NaNo, my love!! *comes flying in with open arms*
(this is what I get for staring at the spy feature. I get so excited when I see the word Nanowrimo)

I'm taking up the NaNoWriMo Challenge!
Username: Kat Dakuu
Intended Genre: fantasy, lit fic, romance, psychological...possibly etc.
NaNoWriMo account name: Kat Dakuu

Kayxx: I do get that, I just feel like you ask me something and then continue to act like it's something huge that you won't win, because you never have, but that's just how I'm seeing it.

@Kat Dakuu
Excited is good. Excited is energetic. Gather the WriMo energy unto yourself. Use it to charge a WriMo novel making ion cannon of...love? I lost track of where that sentence was going.

Kayxx: I do get that, I just feel like you ask me something and then continue to act like it's something huge that you won't win, because you never have, but that's just how I'm seeing it.

I don't think I've been clear. Don't think I won't win anymore than I than I think I will. With an objective such as winning WriMo, I don't generally make definite statements. I don't tend to be a definite statement person. Adverbs everywhere, and what not. The plan is to work towards the goal.
I asked a question out of curiousity. Deaf Studies sounds interesting.
My statement was that we have had different experiences. Beyond that, I was not attempting to portray myself as anything other than a person who plans to participate in NaNoWriMo. And who's to say I won't win? Winning is not outside the realm of possibility. I will just follow the long written train of thought out to the end and see where it stops.

lol. So poetic Kayxx. I didn't know you did did Nanowrimo, but so cool!

@Kat Dakuu Thank you Kat. I tend to wax poetic when I should be doing other things. :P
What's your novel about? It looks like there's going to be a lot in it.

sounds like a good habit!
Ah first things first, I should say right off that I am not writing a novel. *twirls to the floor* One of the talk/message thingies from the july camp inspired me to be one of the weirdos who does something different. Since I already did a novel this year for July, I decided to do a bunch of different short stories which are easier to start off publishing with than a novel.

How about you?

Oh you know, a minor god meeting a mortal and going on a road trip. Typical powerful androgynous being meets girl story. /shot
I felt the need to have there be a road trip for no reason and a god because why not.
I wrote one or two short stories in times past. Haven't seen them for a bit now. Wonder what I did with them?

going on a road trips? When you say it like that, it sounds like family movie time! lol, but I like gods. A few of my stories will involve gods because I'm in a class on myth and fairytale right now. I have a lot of that kind of stuff stewing in my mind.
Normally I just write short stories in class, but it seems I'm good at them. *shrug* At least I finish them unlike my novels.

I'm surprised I finished the short stories I did. It's not typical of me to write them.
Short stories are a good thing to be good at, I think. Finishing things is better, as things to be good at go. Why, I make efforts to finish all kinds of things. >.>
<.<

I need some advice on how to do SHORT stories... XD

I have gotten good about finishing things because I write short stories for class a lot. I didn't used to finish them though. I finished the novella I wrote in one nano a couple years back. Never finished a novel though. Came close with my first nano story though because it was so short and fast paced, but I never went back in and finished the final battle and put an ending to things.

Xuv: I started off thinking of them as prologues to longer pieces with their own mini story arc?

How many words maximum for short stories? 500 to thousand?

Originally Posted by xuvrette

How many words maximum for short stories? 500 to thousand?

I believe stories are considered short stories if they are under 7,500 words.

Mythos is right. That's the general word count rule that magazines and contests use. Short stories can also be classified by their limit of characters and plot points. Usually one per story. Even if the word count doesn't match up.

I have learned a thing.

Plot points? Can explain further on that? I have several 'scale' of plot points. Which mean, the whole Harry Potter Series, one book one plot points, but in one HP books, there are also seven plot points...?

As for characters... what is the limit? Generally?

well....generally a novel will have dozens of plot threads within it, even if it's a short one. ex: boy meets girl. boy fights crazy evil monster. Boy learns father is evil monster. Girl remembers her past because of boy's love. world's past as shown through the many reincarnations of the monster.
A short short story would focus on only one of these small arcs. The most basic forumla for a story that I've been taught is a character wants something, and someone is in the way of that want. In a novel, there are many wants. A short story, only one.
Characters are limited to the least amount you need for the simple story arc.

I think I'm going to do mine through letters, like I did my novel last year as well. Just not sure exactly what it'll be fully about yet. But I'm not a planner, I never have been - I'll have a basic idea, and then just go wherever the story decides to take me.

That sounds cool, Nemo. I never tried to write from letters before!

I managed 108k words last November entirely through letters - so I only had 2 main characters, with others that were mentioned but you never actually met them. It was a romance through letters. :] I actually found that I work better through letters than I actually do through written dialogue. Written dialogue with " " and whatnot "Oh dear, what happened," exclaimed Susie... etc etc etc... is just awkward for me. But writing all the dialogue through written form in written form, if that makes sense, flowed easier for me. :] Not sure if I'm making any sense, but I do want to give it another go with another group of characters and see how that goes. If it seems like it's not working, I'll try something else, but why not try to go with what I know works for me based on how last year went for me? *shrugs* Worth a try again. :] Maybe last year was just a fluke? Hope not!

I think I was talking with you last november. I remember that you reached such a high goal! You're amazing! But if that style works for you, you should definitely keep at it. Actually, it seems dialogue without quote tags is quite popular now.

I hit 50k in a week. And just kept going. And that was all on top of a full load of 5 classes - all of which I got A's and B's in... I think it was 2 A's and 3 B's or something like that.
And actually did fully finish the novel on the 30th, which is something that I've never managed to do before - fully finish a novel.
To be honest too, I have no idea how I managed to pull off that many words. It's a mystery to me.
Yeah, I'm hoping it just wasn't a fluke last November and I can just keep going. We'll see.
But for me, if I am going to have actual dialogue, like 'spoken' dialogue between characters, I need the quotes, I just hate that it makes me have to think too hard, if I'm making any sense? Like I have to stop and remember to hit " before and " after... but maybe that's just me. It makes me have to intrurrupt my train of thought and that's why I don't like them. If I need to, sure I can do it, but I will go out of my way to not have to use it. And the letters format works for me so I don't have any quotting in things.

don't make me jealous! I do good to hit my 50k in the month, though I could do more if I really tried. I might this year, but I also have almost 20 rps and I don't intend to put them on hold for the month.
that's pretty sweet. I haven't finished a novel yet. That's great that you did. Are you going to do anything with that one?
Maybe you just need to type quote more to get more in the habit of using them? I don't know. Writers have all sorts of weird systems and quirks about writing though, so I can't say it's too strange.

In a week?!
You're a machine! I'm with Kat over here.

Do y'all have any tips for newbies? Xu mentioned using plot cards earlier... is there anything you've found that worked better for you?

hm....the first year I did nano, I bribed myself with candy a lot. I'd put a bag of twizzlers just out of arms reach and said I had to write a hundred words before I ate one. rinse and repeat. I have now conditioned myself to want to write just from the sight of a twizzler.

it's not really a tip tough. ^^'