Camp NaNoWriMo (April 2021)

[Valka D'Ur]

It's that time of year again... 30 days of writing to reach a specified word-count goal.

Camp NaNoWriMo is a more laid-back version of the main November NaNoWriMo event. Participants can choose their own goal in the Camp events, so they can make it as relaxing or challenging as they want.

I've decided on an official goal of 15,000 words. That means producing 500 words/day to make my daily minimum, which is usually doable in less than an hour. That's more my speed these days since I'm doing it in longhand in a looseleaf notebook.

I'll be chronicling my progress here throughout the next 30 days.

If anyone else wants to take part, go to nanowrimo.org. If you already have an account, you can sign in and announce your project for the month. Be sure to link it to Camp NaNoWriMo April 2021 so you will get the relevant announcements and badges.

If you don't have an account, you will need one to participate officially.

Anyone taking part is welcome to post here - let us know how you're doing and if you would like to bounce ideas around or just need a pep talk (or can give one to someone else). If you're not participating but would like to talk about (Camp) NaNoWriMo, you're welcome to do that as well.

Non-NaNoWriMo discussions should continue in Zkribbler's Watcha Writin'? thread, please.

I'm already close to being finished for the day - it's nice not to be scrambling just before midnight.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

This is gonna be one of those camp events...

Day 1: 531 words.
Day 2: 1050 words.
Day 3: 1572 words.
Day 4: 2094 words.

All these word counts are just above par, so the word count is working. But the muse... is giving me problems. It's part of the story where I know what I want to happen, but I've tried several ways of writing it and none of them work very well.

I can't just throw my hands up and forget about it, since this is the preliminary to the main character rescuing the king from drowning when he falls into a river (y'know how sometimes when you stand and stare into the water, and it can be so hypnotizing that you just fall in?... this king not only does that, but he's also never taken a swimming lesson in his whole royal life...).

I could easily write this from the king's point of view because I know what it's like to nearly drown (though thankfully it was a lake in my case; if I'd fallen into a river my grandmother could not have saved me). But the king isn't the main character, so...

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Things got a bit more productive over the last couple of days, although I had to write myself out of a contradiction (how I didn't notice that one character was forbidden to leave the tent on one page, and on the next page was required to leave the tent... ).

Anyway:

Day 5: 3300 words.
Day 6: 4736 words.

In case anyone's wondering how this looks on the site's stats page:

This is what the daily word count looks like when it jumps from barely over par to something a bit more respectable:

This is the overall progress... slow at first, but picking up:

My word count goal this time is 15,000. As I get closer to that, the graph will adjust to the probability that I'll be going beyond that number.

The stats page projects an April 19 finish if I can keep this up.

It's much too soon to tell, though. I had a couple of good days, where I knew where the conversation was going. I'm over a quarter of the way finished, which is ahead of where I should be. That's a good thing.

 

[wammnebu]

Hello, thanks for inviting me, Its Velliacrum on NaNoWriMo.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Hello, thanks for inviting me, Its Velliacrum on NaNoWriMo.

Hello, and welcome to the Camp NaNoWriMo section of Arts & Entertainment!

I think there might be a couple of others who regularly take part, but they choose to keep to themselves until they announce their results at the end.

It'd be nice if everyone could at least drop in and say hello and welcome to our new member!

Feel free to discuss your project, ask questions, have a look around at the Watcha' Writin'? thread, since discussions sometimes spill over there. If you're having an off-day, venting about it is okay. We've all had writer's block, and times when the characters are just hell-bent on doing their own thing and don't really care that you've plotted out their story. In that case - you can either rein them in or see if what they want to do might make a better story.

 

[wammnebu]

Hello, and welcome to the Camp NaNoWriMo section of Arts & Entertainment!

I think there might be a couple of others who regularly take part, but they choose to keep to themselves until they announce their results at the end.

Feel free to discuss your project, ask questions, have a look around at the Watcha' Writin'? thread, since discussions sometimes spill over there. If you're having an off-day, venting about it is okay. We've all had writer's block, and times when the characters are just hell-bent on doing their own thing and don't really care that you've plotted out their story. In that case - you can either rein them in or see if what they want to do might make a better story.

Thank you!

I guess to explain my project is that I am doing an Alternate History of Warhammer 40k called "The Lorgar Heresy." Its a fairly big project with lore entries, and short stories. Basic premise is that Lorgar, does not lose control of the civil war to Horus. Things spiral out from there.

Im having some definitely trouble trying to improve as a writer. I am having less of an off day as i am a crisis, about whether or not anything I write is legible or penetrable at all. Or is my story the equivalent of Charlie without pointing at the board with the red string.

 

[wingnix]

I will do my very first one in May! I’m so stinking excited! I’ve almost finished working on my plan to hit my goals

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I just realized that I haven't updated in nearly 3 weeks. Sorry, all.

Anyway, long story short: I finished on April 23.

To continue the daily updates (because I am continuing on until the 30th):

Day 7: 5303 words.
Day 8: 5845 words.
Day 9: 6365 words.
Day 10: 7137 words.
Day 11: 7697 words.
Day 12: 8239 words.
Day 13: 8750 words.
Day 14: 10,005 words.
Day 15: 10,529 words.
Day 16: 11,039 words.
Day 17: 11,590 words.
Day 18: 12,143 words.
Day 19: 12,655 words.
Day 20: 13,203 words.
Day 21: 13,740 words.
Day 22: 14,241 words.
Day 23: 15,138 words.
Day 24: 15,672 words.
Day 25: 16,206 words.


Most of my daily totals were between 500-600 words. I did get an occasional bit more done. Here are the daily word count and progress graphs:

Daily Word Count to April 25

Overall Progress to April 25

There are 5 days to go, and I wish I could say that while I've made the word count goal, I haven't progressed as far in the story as I would have liked. There's been a logjam of a couple of things I need to research, an unexpected fight among a bunch of characters who only vaguely existed a month ago but now several of them have names, and a situation that could go in numerous ways and I have to make a decision.