Midwest Nano community now open!

[ts-brookhouse.livejournal.com]

( Personal intro. )

In the interest in finding contacts a little closer to home, I created midwest_nano. Specifying "Wisconsin" seemed a little pointless (there's almost no one in this state to begin with; why would there be more than three Nano-ers?), so it's open to the whole of the midwest. It's only JUST been set up, so I haven't messed with the color scheme or settings or even established a detailed "About" section, but the basics are there.

Hope to see you soon.

Regards,

~TS

Midwest Nano community now open!

[ts-brookhouse.livejournal.com]

( Personal intro. )

In the interest in finding contacts a little closer to home, I created midwest_nano. Specifying "Wisconsin" seemed a little pointless (there's almost no one in this state to begin with; why would there be more than three Nano-ers?), so it's open to the whole of the midwest. It's only JUST been set up, so I haven't messed with the color scheme or settings or even established a detailed "About" section, but the basics are there.

Hope to see you soon.

Regards,

~TS

(no subject)

[dollsoldier.livejournal.com]

Hi there, everyone. I just created a writing journal, primarily for NaNoWriMo, although year-round there'll probably be short comics, mp3s of songs I'm working on, or whatever other fiction I produce. And random commentary about things related to writing or the stories themselves. Currently, there's nothing much there, and it's not even fully online yet, my friend's still making my layout. Everyone, please feel free to friend it if they want to.

kiritsubosei

(no subject)

[dollsoldier.livejournal.com]

Hi there, everyone. I just created a writing journal, primarily for NaNoWriMo, although year-round there'll probably be short comics, mp3s of songs I'm working on, or whatever other fiction I produce. And random commentary about things related to writing or the stories themselves. Currently, there's nothing much there, and it's not even fully online yet, my friend's still making my layout. Everyone, please feel free to friend it if they want to.

kiritsubosei

Storyboarding...

[danielefton.livejournal.com]

So i got this bright idea to set up a timeline - i took an old yoga mat and hung it on the wall as a bulletin board.

Yes, the mat and my bedroom walls are orange, and yes i am 22.  I have a title, and a collection of blank index cards clipped to the board.

Anyway, I've got the board set up, and as i get ideas for the story, i put them on an index card or cards, then place them on the mat where they belong in the story.

At the very bottom is a card that reads The End.

Is anyone else doing this?  Has anyone else done this with any luck?

Storyboarding...

[danielefton.livejournal.com]

So i got this bright idea to set up a timeline - i took an old yoga mat and hung it on the wall as a bulletin board.

Yes, the mat and my bedroom walls are orange, and yes i am 22.  I have a title, and a collection of blank index cards clipped to the board.

Anyway, I've got the board set up, and as i get ideas for the story, i put them on an index card or cards, then place them on the mat where they belong in the story.

At the very bottom is a card that reads The End.

Is anyone else doing this?  Has anyone else done this with any luck?

Master Plot Formula

[tapestry01.livejournal.com]

Has anyone tried this?-- The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot

"This is a formula, a master plot, for any 6000 word pulp story. It has worked on adventure, detective, western and war-air. It tells exactly where to put everything. It shows definitely just what must happen in each successive thousand words. No yarn of mine written to the formula has yet failed to sell..." Lester Dent was the author of dozens of books, including the "Doc Savage" series, written under the name Kenneth Robeson.

It's a formula for a 6,000-word story, splitting the story into four parts and detailing what must happen in each part. The formula could easily be expanded to cover a novel-length story. In each part, the formula asks: "Does it have SUSPENSE? Is there a MENACE to the hero? Does everything happen logically?" I've gotten some good ideas from this formula, but I was wondering if anyone doing NaNoWriMo had actually followed it for their story?

Master Plot Formula

[tapestry01.livejournal.com]

Has anyone tried this?-- The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot

"This is a formula, a master plot, for any 6000 word pulp story. It has worked on adventure, detective, western and war-air. It tells exactly where to put everything. It shows definitely just what must happen in each successive thousand words. No yarn of mine written to the formula has yet failed to sell..." Lester Dent was the author of dozens of books, including the "Doc Savage" series, written under the name Kenneth Robeson.

It's a formula for a 6,000-word story, splitting the story into four parts and detailing what must happen in each part. The formula could easily be expanded to cover a novel-length story. In each part, the formula asks: "Does it have SUSPENSE? Is there a MENACE to the hero? Does everything happen logically?" I've gotten some good ideas from this formula, but I was wondering if anyone doing NaNoWriMo had actually followed it for their story?

Way of the Cheetah

[chibent.livejournal.com]

Two interesting posts from Paperback Writer, who publishes as Lynn Viehl, S. L. Viehl, and others.

Today's Post, about writing fast and productively.
This Older Post, in which she mentions, "Here, every month is NaNoWriMo, and pretty much has been for the last six years." Today's post also contains a link to this post.

Way of the Cheetah

[chibent.livejournal.com]

Two interesting posts from Paperback Writer, who publishes as Lynn Viehl, S. L. Viehl, and others.

Today's Post, about writing fast and productively.
This Older Post, in which she mentions, "Here, every month is NaNoWriMo, and pretty much has been for the last six years." Today's post also contains a link to this post.

Trouble with ideas?

[nyxalinth.livejournal.com]

Here are some cool idea generators. They're fun and useful, too! We've got three weeks left to go, so I think we're safe from getting distracted with this.

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

A few samples:

The story is about a biologist who is married to an exorcist. It takes place in a rocky realm in a universe where space travel occurs by magical means. The critical element of the story is the passing of a test. International politics plays a major part in the story.

This is a romance with a focus on wretched excess. The story is about three blacksmiths. It starts in a military town in an inconsequential realm. The nature of magic is changing, and that plays an important role in the story.

The story is about a construction worker, a librarian, and a psychologist who is in love with a businessperson. It starts in Denver. Tradition versus modernity plays a major part in this story.

And while this one is goofy, you can still get a few ideas...

http://www.warpcoresf.co.uk/fantasyplot.php

A fiesty dancer is begging in a dangerous castle. Her friend is enslaved by a foul phantom. With the help of a virtuous fool, she must become dead to family and friends in order to avert disaster and save her family.

A cultured golddigger is imprisoned in a rich tower. Her aunt is attacked by a supernatural warrior. With the help of a greedy priest, she must face the fear of the unknown in order to avert disaster and save her people from slavery.

A timid barbarian is impersonating royalty in a dilapidated town. His sister is kidnapped by an undead wolf. With the help of an athletic elf, he must break all previous vows in order to avert disaster and save his world.

A light-fingered rebel is scraping a living in an arid brothel. His friend is attacked by an evil dragon. With the help of a bitter whore, he must make the ultimate sacrifice in order to avert disaster and save his people.

Trouble with ideas?

[nyxalinth.livejournal.com]

Here are some cool idea generators. They're fun and useful, too! We've got three weeks left to go, so I think we're safe from getting distracted with this.

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

A few samples:

The story is about a biologist who is married to an exorcist. It takes place in a rocky realm in a universe where space travel occurs by magical means. The critical element of the story is the passing of a test. International politics plays a major part in the story.

This is a romance with a focus on wretched excess. The story is about three blacksmiths. It starts in a military town in an inconsequential realm. The nature of magic is changing, and that plays an important role in the story.

The story is about a construction worker, a librarian, and a psychologist who is in love with a businessperson. It starts in Denver. Tradition versus modernity plays a major part in this story.

And while this one is goofy, you can still get a few ideas...

http://www.warpcoresf.co.uk/fantasyplot.php

A fiesty dancer is begging in a dangerous castle. Her friend is enslaved by a foul phantom. With the help of a virtuous fool, she must become dead to family and friends in order to avert disaster and save her family.

A cultured golddigger is imprisoned in a rich tower. Her aunt is attacked by a supernatural warrior. With the help of a greedy priest, she must face the fear of the unknown in order to avert disaster and save her people from slavery.

A timid barbarian is impersonating royalty in a dilapidated town. His sister is kidnapped by an undead wolf. With the help of an athletic elf, he must break all previous vows in order to avert disaster and save his world.

A light-fingered rebel is scraping a living in an arid brothel. His friend is attacked by an evil dragon. With the help of a bitter whore, he must make the ultimate sacrifice in order to avert disaster and save his people.

Nano Breakthrough A-GoGo

[akirad.livejournal.com]

Nano Breakthrough. I've nailed the MC.

Now I know how he gets into the mess that starts the Weird Chain Of Events that I'm going to nano about.

Instead of writing the plot, and trying to fit the characters into the plot, I went back to basics. Develop the characters first. As soon as I understood the MC, he decided himself how he would wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time. How odd.

Also - I'm thinking of submitting some nano warm-up pieces to a writing community where they can be ripped apart by the crit sharks that live there. Any recommendations?

Nano Breakthrough A-GoGo

[akirad.livejournal.com]

Nano Breakthrough. I've nailed the MC.

Now I know how he gets into the mess that starts the Weird Chain Of Events that I'm going to nano about.

Instead of writing the plot, and trying to fit the characters into the plot, I went back to basics. Develop the characters first. As soon as I understood the MC, he decided himself how he would wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time. How odd.

Also - I'm thinking of submitting some nano warm-up pieces to a writing community where they can be ripped apart by the crit sharks that live there. Any recommendations?

My Nano shirt came yesterday!

[soulessmirror.livejournal.com]

I'm excited, I finally got my NaNo shirt, after two weeks of waiting anxiously for the mail! *wipes away a tear*

Well in my rush and exhuberance to buy such a shirt, I ordered a 2003... but not to worry! I'm going to take my lovely into a shirt shop and have the '3' crossed out and have a '5' pressed on in a really snazzy font. So not only will I be NaNoing in style, but I'll be doing it with customized style.

Omg its a picture
(Homigawd, I'm inflicting my picture on you all. If its too horrifying to have my face in the image with the shirt for you, focus on Legolas in the background. Mmm Legolas...)

x-posted to: 2005nanowrimo, nanowrimo

Transexual Questions

[suziannabean.livejournal.com]

I just spent all class period making character notes instead of paying attention, and I have some questions I was hoping I could get help with?

My story revolves around 12 very different characters - mostly to give me practice writing from POV different from the ones I normally write from - I get stuck in character ruts, and all my main characters end up far to similar ... so I'm using NaNoWriMo to help me really flesh out 12 characters ... in one big novel!

Anyway - one of the characters I want to write is a transexual - FtoM. Ze found out ze was pregnant just before starting on the T (or maybe just after?), and has decided to keep the baby. The novel will take hir from 5 months to 8 months in the pregnancy.

So my questions are ... how does the T affect sterility? I'd prefer for hir to have been taking it before becoming pregnant, but if that isn't possible, I can change that. Also, I'm assuming it would be necessary for hir to NOT take it while pregnant. Adding more hormones into that mix just doesn't seem smart ... but is that right?

Also, do any of you know of any good Trans websites/books? I know of a couple, but more never hurts! I want people to not know that this character was written by a gender straight and sexually straight person, so I want as much information as I can get.

Thank you so much!

Transexual Questions

[suziannabean.livejournal.com]

I just spent all class period making character notes instead of paying attention, and I have some questions I was hoping I could get help with?

My story revolves around 12 very different characters - mostly to give me practice writing from POV different from the ones I normally write from - I get stuck in character ruts, and all my main characters end up far to similar ... so I'm using NaNoWriMo to help me really flesh out 12 characters ... in one big novel!

Anyway - one of the characters I want to write is a transexual - FtoM. Ze found out ze was pregnant just before starting on the T (or maybe just after?), and has decided to keep the baby. The novel will take hir from 5 months to 8 months in the pregnancy.

So my questions are ... how does the T affect sterility? I'd prefer for hir to have been taking it before becoming pregnant, but if that isn't possible, I can change that. Also, I'm assuming it would be necessary for hir to NOT take it while pregnant. Adding more hormones into that mix just doesn't seem smart ... but is that right?

Also, do any of you know of any good Trans websites/books? I know of a couple, but more never hurts! I want people to not know that this character was written by a gender straight and sexually straight person, so I want as much information as I can get.

Thank you so much!

Pulled from the NaNoWriMo site...

[danielefton.livejournal.com]

Breaking News

We need your help!

Posted by Chris Baty on 2005/10/12 18:40:42 (342 reads)

Hey there! We are sad to report that Earthlink, one of the US's largest ISPs, is allowing an internal problem to persist that makes the NaNoWriMo.org site inaccessible to their customers. We've contacted them about this repeatedly with no success. And we would love your help in getting the issue resolved. Russ has put together an overview of the issue, which I've pasted below. Please, if you have a moment today, contact Earthlink andask them in the kindest way possible to devote a smidge of their mighty resources towards fixing the problem. Together, we'll get it taken care of!

(from Russ)
Here's the problem: Earthlink's DNS servers are returning an incorrect NS record for www.nanowrimo.org.

They have been doing this since September 14th.

The problem seems to have been fixed once or twice, only to break again. Sometimes the incorrect record is always returned, sometimes Earthlink alternates between correct and incorrect information.
The result of this is that most of the time Earthlink subscribers cannot access the NaNoWriMo website.

This problem extends to subscribers of other Earthlink companies like PeoplePC and MindSpring.

Many Wrimos have spent many hours of their time with Earthlink Tech Support trying to get them to fix this problem. In some cases, Earthlink staff have agreed that there is a problem, and have promised to have Earthlink technicians fix it. In some cases, Earthlink staff have blamed the victim, telling them their computer was at fault. In some cases, Earthlink staff have blamed NaNoWriMo, claiming that we are purposefully blocking Earthlink subscribers from our site (which
we couldn't do even if we wanted to).

In no cases has Earthlink actually fixed the problem.

We're asking you, the general NaNoWriMo community, to give your Earthlink-bound brethren a hand by asking Earthlink - politely! - to fix this problem.

Here are some Earthlink tech support email addresses that you can try:
hostmaster@earthlink.net
webmaster@earthlink.net
abuse@earthlink.net
epasupport@earthlink.net

You can also try to email, live chat, and phone links on this page:
http://support.earthlink.net/

In order to support your case, you should include the following technical information in your communication:

Here are the correct nameservers for nanowrimo.org:
% dig ns nanowrimo.org
nanowrimo.org. 2250 IN NS ns1.quickserve.com.
nanowrimo.org. 2250 IN NS ns0000.ns0.com.

Here are the incorrect nameservers that Earthlink is returning:
% dig ns nanowrimo.org @ns3.earthlink.net
nanowrimo.org. 3047 IN NS PARK10.SECURESERVER.NET.
nanowrimo.org. 3047 IN NS PARK9.SECURESERVER.NET.

We've checked all of the root servers for the .org TLD and none of them are wrong.

Finally, if you know someone who is having this problem, please ask them to email help@nanowrimo.org. We'll send them instructions to a
workaround for this issue.

Thank you!

Pulled from the NaNoWriMo site...

[danielefton.livejournal.com]

Breaking News

We need your help!

Posted by Chris Baty on 2005/10/12 18:40:42 (342 reads)

Hey there! We are sad to report that Earthlink, one of the US's largest ISPs, is allowing an internal problem to persist that makes the NaNoWriMo.org site inaccessible to their customers. We've contacted them about this repeatedly with no success. And we would love your help in getting the issue resolved. Russ has put together an overview of the issue, which I've pasted below. Please, if you have a moment today, contact Earthlink andask them in the kindest way possible to devote a smidge of their mighty resources towards fixing the problem. Together, we'll get it taken care of!

(from Russ)
Here's the problem: Earthlink's DNS servers are returning an incorrect NS record for www.nanowrimo.org.

They have been doing this since September 14th.

The problem seems to have been fixed once or twice, only to break again. Sometimes the incorrect record is always returned, sometimes Earthlink alternates between correct and incorrect information.
The result of this is that most of the time Earthlink subscribers cannot access the NaNoWriMo website.

This problem extends to subscribers of other Earthlink companies like PeoplePC and MindSpring.

Many Wrimos have spent many hours of their time with Earthlink Tech Support trying to get them to fix this problem. In some cases, Earthlink staff have agreed that there is a problem, and have promised to have Earthlink technicians fix it. In some cases, Earthlink staff have blamed the victim, telling them their computer was at fault. In some cases, Earthlink staff have blamed NaNoWriMo, claiming that we are purposefully blocking Earthlink subscribers from our site (which
we couldn't do even if we wanted to).

In no cases has Earthlink actually fixed the problem.

We're asking you, the general NaNoWriMo community, to give your Earthlink-bound brethren a hand by asking Earthlink - politely! - to fix this problem.

Here are some Earthlink tech support email addresses that you can try:
hostmaster@earthlink.net
webmaster@earthlink.net
abuse@earthlink.net
epasupport@earthlink.net

You can also try to email, live chat, and phone links on this page:
http://support.earthlink.net/

In order to support your case, you should include the following technical information in your communication:

Here are the correct nameservers for nanowrimo.org:
% dig ns nanowrimo.org
nanowrimo.org. 2250 IN NS ns1.quickserve.com.
nanowrimo.org. 2250 IN NS ns0000.ns0.com.

Here are the incorrect nameservers that Earthlink is returning:
% dig ns nanowrimo.org @ns3.earthlink.net
nanowrimo.org. 3047 IN NS PARK10.SECURESERVER.NET.
nanowrimo.org. 3047 IN NS PARK9.SECURESERVER.NET.

We've checked all of the root servers for the .org TLD and none of them are wrong.

Finally, if you know someone who is having this problem, please ask them to email help@nanowrimo.org. We'll send them instructions to a
workaround for this issue.

Thank you!

Another Post...

[danielefton.livejournal.com]

Forgive me if I seem to be posting a lot.  I posted earlier about the timeline, and then just recently about the earthlink issues.

But i am writing once again about the timeline.

My story is going to take place over the course of about 10 years.  It's kind of a post apocalyptic story, writen Diary of Anne Frank style.

My question is this  - is there anyone out there who would like to write in my timeline, and help me flesh it out.

I'm opening up just after an Electro Magnetic Pulse bomb wipes out the worlds computers.  (think  Dark Angel)

My MC is a female news reporter, and her supporting characters work with her at her station.

I've got a plot device at about 6 years - another EMPulse bomb explodes over America wiping out the computers again.  My character is going to get a copy of video footage of soldiers stumbling across a terrorist cell with a bomb, and during a skirmish the bomb is launched.

anway - anyone interested in 'blogging' a story with me.  we can feed on each other, and build a timeline together.

Another Post...

[danielefton.livejournal.com]

Forgive me if I seem to be posting a lot.  I posted earlier about the timeline, and then just recently about the earthlink issues.

But i am writing once again about the timeline.

My story is going to take place over the course of about 10 years.  It's kind of a post apocalyptic story, writen Diary of Anne Frank style.

My question is this  - is there anyone out there who would like to write in my timeline, and help me flesh it out.

I'm opening up just after an Electro Magnetic Pulse bomb wipes out the worlds computers.  (think  Dark Angel)

My MC is a female news reporter, and her supporting characters work with her at her station.

I've got a plot device at about 6 years - another EMPulse bomb explodes over America wiping out the computers again.  My character is going to get a copy of video footage of soldiers stumbling across a terrorist cell with a bomb, and during a skirmish the bomb is launched.

anway - anyone interested in 'blogging' a story with me.  we can feed on each other, and build a timeline together.

There's a first time for everything...

[saturnangel587.livejournal.com]

So needless to say, it's my first year doing NaNo, but so far I definitely can't wait for November first to get here! I've been writing since about my freshman year in high school, but it's safe to say that I started taking it more seriously my junior year, and even being a freshman at St. Mary's University hasn't kept me from making time for what has become pretty much my passion. ^_^

I found about NaNo last year...sadly, a little after November had ended. But I'm definitely glad I signed up to get a reminder, otherwise I would have missed it again! Anyway, best of luck to everyone and happy writing!

There's a first time for everything...

[saturnangel587.livejournal.com]

So needless to say, it's my first year doing NaNo, but so far I definitely can't wait for November first to get here! I've been writing since about my freshman year in high school, but it's safe to say that I started taking it more seriously my junior year, and even being a freshman at St. Mary's University hasn't kept me from making time for what has become pretty much my passion. ^_^

I found about NaNo last year...sadly, a little after November had ended. But I'm definitely glad I signed up to get a reminder, otherwise I would have missed it again! Anyway, best of luck to everyone and happy writing!

A Few Lines to Tech Support

[chibent.livejournal.com]

I am not a very good poet.
However, I could not bear to write a plain email to EarthLink's tech support.
So this is what I sent them:


Dear EarthLink:

You're a rather good provider,
I've used you in the past.
But now my fellow writers
Have one favor to ask.

We know you're only human -
we don't expect Tech God -
but your poor DNS server
is apparently quite flawed.

The nanowrimo.org site
has the wrong NS address,
and EarthLink NaNoWriM'ers
cannot gain access.

For attending to this matter
we'll thank you, every one.
Come see us at the website
and join our NaNo fun!


Lame, I know, but it was an amusing way to kill a little time. ^_^

A Few Lines to Tech Support

[chibent.livejournal.com]

I am not a very good poet.
However, I could not bear to write a plain email to EarthLink's tech support.
So this is what I sent them:


Dear EarthLink:

You're a rather good provider,
I've used you in the past.
But now my fellow writers
Have one favor to ask.

We know you're only human -
we don't expect Tech God -
but your poor DNS server
is apparently quite flawed.

The nanowrimo.org site
has the wrong NS address,
and EarthLink NaNoWriM'ers
cannot gain access.

For attending to this matter
we'll thank you, every one.
Come see us at the website
and join our NaNo fun!


Lame, I know, but it was an amusing way to kill a little time. ^_^