NaNoWriMo. An equal mix of words and insanity for the long-distance marathon writers who will turn out (or at least attempt to) a novel of 50,000 words before they valiantly stagger towards the finish line on 30th November.Interested in joining in, even at this eleventh hour? Find out all you need to know and sign up here. The Malaysian Nanowrimo nutcases are also hanging out on their blog. Good luck to anyone attempting the feat this year.
Alison Flood writes about the competition in the Guardian.
18 comments:
"Is there a specific theme? Please tell me if there's a specific theme!"
- PPDD
hehe...sorry about that. i have already signed up. so sharon, how do they know whether we wrote that novel in the period of one month?
behave PPDD. enjoy your feeeeeedom all! good luck Aravin, and may the force be with you
how do they know you wrote the novel? well you submit your file for counting at the end. you can cheat of course, but there's no point because the only person you cheat would be yourself
yea, true sharon. i won't cheat. if there is a novel with my name on it, it would be mine.
Won't stop anyone from stealing it and putting his name on it. And then it will be his, and you will have no claim on it.
no-one can steal it since it is submitted encrypted and then not stored at their end. you could write the word 'rhubarb' 50,000 words and you would still "win". but once again, the only person you would cheat would be yourself!
They'd have to store it somewhere (even temporarily) in order to count it. It's like this, if I want you to count my money, I have to give it to you. If I give it to you, I risk having it stolen. Them saying "we can count it, but we won't store it" is like me saying "I can count your money, but you won't have to give it to me." It's illogical.
They HAVE to store it to count it. They're just lying if they say won't store it.
All encryption can be cracked. Reversible encryption (the kind that makes it possible for a server to count words) can be cracked VERY easily (that's why secure servers don't use reversible encryption.)
I don't see why this is better than using a word processor's "word count" feature. It does the same thing, and with less risk :)
Anyway, I'm sorry but I don't see anywhere on the site where it says the content is encrypted and not stored.
when several hundred thousand (if not million folks) are sending in files and getting their score back a few seconds later, i don't think there's much risk of anyone's crappo novel (for so any novel written at speed must be) getting stolen. and no-one in all the year's of the contest has ever complained.
I really wanted to join Nanowrimo this year, but didn't cos am up to my neck in a foreign language exam I'm taking.
I'm happy, Sharon, that in your blog freedom of speech is respected as much as possible. I'm just sad that people like "x" have to take the negative note on every post.
Our world is so full of turmoil, I think we could all use a little positivity.
And no, positivity is not keeping silent against something that's wrong. It is all about seeing the positive side of normal, everyday things, which actually do exist.
I wish people like "x" would try to write positive comments from time to time.
"when several hundred thousand (if not million folks) are sending in files and getting their score back a few seconds later, i don't think there's much risk of anyone's crappo novel (for so any novel written at speed must be) getting stolen"
Modern high-performance servers can store millions of documents a second. From there it could be sent to a small group of people (say 100 or so) who do nothing but scan first lines all day. Sooner or later they're going to have to come across a corker of a first line. Then they flag it for later reading. So it goes from there to the altering to the publishing. If you avoid the major markets, you can still make a pile of cash and no one would be the wiser.
"positivity is not keeping silent against something that's wrong. It is all about seeing the positive side of normal, everyday things, which actually do exist."
Okay, let's try this now shall we?
Despotism is good because it frees you from worrying about what to wear, what to eat, where to stay, or even what to say.
Corruption is good because it provides jobs for people. Also it means some people become very rich, which is not a bad thing.
Hardcore poverty is good because it frees you from worrying about what to wear, what to eat, and where to stay. Also you won't live very long, so you're not contributing to the overcrowding of the planet.
Confidence tricksters are good because they make you smarter.
How am I doing so far? :)
please steal my nanonovel. i will email it to you for free. by me a cup of coffee when it makes you a millionaire.
x,
Your cynicism does you credit :))
Trust you to turn a simple, well-meaning comment into vitriol.
Despite all the hard core poverty, corruption, and despotism, there are a whole load of good things in the world. People fight these negative expressions of human nature, and succeed. Granted, maybe not all the time.
The problem is that with today's media, and cynical journalism, only the negative stories get out there. (Which is not a bad thing because it raises awareness.) But if you miss out on all the good stories out there, life is not worth living.
The world is out there. You can see the negativity and try to make an effort to change things, make them more positive, you can see the goodness that exists in the world and appreciate it. Or, you can do what you do so very well "x", you can rant and rave and spread as much negativity as possible.
The choice is yours :)
I will. And I will. Do you know my email address ? :)
Oh btw, that was meant for Bib :)
And it's not like I haven't tried, it's like ladling out the ocean with a teaspoon :) if you read James Herriot, you must have read about the "cleansing salts" episode. He came to the same conclusion as me, so I'm in pretty good company. Also the stock-in-trade of some writers is exactly that, they sell cynicism and dry humor (Terry Pratchett for instance.)
And Bib, I would be hono(u)red to read your novel :)
of course i know your email address. do you imagine that a mere change of name can disguise your royal grouchiness?
if you were a woman i'd suggest hormone replacement therapy or something.
Bib,
HRT sounds like fun :) but seriously, I'm not the first. I'm just a product of having read too many books. Part of this is probably Pratchett (he once proved that some tragedies were miraculous.)
And then there's Raleigh ("I wish I loved the human race") and Thomas ("do not go gentle"). Of course there's also Catullus ("legistis, male me marem putatis? pedicabo et vos irrumabo.")
So if I'm like this, blame my education :) blame all the books that I've read :)
In fact, if there's one recurring theme in almost all the books I've read, it's that good people always die.
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