the protagonize blog » thoughts about collaborative writing

1. Tricia 11.05.08 / 2am

   It’s kind of exciting, taking part in this, and a big contrast to writing on Protag. To achieve 50,000 words in 30 days means you have to write an average of 1,667 daily. I think I probably did that during my first month on Protag, so I decided to have a go. But I can’t flit about from story to story. I have to stick to the same one, so it can be difficult to stay focused, especially for a die-hard procrastinator like me!

   I’m currently on 13,560 words, after day 4, so I’m churning out well over 3.000 words a day, usually in two sessions: one in the morning, and a longer one in the afternoon. If that sounds a lot, think again. On the NaNoWriMo forums I discovered people who had produced 40,000 words on day ONE! Yesterday I came across one who was up to 150,000 words plus, and still going. How do these people do it?

   The main thing to remember, according to seasoned ”wrimos”, is to just write: ignore your inner editor, and don’t reread what you’ve written - any of it! You have to think of it as a first draft, or even a humongously long outline. You can edit after 1st December…

   My “NaNovel” in progress is the one I was thinking of writing when I stumbled across Protagonize and got distracted. It’s a children’s book aimed at 11-13 year-olds. It’s set in the real world, then turns to fantasy about a third of the way in (that’s the part I’ve just written) Shades of Narnia, I suppose.

   Good luck to my fellow “Protago-wrimos”. I know of at least five, apart from me, who are indulging in the madness of NaNoLand.

   Tricia
2. Forrest Rainier 11.05.08 / 11am

   Way to churn ‘em out, Trish.
   I’m at only about 7,000 words, with my biggest worry being the sense that I’m about one-third through the telling.
   If so,I’ll need to go back and add adjectives and adverbs: about 29,000 of them!
   The whole mammoth exercise is a great impetus for finally getting to it, although I find it impossible to forego re-reading and some small editing.
   See you at the finish line.
   - Forrest
3. darkliquid 11.16.08 / 2pm

   I’ve been playing catch up for most of the time on NaNo and have consequently been completely absent from Protagonize. I’ve never won it before and this time my wife and I are doing a collaborative story. Yes, it’s not allowed, but we are going for 50k words each and we are focusing on separate characters (I’m doing the baddies mostly) so they kind of work as separate novels but not really. Either way, if I actually reach 50k I’ll consider myself a winner regardless. At the moment I’m trying to catch up to the 26k mark since being way behind at 14-odd thousand for last week or so.

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