
Ask HN: Who is Writing? (NaNoWriMo 2017) - ingve
It&#x27;s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) [0] time again.<p>There have been some HN submissions over the years where people have posted NaNoWriMo-related software projects thay&#x27;ve made, like daily word counters [1], [2], ways to share progess [3], etc.<p>Any HNers doing their daily 1667 words? If so, what are you writing about? Do you have a NaNoWriMo strategy? Are you using any interesting tools?<p>[0] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nanowrimo.org&#x2F;<p>[1] http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amelyn.com&#x2F;nanowrimo&#x2F;nanowrimo_v2.htm<p>[2] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;WorldMaker&#x2F;NaNoWriMoAtGlance<p>[3] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;tablo.io&#x2F;communities&#x2F;nanowrimo
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anandkulkarni
I'm doing the related National Novel Generation Month, which is a hackeresque
twist to generate novels computationally.

[https://github.com/NaNoGenMo/2017/](https://github.com/NaNoGenMo/2017/)

[https://github.com/NaNoGenMo/2017/issues/60](https://github.com/NaNoGenMo/2017/issues/60)

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enkiv2
I'm also doing NaNoGenMo.

I've finished four novel generators thus far this year:

[https://github.com/NaNoGenMo/2017/issues/54](https://github.com/NaNoGenMo/2017/issues/54)
[https://github.com/NaNoGenMo/2017/issues/43](https://github.com/NaNoGenMo/2017/issues/43)
[https://github.com/NaNoGenMo/2017/issues/3](https://github.com/NaNoGenMo/2017/issues/3)
[https://github.com/NaNoGenMo/2017/issues/16](https://github.com/NaNoGenMo/2017/issues/16)

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jeffwass
I'm not doing NaNoWriMo, but last week I did just finish the draft of my first
book, a kids Sci-Fi novel

Now begins the editing and revision phase, which will be a ton of work, I
fear.

On tooling, I used Scrivener. Interestingly, the last few months I've written
about 50k words on the iOS version on my iPhone during my commute on the
London tube.

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marcc
50k words on an iPhone is really impressive. I'm guessing you didn't find it
too frustrating or you wouldn't have made it to 50k words?

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jeffwass
It's not too bad actually. The Scrivener iOS app is pretty good too. Sometimes
my thumbs can get sore (on a separate note I sometimes wish there was the
option to have a keyboard on _top_ of the phone screen instead of bottom. More
natural thumb angle I think)

I have about a 30 minute trip on the tube each way, so that's a dedicated
session to focus.

I set a session word count target of 500 words and try to make something
happen. The last couple weeks I was easily hitting 1000 words in total over
both sessions. But like code, that's no indicator of quality

The tough times are when I really don't know what's going to happen, and try
to come up with something. Other times I can really get in the flow, and stop
thinking in words, but more in thoughts, and the words just form themselves.

Most days when I get to my stop, I'm in the zone and want to keep going. Maybe
the forced stopping helps in some way to keep things fresh.

Repeat again on the way home.

But now that I finished the draft, I feel much less productive. The past week
I've been reading and making minor tweaks, but I probably need longer editing
sessions to ensure better continuity.

Btw, when I started, my target novel word count was 75k words, similar to the
first Harry Potter.

I did about 45k on laptop. But then blew past my target and hit 95k.

Now I have to decide whether to do a lot of chopping, or keep the extra bits.

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beat
Not doing NaNoWriMo, but thought I would mention FAWM - February Album Writing
Month. It's like NaNoWriMo for songwriters. The goal is to write and record 14
songs over the month of February - that's one every two days.

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SJMosley
My wife and I are writing books based on the same prompt "living in two
worlds".

My strategy was a brief outline beforehand then just write.

My main tool is Ulysses.

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agitator
I'm actually looking to get into writing Sci-Fi, and this post is pleasantly
relevant!

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kleer001
Not this year, and probably never again. I did it in 2012 and 2010. It was as
exhausting as it seems. My strategy? Be unemployed. What tools? Text editor
and separate files for 1) The outline and 2) Each chapter

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lappet
Instead of a novel, I am trying to write a short story/essay each day of
November. The idea is that I will have 30 different stories at the end of the
month :)

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markfer
Just published my first blog post on sales advice today, actually. Aiming to
make it a weekly event and eventually build into online sales courses and
bootcamps.

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hyder_m29
I published my first tech blog post on medium today. Though it didn't quite
get enough traction on HN. I am not much of a writer, though I enjoyed the
process.

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mkbkn
I'm writing on political satire.

