Writing Challenges - Script Frenzy and NaNo

[vashmata]

*feels very embarrassed to say this right now* what exactly is NaNo and scriptfrenzy? I just noticed this but I didn't get what it is. Is it like an essay thing or what?

Candyman Jr, Master Procrastinator, Joe Green, Vashmata

[Tuttle]

NaNo or NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. It is a challenge to have people write a novel (well novella) in the month of November. The goal is writing a 50,000 word story in the month of November without starting writing at all before the month begins (though planning is allowed). Winning NaNoWriMo is completing the 50,000 words.
http://www.nanowrimo.org/ is a link to the NaNoWriMo site.

Peter Murray, who you've probably heard some about because of his importance here, participated in this and got others around here to participate. I'd say it was Peter who got most if not all of the people attempting to complete NaNoWriMo to participate either directly or indirectly. I know it was him who made me attempt both times (and it was actually because of him I was able to finish my first time.) Because of him it has gotten pretty popular on the forums here.

Script Frenzy I've not personally participated in or seen much on but based off of what is here, is a similar challenge but writing a script. In that one the goal is 20,000 words in June.

I hope that's helpful.

[wolf_wizard]

Ahh, now I get it. I was attempting to understand it before, but was to embarrassed to ask. thanks. Now I feel even more embarrassed. Ahh well...

[vashmata]

Aha. In that case, congratulations, Young Wizard, and thanks for the explanation, Tuttle. NaNoWriMo seems pretty interesting, although I doubt I'm a good enough writer to participate. Maybe in a few years, say Sec.5(or grade 11), when my inner dictionary (or vocabulary, the boring way of putting it)is more than two fifths complete, I'll try it.

whoops, sorry about that young reader, I meant you.

Candyman Jr, Master Procrastinator, Joe Green, Vashmata

[Dragon Writer]

*wonders if you were referring to me*
If so, thanks! (I just saw a post by young wizard, so i can see how someone could make the mistake. we have the same first word in our screen names, and the same avatar) But i don't think he posted anywhere on this page, so...
*got it in on the last day* Now i just have to edit it...and the mystical island story. And then there's that play i'm writing...and then there will be script frenzy. followed by *decides to be quiet before i give myself a headache* Besides, it's writing- i might complain but i'll always enjoy it. :P

[Emi]

This doesn't really apply to nano and scriptfrenzy entirely but...

I'm writing a script and part of it sets in England, around the time when they were going to take over Scotland. I was wondering if anyone had like any information on that battle. (Braveheart?) I tried looking up some stuff but I couldn't get a clear understanding what happened. I need history buffs. PM if you know any info!! Thanks a bunch!

Emi
----
EEEK I'm double posting. *Smacks head* but I really want to know who's going to be doing Script Frenzy this year?!?!

It's the month of April, to me it's a bit early, but whatever. I hope other people are going to be doing it besides me. Anyway, just throwing out there that Script Frenzy is coming up, so if you want to do it, SIGN UP!

combined double posts-gf

[Rubywolf]

I'mdoing script frenzy this year for the first time. I've done NaNoWrMo before, so I'm really excited.

Does anyone have their plots worked out?

[Mona0622]

Wow. I didn't know that NaNo even existed. I am now considering entering next year. What's it like? Would anyone recommend it?

[Emi]

Mona, Nano is wicked fun. It can quite nerve-racking in the beginning when you're trying to get a plot together but once you start it you constantly start writing and it's so much fun, for me. I hope you'll enjoy it next year!!

Two more Days!! I sort of have my plot for ScriptFrenzy, but I'm not really sure How I'm going to start it!!! My name's Fairyworld1217 if anyone wants to add me as a friend on there. I guess I'm writing with my sister? Haha, she's basically my partner for bouncing off ideas... I'm going to be the one writing it mostly.

Anyway good luck to all who's going to take part in this!!

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

I just signed up for ScriptFrenzy. I don't think I have the focus to actually carry it out, but I've been thinking for a while that Lynn Flewelling's Luck in the Shadows would make an excellent graphic novel. I was thinking about doing it and asking her what she thought: ScriptFrenzy will let me have a goal short of that to aim for. :-)

[tori]

So during the past NaNo [2007], I was in the process of moving into the new house, living on land again, and going to school instead of homeschool. 2006's NaNo got 64K words, 2007's is another story. Ugh.
I got my 50whateverK, can't remember now. Sent it in before the deadline. Won.
Opened it the next day to go thru it. I only had about 28K. I flipped out. I couldn't figure out how I lost 30K right? Turns out, because I type it by chapters [ten to a file], when I added them together, it didn't save correctly. And I lost the 30K. The ending. The whole stinkin' story. I was really bummed. Still am. It was a good one too, it was neat, fairly edited, and then poof. Out. Don't ask me where the other files went too. I searched my laptop how many times. Every file. Completely bumfuzzled about it.
I haven't gotten around to writing anymore on it. I'd been too upset. At least I still have my ending chpater which I had written in the beginning.

This year I plan to write the second part of my 2006 NaNo. [The Purple Journal, some of you may remember...] 2007's was called The Dance. I really like the plot. Message me if you get bored and want something to read sometime. xD About vampires and time heart, so to explain it easily, and a girl having the save the other time worlds from the evil time world. Yup, fantasy. Thee bestttt. :]

[Kathy Li]

When I'm tired from being sick and working all the time, I make mistakes like that all the time, so when I did nanowrimo back in 2006, I wrote everything into a single file (I used OpenOffice just 'cause), and then I kept that file under cvs. It might have been overly paranoid of me, but it was nice to know that I had everything versioned back to the first day.

If I ever do nano again, I'll probably take it as an opportunity to learn svn.

[the_peridexis]

I tried NaNo. Once. I nearly committed suicide. The stress of writer's block when you're trying to write a book in one month is amazingly excruciating. I'm sure you know.

Should I do it next year? (I'll do it if you do it.)

-Peri

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

Originally posted by kli6:
If I ever do nano again, I'll probably take it as an opportunity to learn svn.

Ah, thanks for the reminder! Anyone who wants to have offsite storage for their ScriptFrenzy/NaNo projects is welcome to put them up on my site.

You'll need to PM me for a username and password. Windows users will probably want to use TortoiseSVN, which gives you right-click access to svn functionality through Explorer folders. I strongly recommend saving files as text-only, since that will make it much easier to see differences between versions (or, you could do both: edit in Word, and save as text, and upload both to SVN).

While the files won't be visible to the public, I don't think I have any way to keep users from seeing each others' files, so I expect anyone requesting an account to play nice. :-)

[Mona0622]

I've recently decided to do NaNo this year and singed up as 'imagine_different_worlds'. (I know it's not a very creative name or whatever, but I wasn't very creative that day.) I'm working on my plot currently. The only thing I'm going to say about it now is that it takes places in a time similar to the Middle Ages, but not in any real place.