I hate my novel...

And that made me think of:

and

and

So...
I must go write. Writing is the fear-killer. Writing brings the words that obliterate the blank page. I will go write. I will let the words flow through me onto the page. And when the writing is done, I will rest and then go write some more. Only my novel will remain...

hahahaha FEAR LEADS TO ANGER ANGER LEADS TO HATE. umm I mean >_>

This is actually really useful advice I got so mad at my novel that I just started writing mad. And maybe it sucks beyond anything I've ever written but at least I'm writing.

again, you all win at life!

You want this, don't you? The hate is swelling in you now. Take your keyboard. Use it. Your novel is unarmed. Strike down your protagonist with it. Give in to your anger. With each passing moment you make your novel more your servant.

Your protagonist... will die. As will other characters. Good, I can feel your anger. Your novel is defenseless. Take your keyboard. Strike down your characters with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!

;p

Good advice from everyone. I've got pretty bad lack of motivation/writer's block at the moment. But looking at my old novels was kind of inspiring- because as cringe-worthy as most of them were, there were very well-written bits which made me feel better about the story and my writing ability on the whole. I haven't written a word in 4 days (in my novel), I think I'm going to get back at it right now.

~Steve

I read your post three times, my friend. Good words of advice. And funny, too, I might add. Dave Barry ain't got nothing on you, Tom. See you in 7 days, 16 hours. Steve

P.S. 34 more words toward my word count!

Hang in there Steve.

Take your characters out on a cruise and drop one overboard. or have 2 of them argue the merits of mayonnaise. So you're writing a sucky novel. The sucky part can be fixed in the rewrite process (time’s ad infinitum).

Lower your expectations. They're pesky and in league with your internal editor. Last year, my first and only win, I only had 2 goals. 1. To write in excess to 50K words, and 2, not have anyone pluck out their eyeballs were they unfortunate enough to read my miserable story. This year I have the same 2 goals.

The bottom line is however you define success this year, we're all behind you. Every wrimo on planet earth has been confronted with the same challenges that you're facing. See Tim's (NewMexicoKid) advice above. Say goodnight to the current plot line and start anew. Write the great American novel featuring e.coli as a character or space faring butterflies. Who cares? Caring is an expectation.

Just keep plugging away. Some days 1667 is Everest, sometimes it's being shot out of a cannon. Who knows what else will show up in the next 25 days?

Tom

I’m experiencing the same thing as several of you who have posted. My novel is pure rubbish.

I have found that, with my Dragon v10 voice recognition software and my skills at dictation (I dictate as part of my job daily), I can dash off as much as 2500 words in a hour. If I go slow, and think about it, 2000 is easily achievable, hands never touching the keyboard. (Don’t worry, Tom, I promise not to bring a microphone to our Nov 13 Schaumburg Write-In. Can you imagine the scowls on everyone’s face when I talk wicked fast during a word war!). So, I think doing the 50k words is achievable.

I am struggling, like PersiaRose, with my mind just not being one that can work fast and still have acceptable quality. I’m more of a Jonathan Frazier than a James Patterson for speedwriting (and I'm an ant on theri noses with regards to quality).

That said, I am still writing every day and learning about myself through this experience. I’m learning that I am a slow writer, even with internal editor turned off. I’m learning how to format a manuscript and write into MS Word and use Document Navigator. I’ve learned how to set up my desk ergonomically. I have learned that writing can be fun.

And I have learned that I am more of a plotter than a pantser. I’m struggling because No Plot, No Problem does not pertain to me. Master suspense author Ken Follett, in a recent Writer’s Digest cover story, says he takes a full year on plotting his book in extensive detail. He writes a completed book about every 5-8 years.

I’m going to keep writing, short stories, small projects, flash fiction pieces, and yes, even adding to my miserable “off the cuff” novel, all within the month of November, all adding to the word count which may or may not be 50k words.

This forum post, by the way, is over 325 words. I’ll add it to my word count since it has more plot and is more entertaining than my Nano novel.

Steve

You guys! Win.at.life!

I needed all this advice so much, thank you!

Holy crap! 22,831 words! Good for you!

Just a note of clarification.
I'm not advocating jumping around. (Based on painful experience with editing my first NaNo book--the three chapters that I skipped, and went back and wrote after writing everything else in sequence--it took me TWO YEARS to figure out that they'd never flow if they were in the beginning. They had to be at the end since I knew so much more about the chars at that point--this required major plot rearranging.)

Not everyone is a linear writer, though. So if skipping around works for you, keep doing it, but that's not what I do.

I'm suggesting that you skip over anything that is slowing you down too much. Say you know you need to describe the char but everything you try sounds like gibberish, I put
ADD: char description, brown eyes
and then I keep writing.
By doing that, my brain knows that I'm looking for a description of brown eyes and when I start the next day's writing (or later that same day after a break) and read through what I've written I often have a half-descent description to add. (Yes, gasp, I do read and edit a little to ensure I'm picking up all the pieces of the tapestry before I plunge in again.)

Or if a conversation is degenerating into 'did not,' 'did too!' -- I write ADD: MORE
and move the story onto what happens next. Often in that case, the chars promise to behave if I'll just let them talk a little more. (So it's only a five minute skip.)

Okay, I now sound crazy. Back to the novel.

*bangs head against keyboard* I hate mine, but for a totally different reason. I started four days late, so I had to pull an all night last night to catch up. I am so sick of my main character I want to gag, and she's supposed to be likable.

Those are good ideas. I have been struggling a little too because I feel like my writing is falling flatter than it does when I take more time on it because I'm trying to hurry up with the word count, but yeah, maybe just reminding myself that I can go back and fix things later (like in week three or so), is great. I also like the add suggestion! I use the comments tool on Word all the time when I want to write a little note to myself about a character or plot, etc.

Just remember that you're in this not for the wordcount (though that should be a positive motivator) but for the book that you'll write. It sounds like you may need a little Plot Doctoring (either through that forum or else request a jabber account from me and come to the jabber chat room and the growing crowd there will be glad to offer advice). Or you can do what Jennifer_Ryukage did and consider adopting a new plot (e.g., see the Adoption Society, where there are plots, characters and other novel elements made available for people to adopt).

The important things:

• never throw away word count, not in November. Yes, if you switch novels, the first 8k won't apply to the new novel, but you wrote it in November, so it definitely counts to your word count total.
• consider Katherine's advice of using meta instructions or summaries as needed to have placeholders as you jump around as needed (but be aware that this will increase your editing workload later...)

Good luck!
--Tim

I'm sure your work is much, much better than you're giving yourself credit for. Why don't you share your original plans with us, then tell us how you feel it's going off path? There may be something we can do. Remember - you may notice problems with your work, but that's okay, you just have to keep trudging along. No one's perfect, and I feel like the point of NaNo is to produce something we can be proud of because it exists. I really liked Katherine's suggestions and I hope you take them into consideration. You never know - you might write the finest piece of dialog or prose you've ever produced a couple hundred words down the line. You just have to keep pushing through and those moments will happen to you!

This may seem contrary, but try reading over what you wrote on the first day, or the second, you may be surprised to discover that you actually like parts of it, and are willing to continue with it. Often when we've struggled to get the words out, we misremember them as being stilted when they may flow more than you think they do.

Another thing that may be happening is that you're spending too much time getting your interesting characters to the point of doing something interesting. Mine kept not wanting to meet each other, which was just plain silly, so I finally shoved them into a room. All sorts of conflict started developing, some of which I'd planned in advance, some of which just occurred from them being all together.

When it's going slow, write ADD: transition here
and then plunge into the next scene that has something happening. If it peters out--write
ADD: brilliant bit of dialogue making a great point
and carry on.
You may be able to fill in those "ADDs" the next day, or not until the second draft, but it can make it easier. One thing it does is reinforce the idea that you can leave things that need fixing.

Good luck. The only sure thing that will make it all work out is to keep writing.

I haven't reached that point yet, but I'm close.

Instead of scrapping the whole thing, drop a bomb, right where you are. Kill off a character, send one to jail, have one discover supernatural powers. Basically, it's time to veer off the path into uncharted territory.

I plan my horrible tomes in advance which means I"m too scared to head off into the abyss (but know I should!)

Good luck!!

I think that happens to most everyone at some point. Everything I've ever written has seemed stupid to me at some point, even it it's mostly good. Although it typically hits me around 20000 or 40000 words.
Just keep trucking through it. Maybe do a dare or challenge to make it more fun or take it less serious? To me nano isn't about writing the great american novel, although every once in a while i delude myself into thinking it is (and that's typically when it's not as fun).
Good Luck and Have Fun!