|
| Autor |
Nachricht |
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: Offizielle Anschreiben [2008]
Verfasst am: Mi, 29 Okt 2008, 10:59  |
 |
|
Und hier auch dieses Jahr wieder die offiziellen Anschreiben, für alle, die es interessiert ...
[NaNoWriMo] Your guide to the month ahead
(29.10.2008, 9:05)
| Zitat: |
 Dear National Novel Writing Month Author,
Hi there! NaNoWriMo Program Director Chris Baty here. Before we get rolling, I wanted to give you a quick guide to our upcoming five weeks of literary domination.
Here's the plan:
Today: Make a tax-deductible donation to help us pay for National Novel Writing Month. So far, we've received donations from 3.4% of our participants, putting us 6.6% away from our goal. Chip in! Even $10 makes a big difference, and pays huge dividends in halos and noveling karma. We're a nonprofit, and we've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars readying this swashbuckling adventure for 110,000 adults and 15,000 kids and teens around the world. We need your support!
Tomorrow: Make sure you've set your time zone correctly (it's under User Settings). Some word-count features appear and disappear at midnight on November 1 and November 30, so dialing those in now will save you stress later. Join a local region, and find out when and where the first novel-writing get-togethers (called "write-ins") for your city or town will be held. Tune in to WrimoRadio, NaNoWriMo's podcast, and learn how you can be on the November 3 episode.
October 31: Get the first pep talk email. You'll receive about three of these a week—one from me and two from our panel of esteemed celebrity pep talkers—throughout November. Note: If you donate $50 or more today, you will receive six years of pep talks from me in a beautiful 80-page PDF, constituting about as much week-by-week NaNoWriMo advice and encouragement as any human being can handle without falling over.
November 1: At midnight, local time, start writing your book. You need to log 1667 words per day to stay on par. The site will be very slow for the first few days of the event, but with patience you can update your soaring word count in the box at the top of our site or on the "Edit Novel Info" page of your profile. Watch your stats graph fill. Send a link to your author profile to your friends so they can follow your progress. Revel in the majesty of your unfolding story. It's November 1! You are an unstoppable novel-writing machine!
November 2: Stop writing. Wonder if you should start over. Keep going. Feel better.
November 3: The first November episode of WrimoRadio goes up on the site, beaming out overcaffeinated messages of hope from Wrimos worldwide. We'll be podcasting every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from here until December.
November 8: As the first full week of writing comes to a close, you will be at 11,666 words. This is more fiction than most people write in their lifetimes, and you did it in a week. Go, you! This is also Municipal Liaison Appreciation Day, a raucous international holiday that celebrates NaNoWriMo's volunteer chapter-heads (the folks who organized the write-in you went to last week). Chocolate, flowers, and gifts of expensive electronics are appreciated.
November 13: Nothing really happens on November 13.
November 15: After the second week of writing, you will be at 25,000 words. This is the approximate length of such legendary works of fiction as Animal Farm, Death in Venice, and Gossip Girl: I Like it Like That. You're halfway to winning! Attend a Midway Party in your town, or come to San Francisco, where the Night of Writing Dangerously Write-a-thon will set records for group noveling and candy consumption.
November 16: The second half of NaNoWriMo dawns. Writerly confidence builds. Your book comes to life, and characters start doing interesting, unexpected things. Nice. Weird.
November 22: After the third full week of writing, you stand at 35,000 words, the NaNoWriMo milestone universally recognized as The Place Where Everything Gets Much, Much Easier.
November 25: Novel validation and winning begins, and Word-Count Progress Bars turn from blue to green (over 50K) to purple (over 50k and a verified winner!). Check our FAQs for details on uploading your manuscript and winning. For the first time ever, a very limited number of 2008 Winner t-shirts will appear in the store. These will make you smile.
November 27: American Wrimos celebrate the true meaning of Thanksgiving by gathering together with friends and family, wolfing down a huge meal as quickly as possible, and then ditching those friends and family to hide in the bathroom with a laptop.
November 30: By midnight, local time, we will all be the proud owners of 50,000-word novels that we could barely imagine on October 31. Plan to attend your local NaNoWriMo Thank God It's Over Party, where grins will abound, champagne will flow, fives will be highed, and wrists will be iced.
You did it. We all did it.
December 1: Sleep will fall heavily across NaNoLand, as 125,000 writers close the book on one crazy, oversized dream, and go off in search of the next.
We begin very soon, brave writer! I can't wait to get started!
Chris
NaNoWriMo |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
Zuletzt bearbeitet von boris am So, 23 Nov 2008, 17:17, insgesamt 4-mal bearbeitet. (3 Prozent)
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: Mi, 29 Okt 2008, 22:34 |
|
|
Den ganzen "Widget"-Krempel gibt es dieses Jahr auch wieder:
"My Month"
"Mini Graph"
"NaNoWriMo Graph"
Jetzt noch recht unspektakulär werden die Dinger nach dem 1.11. Leben entwickeln und meinen aktuellen Stand anzeigen - so wie das häßlich-türkise Ding hier rechts oben (nur auf der Startseite).
Und dann gibts das ganze noch tabellarisch in der Komplettübersicht: NaNoWriMo Progress - den Link werde ich auch bei meinen täglichen Statusberichten anhängen.
EDIT: "Service Temporarily Unavailable" ... die Serverlast steigt ...
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: Fr, 31 Okt 2008, 11:37 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Germany & Austria
(31.10.2008, 00:14)
| Zitat: |
Eins, zwo, eintausendvierhundertzweiundsechzig... Test, Test – ah, wir sind wieder auf Sendung! Und das gleich an so vielen Empfängergeräten!
Herzlich Willkommen, liebe Schreiberlinge aus Deutschland und Österreich – oder IN Deutschland und Österreich! Wieder einmal ist es soweit: Tausende und Abertausende sitzen zu Hause, in ihrem Büro, in der Schule, der Uni (im Kindergarten?) und können nicht mehr viele klare Gedanken fassen. Zumindest keine, die nicht sofort in einer möglichen Verwurstung in der kommenden Geschichte münden. Der Chef, der gestürzt wird, der Professor, der selbstzündende Tendenzen entwickelt, der Opa, dessen Schnupftabak der Stoff der Götter ist und das Fliegen ermöglicht – und wir haben es die ganzen Jahre über nicht gesehen!
Es ist klar, welche Zeit uns wieder blüht und ich glaube, ich spreche nicht nur für mich, wenn ich sage: es stehen aufregende Tage vor der rauen Holztür!
Ich habe die Emails aus vergangenen Jahren durchforstet, um nachzuschauen, was ich euch am Anfang dieses Monats schon alles unter die Nase gerieben habe (ich wiederhole mich nur ungern). Ich habe die Ideen von Helfern aus der ganzen Welt in den Foren zusammengestaucht gelesen und war erstaunt, wie viele gute darunter waren. Auch fehlt es mir nicht an Tricks, um euch über die 50.000-Worte-Marke zu heben, die – kaum angefangen mit dem Roman – auch schon näher rückt und euch grinsend entgegen winkt. Aber wollen wir mal nichts überstürzen, gell?
Am Ende wird es doch wieder ein Heidenspaß – egal, was ich euch hier und heute schreibe.
Ich und so viele mit mir möchten nur eines: euch und uns bei einem der spaßigsten Abenteuer unterstützen, die es heutzutage noch direkt aus dem Sessel aktiv zu erleben gibt! Und euch ermuntern, eben dies nicht aus jenem Sessel zu tun, sondern auf der Straße, in den Cafés dieser unserer zwei Länder, an den gemeinsamen Treffpunkten, die in den nächsten 30 Tagen auf der Tagesordnung stehen. Lasst euch fangen von der Inspiration eurer Mitmenschen, lasst euch tragen von den Ideen eurer Mitschreiber, entgeht nicht der Persönlichkeit, die euch gegenüber sitzt und Gedanken äußert, die nur für euch bestimmt sein könnten.
Noch einmal schlafen. Und dann werden wir wieder zu Kindern (denn die sind ohne inneren Zensor unterwegs) und können unserer Fantasie erneut freien Lauf lassen. Dann werden Mütter für kurze Zeit zu Drachen, Schwestern zu Prinzessinnen (oder bösen Hexen) und der ungeliebte Nachbar von nebenan, der seinen Fernseher nicht leise stellt, hat nicht nur eine Leiche im Keller, sondern 25! 25 Wattebällchenfigurenleichen aus italienischem Seidenspinnerkokon – in jahrelanger Arbeit und ungestört vor seinem Fernseher zusammengestrickt.
Meine Gedanken gehen mit mir durch... verzeiht.
Tut mir und uns den Gefallen: verkriecht euch nicht, sondern beteiligt euch. In den Foren unter http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/122, bei euren regionalen Treffen (Kalenderhilfe gibt es hier http://tinyurl.com/5p6q9m) oder via Gedankenübertragung an jene, die im kreativen Sumpf feststecken und Rauchzeichen in die Lüfte senden. Habt ihr Fragen, stellt sie (oder schaut zuerst bei den FAQ http://www.nanowrimo.org/de/faq nach). Habt ihr Antworten: schreibt auch diese auf und helft damit einem anderen Menschen.
So, und jetzt habt ihr alle rote Augen und könnt die Stunden zählen und euch langsam zu den zahlreichen Start-Treffen einfinden, die am heutigen Tage überall in Deutschland und Österreich steigen!
Es grüßt und wünscht euch viel Spaß,
der Micha |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: Fr, 31 Okt 2008, 11:38 |
|
|
Und hier die modifizierte Excel-Tabelle für den täglichen Fortschritt. Nicht von mir, die gab es letztes Jahr von irgendwem, habe das Ding ein wenig getuned und auf dieses Jahr angepaßt:
http://www.beehave.de/download.php?id=13
EDIT 11.11.08:
Ich habe noch "bedingte Formatierungen" hinzugefügt, so daß man jetzt immer sofort sehen kann, ob man an jedem Tag über (oder unter) dem täglichen Soll lag. Zusätzlich wird mit der Markierung rot/grün angezeigt, ob der tägliche Gesamtstand dem Soll entspricht.
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
Zuletzt bearbeitet von boris am Di, 11 Nov 2008, 11:53, insgesamt 3-mal bearbeitet. (12 Prozent)
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: Sa, 01 Nov 2008, 18:21 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Germany & Austria: erste Schritte und die Bergfestplanung
(1.11.2008, 14:36)
| Zitat: |
Hallo, liebe Schreiberlinge!
Kaum hat unser Schreibfest angefangen und die ersten Zeilen und Seiten sind eingehackt, da geht auch schon die Planung für ein Bergfest (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergfest) in die Vollen. „Bergfest, warum?“ werden sich einige von euch fragen. Nun, gerade die alten Hasen unter euch können den jungen Häslein ein Lied davon singen (oder besser: eine Ode davon schreiben), wie verschieden die Wochen im Schreib-November sein können – und sein werden.
Während die erste Woche von neuen Charakteren, windigen Ideen, lebhaften Dialogen und witzigen Szenen nur so sprühen wird, kann es schon nach der zweiten Woche sein, dass der Innere Zensor in euch das ein oder andere Mal anklopft und um Einlass bittet (EINlass, weil ihr ihn ja hoffentlich schon vor die Tür gesetzt habt!). Natürlich lasst ihr ihn nicht rein (kaltes Wetter hat ihm noch nie etwas ausgemacht!), aber er ist sehr standhaft, ruft durch den Briefschlitz, drückt seine Nase an den von innen beschlagenden Fenstern platt und wimmert zuerst mitleidswürdig, dann befehlsbetont durch die doppelt verglasten Gläser.
„Hey, dieser Charakter hat nur gute Seiten! Das ist unrealistisch! Wer hat schon nur gute Charakterzüge?!“
„Haaaallooooo, in deinem dritten Satz auf Seite fünf sind drei Grammatikfehler in EINER Zeile. Ich bin ja sonst recht gutmütig, was das betrifft, aber DREI?!“
„Ähem, da sind logische Fehler im Kapitel 'Wie mein Bruder seinen ersten Purzelbaum auf dem Mars machte'... Das glaubt dir keiner!“
Sätze wie diese höre ich nachts des öfteren von meinem inneren Zensor. NACHTS wohlgemerkt, wenn Ohrstöpsel und Decke bereits den Zugang zu meinem Inneren verstopfen!
Kurze Rede, langer Sinn: Ein Bergfest ist die beste Gelegenheit, auch mal wieder wegzukommen von zu Hause (ohne es den Korrektoren dieser Welt zu sagen) und sich unter's Volk zu mischen. Deshalb bitte ich alle, die sich für ihren Bereich in Deutschland und Österreich verantwortlich fühlen, mir in den nächsten Tagen Bescheid zu geben, wann (nicht ob! ;) es bei euch zu einem Treffen kommen wird, an dem ihr die ersten zwei Wochen Revue passieren lasst und die nächsten zwei in Augenschein nehmt.
Noch ein Hinweis für das Eintragen des Wordcounts: Es liegt nicht an euch, wenn ihr den Wordcount noch nicht auf normalem Wege eintragen könnt, so viel sei verraten! An den ersten zwei, drei Tagen sind die Server oft hoffnungslos überlastet und einige Features sind deaktiviert, um die Last ein wenig zu dämmen. Mein Vorschlag: entweder tragt ihr euren Wordcount ganz oben in dem kleinen Kästchen ein (aber das ist bei mir auch noch grau hinterlegt, also inaktiv) oder unter My NaNoWriMo -> Edit Novel Info -> Edit Novel → Zahl unter „Word Count“ eintragen und ganz unten auf „Speichern“ klicken.
Der Validator wurde die letzten Jahre erst gegen Ende des Monats freigeschaltet, wenn es darum ging, ob auch wirklich schon die "offiziell" ausreichende Wortanzahl erreicht wurde. Das kommt später und sollte für euch noch nicht von Interesse sein.
Ich hoffe, ich konnte helfen und wünsche weiterhin frohes Schaffen. Ran an den (vegetarischen) Speck!
Es grüßt,
euer Micha |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: So, 02 Nov 2008, 10:47 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Week One pep talk from Chris
(1.11.2008, 22:59)
| Zitat: |
 Dear Writer,
Howdy! NaNo Program Director Chris Baty here. Welcome to the 10th NaNoWriMo! It's great to have you on board.
I'll be sending you one of these emails each week from here until the end of the event. Between my emails, you'll also get two encouraging missives from our panel of celebrity author pep talkers. This week, you'll be hearing from Jonathan Stroud and Philip Pullman.
Okay. Enough chit-chat. It's time to talk geodes.
Geodes, for the geologically disinclined, look like normal rocks on the outside. But when you cut them open, they're filled with all sorts of wonders—bubbly layers of agate, sparkly crystals, elves.
As a kid, I was obsessed with geodes. The highlight of my year was a visit to Dick's Rock Shop in Fountain, Colorado. The owner of the store, Richard Stearns, had a crate of dirty, unremarkable, tennis-ball-sized rocks in his Geode Bin. You'd spend an hour hunting through them until you'd picked out the perfect dirty, unremarkable rock.
Richard would then fire up his slab saw and cut the thing in half for you. The machine screamed and spit water to cool the blade, and it was messy and slow. Most of the time, Richard would lose a finger in the process.
That's how I remember it anyway. The details are a little fuzzy after so many years.
When he was done, Richard would present you with both halves of your geode. They'd be wet, and sometimes you'd gaze down into a glittering concavity of purple or green. Other times, you'd cry because you'd stupidly picked one of the geodes where the all the crystals were caked with a calcified layer of elf spit.
As we head into NaNoWriMo, I'm reminded of the feeling I got standing in Dick's Rock Shop, watching as that year's mystery stone revealed whatever magic it possessed. After nine NaNoWriMo novels—most of which have trended more towards elf spit than gemstones—I still get an excited stomach-flutter at the start of November. I can't help but feel giddy as I ponder questions like: Will this be the best novel I've ever written? And, secretly: Will this be the best novel ever written in the history of humankind?
Because it really could be.
Then the writing starts, and by the second sentence, two new questions have occurred to me. Namely: What am I doing? And: Could this be the worst novel ever written in the history of humankind?
And you know what? It really could be. But that's fine. Trust me on this. Don't waste your time measuring the success of your NaNo novel by the sparkle of your prose or the rock-solid genius of your plot. The books we write in November won't start out like the novels we buy in bookstores. Because the novels we buy in bookstores didn't start out like bookstore-novels either.
Nope. They started out as way-less beautiful, way-more exciting things called first drafts. These are the dinged-up cousins to final drafts, and they're packed with crazy energy and laughable tangents and embarrassing instances where a main character's name shifts six times over the course of a single chapter.
Creating this reckless, romantic, and potential-filled beast is the first step in writing a great book. It's also a fantastic workout for your imagination, and monkey-barrels of fun. There's a catch, though. Getting through a first draft will require you leave perfectionism and self-criticism at the door. Fear not: We'll keep them both safe and return them to you in December.
But in November, you are beyond criticism. Because you are doing something that few people in the world have the guts to try—you're packing a huge creative challenge into an already-hectic life. You're juggling work and home; family and friends. With all of that going on, you've signed up for NaNoWriMo. Where you've spent the last few weeks hunting through the bin of possible novel ideas, trying to pick out the perfect one. Maybe you've got yours already. Or maybe you feel like you're not quite ready.
You're ready.
It's November 1, writer.
What say we fire up the ol' slab saw and find out what's in there?
Chris
NaNoWriMo |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
Zuletzt bearbeitet von boris am Fr, 07 Nov 2008, 21:30, insgesamt einmal bearbeitet. (1 Prozent)
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: So, 02 Nov 2008, 13:28 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Germany & Austria: Welteroberung durch Städtereisen
(2.11.2008, 11:57)
| Zitat: |
Einen sonntäglichen guten Morgen!
Um eure wohlverdiente Sonntagsruhe nicht zu stören, die noch nicht angebrochene Woche aber zu beflügeln, habe ich zwei Kleinigkeiten zu berichten.
1) im Forum ist eine Städte-Übersicht (http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3086528) entstanden, die es euch einfacher machen soll, in eurer Nähe aktive Schreiberlinge zu finden, die sich diesen (und den nächsten) Monat bereits zusammen getan haben oder es noch tun werden. Schlagt etwaige Termine im NaNoWriMo-Kalender für unsere Region nach (Link ganz oben im Forum für Deutschland und Österreich) und traut euch zu den lokalen Treffen. Ihr werdet sehen, es wird eurem Wordcount nicht ungut tun.
2) Ich konnte meinen schläfrigen Augen heute Morgen kaum trauen, als ich auf der Hauptseite NaNoWriMos folgende Zeilen las:
"Update: Since posting this, Germany and Austria have swiped the crown from New Zealand" (und es stimmt immer noch, um 11:56h http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/wordcount_stats)
Will heißen: ihr habt bereits am ERSTEN TAG gezeigt, wieviel Schreibpower, wie viele Ideen, wie viel Enthusiasmus in euch steckt und das auch zu Papier gebracht, was darin mündete, dass wir momentan die weltbeherrschende Schreibermacht sind (muahahahaha! *hallendes Gelächer aus dem Off*).
Oder wir haben geschummelt.
Neeeee 
Einen weiterhin schreibsamen Sonntag und einen wettergrauen aber schreibfarbigen Gruß aus Bonn,
Micha |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: Mi, 05 Nov 2008, 11:55 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Week One pep talk from Jonathan Stroud
(4.11.2008, 23:26)
| Zitat: |
 Dear NaNoWriMo Author,
You could write a novel about the act of writing a novel. It's a heroic act. (Or so I tell myself as I sit here in my garret study, chewing my nails, scratching my nose and staring blankly at my screen. That's what this is, I say grimly: a heroic act.) Why is it so heroic? Because it fits the mythic pattern of all great legendary heroes' lives. It's the story of a mighty quest accepted, of a long journey undertaken, of insuperable obstacles overcome and finally—in your case after 30 painful days—of lasting triumph won. It would make a fine movie, apart from the scratching the nose bi t—probably starring Charlton Heston. Full of dramatic highs, dreadful lows and endless tedious bits when the audience goes out to make a cup of tea. It's an epic, all right, and we're all in it together.
Here's how it works for me. At the beginning there's a kind of honeymoon period, where I'm pretty excited by the idea in my head, and the possibilities it evokes. Sure there are a zillion details to be worked out later, and plenty of things that don't yet mesh, but that's ok—we've lots of time. I write the odd fragment and chuckle over the occasional piquant joke. I do a bit of research, visit museums wearing black roll-neck sweaters, scribble ideas down on napkins in coffee houses. It's a pleasant calm before the storm.
Then things darken a little. Time is pressing. I want to get to grips with the novel, but I haven't a clue how. This is the 'phony war' period. I now apply myself seriously to work, but the trouble is that it doesn’t hold together. Scenes start promisingly but peter into nothing. Main characters turn out to have all the zest of a cardboard box abandoned in the rain. Dialogue is lousy. Description descends into wall-to-wall cliché. No fragment lasts more than two or three pages before being printed off and tossed aside. And still the real writing hasn't begun.
In fact, without a few imperatives to nail things down, it's quite possible for these first two periods to last forever. Honeymoon and phony war: one of them's breezy, the other's frustrating, but both are equally deadly to the hopes of any novel. The author might easily stay scribbling, doodling, crossing out and reworking forever. The heroic quest deteriorates into a dog chasing its tail.
That's why a deadline—like the one you're working to—is such a good idea.
With my Bartimaeus Trilogy I had a big fat fantasy novel to write each year, three years in a row. One novel a year? That's not so hard. Or so I thought. Then I figured out that what with the time taken up with editing and revising my manuscript, and then with printing and distributing it, I actually had about five or six months to get the first draft done. And it wasn't long before I was mired in the phony war period, with lots of fragments, half-ideas and wasted weeks behind me, and saw my deadline looming.
So I did exactly the same thing you're doing this November, and set myself a strict schedule of pages per week to get the first draft done. In my case this worked out at about 100 pages per month for 3-4 months. Each day I kept strict records of what I achieved; each day I tottered a little nearer my goal. Five pages per working day was my aim, and sometimes I made this easily. Other times I fell woefully short. Some days I was happy with what I got down; some days I could scarcely believe the drivel that clogged up the page. But quality was not the issue right then. Quality could wait. This was n't the moment for genteel self-editing. This was the time when the novel had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into existence, and that meant piling up the pages.
So I did it, one page at a time, even when it was like pulling teeth or squeezing blood from a stone. I did it. And you can do it too.
This is just a first draft, after all. It doesn't have to be a perfect thing. I once met an author who claimed only to write when actively inspired. She was a fine and venerated writer, so I didn't let my jaw loll open too widely in her presence, but I didn't really buy her claim, and I still don't buy it now. If 'inspiration' is when the words just flow out, each one falling correctly on the page, I've been inspired precisely once in ten years. All the rest of the time, as I've been piecing together my seven novels, it's been a more or less painful effort. You write, you complete a draft in the time you've got, you take a rest. Then—later, when you've recovered a little—you reread and revise. And so it goes. And little by little the thing that started off as a heap of fragments, a twist of ideas trapped inside your head, begins to take on its own shape and identity, and becomes a living entity, separate from yourself.
Getting that first draft out is a horribly hard grind, but that (perversely) is where the joy of it lies. There is nothing better for me, nothing more uniquely satisfying in the whole process of making a book, than the sensation at the end of each day—good or bad, productive or unproductive—when I look over and see a little fragile stack of written pages that weren't there that morning. A few hours earlier they didn't exist. And now they do. In a strange way this is more actively thrilling than even holding my finished, printed, book in my hands. It's where the magic lies. Alchemists tried for centuries to turn base metals into gold. Every time we sit down and put words on paper, we succeed where they failed. We're conjuring something out of nothing.
So what does my advice boil down to? Sweat blood, churn out the pages, ignore the doldrums, savour the moments when the words catch fire. Good luck with your novels. Those old legendary heroes may not have sat around like us drinking cold coffee and tapping steadily at their keypads, but for them—and for us—it's the journey that's the thing. That's where the fun is.
Jonathan
Jonathan Stroud is the author of the Bartimaeus Trilogy. You can learn more about Jonathan and his work at his website. |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
Zuletzt bearbeitet von boris am Fr, 07 Nov 2008, 21:30, insgesamt einmal bearbeitet. (1 Prozent)
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: Fr, 07 Nov 2008, 15:44 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Week One pep talk from Philip Pullman
(7.11.2008, 0:32)
| Zitat: |
 Dear NaNoWriMo author,
You've started a long journey. Congratulations on your resolution and ambition! And the first thing you need to remember is that a long journey can't be treated like a sprint. Take your time.
The second thing you need to remember is that if you want to finish this journey you've begun, you have to keep going. One of the hardest things to do with a novel is to stop writing it for a while, do something else, fulfill this engagement or that commitment or whatever, and pick it up exactly where you left it and carry on as if nothing had happened. You will have changed; the story will have drifted off course, like a sh ip when the engines stop and there's no anchor to keep it in place; when you get back on board, you have to warm the engines up, start the great bulk of the ship moving through the water again, work out your position, check the compass bearing, steer carefully to bring it back on track ... all that energy wasted on doing something that wouldn't have been necessary at all if you'd just kept going!
But once you've established a daily rhythm of work, you'll find it energising and sustaining in itself. Even when it's not going well. This is a strange thing, but I've noticed it many times: a bad day's work is a lot better than no day's work at all. At least if you've written 500 words, or 1000 words, or whatever you discover is your most comfortable daily rate of production, the words are there to work on later. And when you do visit them in a month's time, or whenever it i s, you often find that they're not so bad after all.
The question authors get asked more than any other is "Where do you get your ideas from?" And we all find a way of answering which we hope isn't arrogant or discouraging. What I usually say is "I don't know where they come from, but I know where they come to: they come to my desk, and if I'm not there, they go away again." That's just another way of emphasising the importance of regular work.
You know which page of a novel is the most difficult to write? It's page 70. The first page is easy: it's exciting, it's new, a whole world lies in front of you. The last page is easy: you've got there at last, you know what's going to happen, all you have to do is find a resonant closing sentence. But page 70 is where the misery strikes. All the initial excitement has drained away; you've begun to see all the hideous problems you've set yourself; you are horribly aware of the minute size of your own talent compared to the colossal proportions of the task you've undertaken. That's when you'll want to give up. When I hit page 70 with my very first novel, I thought: I'm never going to finish this. I'll never make it. But then stubbornness set in, and I thought: well, if I reach page 100, that'll be something. If I get there, I reckon I can make it to the end, wherever that is. And 100 is only 30 pages away, and if I write 3 pages every day, I can get there in ten days ... why don't I just try to do that? So I did. It was a terrible novel, but I finished it.
The last thing I'd say to anyo ne who wants to write a novel is not actually a piece of advice, but a question. It's this: are you a reader? Every novelist I know—every novelist I've ever heard of—is, or was, a passionate reader. I don't doubt that someone with determination and energy, but who didn't read for pleasure, who only read for information, could actually write a whole novel if they set their mind to
it and followed a few rules and guidelines; but would it be worth reading? Would it give any pleasure beyond a mechanically c alculated sort? I doubt it. Novels that last and please readers are written because the novelist is intoxicated by the delight and the endlessly renewable joy that comes from engaging with imaginary characters—with story; and that engagement always begins with reading; and if it catches you, it never lets go. Write a novel if you want to win a competition, or impress your friends, or possibly make some money—do so by all means. But if you're not a lover of stories, a passionate and devoted reader, don't expect your novel to please many readers.
On the other hand, if you do love reading, if you cannot imagine going on a journey without a book in your pocket or your bag, if you fret and fidget and become uncomfortable if you're kept away from your reading for too long, if your worst nightmare is to be marooned on a desert island without a book—then take heart: there are plenty of us like you. And if you tell a story that really engages you, we are all potential readers.
Good luck!
Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman is the award-winning author of the His Dark Materials trilogy. You can learn more about him and his work at his website. |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: So, 09 Nov 2008, 20:38 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Germany & Austria: Erste Woche rum – Wer lebt, wer wird geboren?
(9.11.2008, 18:12)
| Zitat: |
Liebste Kommafuchser, Wortakrobaten und Satzkreateure!
Während der Himmel ein brennendes Feuerrot hinterlässt und die Welt mit sich reißen will, komme ich frisch von unserem heutigen Write-In zurück in die heimischen Wänden (die ebenfalls dazu einladen, hier und da noch ein paar clevere Wörter hinzuzufügen, die nichts sagen außer „Zähl mich bitte dazu!“) und muss sagen, dass es sich wieder einmal bewahrheitet hat: Wie wertvoll jene öffentlichen Treffen sind, bei denen ein Haufen Verrückter jeden im Café die Stirn runzeln lässt, wenn jener Besucher beklebte Laptops, gespitzte Stifte oder laut kreischende Ideen über wer-weiß-was im Raum wahrnimmt und sich verzweifelt fragt, wer solche Gestalten überhaupt für so eine lange Zeit ein Café belagern lässt. Wäre es eine Lerngruppe, hätte keiner so viel Spaß. Wäre es eine Gruppe Redakteure, würde sie sich doch streiten müssen. Lehrer treffen sich nicht in der Öffentlichkeit, sondern hegen die abgeschiedene und ruhige Einsamkeit, die sie über die Jahre lieb g
ewonnen haben. Und was zur Hölle ist ein Schreibmarathon?!
Gut, bisher hat noch niemand wirklich nachgefragt, aber was ich wortreich versuchte, zu erklären (das sind eben die Nachwehen von Wortgehasche beim Schreibtreffen!  war, dass es nicht nur Spaß macht, sich zusammen zu setzen und nach den richtigen Worten zu suchen, sondern dass am Ende meist auch noch ein Haufen gutes Zeug dabei rumkommt. Versucht es selbst, es lohnt sich!
Woche zwei hat bereits begonnen und wer heute Abend mit 15000 Wörtern abschließt, ist mittendrin statt nur dabei. Die Woche verging wie im Flug und es wird vielen von euch passiert sein, dass sich so viele Charaktere beim Schreiben entwickelt haben, dass es schon fast schwierig ist, wem man die Herrschaft über die Welt, die holde Blonde in der Schulklasse oder den Drachen vor der Nase überlässt; wen man umkommen, verrückt werden oder einfach nur in Vergessenheit geraten lassen möchte. Charaktere schießen aus dem Boden, wie Schimmelpilz in einer viel zu feuchten WG aus den Wänden. Ideen häufen sich in der Kladde auf dem Rechner (oder dem Block) wie Konfetti in einem Büro mit viel Schriftverkehr und noch viel mehr Ordnern.
Und all das schreit nach Unterbringung.
Es wird schwieriger werden, all das auch wirklich zu beachten, was nach Aufmerksamkeit schreit. Aber darüber nachzudenken, ist ebenfalls keine Aufgabe, die ihr in die zweite Woche quetschen solltet. Trotzdem ein wohl gemeinter Rat an dieser Stelle: überlegt euch, wohin ihr mit eurer Geschichte wollt, welches Ende der Schrecken, die glorreiche Schlacht oder die hinreißende Liebe nehmen soll.
Und wer am Ende noch lebt.
Es ist immer einfacher, auf ein Ziel hin zu schreiben (nicht nur die 50.000 Worte sind eines) und einen gewissen Rahmen zu haben, auch wenn es verdammt viel Spaß macht, sich von seinen eigenen geschaffenen Kreationen überraschen zu lassen. Aber bei 55.000 Wörtern zu stehen und einen Scherbenhaufen von Einzelgeschichten sein Eigen zu nennen, ist zwar für den nächsten Kurzgeschichtenwettbewerb brilliant, aber nicht die Art von Euphorie, die man sich am Anfang gewünscht hat.
Ich weiß, wovon ich rede.
Meine Pläne der täglichen Schreibrunde beschränken sich auf das Finden einer Überschrift. Und das Aufschreiben der Gedanken, die mir dazu kommen...
Viel wichtiger aber noch, als sich einen Rahmen abzustecken, an den man sich grob hält (oder das am Ende auch nicht macht) ist es, weiter zu schreiben, als wäre der Teufel persönlich hinter einem her. Und ihr könnt euch denken, zu welchen Gedanken, Handlungen und komisches Plotdrehern ein Teufel im Nacken provozieren kann!
Und nur als kleine Abschlussanekdote, bevor auch ich die 15.000 noch voll mache: Mein Hauptcharakter ist heute von einem kleinen, naiven und etwas dicklichen Mädchen zu einem alten Mann geworden, dessen Name bisweilen XXX heißt, der aber sonst ziemlich viele schlaue Sprüche abgelassen hat. WIE das passiert, überlege ich mir dann im Dezember. Oder frage meinen Inneren Lektor (der übrigens immer noch von draußen aus der frischen Luft gegen die Scheibe klopft).
Weiterhin viel Spaß beim Schreiben und einen guten Start in die nächste aufregende Woche!
Und wer noch Termine für etwaige Treffen loswerden möchte, der möge das gerne mithilfe des Links über dem Forum tun.
Holz- und Steinbruch,
Micha |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: Mo, 10 Nov 2008, 12:48 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Week Two pep talk from Chris
(10.11.2008, 5:07)
| Zitat: |
 Dear NaNoWriMo author,
I am writing with excellent news.
The high-speed noveling deities have seen fit to bless us with five whole weekends in November. This hasn't happened since 2003, and the fact that we have three more weekends ahead of us pretty much guarantees that each and every one of us will coast to an easy NaNoWriMo victory. But even in cakewalk years like 2008 (ahem), it's sometimes nice to have short-term goals. So here's my idea: What if we all plan on getting at least 15,000 words by this Monday before we go to bed? That's slightly behind pace, but if we can pull it off, we'll levitate up into an important new stage of the noveling journey.
That stage is called Plot.
Week One of NaNoWriMo tends to be all about characters. Our imaginations have been leaving a lot of them on our doorsteps lately, and it’s pretty much all we can do to bring them in, give them names, and teach them the rudiments of steering their battle-yaks. Then our doorbell rings, and we're rushing off to welcome another group of newcomers to the party.
Because of this, the first week of November is largely a matter of crowd control. I love this part of NaNo, because it's hard to mess it up. This phase also contains one of the greatest moments of novel-writing—that point when characters first unstick themselves from the page and begin interacting with the world around them, revealing aspects of their lives and personalities we hadn't known were there.
This is a sweet moment in the noveling adventure, but now it's time to move on. Getting through the next week of NaNoWriMo will require we set our stories in motion by sending some winds of change howling through our characters' lives. The sooner we do this, the better. If you're stuck for story-launching ideas, consider borrowing from the menu of time-tested plot devices: deaths, firings, loves-at-first-sight, siege ladders quietly appearing against ramparts, disappearances, robberies, accidental wealth, plagues, road trips, illnesses, kidnappings, a shortage of gummi bears when there had appeared to be many gummi bears, mysterious letters, shocking discoveries, betrayal, and wiener dogs.
Any of these things will likely alter your characters' lives forever, which is tough for them but a boon for your book. Still, getting up the nerve to foist these game-changing events onto people you just met is a little daunting. It's easy to worry that you'll blow your potential-filled opening with a lame plot that takes your novel in the wrong direction.
Happily, there are no wrong directions in NaNoWriMo. The only bad plot move you can make in the next week is lingering too long at your story's crossroads, vacillating over the right path. Be bold. Plunge in.
And while you're sprinting through the second stage of your novel, know that some winds of change will likely be blowing through your own life as well. Week Two tends to be when the novelty of NaNoWriMo wears off, and the difficulties of making so many tough decisions in such a short time period add up. Enthusiasm dwindles, fatigue rises, and we begin squinting at our manuscripts, thinking, "This derivative pile of crap is my literary statement to the world?"
Everything gets better soon, trust me. You remember that jolt you felt when your characters first spoke up? Keep writing, and it will happen again. But this time, it will be your whole book rising off the page, pulsing with electricity and life. Today's tangents will become tomorrow's arcs, and unforeseen connections will tie up your loose ends in a way that will make you want to slap your head and holler at your accidental brilliance.
So turn off spell-check. Leave those ungainly sentences on the page, and let your punctuation be imperfect. And whatever you do, don't read your previous day's entire output. The next seven days are all about moving forward. Let's focus on hitting our daily word-count goals, and, before we know it, Week Two will be behind us, and the wonders of Week Three will begin.
See you on Monday at 15K!
Chris
NaNoWriMo |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: Di, 11 Nov 2008, 23:19 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Week Two pep talk from Katherine Paterson
(11.11.2008, 22:14)
| Zitat: |
 Dear Friends:
At this point I feel I should just say: "Times a’wasting! Stop reading this note and get back to work." But I promised to try to cheer you on, so I’ll do my part, if you’ll promise to get right back to your novel after you’ve read it.
Yes, yes, the hardest part of writing a novel is keeping at it. Some years ago when I was totally stuck in the first draft of a novel, I was having lunch with my dear friend, the novelist Mary Lee Settle. "Oh, Mary Lee," I moaned, " this is my seventh novel and I haven’t learned a thing."
"Yes, you hav e," she said, fixing her eagle gaze upon my whining face, "you’ve learned that a novel can be finished."
So I went home and finished the first draft. Now you’re determined to write 50,000 words in a month. I just said to myself that I had to write two pages a day before I could do anything else. The margins could be wide and there was no requirement for quality. I just had to finish the two pages. Eventually, the log jam broke and I found myself moving forward without that iron rule.
I aim always to get to the end of the first draft even though all the time I’m telling myself that I’m writing nothing but garbage that no one on earth would ever want to read, especially me. But I tell myself that this poor little attempt, this garbage, deserves a chance. Just as our beautiful dog Annie, who was the runt of her litter, grew into the most beautiful, loving dog anyone would want, so there may be hope, even for this pitiful mess of words I’m accumulating. So I say to myself: Don’t read back too far, don’t try to start rewriting, just get to the end.
I live in Barre, Vermont which calls itself the "Granite Capital of the World." Outside our town are enormous quarries, so when I speak in local schools every child has a mental picture of a granite quarry. "You know how hard it is to get granite out of the quarry," I say. "You have to carefully score the rock and put the explosive in to make the great granite block break loose from the face of the stone. Then you have to attach the block to the chains so that the cranes can lift it slowly out of the hole a nd put it on the waiting truck. That’s the first draft. It’s hard, dangerous work, and when you’ve finished, all you’ve really got is a block of stone. But now you have something now to work on. Now you can take your block down to the shed to carve and polish it and turn it into something of beauty. That’s revision."
But first you’ve got to get that block of granite out of the earth, friends. You won’t have anything to make beautiful until you do that. Now go back to work. That means you too, Katherine.
Best wishes,
Katherine Paterson
Katherine is the author of Bridge to Terabithia, Jacob Have I Loved, and The Great Gilly Hopkins. You can learn more about her and her work by visiting her website. |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: Fr, 14 Nov 2008, 13:06 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Week Two pep talk from Meg Cabot
(14.11.2008, 3:05)
| Zitat: |
 Dear NaNoWriMo Author,
I know what you’re doing. You’re thinking about cheating, aren’t you?
Ha! Caught you!
Come on. One cheater knows another. You think I’ve never been there?
Maybe for some of you it’s not too late: you haven’t crossed the line…maybe you’re just entertaining the idea of abandoning the story you’re currently working on.
Maybe you’re just thinking of taking a break to jot down a few notes about the story you just thought of--that ultra-fresh, totally cool, sure-to-be-a-bestseller you dreamed up the other morning while you were supposed to be figuring out where you took the wrong turn on your work-in-progress.
But I’m here to let you know: That’s how it starts. The next thing you know, you’re doing character sketches. Then a little dialogue. Then whole scenes.
And then you’re through. You’ve given up on your work-in-progress entirely, and the next thing you know, you’ve started working full-time on this new story you thought up. I know only too well what comes next. The excuses. The rationalization: “So what? So I switched stories. I’ve still got a work-in-progress. It’s just not my original work-in-progress. So I’m a little behind in my word count. I’m still writing, right?”
Sure, it seems innocent enough. But the problem with doing this is that of course the new story always seems better than that old busted up, out-of-control story you’ve been working on for so long. That new story has the aura of dewy freshness to it. It’s calling to you! It’s all, “Yoo-hoo…look at me! I don’t have any plot problems and my characters are way-intriguing and some of them wear leather jackets and oh, yeah, you know that weird transition thing you’ve got going on near chapter four that you can’t figure out? I don’t have that!”
I know. It sounds good.
But how long until some other story idea comes along and twitches its enticing little characters at you, and you decide to abandon this new one for it? How many words will you have then?
Not enough for a whole book, that’s how many. And here’s the thing: If you keep doing this, you never will.
Do you think I haven’t been there? Cheating on your current work-in-progress with a new one is the oldest trick in the book! I have a plastic milk crate crammed full of stories I started and never finished because I cheated on them, t hen got so enamored of my new story, I never went back to the old one. Over and over and over again.
And that, my friends, is how you never finish a book. Take it from someone who has hundreds (maybe even a few thousand) of unfinished stories because of this phenomenon.
So stop right now! Stop using a new story idea (or whatever excuse you’ve come up with) to avoid the work you still have to do on your current work-in-progress!
Put the Shiny New Story away for later, when you’re done with your WIP! If your Shiny New Story is that good, it will still be there waiting for you.
And please…don’t end up like me, with a plastic milk crate full of half-finished stories. Think about what made you fall in love with your work-in-progress in the first place. Shower it with the attention it deserves.
And whatever you do, don’t let it end up in the Milk Crate of Shame. Think of where we’d be if all the great stories we love today ended up there, uncared for and forgotten by their authors, because they got distracted by some Shiny New Idea while they were working.
Take a deep breath. There. Feel better?
Yeah. So do I.
Now let’s get back to work.
And about the cheating…I won’t tell if you won’t.
Meg
Meg Cabot is the author of the Princess Diaries series and the soon-to-be-released Abandon. You can learn more about her and her work by visiting her website. |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: So, 16 Nov 2008, 21:07 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Week Three pep talk from Chris
(16.11.2008, 9:31)
| Zitat: |
 Dear NaNoWriMo Participant,
In the last two weeks, we've traversed dark caverns, swung through treacherous ravines, and felt the cool breezes of hope blowing across our tired, keyboard-indented brows. And now we've arrived at Week Three. The beginning of the end. The moment when our struggle tips towards victory.
There are four things to keep in mind about Week Three:
1) Word-count-wise, the 20,000s are where the dread beasties of Week Two will make their final lunge for your kneecaps. Kick them off, and use all of your sprinting skills and word-count-bolstering tricks you've learned in the last two weeks to get to 30K. If you need to have your characters sing "American Pie" in its entirety or recite some of their favorite passages from telephone books, so be it. Also, if you are writing alone, stop that. Affiliate with your local NaNoWriMo region through your My NaNoWriMo page, and then start going to write-ins. If you don't have a local NaNoWriMo group, sign in and join a Word War or three on the forums.
2) At 25K, we party. Yes, 25K falls squarely in the middle of the arid 20,000s, where vultures pick clean the bones of dawdling novelists. It may seem like a bad choice for a party location, but when you hit the halfway point of NaNoWriMo, celebration is a must. Our tech team of Russ and Sam had been working night and day on modifying your author profile to release a shower of confetti, doves, and 10,000-Euro notes when you cross the magic midway. Their work was almost completed when they were called away to fix a graph-line on someone's word-count widget.
We'll get the money and doves in place for next year. In the meantime, we'll just put together our own celebrations. Think about taking yourself and your favorite cheerleader out for dinner. Splurge on a babysitter and spend a Saturday getting a massage, or buy yourself that gadget you've always wanted (and yes, cars count as gadgets). You've outwritten most of your fellow participants and you're still going strong. Raise a glass to yourself at 25K, hero. You deserve it.
3) Know the end is near. If you are falling behind, and are thinking you might bow out and work on your novel when you're less busy, think again. You still have plenty of time to do this. With 115,000 people tackling the same crazy challenge at the exact same time, we've temporarily bent the laws of motivational physics. There's a special noveling window open now that will makes passage through your story easier now than it will be at any other time of year. Sadly, the window closes on December 1. If you're absolutely, positively sure you can't make it to 50K, reset your goal to 25K, and write towards it with everything you've got. Your adventure is not over. Your story awaits.
For those of you who are on track with your word counts, Week Three is when you should start thinking about how you're going to get a complete arc written in November. If the end of your book still feels light years away, think about abbreviating scenes, omitting chapters, and jumping ahead to the middle-end and end-end of your story. It's much, much easier to go back in December and flesh out the connecting bits you skipped than it is to write an entire ending.
4) Short-term goals make all of this goal-reaching and arc-building less daunting. In the last email we went after 15K by Monday the 10th. This time, let's do 30K by the time we go to bed on Wednesday the 19th. At that point, we'll be out of the beastie-filled 20s, and into a great new place. It's called the homestretch, and I think you're going to love it.
You can do it, writer!
Chris
NaNoWriMo |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: Di, 18 Nov 2008, 23:32 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Germany & Austria: Fokus, Fokus, Fokus
(18.11.2008, 7:37)
Naja, teilweise ist das derselbe Text wie in den letzten offiziellen Mails - nur eben auf deutsch ...
| Zitat: |
Willkommen zu Woche drei!
Wenn Woche zwei wolkig, regnerisch, ja fast stürmisch war, ist Woche drei schöner. Viel schöner. Der Himmel bricht auf, manche einst ob der Wortzahl angefangene Kapitel ergeben jetzt tatsächlich Sinn und als Nebendarsteller zur Seite geschobene Charaktere schieben sich in den Vordergrund, machen Spaß und erfreuen mit cleveren Dialogen, liebevollen Gesten, heldenhaften Aktionen. Es ist leichter geworden, sich dem Schreiben einfach nur hinzugeben und zu schauen, wo es endet (meist jedoch bei einer höheren Wortzahl als geplant).
Apropos Ende: die zwei schönen Worte THE END sind vielleicht das erste Mal in Sicht, denn von nun an geht es mit voller Geschwindigkeit bergab und dem Ziel entgegen. Ihr solltet alles aufsaugen, euch den aus eurer Hand sprießenden Worten nicht verwehren und auch ruhig mal mutig rufen: „Nein Schatz/Mama/Bruderherz/Loverboy-in-spé, du musst heute mal ohne mich früh-/mittag-/spätstücken, denn ES LÄUFT wieder!“, denn das sind die Stunden, die es euch am Ende leichter machen werden, über die 50.000-Wort-Grenze zu springen und noch nicht nahe am Nervenzusammenbruch zu sein. Und wenn ihr dabei denkt, ihr seid jetzt wieder auf dem Trockenen und könntet euch wieder einem normalen Schreibrhythmus unterordnen – AUF KEINEN FALL! Jetzt ist die Zeit, in der offene Enden ihren Kreis schließen und tatsächlich einen Sinn ergeben. „Schreib Forrest, schreib!“ kann ich da nur sagen!
Und um das beste aus dieser dritten Woche herauszuholen, ist Folgendes von Bedeutung:
Wenn ihr in Woche zwei zurück gefallen seid: legt einen Zahn zu (ruhig auch den lockeren, fast schon abfallenden Milchzahl des kleinen Bruders) und macht diesen Rückstand in Woche drei unbedingt wett! Dabei ist es ab jetzt auch offiziell erlaubt, während der Schulstunden, Vorlesungen und Arbeitszeit zu schreiben – solange euch niemand dabei sieht... Am Freitagabend sind die 35.000 unser Ziel, das es zu knacken gilt! Wer davon weit entfernt ist, nimmt sich die 30.000 als leuchtenden Leitpfahl. Was auch immer ihr tut, seht zu, dass ihr am Ende dieser Woche so nah an die 40.000 heran kommt, wie es nur geht.
Ich weiß, einige werden jetzt lachen. Entweder, weil sie längst über diese Zahlen hinausgeschossen sind (Streber! oder, weil sie hoffnungslos hinterherhängen, für Prüfungen lernen „müssen“, ihre Arbeit ohnehin schon sträflich vernachlässigt haben oder abends einfach zu müde sind. Für die Schnellen: Glückwunsch! Ihr seid die Zugpferde, an die wir uns dran hängen können! Für die Langsameren: ich habe Leute gesehen, die drei Tage vor dem Ende noch unter 10.000 Worten waren, sich dann einschlossen und mit einem breiten Grinsen wieder aus ihrem muffigen Zimmer heraus kamen... ALLES ist möglich und je unglaublicher die Leistung, desto wahnsinniger das Gefühl am Ende des NaNoWriMo – versprochen!
Und hier ein wenig Psychologie, die euch weiterhelfen wird. Setzt euch Teilziele.
Lasst die 1667 Worte pro Tag einmal aus den Augen. Setzt euch Gesamtzahlziele (wie die 35.000 Worte bis Ende Freitag z.B.). Behaltet die Zahl im Auge und beißt euch daran fest. Lasst die Schoki unangetastet, bis ihr die Zahl erreicht habt. Lasst euren Magen knurren, so lange ihr nicht über euer Teilziel hinaus seid (essen ermüdet ohnehin nur). Verschiebt das Saugen, den Anruf an die Liebsten, den Frühjahrsputz, der sich irgendwie in der Jahreszeit vertan hat. Fokus, Fokus, Fokus!
Tip 2: nehmt euch jemanden (über die Autorensuche), der ein-, zweitausend Wörter schneller ist als ihr. Und dann holt ihn ein und schreibt ihm/ihr eine Nanomail, dass ihr in seinem/ihren Nacken sitzt. DAS kickt! Und zwar für beide Seiten.
Und wenn das alles nicht hilft, denkt an die Freunde oder Familienmitglieder, die euch bald wieder fragen werden, ob ihr etwa immer noch an diesem Ding, diesem Nano-Ding mitmacht und glaubt, ihr könntet sowas schaffen.
HALLO?! Türlich schafft ihr das! Und wenn es nur deshalb ist, um die Zweifler Lügen zu strafen!
Let's get going!
Micha
(auch noch kräftig am Kämpfen und 3306 Wörter hinterher!) |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: Sa, 22 Nov 2008, 13:02 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Week Three pep talk from Janet Fitch
(20.11.2008, 20:34)
| Zitat: |
 Dear Author,
It's happening. You're writing a blue streak. You're piling up the pages. You're roaring through this novel like a forest fire. Then suddenly you hit the immovable obstacle. WHAM. Ow. You're flat as a piece of typing paper, your mind as blank. Panic!
Whether you're taking a month or a year, this is always the question. What happens next?
Fiction is all about decisions. Let me give you a personal example. Working on White Oleander, I kept hitting this wall, about chapter 8. It was all going great, all the wheels in motion, and then WHAM. I just couldn't decide what to do next. I'd try this, try that, but each time I'd get stuck. The character would put her toe in and pull it out again. No, not that. Should I just bag it? Write a different book? Go to law school? Watch reruns of Hogan's Heroes? I was absolutely blocked at the crossroads.
Luckily I was seeing an amazing therapist at the time. I explained I was afraid that if I chose route 6, then I would be eliminating all the other possible routes. What if route 15 was better? Or 3 1/2 ? So I hedged. I couldn't commit. I was stuck. And she gave me the piece of advice which has saved my writing life over and over again, and I will give it to you, absolutely free of charge. She said, "I know it feels like you have all these options and when you make a decision, you lose a world of possibilities. But the reality is, until you make a decision, you have nothing at all."
So you have these options, but which one to go for? When in doubt, make trouble for your character. Don't let her stand on the edge of the pool, dipping her toe. Come up behind her and give her a good hard shove. That's my advice to you now. Make trouble for your character. In life we try to avoid trouble. We chew on our choices endlessly. We go to shri nks, we talk to our friends. In fiction, this is deadly. Protagonists need to screw up, act impulsively, have enemies, get into TROUBLE.
The difficulty is that we create protagonists we love. And we love them like our children. We want to protect them from harm, keep them safe, make sure they won't get hurt, or not so bad. Maybe a skinned knee. Certainly not a car wreck. But the essence of fiction writing is creating a character you love and, frankly, torturing him. You are both sadist and savior. Find the thing he loves most and take it away from him. Find the thing he fears and shove him shoulder deep into it. Find the person who is absolutely worst for him and have him delivered into that character's hands. Having him make a choice which is absolutely wrong.
You'll find the story will take on an energy of its own, like a wound-up spring, and then you'll just have to follow it, like a fox hunt, over hill, over dale.
GOOD WRITING!
Janet
Janet Fitch is the author of the Oprah Book Club selection White Oleander and more recently, Paint It Black. She regularly blogs about writing on MySpace. |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: Sa, 22 Nov 2008, 13:06 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Week Three pep talk from Gayle Brandeis
(22.11.2008, 1:27)
| Zitat: |
 Dear NaNoWriMo writer,
The metaphor of writing-as-birth is not a new one—perhaps it may even be a bit overused—but I can’t help but think about it this month. It doesn’t matter if you’re a woman or a man; you’re pregnant with a novel—congratulations!
Of course, one month is a pretty short gestation period, but hey, that’s all the time rabbits need, and NaNo certainly requires a “no time to say hello, goodbye” White Rabbit breakneck pace.
I remember how amazing it was when I was pregnant with my kids—each day, my body had transformed into something new. This month, you have transformed, too, moving from aspiring writer to novelist, from someone who has wanted to write to someone who actually is doing the hard, juicy work of getting words onto the page. You have learned new things about the creative process, about the depths of your imagination, about the themes and images central to your subconscious life. And even if you are way behind on your word count, even if you’ve only written the first scene of your novel, you have taken a profound leap. You are a writer now. How awesome is that?!
If your experience is anything my like NaNo experiences have been, this has been a time of exhilaration and frustration, inspiration and despair (and, hopefully, big slices of pumpkin pie!) A journey from that first thrill of conception, through moments when the story feels heavy and unwieldy, to times when it kicks inside you and fills you with awe. And now the end, your due-date, is in sight—at least as far as the calendar is concerned. Now you’re not just pregnant—you’re in labor.
In fact, you’re probably at what midwives call the transition stage—the point where the contractions are coming fast and furious, and you’re almost ready to start pushing your book baby, whole, out into the world. So me people get a rush of energy of at this stage, a super human surge that propels them through the birth—a mad flurry of words, a tumbling of scenes that seem to write themselves toward their own climax. Other people, when they get to this stage, suddenly feel as if they’re going to die. As if they can’t go on. As if they don’t know why they ever wanted to have a baby/sign up for NaNoWriMo in the first place. If you can breathe through this transitional period, if you can find a way to quiet those nagging critical voices and keep moving forward, your story will ultimately find its way into the bright oxygenated air (even if it’s long after November 30th.)
See if you can use this final stretch of time to stretch yourself creatively, to try something new and playful with language, to let your characters surprise you, to let yourself surprise yourself. Never let yourself forget what a profound thing you’re doing. As Margaret Atwood says “A word after a word/after a word is power.” You have that creative force inside you. You are poised to give birth to a whole new world.
Congratulations again!
Gayle Brandeis
Gayle Brandeis is the author of Self Storage and The Book of Dead Birds. You can learn more about her and her work by visiting her website. |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: Di, 25 Nov 2008, 19:56 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Germany & Austria: Region War und die Ziellinie in grefibarer Nähe
(24.11.2008, 7:29)
| Zitat: |
Guten Morgen allerseits!
Zum Zeitpunkt des Schreibens dieser Zeilen, die ihr nun lest, sind es noch ungefähr 6 Tage und 17 Stunden, die mir der Countdown auf der Hauptseite von NaNoWriMo.org zeigt. JEDER von euch hat in den zurück liegenden Wochen mindestens einmal die Erfahrung gemacht, schreiben zu wollen, aber nicht schreiben zu können. Einige von euch haben auch – so wie ich – große Teile der Woche verstreichen lassen, mit der Hoffnung im Rücken, am Wochenende nochmal so richtig Rambazamba zu machen und das Feld von hinten aufzuräumen.
Ähem...
Dann kam der unangekündigte Besuch, den man nicht ungehobelt wieder vor die Tür setzen wollte.
Dann kamen die Phasen, wo die Fitness sich den Augenringen anpasste und es „einfach nicht mehr ging“ mit dem Schreiben.
Dann kam die dumme Idee, am Wochenende mal nicht mit dem Zug zu fahren (wo man auch gut schreiben kann, munkelt man), sondern mir die Freiheit des Autos zu nehmen. Ich würde jetzt gerne ein fieses Schneeliedchen singen, mir fällt nur leider keines ein.
Dann kam der Blick auf den Kalender, der zeigte, dass es ja noch einige Tage bis zum Ende sind – und auch NOCH ein Wochenende, an dem man das Feld von hinten aufräumen könnte.
Aber jetzt mal ernsthaft: die Zahl, die unter meiner Geschichte prangt, hat 5 Ziffern und sieht mit ihrer 32354 noch nicht einmal annähernd nach 50000 aus. Und ich erspare mir an diesem dunklen, frühen Morgen das Ausrechnen des Schnittes, den ich pro Tag fahren sollte, um dieses Ziel zu erreichen. Ich erspare mir auch das weitere Jammern, wie schwer es doch im Vergleich zu den anderen Jahren dieses Mal ist, einen vernünftigen Rhythmus einzuhalten, der es mir leicht machen würde, schon drei Tage vor dem Ende auch „Ende“ schreiben zu können. Und erst recht erspare ich es mir, diese Woche nur IRGENDWEN nach Hause einzuladen, der nicht in irgendeiner Weise etwas mit dem Schreiben zu tun hat und sich mit seinem Schreibwerkzeug neben mich setzen kann!
So viel sei verraten.
Und deshalb setze ich mir jetzt meine magische Mütze auf, die mich innerhalb von 5 Sekunden in den Schreibmodus versetzt, werde euch nicht länger vollsülzen (ich habe ja schließlich noch anderes zu tun! und mich ans Flicken der großen Lücken begeben, die meine Geschichte noch aufweist. Denn ich bin keiner, der sich von knapp 18000 Wörtern in 6 Tagen einschüchtern lässt (Mist, jetzt kann ich auf einen Blick sehen, wie viel das pro Tag ist!). Und ich wette, von euch gehören auch nicht viele dazu.
Oder?
Immer noch weniger Worte als ich?
Immer noch die Woche voller Termine, die eigentlich nicht wirklich dringend sind?
Immer noch fleißig am Telefonate annehmen, wenn ihr am Schreibtisch (SCHRRRRREIBtisch) sitzen könntet?
Dann hier mal ein paar Motivationszahlen:
Wir sind momentan DRITTER weltweit (http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/wordcount_stats), was die Gesamtsumme der geschriebene Worte betrifft und sind nur knappe 2Mio. Wörter hinter Maryland aus den USA. Ich bin heute mit dem Rechnen nicht allzu gut (es ist einfach noch zu früh), aber mir dünkt, dass wir ca. 1666, die wir diesen Newsletter bekommen, an einem Tag einfach schlappe 1200 Wörter mehr schreiben als normal und dann mal fluchs auf dem ZWEITEN Platz weltweit sind!
Oder lasst es mich anders ausdrücken:
Deutschland und Österreich = 24,345 (im Schnitt pro Teilnehmer)
Holland und Belgien: 25,057
Differenz: (zwei hoch, einem im Sinn, plus drei... *kramt seinen Taschenrechner raus*): 712. Das ist in Worten ein halber Tag! Haaaaalloooooooooo?! Also unsere Nachbarn in allen Ehren, aber ich denke, hier ist ein Wordwar angesagt!!!
Deshalb habe ich mir etwas überlegt: die unter euch, die noch in den Foren unterwegs sind, werden auf der Hauptseite unseres Forums zwei kleine Grafiken erblicken. Schön grün, schön aussagekräftig und schön motivierend! Schaut vorbei und seht es euch an.
Und jetzt füge ich fluchs ein paar Tagebucheinträge für einen meiner Charaktere ein, schreibe über das Wetter (alte Menschen reden ja gerne drüber), träume, beziehe alle fünf Sinne ein, binde meinen Kollegen noch einmal auf die Nase, dass ich immer noch schreibe, damit sie mich noch ein wenig mobben können (und damit noch mehr motivieren) und werde DIESE Woche über die Ziellinie schießen.
Genauso wie der Großteil von euch.
Da bin ich mir ziemlich sicher.
Denkt dran: Holland und Belgien sind vor uns. (*seufzt und schüttelt den Kopf*)
Mittwochabend möchte ich diese zwei Statistiken (http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/122) stark verändert sehen.
Freitagabend werde ich euch erneut schreiben und noch einmal aufrufen zu lokalen Treffen, zum Spenden und zum Am-Riemen-Reißen!
Aber jetzt auf auf und davoooon...
Haut in die Tasten und genießt den flow!
Micha (32354 und wohl dann doch 3000 pro Tag vor sich!) |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: Di, 25 Nov 2008, 19:58 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Week Four pep talk from Chris
(24.11.2008, 11:11)
| Zitat: |
Dear NaNoWriMo Author,
Between my apartment and the Office of Letters and Light, there is a monster of a hill. I bike to work, and I always take a long route that steers me safely around the behemoth. I do this because I have the calf muscles of a goldfish, and because I've developed an aversion to feeling like I'm going to die first thing in the morning.
But yesterday, I summoned all my courage and headed up the mountain. My word count was—and still is—stuck in the low 30,000s, and I wanted to ride the hill to remind myself what the 40,000s in NaNoWriMo felt like. After struggling through an ordeal in which my lungs felt like twin meat-logs roasting on gyro spits, and my heart beat so fast that I feared it was going to try and make an emergency exit through my nose, I reached the top.
A day later, I'm still buzzing, and feeling more alive than I have in months. With biking, as with most forms of exercise, the best part truly comes when the ride is through. The ascent can feel miserable, but once you've made it to the top, you get that enduring glow of having pitted yourself against something bigger than yourself and triumphed.
If you've already crossed NaNoWriMo's 50,000-word line, you know that feeling of triumph intimately. As for the rest of us…In just one week, the sun will be setting on this year's NaNoWriMo. As the light of the contest starts to dim in the final days, we will likely still be out on that hill, still struggling towards 50K.
This is good. Very good. Because, as humans, we come into our own in these do-or-die moments. Deadlines mint miracles every time. Want proof? Think of all the papers we've written at 2 AM. All the projects that have been nowhere-near presentable that we've salvaged at the zero hour. Having a life as busy as yours means you have to leave some big undertakings till the very last minute; it's just how things get done.
But now NaNoWriMo's last minute has arrived. The world needs your book. It's time to make your move.
Happily, the summit of NaNoWriMo may be closer than you realize. The threshold for winning is 50K, but the climb towards it changes markedly at 35,000 words. This is the point when you've written enough of your novel that the course tilts downhill again, and you begin sailing towards the finish line.
Gravity is a wonderful thing. But even something as strong as gravity needs your help. When you finish reading this email, write 250 words. When you have a spare moment at work or school, write 250 words. While your morning coffee is brewing….you get the idea. No session is too short, and every page you write gets you one step closer to a literary achievement that will be a source of pride for years to come.
National Novel Writing Month Winner, 2008.
That's you.
That's totally you. Just one more climb and you're there.
Have an adventuresome final week, writer. I'll see you in the winner's circle.
Chris
30,019 words |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
boris
Beiträge: 7999
Wohnort: Köln
|
Titel: (Kein Titel)
Verfasst am: Di, 25 Nov 2008, 20:00 |
|
|
[NaNoWriMo] Week Four Pep Talk From Nancy Etchemendy
(25.11.2008, 9:24)
| Zitat: |
 Hi Writers!
It is a dark and dismal day. If the birds are singing, you can't imagine why, and you wish they would stop. You've taken a walk. You've taken a nap. You've sharpened all your pencils, even though you haven't written with a pencil since first grade. You've made yourself a cup of something hot to drink, but now it's cold. It got that way while you checked your email, and then your MySpace page, and then the "Things You Never Knew Existed but You Can't Live Without Them" website. You've cut your toenails. You've even brushed the dog. And still, you can't bring yourself to open the dreaded file that contains your novel and place your fingers on the keyboard.
STOP.
You've come to the right place. The NaNoWriMo people, in their wisdom, have supplied you with a stash of pep talks. Why do you suppose they would go to so much trouble? The answer is simple: because you have a lot of company, including me. Writing a novel is hard. At some point in the process, most novelists get bogged down, and it's perfectly normal. In fact, it's to be expected.
Okay, so now you know you're not alone. That's a relief. But the task of writing your way to a finished book still looms before you like the mountains of the moon, dark with mystery, and really, really high. So high, in fact, that the voice is whispering a new fear. You might actually expire before you get there, so why not just stop now?
Simple. Because you want to be a novelist. The difference between a novelist and someone who tinkers around with writing is this: novelists finish their books.
All well and good, you say. But how? How can you finish when you're pretty sure everything you've written so far is total garbage, you have no idea where you're going, and every time you look at the thing, you desperately want to go and do something else?
;
First, let's look at the question of whether you're writing something that belongs in the trash can. What you're working on right now is a first draft. Moreover, you're deliberately writing it at breakneck speed, which makes it a rough first draft. It's not going to be anywhere near publishable, nor should you expect it to be. I heard or read somewhere an observation by a gifted young novelist whose name escapes me now, for which I apologize. He said that a first draft is like a chunk of marble. It's a big, formless block. Later, you'll carve away the unnecessary bits, and you'll shape what's left into something beautiful. Michelangelo's Pieta was once a shapeless block, most of which ended up as dust on his studio floor. As you write, give yourself permission to create that formless block---the necessary first draft from which a wonderful book can spring.
Second, about not knowing where you're going. This will sound co unterintuitive and maybe even crazy: don't worry about it. Think of your everyday self as a lost rider on the back of a powerful black horse. The rider may be freaking out. That's understandable. It's frightening to be lost. But your everyday self is not who creates the first draft. The first draft is written by the big black horse---your subconscious mind. That horse is smart, and it knows exactly where it's going. So trust it. It will get you home. Just write. Put down whatever feels right, even if it makes no sense to you. Don't think too much about it, don't hold the reins too tight, and soon you'll see your way again.
Third, regarding the desperate wish to go and do something else. Every writer has to deal with this. When the work is not going smoothly, the world fills up with inviting distractions. The great novelist and essayist Cynthia Ozick said, "A good citizen writer will put down her pen for a noodle pudding." I'm not sure about the good citizen part, but every writer I know is tempted to put down his or her pen hundreds of times during the course of a writing day. What kind of bird is that, calling from the tree outside? Has Uncle Harvey responded to your email yet? Wouldn't you be contributing more to the world if you were cleaning a toilet or eating a tuna fish sandwich?
No, dear novelist, you wouldn't be. The bird will wait. Uncle Harvey will wait. The toilet and the tuna will wait. You have something important to say, and you are saying it. That is your contribution, without which the world would be a poorer place, and it is one that only you can make.
Now, write!
Nancy
Read all about Nancy on her website here. |
____________
beehave - home of humbug ... [we can't afford to be neutral]
|
|
| Nach oben |
|
|
 |
Ähnliche Beiträge |
|
| Thema
| Autor
| Forum
| Antworten
| Verfasst am
|
 |
Sie hören gerade..... (2008) |
Frederik |
silikonimplantate |
153 |
Do, 17 Sep 2009, 22:48  |
|
Offizielle Anschreiben [2009] |
boris |
november |
21 |
Do, 13 Aug 2009, 21:43 |
 |
DLW 2008: Understanding the PHP Object-Model |
boris |
hal9000 |
0 |
Sa, 18 Apr 2009, 12:27 |
|
DLW 2008: Advanced Object-Oriented JavaScript |
boris |
hal9000 |
0 |
Sa, 18 Apr 2009, 12:21 |
|
DLW 2008: Speaker Panel: Top Speakers from Ruby, Groovy |
boris |
hal9000 |
0 |
Sa, 18 Apr 2009, 12:16 |
Schreiben: nein. Antworten: nein. Bearbeiten: nein. Löschen: nein. Umfragen: nein.
|
beehave.de
Suchen
Forum
Mails
Stats
Kalender
Fotogalerie
Spielhalle
Login
Forum
FAQ
Sitemap
Links
Gruppen
Shoutbox
Ränge
beeTwitter
Profil
Bild
Ignorier-Liste
Karte
Galerie von: boris
Knuffel
Sudoku
Ewige Bestenliste
