December 1, 2010

NaNoWriMo

So. It is finished. I am through.

I have completed NaNoWriMo.

At 50,663 words, it - that infamous novel that has diligently plagued me all throughout the long November month - sits without a name. I only recently realized this problem. Hm. Titles I contemplate are "Wilderwood King" or "Rebel's Cause."

Because I enjoy listing elements of stories, I shall do so now for mine. My tale contains/concerns:

  1. Knights
  2. Slavers
  3. Nuns
  4. A peasant uprising
  5. Wolves
  6. Quartz
  7. A steep cliff
  8. A bonfire
  9. Waterfall
  10. Blood. Lots of blood. My poor characters suffered much. >_>

I freely admit that it is a poor story. Perhaps some characters, scenes, or threads of plot will be salvageable, but on the whole I have little affection for it. Yet I am still content. I did not jump into NaNo with the intention of coming out with a worthy story; I wanted to do it for the sheer challenge and adventure; to be able to say that I have done it! Here in prosperous America, I do not have many chances for true adventures, but I try to take what I can get. :) NaNoWriMo was not terribly adventurous or thrilling, but it was a challenge, a task, a quest - one that I have successfully completed. I am content. I can now say that I have done NaNoWriMo; 50,000 words, 30 days.

Thanks to Millard for the many word wars and vigorous encouragements! I think I would have lost strength and motivation and tossed the whole project without his help. :) You can read Millard's ominous story of his dreadful experience with NaNoWriMo here.

Millard was ALSO the one who, upon the completion of my novel, convinced me to - against my better judgment - write "NaNoWriMo" on my socks with a Sharpie, as he himself did. And (heheh) I took a video of the event. If you're truly so bored that you'd care to see -




And, finally, I shall close with a quote from the book "No Plot, No Problem!" written by Chris Baty, the man who created NaNoWriMo (and consequentially became the man whose name is alternately cursed and blessed by aspiring authors more than any other appellation). The following narrates his method of celebrating a NaNoWriMo victory:

“I tend to celebrate crossing over with a meditative ceremony where I print the book out and neatly stack the pages on the floor. When everything has been properly laid out, I take a few steps back from the work, close my eyes, and offer up my thanks to the writing powers for another bountiful harvest. At which point, I get a running start and dive headlong into my wordpile, rolling around and snorting like a pig.

"And then I fall asleep for three days."


Over and out.
The triumphant,
-whisper

12 comments:

Jake said...

Whisper! :D

First things first, spy. :| YOUR STORIES ARE NOT POOR, NOR UN-SALVAGEABLE. Banish such absolutely redonkulous thoughts from thy mind! YOUR STORIES ARE WHAT YOU MAKE THEM! Sheesh, revision was invented for this very purpose! Spy, if ye get anything from this comment (or indeed read any of this) read THIS:

YOUR NOVELS ARE EPIC AND IF ANYONE SAYS DIFFERENTLY I SHALL POUND THEIR NOSE AND FEED THEM ALIVE TO A TOOTHY COW! >:| Do NOT rouse my temper, spy!

Now. For the enjoyable stuffs.

EPICNESS, whisper! *eats pie and a dash of homemade confetti* YOU HAVE DONE IT!! PRAISE ELLOS!

Can you believe it? You have conquered the dragon of NaNoWriMo! You have slain it with a shining sword! Mwhaahaha! The publishers shall fall on their knees and beg for this! What with such a list :O you shall conquer all of the publishing world and take the New York Times bestseller list by storm!

Bwahaha, that is an epic video Whisper. :O That shall go down and far in the history of Elvish epicness. Side-by-side with the chicken strip with pie written on it. :|

With that....

*blows LA to kingdom-come and dances among the flames, shouting at the top of his lungs in triumph*

For the record. >_> <_< ^_^ I present to you...

YYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHJHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*is now speechless*

Pingpong said...

Wow I can't top either post above mine but congrats on completing whisper :) Good Job.
Pingpong

Precentor said...

Haha! I caught this post in time to comment before it was a day old! Even while I write this three of us are watching the Nanowrimo on the socks!! We are laughing and cheering uprouriously!! Pingpong says: You may have started something!

We may have to keep this sock sharpie-ing going each year...I never did do it for my second pair of socks. *Sigh* :D


To quote someone whom I linked to the video, "That has got to be the most random thing I've ever seen." I can't believe it's a video! Gah! Next year I will have to follow your foosteps and make mine a video as well :D Said person also agrees it is, "So epic."

Now...enough of that banter :|




Whisper: Again I am able to laud an accomplishment of one of my Nano friends. You simply refused to give up on Nano, and certainly kept me going. Thanks so much for taking part in Nano and showing this newbie the ropes. You've completed an accomplishment worthy of the family annals no doubt! And who knows....perhaps some day the the world will sing of sharpies and socks! Brother in writing arms :D Crafting a 50,000.000000000000000 word novel is enough to make most people jump for joy. Crafting it in a year--enough to make them crawl under the bed. Six months you say? Three? One.(point)five? Nope. Still under the bed, or jumping out their first story window(pun intended).But instead of jumping out a window, or hiding under your bed like most of the sane population, you set out to do it. To do...Nanowrimo.

Anyone that read my post knows how I felt about it, but you seemed to enjoy it! *Gasp* To even savor the triumph until the last possible moment! How that works I still can't comprehend...being able to live life under the strain of Nano, how you did it I have NO idea. Perhaps that's a skill in and of itself...*muses* Alas, I'm digressing again. You did a wonderful job encouraging others in the race toward the Nanowrimo finish and continually were a Word Warrior of the highest regard. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say, "Fixed fortifications are a monument to man's stupidity"--Patton. Oh, right, for everyone? "We all want to read the novel Whisper! Hot coals, sharks, and even freezing socks won't stop the battle to read it!" So...why not just give up? Publish it, and we'll all read it before--and after it's on the best seller list :)

Just don't forget the small people, myself and Jake would be pretty sad missing another word warrior, who knows, you could tour into MZ and OR!

Goodnight, and God bless :)

Millard

(Once again I can't figure out if I should sign it good morning or night? It will be morning when you read it..just like all other late night comments from the PST zone, but it IS still night for me....Oh. And I don't claim the above was cohesive or even close to grammatically correct ;) ) GOOD JOB!

Elven Princess said...

I wish I was brave enough to do that with my socks.... :D

Jake said...

Or KS. :)

Sheer wordiness Mil--awesome job.

The one WW I managed to do with ye whisper was epic. Remember? Twas the night ST was again among the halls of the UG, and pens sped along paper like fire among kindling--hmm, I think ye beat me, yes? At any rate, twas epic!

I shall do the socks thing next year. :) Tis an idea worthy of the Elves.

With that, and another fleeting "Huzzah!" I depart once more. I'll be back once the comments are updated. ;) Mwahaha, ye aren't spared of me yet. XD

Feel free to fall asleep.

whisper said...

Jake - Wow. (OO) Wow. Thank you so much for the wild and wondrously enthusiastic congratulations! Your post is absolutely wonderful and very kind. :) Thank you.

*blows San Fransisco into next Tuesday*

Thank you, Pingpong! :)

Millard, I am delighted that the video was found enjoyable! Thank you so very much for urging me to write NaNoWriMo on my socks, for otherwise, I most certainly never would have attempted it. >_> And thank you so much for the congratulatory post. It, like Jake's, was absolutely fantastic. :D Thank you! There is but one qualm I have with it: you were not the newbie, I was and it was you who showed me the ropes! :D Pshaw, you were the one who roped me into JulWriMo in the first place and helped me get a plot together for NaNo! (oh, and by the by, your was entirely cohesive and, so far as my delighted eye eagerly reading it saw, grammatically correct. :D)

Jake, yes! I do indeed remember that war, and it was a valuable contribution to my word count! :D But I do not remember who won; because that did not matter. :)

Millard has definitely started something with the socks.... >_>

*wonders why in the world she would fall asleep*

-whisper

Jake said...

O.o Perhaps ye would take Chris Baty's advice. XD

Mwahaha, Jake of the Sadaar enjoys celebrating. ;) I find that the longer I dwell among Elves, the wordier and the more eloquent I wax when celebrating...*shrugs* Or it could be my novel. ;) Either way, I have expanded my congratulatory vocabulary from

YAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYY!!!!!!!

to

YOU DID IT YOU DID IT HALLELUJAH PRAISE ELLOS YE HAVE WRITTEN A NOVEL AND....written NaNoWriMo on your socks?1?

*Bwahahaha* That was enjoyable.

Jake said...

Oops! I didn't realize there was audio to the sock-writing. :O *watches it again with sound turned up* Hehe, congrats Millard for mention! ;) Mwahahahaha!! *is going to try and video writing NaNoWriMo on socks if Mom will let him*

whisper said...

*grins, having nothing to say*

Unknown said...

Very, very congratulations!

(Does that even make grammatical sense? >_>)

whisper said...

Many, many thanks!

(Even if it doesn't, in this circumstance I don't care) :)

-whisper

Jake said...

I specialize in nonsensical grammar. >_>

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