Oooh! So you do. You're added now. So from past experience how does one usually go into this thing?

OK, you're both on my list of Writing Buddies :) I think I'll try an erotica story this year... maybe I'll actually succeed! How does one go into it... well, the past three times I tried I did it by the seat of my pants, for the most part. The first year I did no prep, the second year I thought about the story a bit but did nothing further, the third year I decided to do a biography because I want to make sure I do it before I'm too old to remember... This year I'm going to try planning ahead and see if I'm any more successful :) I know people who've succeeded with no pre-planning and people who did tons and didn't make it, so I don't know how much it matters. I did buy Chris' book and found reading it helpful.

Well, last year I had it quite closely planned -- I knew where it was going at least. BUT I made several mistakes -- quite apart from blowing up the laptop and losing 20000 words. The story was historical, and I was writing it in the middle of rural France, with no internet connection. I did have loads of books, but constantly breaking off to look at them, and get side-tracked, slowed me down. So this year, although I don't know what it's going to be, it will be contemporary and nothing which requires any kind of sustained research. And I shall be backing up in several places every five minutes! I think I'll just go into it with an idea, but nothing more, and let it flow; that would be fun.

I planned on an erotica novel, that I could send to an e-publisher ... plan it out and all. But I find myself pushing well beyond a planned, short run, 6 chapter Grand Theft Auto fanfic slash that I'm working on, wondering what it WOULD be like to say 'lets write a novel without a roadmap'. I wrote my first novel with a fairly good idea where it was going, and a number of scenes I knew would happen. With my fanfic I'm writing with no plan, no preconceptions, and just for the hell of it, and I'm eagerly wondering where the heck its going! So saying all that, I'm wondering if maybe I might try that with Nano?

Well I was writing my novel at a Nano speed (I gave myself 90 days for 80k), so I know I can do it. Not that writing my novel wasn't fun, but this project is rather intriguing, because I'm not thinking beyond the current chapter, and making a point to end on a cliffhanger of some sort. So ... I'm hitting chapter 8 and wondering why I should stop there? I'd have to do something else for Nano, but that sort of unplanning is quite a ride!

What I do depends quite a bit on what I have time to plan... so I very well may go into it by the seat of my pants :)

Oh yeah! Seat of the pants! I'm hoping to plan the sci fi erotica, but it's early days yet. And I'm only just rediscovering this seat of the pants writing stuff.

The first year I tried it by planning and got to about 35k by the end and hated my MC. I wanted the bad guy to kill him. Last year I finished with the by the seat of my pants method. Of course I'm still editing the mess. This year, I'm torn between two ideas I have so we'll see. My user name is Marguerite Labbe. I'll add you guys.

They revamped the NaNoWriMo site, so friends are lost :(

I know. I'm under Marguerite

Yeah, I just checked it out today, and saw that (after waiting 5 minutes for it to load). You have to agree to their conditions again, and it seems like all is lost! Pity, cause their old profiles page looked far more attractive!

I just joined the NaNo thing this year for the first time, and I’m still trying to decide whether to cheat a bit and continue on with the novel I’m currently writing, thought it might motivate me to complete it, or start something completely new and unplanned on the day, whihc seems like the most exciting option to me. And yes, the pages are infuriatingly slow to load, and I thought it was just my clockwork internet connection.

Damn, I tried last night. Couldn't get in at first, very slow and I seem to have lost all my details. And it's difficult to navigate. I think Chris said the old, fancy book interface was terribly expensive to maintain, but it's a shame they've replaced it with something so ordinary. I'll re-friend everyone (if that's the right word) later in the day. AV