burgeeoning of your imagination andMIGHT or WILL.
Beyond that, this project is yet one more example of almost insane maniacal penchant- or shall we call it habituated obsession Americans have for QUANTITY, in many different areas of life, starting at a young age where schools and libraries have holiday and summer programs of HOW MANY BOOKS CAN YOU READ which then graduates to become GOOD READS which has chuzpah/nerve/tastelessness to put up for suggeseted readings a lopsided ccorncopia of crap and gold ( so watch your steps).
There is an unstated implication too that literature is like kleenex- use it, set a time to FULLY blow your nose, then chuck it.
what happens to the QUALITY of the reading and writing experience. This is l like the moronic advice handed out by too many socalled "writing coaches" and MFA KMA IMGwriting program teachers
I agree with all of this. I didn't expect to finish anything in a month, but participating alongside others ginned up an energy, started the flywheel of writing, and that was a good thing. The energy of the wave enabled me to take the first step.
dont get me wrong, fellow writers who participate in this. Your dedication is admirable. I ehave written five novels, and am working on a sixth. Ive published one collection of short stories. Most of the novel were written when I was teaching full time and was married. On the average, most took three years. I wrote at niight or very early in the morning. As a fullltime teacher, i had the equivalent of almost three months off. But I was in one of the few union jobs in the country, teaching, where you got no pay for any overtime or time and a half afteryour eiight hours. Two to three hours of night of work, or an average of fours each day of the weekend were considered part of the job. And there are basically two kind of teachers. The first are what I call the lunchpail teacher. They work 8-4 or 9-5 each day. That's it. They dont work a minute after school or on the weekend, have a set curriculum they do year after year. Some of them are fantatic teachers. Some do the bottom line minimum. The other teacher are the nutcases like me who work evenings, weekends, and go many extra miiles trying to develop new curriccuusm and individualizng for each kid as much we can with an average of thirty kids per class.And we STILL make time to write, ,partly because we HAVE TO< MUST MUST MUST write.
Okay so as the author of this thread, and co-organizer of Fictionistas, but mostly as a former Municipal Liaison (local organizer) of NaNoWriMo, I have to respond to this post and the assumptions behind it.
First of all, while I'm all for free speech, it's a bit disappointing that you chose to express your disdain of an event so many of our community participated in, in the very thread that exists to celebrate everyone's accomplishments.
Having said that, I think you are operating on a completely inaccurate assumption of the purpose of NaNoWriMo. While the shorthand explanation of the event is to write a novel in 30 days, no one realistically expects to write a PUBLISHABLE novel in 30 days - or even a complete draft, as 50K words isn't really novel length in most genres.
Instead, the idea is to take a new idea and write on it every day and generate a daily word count that approximates what most published authors produce. It encourages people to build a writing habit that might be sustainable. It also encourages people to write messy first drafts and not delete or polish as they go.
If at the end of NaNoWriMo someone has a draft of something that has legs, they can continue to work on it, complete the draft, revise, and publish it. Having said that, most NaNoWriMo drafts end up being trunk novels - and that's also okay. If people use NaNoWriMo to write ANYTHING they might not have done otherwise, and maybe developed an interest in writing more, they're winners, whether they wrote 5K words or 100K. And at least in this space, I think we should always be encouraging people to explore their creativity, and if they enjoy writing, to practice and improve their skills. Because only then can someone learn if they have what it takes to become a published novelist.
And there have been some very successful novels written during NaNoWriMo, including The Night Circus, Cinder, and Legends and Lattes, just to name a few.
For me, when I did my first NaNoWriMo (this is my 11th, and I have won every year), I had never tried writing every single day for a month. And I had never written without my internal editor constantly challenging everything that I wrote, as I wrote it. So my writing habit was haphazard and largely unproductive, and it took me ages to even write an article.
After I did NaNoWriMo a couple of times, I discovered that my writing leveled up massively. I entirely credit NaNoWriMo for being able to be both a freelance writer and a novelist. I published my first (non-NaNoWriMo) novel in 2015, and have used NaNoWriMo to draft many additional projects. After publishing that first novel, the second (and this year, third) novels in my series were both initially NaNoWriMo projects (the second book has taken several years to revise but is nearly done). I also wrote book 2 in my Favor Faeries series (which I serialized on my personal Substack and Kindle Vella) during a NaNoWriMo. And I have a really fun novel I wrote last year that I hope to revise and publish in the next year.
And beyond all of the above, what NaNoWriMo is to me - and to thousands of others - is also a community, where for one month each year, experienced and novice writers come together to write with a shared goal. There are online and in-person write-ins, workshops, video calls, pep talks, and shared spaces such as what we provided here, where writers can get to know each other, work on the craft of writing, and make friends. For me, many of my current friends came directly out of NaNoWriMo and write-ins that never would have happened without the organization and inspiration to gather.
So I hope that you will reconsider your dismissive attitude towards NaNoWriMo and the people who choose to participate. It may not be your cup of tea, and that's fine - not all writers participate or have any interest in what NaNoWriMo is all about. But don't come here and try to belittle the people who participated and are proud of their accomplishments, no matter how big or how small.
Dang, it’s 49k!😅 I got lazy in the end. But I wrote a short story for a contest, about 1k, so it’s 50k in total.😂 Here’s a snippet from the WIP CIRQUE DU MACABRE (serialized on substack). A cheezy moment on Madeira island. A girl and a... erm... werewolf. Some Spice ahead.
She laid near Mateo on one of those lazy afternoons, with her head on Mat’s chest. Odry loved the scent of his tanned skin - of sunshine, ocean and sweat. She listened to the sound of his heartbeat merged with the waves clashing against the shore. Odry was amazed how comfortable she felt being close to Mat, when not so long ago she couldn’t stand him touching her. Now her fingers playfully danced on Mat’s muscled belly, while both laid on the beach blanket.
“It tickles, kid, stop!” Mat flinched laughing.
“Stop? Oh, really?” Odry teased him. Mateo growled like a furious puppy and pulled her on top of him. Both kissed softly and idly, but Odry rolled off him when their kisses grew hotter. The clear, turquise ocean shone behind him.
Mateo looked at Odry, the wind played in his silvery-grey hair, his amber eyes looked into her grey ones innocently.
“I love you,”
“I love you too, Matty,”
He couldn’t stay away, Mateo pulled Odry closer and kissed her; Odry felt just how desperately he wanted her.
Odry remembered Linden. There were no sparks with Mat, sure, but the rush was still there. It was warm and safe with Mat, and if there were no people around them, she would’ve loved to melt in his arms completely.
“Those people could just disappear… I want you, Odry, I wish I could melt into you, here and now” Mateo whispered in her ear.
I did not hit 50k. Maybe half that, which I'm totally fine with. I've won in the past a number of times, so it's not that big of a deal for me anymore. A week away for Thanksgiving didn't help. Multiple WIPs doesn't ever help either. That said, I finally sat down with the Save The Cat book and worked through the story beats for this novel, and I'm absolutely thrilled with the quasi outline this produced for me. I did end up writing six chapters, and recently during my morning commute I both worked out the rest of the current chapter in my head as well as the end of the book, which was still a mystery to me (until now). So, still working on this novel, and my NaNo project will just keep going. It's listed with my others. Everyone is free to friend me on the NaNo site. And congrats, everyone, for just giving it a go. Win or not, it's something to try.
Wow, it sounds like you got a lot accomplished! Sometimes wordcount is less important than other things. Coming up with your novel structure and 6 chapters is no small feat! Congrats, I think you're a winner for sure!
Dec 1, 2023Liked by Jackie Dana, Chevanne Scordinsky
Congrats to all who participated, even if you didn’t make the 50k goal! Three days to go before the end of NaNoWriMo, I was a little less than 5k away from 50k. I was encouraged by the kind words of fellow fictionistas and decided to give a humongous push at the end. I locked myself away, emerging to take my poor dog for bathroom breaks (TMI? which is when I took my own bathroom breaks), and grab something to eat other than from the box of extra toasty Cheez-its I kept beside me. I also found myself writing until 4am for 2 days. I made it to 50, 212 words! Full disclosure (as I pound my head on the table): I had not previously counted my outline, which I had written on the very first day with a little more than 500 words! So, would I take the challenge again? Absolutely! Next time, I’ll be better prepared. Vive le NaNoWriMo!
Dec 1, 2023Liked by Jackie Dana, Chevanne Scordinsky
Here’s a snippet of my WIP, titled Unleaving:
“I hate them all!” Laleh thought, “I should be married by now!”
She had seen how her father’s young apprentice had looked at her, his dark eyes holding hers before flicking away. During the hottest part of the day, as the household napped, she closed her eyes and imagined his fingers brushing against hers, accidentally at first and then deliberately. In her daydream, they never looked at each other as they tidied her father’s papers but her heart pounded in her ears as his fingers caressed hers, his touch as light as a feather.
Now, the dream would never be.
Her parents had told her, her sister, and her brother that it had become too dangerous for them to remain in this place that she loved. She would no longer feel these cool marble tiles under her feet, or hear the rattle of the dishes as her mother prepared a meal, or taste the zoolbias soaked in sugar syrup flavored with saffron and rose water.
She had told her father that it was unfair that she had to go too. She had begged him to let her remain. She thought he would have been angry, instead his face had gotten sad as he took both her hands in each of his.
“It hurts your mother and me to see you go,” he had said, “We thought we would have celebrated your wedding, heard the laughter of your children in this house but it cannot be. Please…we are doing what is best for you. It’s the only way we can save you.”
She had pulled her hands away and angrily walked from the room.
By early afternoon of the next day they were at her uncle’s house in Zāhedān.
Hooray! It's stories like this that make me grateful for NaNoWriMo and our community, because it's exactly this kind of thing that makes it all worthwhile. If the community can encourage each other to write and keep going, and if you accomplish something as a result, then it proves that NaNoWriMo has value. Congratulations!
Dec 1, 2023Liked by Jackie Dana, Chevanne Scordinsky
I got to just over 51,000. Worked on my non-fiction reference book so there was as much figuring out what should be said where and when as there was writing. Found the seven days a week a bit much, especially when November is the start of the "high-demand season" on weekends.
What I appreciated about it is that it allowed me to create (and maintain) a writing habit. So far so good with December :)
I've gotten used to writing for an hour between 10 and 11 am rather than editing or research or sorting all the piles of notes that seem to build up without me realizing it. Doesn't matter how many words I write, just that I write. That is good for me because there are so many distractions...
Hooray! Good for you - words and figuring out. And it sounds like you learned a lot about your own writing habits and what you need to do, which is a HUGE win itself!
I wrote 22,148 words, approximately 44% of the 50K target and enough to know that I will continue to work on it until it's ready to be my 32nd completed novel and the 9th that started as a NaNo project. I am satisfied. Also, in the process the story grew into a trilogy and the ideas generated for book two have inspired me to keep working on book one so I can get to book two.
Made it to 29k and am already excited for the next go round! I need more prep in terms of characters and background research to help me get through the slumps. I’d also like to keep up each day with the word count or come in strong on the first day to give myself a buffer.
Congrats to those who came close, met, or exceeded the goal! I admire what you’ve done and hope to be among you someday.
It sounds like you did really well and may have exceeded your own expectations? And learning what you need to keep things moving is a valuable thing to take away from the experience. Congrats!
I don’t know how many words, got to about 10K in a memoir and then changed to memoir in poetry, attempting prose poetry, I have read several books on specifics of prose poetry. Now I have. Memoir about 3/4 through but in several formats. Probably50 poems. Mitch more to do and so so much revision
NaNoWriMo isn't for everyone. Having said that, some people use it to craft short stories or poems as well as write an actual novel, so maybe you can join us next year!
Cracking eyeball open.🤪 I know I usually read everybody’s comments and wave pompoms and stuff before I answer, but this week’s emergency room adventure has wiped me out so I’m gonna point at Jackie’s comment that even taking on this project at all is a win!!! ✊🤘👍🤩
It’s been so cool to do this with other writers again! Sneaking hand out of covers and waving flag. Woooooot to y'all! And no. I haven't forgotten our conversations about ways to continue the momentum. My response here today is part of it... conversations around continuing to be writers even when Life Happens. Plotting with Fearless Leader is in the works. 🤓😈🤓
I'm so sorry you had health issues sabotage your efforts, but I'm glad you're still around and you're eager to do something to help fellow writers in the future. And congrats on hitting the 54K mark!
Thanks, hon!! 🥰🥰🥰 I’m looking forward to it. No clue what it will be like, but as you said, this is a topic we all have to deal with. All the time. Because...you know...we’re still breathing so... woot!!!
I had a blast doing NaNoWriMo this month! It reminded me of the simple joy of writing for discovery. My characters took my story in unexpected directions, and I just had to run to keep up with them! I'm so glad I decided to join the challenge last-minute this year because it taught me so much. Because it's too much for a comment, I wrote all about the writing lessons I learned here 😊
First time I tried this. Anything to keep me doing the reps necessary to write some decent fiction. I wondered about the emphasis on quantity over quality, but quality (i.e. editing) can come later.
A tiny snippet: His hat pulled low on his face, shoulders hunched, the man absently stroked his worn and shabby overcoat with his gloved hands while studying the young woman sitting across the aisle from him. No one else on the train had caught his eye.
Elena Marconi, her head tilted on the headrest, her brown hair covering most of her face, dozed in the cautious twilight sleep of the solitary traveler. Comforted by the hush of the other passengers, lulled by the rhythm of the train, and hypnotized by the pounding rain on the roof, Elena turned over in her seat, trying to get comfortable.
Thanks for sharing! And yes, NaNoWriMo (as all novel drafts) is more about getting the words/story out. Cleaning things up and making everything tidy is what revisions are for. Thanks for sharing a snippet!
I realized I haven't reported about my own outcome. I managed to get right over the 50K a couple days early, and am just flabbergasted at my success, as I was able to draft about 2/3 of a novel that I have been trying to figure out for about 20 years. It's not done - I still have a good 30K+ to go, I think - but it's a huge success so far. I'm hoping to finish up the draft by the end of December so I can promptly return to final edits of the previous book in the series so I can send it to beta readers.
Mostly I am just so pleased to see all of the other Fictionistas having some successes, big or small, and hearing from a number of people who never gave this a shot before this year. As I always say, if you wrote words in November that you would not have otherwise written, and/or you learned something new about yourself as a writer or about your work in progress, that's all that really counts, so you're a winner in my book.
Thanks to everyone who participated and shared their outcomes!
NaNoWriMo didn't quite go as planned this year, but I wrote 17618 words. I've "won" previously on NaNo, so not too concerned with not making 50k. What it did do is get me writing routinely again, and freely. I will continue through December and beyond.
Well done fellow NaNoWriMowers!! It was my first venture with this project. I used it to start a novel that has been kicking around in the back of my mind for a while. I hit 29k, so to paraphrase Beckett, less than I would and about as much as I could . . . . To the naysayers here I would ask why they even bother to join this thread. The word count counts in writing anything. All publishers prescribe word counts, for essays, book reviews, articles and books.
I found this exercise useful because it enabled me to make a start on something new. Now I will leave what I have done aside (to drain as Kipling put it) return to some other WIPs which are draining at the mo and return to this one in the new year, happy that I have something concrete to work with.
Here's the first page of my NaNoWriMo WIP:
His much-caricatured figure was silhouetted in the wedge of light at the open door. No horns, no tail, no cloven foot on show, despite the rumours and gossip. She drew back the dripping hood of her jacket to reveal her upturned face. A smile broke slowly across his usually impassive features.
He nodded, opened the door wide and said, Come in. You must be soaked, you poor creature. He shut the door and gestured to an old bench, telling her to take off her wet things.
They didn’t offer to pay for a taxi, I see, he scoffed. Nothing changes.
She worked one wet boot off her foot and before engaging with the other glanced up at him to say, No, they did. Amazing as it seems. But I said I’d be faster on the train at this time on a wet Friday evening.
So they want me urgently.
Yes. Yes. They’re setting up a conference call for eight o’clock tonight.
Are they now? He glanced at his watch. That gives us an hour. Plenty of time to have a drink first, to warm you up. We will of course be fashionably late.
She shot him a pleading look. It is urgent.
When is it not with them?
Standing in her stockinged feet she felt suddenly small and childlike beside him. I suppose, she said. Maybe a quick drink.
I hit 60k and wrote everyday for 30 days. Hooray! And I created a monster. It's not a complete story yet but getting there. And it's just a first draft.
Congratulations! That is a huge accomplishment. Way to go!
A big congratulations to all writers who participated and persevered through November's novel-writing challenge. Irony upon irony, other writing tasks prevented me from joining in, which means I will replicate the effort in December, albeit without a catchy abbreviation. Here's to finishing the first draft before 2023 ends. I will be curious to watch this space for any good insights and lessons learned from November's hardy scribes.
Writing doesn't have to stop on December 1st! Good luck to you and I hope you let us know how it goes.
thanks, Jackie! I appreciate it. Well, I'm 50K in and about 40K to go, so it is feasible. I will report back on new year's. Happy writing and happy holidays!
I have always , for years since its inception, been very disturbed and insulted by this project.
VERY few writers have EVER ANYWHERE written a novel in a month. It is not impossible; you could have a perfect POSITIVE storm of circumstances in anyone's life- extended inspiration, a partner either rich or willing to economically provide for you so you need not worry about going to work, an inner power surge and monumental burgeeoning of your imagination andMIGHT or WILL.
Beyond that, this project is yet one more example of almost insane maniacal penchant- or shall we call it habituated obsession Americans have for QUANTITY, in many different areas of life, starting at a young age where schools and libraries have holiday and summer programs of HOW MANY BOOKS CAN YOU READ which then graduates to become GOOD READS which has chuzpah/nerve/tastelessness to put up for suggeseted readings a lopsided ccorncopia of crap and gold ( so watch your steps).
There is an unstated implication too that literature is like kleenex- use it, set a time to FULLY blow your nose, then chuck it.
what happens to the QUALITY of the reading and writing experience. This is l like the moronic advice handed out by too many socalled "writing coaches" and MFA KMA IMGwriting program teachers
I agree with all of this. I didn't expect to finish anything in a month, but participating alongside others ginned up an energy, started the flywheel of writing, and that was a good thing. The energy of the wave enabled me to take the first step.
dont get me wrong, fellow writers who participate in this. Your dedication is admirable. I ehave written five novels, and am working on a sixth. Ive published one collection of short stories. Most of the novel were written when I was teaching full time and was married. On the average, most took three years. I wrote at niight or very early in the morning. As a fullltime teacher, i had the equivalent of almost three months off. But I was in one of the few union jobs in the country, teaching, where you got no pay for any overtime or time and a half afteryour eiight hours. Two to three hours of night of work, or an average of fours each day of the weekend were considered part of the job. And there are basically two kind of teachers. The first are what I call the lunchpail teacher. They work 8-4 or 9-5 each day. That's it. They dont work a minute after school or on the weekend, have a set curriculum they do year after year. Some of them are fantatic teachers. Some do the bottom line minimum. The other teacher are the nutcases like me who work evenings, weekends, and go many extra miiles trying to develop new curriccuusm and individualizng for each kid as much we can with an average of thirty kids per class.And we STILL make time to write, ,partly because we HAVE TO< MUST MUST MUST write.
and none of that can be done in a month.
Okay so as the author of this thread, and co-organizer of Fictionistas, but mostly as a former Municipal Liaison (local organizer) of NaNoWriMo, I have to respond to this post and the assumptions behind it.
First of all, while I'm all for free speech, it's a bit disappointing that you chose to express your disdain of an event so many of our community participated in, in the very thread that exists to celebrate everyone's accomplishments.
Having said that, I think you are operating on a completely inaccurate assumption of the purpose of NaNoWriMo. While the shorthand explanation of the event is to write a novel in 30 days, no one realistically expects to write a PUBLISHABLE novel in 30 days - or even a complete draft, as 50K words isn't really novel length in most genres.
Instead, the idea is to take a new idea and write on it every day and generate a daily word count that approximates what most published authors produce. It encourages people to build a writing habit that might be sustainable. It also encourages people to write messy first drafts and not delete or polish as they go.
If at the end of NaNoWriMo someone has a draft of something that has legs, they can continue to work on it, complete the draft, revise, and publish it. Having said that, most NaNoWriMo drafts end up being trunk novels - and that's also okay. If people use NaNoWriMo to write ANYTHING they might not have done otherwise, and maybe developed an interest in writing more, they're winners, whether they wrote 5K words or 100K. And at least in this space, I think we should always be encouraging people to explore their creativity, and if they enjoy writing, to practice and improve their skills. Because only then can someone learn if they have what it takes to become a published novelist.
And there have been some very successful novels written during NaNoWriMo, including The Night Circus, Cinder, and Legends and Lattes, just to name a few.
For me, when I did my first NaNoWriMo (this is my 11th, and I have won every year), I had never tried writing every single day for a month. And I had never written without my internal editor constantly challenging everything that I wrote, as I wrote it. So my writing habit was haphazard and largely unproductive, and it took me ages to even write an article.
After I did NaNoWriMo a couple of times, I discovered that my writing leveled up massively. I entirely credit NaNoWriMo for being able to be both a freelance writer and a novelist. I published my first (non-NaNoWriMo) novel in 2015, and have used NaNoWriMo to draft many additional projects. After publishing that first novel, the second (and this year, third) novels in my series were both initially NaNoWriMo projects (the second book has taken several years to revise but is nearly done). I also wrote book 2 in my Favor Faeries series (which I serialized on my personal Substack and Kindle Vella) during a NaNoWriMo. And I have a really fun novel I wrote last year that I hope to revise and publish in the next year.
And beyond all of the above, what NaNoWriMo is to me - and to thousands of others - is also a community, where for one month each year, experienced and novice writers come together to write with a shared goal. There are online and in-person write-ins, workshops, video calls, pep talks, and shared spaces such as what we provided here, where writers can get to know each other, work on the craft of writing, and make friends. For me, many of my current friends came directly out of NaNoWriMo and write-ins that never would have happened without the organization and inspiration to gather.
So I hope that you will reconsider your dismissive attitude towards NaNoWriMo and the people who choose to participate. It may not be your cup of tea, and that's fine - not all writers participate or have any interest in what NaNoWriMo is all about. But don't come here and try to belittle the people who participated and are proud of their accomplishments, no matter how big or how small.
Dang, it’s 49k!😅 I got lazy in the end. But I wrote a short story for a contest, about 1k, so it’s 50k in total.😂 Here’s a snippet from the WIP CIRQUE DU MACABRE (serialized on substack). A cheezy moment on Madeira island. A girl and a... erm... werewolf. Some Spice ahead.
She laid near Mateo on one of those lazy afternoons, with her head on Mat’s chest. Odry loved the scent of his tanned skin - of sunshine, ocean and sweat. She listened to the sound of his heartbeat merged with the waves clashing against the shore. Odry was amazed how comfortable she felt being close to Mat, when not so long ago she couldn’t stand him touching her. Now her fingers playfully danced on Mat’s muscled belly, while both laid on the beach blanket.
“It tickles, kid, stop!” Mat flinched laughing.
“Stop? Oh, really?” Odry teased him. Mateo growled like a furious puppy and pulled her on top of him. Both kissed softly and idly, but Odry rolled off him when their kisses grew hotter. The clear, turquise ocean shone behind him.
Mateo looked at Odry, the wind played in his silvery-grey hair, his amber eyes looked into her grey ones innocently.
“I love you,”
“I love you too, Matty,”
He couldn’t stay away, Mateo pulled Odry closer and kissed her; Odry felt just how desperately he wanted her.
Odry remembered Linden. There were no sparks with Mat, sure, but the rush was still there. It was warm and safe with Mat, and if there were no people around them, she would’ve loved to melt in his arms completely.
“Those people could just disappear… I want you, Odry, I wish I could melt into you, here and now” Mateo whispered in her ear.
/My thougths exactly, Matty…/
Both kept kissing with tourists staring at them.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing a bit of your story with us! And your 1000K word story counts. :)
I did not hit 50k. Maybe half that, which I'm totally fine with. I've won in the past a number of times, so it's not that big of a deal for me anymore. A week away for Thanksgiving didn't help. Multiple WIPs doesn't ever help either. That said, I finally sat down with the Save The Cat book and worked through the story beats for this novel, and I'm absolutely thrilled with the quasi outline this produced for me. I did end up writing six chapters, and recently during my morning commute I both worked out the rest of the current chapter in my head as well as the end of the book, which was still a mystery to me (until now). So, still working on this novel, and my NaNo project will just keep going. It's listed with my others. Everyone is free to friend me on the NaNo site. And congrats, everyone, for just giving it a go. Win or not, it's something to try.
Wow, it sounds like you got a lot accomplished! Sometimes wordcount is less important than other things. Coming up with your novel structure and 6 chapters is no small feat! Congrats, I think you're a winner for sure!
Congrats to all who participated, even if you didn’t make the 50k goal! Three days to go before the end of NaNoWriMo, I was a little less than 5k away from 50k. I was encouraged by the kind words of fellow fictionistas and decided to give a humongous push at the end. I locked myself away, emerging to take my poor dog for bathroom breaks (TMI? which is when I took my own bathroom breaks), and grab something to eat other than from the box of extra toasty Cheez-its I kept beside me. I also found myself writing until 4am for 2 days. I made it to 50, 212 words! Full disclosure (as I pound my head on the table): I had not previously counted my outline, which I had written on the very first day with a little more than 500 words! So, would I take the challenge again? Absolutely! Next time, I’ll be better prepared. Vive le NaNoWriMo!
Here’s a snippet of my WIP, titled Unleaving:
“I hate them all!” Laleh thought, “I should be married by now!”
She had seen how her father’s young apprentice had looked at her, his dark eyes holding hers before flicking away. During the hottest part of the day, as the household napped, she closed her eyes and imagined his fingers brushing against hers, accidentally at first and then deliberately. In her daydream, they never looked at each other as they tidied her father’s papers but her heart pounded in her ears as his fingers caressed hers, his touch as light as a feather.
Now, the dream would never be.
Her parents had told her, her sister, and her brother that it had become too dangerous for them to remain in this place that she loved. She would no longer feel these cool marble tiles under her feet, or hear the rattle of the dishes as her mother prepared a meal, or taste the zoolbias soaked in sugar syrup flavored with saffron and rose water.
She had told her father that it was unfair that she had to go too. She had begged him to let her remain. She thought he would have been angry, instead his face had gotten sad as he took both her hands in each of his.
“It hurts your mother and me to see you go,” he had said, “We thought we would have celebrated your wedding, heard the laughter of your children in this house but it cannot be. Please…we are doing what is best for you. It’s the only way we can save you.”
She had pulled her hands away and angrily walked from the room.
By early afternoon of the next day they were at her uncle’s house in Zāhedān.
Thanks for sharing!
Hooray! It's stories like this that make me grateful for NaNoWriMo and our community, because it's exactly this kind of thing that makes it all worthwhile. If the community can encourage each other to write and keep going, and if you accomplish something as a result, then it proves that NaNoWriMo has value. Congratulations!
I hit 49,004 - close!!
Oooooh so close! Congrats on all those words even if you just missed the 50K. You're still a winner to me!
Thank you! 🙏🙏
Nowhere near the giant word count, but I got some key things solidified that feels worth a whole draft.
Hey that sounds like a win to me! Congrats!
I got to just over 51,000. Worked on my non-fiction reference book so there was as much figuring out what should be said where and when as there was writing. Found the seven days a week a bit much, especially when November is the start of the "high-demand season" on weekends.
What I appreciated about it is that it allowed me to create (and maintain) a writing habit. So far so good with December :)
I've gotten used to writing for an hour between 10 and 11 am rather than editing or research or sorting all the piles of notes that seem to build up without me realizing it. Doesn't matter how many words I write, just that I write. That is good for me because there are so many distractions...
Hooray! Good for you - words and figuring out. And it sounds like you learned a lot about your own writing habits and what you need to do, which is a HUGE win itself!
I wrote 22,148 words, approximately 44% of the 50K target and enough to know that I will continue to work on it until it's ready to be my 32nd completed novel and the 9th that started as a NaNo project. I am satisfied. Also, in the process the story grew into a trilogy and the ideas generated for book two have inspired me to keep working on book one so I can get to book two.
That's amazing. 32 novels! It's great to hear that you made good progress and have even more inspiration coming out of the end of November.
Made it to 29k and am already excited for the next go round! I need more prep in terms of characters and background research to help me get through the slumps. I’d also like to keep up each day with the word count or come in strong on the first day to give myself a buffer.
Congrats to those who came close, met, or exceeded the goal! I admire what you’ve done and hope to be among you someday.
It sounds like you did really well and may have exceeded your own expectations? And learning what you need to keep things moving is a valuable thing to take away from the experience. Congrats!
I did! It went better than I thought and I would do it again.
I don’t know how many words, got to about 10K in a memoir and then changed to memoir in poetry, attempting prose poetry, I have read several books on specifics of prose poetry. Now I have. Memoir about 3/4 through but in several formats. Probably50 poems. Mitch more to do and so so much revision
You got a lot done so who cares about the wordcount. You did a bunch of writing and that's what counts! Way to go!
I attempted a few years ago, and failed with around 30k. Now I write short stories. Haha.
NaNoWriMo isn't for everyone. Having said that, some people use it to craft short stories or poems as well as write an actual novel, so maybe you can join us next year!
Cracking eyeball open.🤪 I know I usually read everybody’s comments and wave pompoms and stuff before I answer, but this week’s emergency room adventure has wiped me out so I’m gonna point at Jackie’s comment that even taking on this project at all is a win!!! ✊🤘👍🤩
It’s been so cool to do this with other writers again! Sneaking hand out of covers and waving flag. Woooooot to y'all! And no. I haven't forgotten our conversations about ways to continue the momentum. My response here today is part of it... conversations around continuing to be writers even when Life Happens. Plotting with Fearless Leader is in the works. 🤓😈🤓
My final: 54,720
Here’s a taste--welcome back to 1988:
https://open.substack.com/pub/bellanthebeastie/p/bueller-bueller
I'm so sorry you had health issues sabotage your efforts, but I'm glad you're still around and you're eager to do something to help fellow writers in the future. And congrats on hitting the 54K mark!
Thanks, hon!! 🥰🥰🥰 I’m looking forward to it. No clue what it will be like, but as you said, this is a topic we all have to deal with. All the time. Because...you know...we’re still breathing so... woot!!!
I had a blast doing NaNoWriMo this month! It reminded me of the simple joy of writing for discovery. My characters took my story in unexpected directions, and I just had to run to keep up with them! I'm so glad I decided to join the challenge last-minute this year because it taught me so much. Because it's too much for a comment, I wrote all about the writing lessons I learned here 😊
https://dreamwoven.substack.com/p/nanowrimo-2023-5-anti-perfectionist
Yes, you have found one of the great joys of NaNoWriMo. I'm so glad you enjoyed it and got something out of it. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
First time I tried this. Anything to keep me doing the reps necessary to write some decent fiction. I wondered about the emphasis on quantity over quality, but quality (i.e. editing) can come later.
A tiny snippet: His hat pulled low on his face, shoulders hunched, the man absently stroked his worn and shabby overcoat with his gloved hands while studying the young woman sitting across the aisle from him. No one else on the train had caught his eye.
Elena Marconi, her head tilted on the headrest, her brown hair covering most of her face, dozed in the cautious twilight sleep of the solitary traveler. Comforted by the hush of the other passengers, lulled by the rhythm of the train, and hypnotized by the pounding rain on the roof, Elena turned over in her seat, trying to get comfortable.
Thanks for sharing! And yes, NaNoWriMo (as all novel drafts) is more about getting the words/story out. Cleaning things up and making everything tidy is what revisions are for. Thanks for sharing a snippet!
I realized I haven't reported about my own outcome. I managed to get right over the 50K a couple days early, and am just flabbergasted at my success, as I was able to draft about 2/3 of a novel that I have been trying to figure out for about 20 years. It's not done - I still have a good 30K+ to go, I think - but it's a huge success so far. I'm hoping to finish up the draft by the end of December so I can promptly return to final edits of the previous book in the series so I can send it to beta readers.
Mostly I am just so pleased to see all of the other Fictionistas having some successes, big or small, and hearing from a number of people who never gave this a shot before this year. As I always say, if you wrote words in November that you would not have otherwise written, and/or you learned something new about yourself as a writer or about your work in progress, that's all that really counts, so you're a winner in my book.
Thanks to everyone who participated and shared their outcomes!
Will do. Thank you.
NaNoWriMo didn't quite go as planned this year, but I wrote 17618 words. I've "won" previously on NaNo, so not too concerned with not making 50k. What it did do is get me writing routinely again, and freely. I will continue through December and beyond.
That's awesome. Sometimes "winning" isn't what's needed, and it sounds like you got exactly what you did need. Congrats!
Well done fellow NaNoWriMowers!! It was my first venture with this project. I used it to start a novel that has been kicking around in the back of my mind for a while. I hit 29k, so to paraphrase Beckett, less than I would and about as much as I could . . . . To the naysayers here I would ask why they even bother to join this thread. The word count counts in writing anything. All publishers prescribe word counts, for essays, book reviews, articles and books.
I found this exercise useful because it enabled me to make a start on something new. Now I will leave what I have done aside (to drain as Kipling put it) return to some other WIPs which are draining at the mo and return to this one in the new year, happy that I have something concrete to work with.
Here's the first page of my NaNoWriMo WIP:
His much-caricatured figure was silhouetted in the wedge of light at the open door. No horns, no tail, no cloven foot on show, despite the rumours and gossip. She drew back the dripping hood of her jacket to reveal her upturned face. A smile broke slowly across his usually impassive features.
He nodded, opened the door wide and said, Come in. You must be soaked, you poor creature. He shut the door and gestured to an old bench, telling her to take off her wet things.
They didn’t offer to pay for a taxi, I see, he scoffed. Nothing changes.
She worked one wet boot off her foot and before engaging with the other glanced up at him to say, No, they did. Amazing as it seems. But I said I’d be faster on the train at this time on a wet Friday evening.
So they want me urgently.
Yes. Yes. They’re setting up a conference call for eight o’clock tonight.
Are they now? He glanced at his watch. That gives us an hour. Plenty of time to have a drink first, to warm you up. We will of course be fashionably late.
She shot him a pleading look. It is urgent.
When is it not with them?
Standing in her stockinged feet she felt suddenly small and childlike beside him. I suppose, she said. Maybe a quick drink.