Vision: A Resource for Writers
Lazette Gifford, Editor
Vision@sff.net

NaNoWriMo Madness 
Strikes Forward Motion!

 


NaNoWriMo 2002 ParticipantIn a bout of mass insanity, thirty-five thirty-seven forty forty-two members of Forward Motion signed up for this year's novel-in-a-month madness.  The plan is for each of us to write a completed novel of at least 50,000 words by November 30th.  That would be 2,310,000 (minimum) if we all make it through.

(Late edition of # 43! 11/1/02)

And this, people, is what we do for fun...   

National Novel Writing Month  is in it's fourth year.  According to their web site, six people wrote full novels the first year, twenty-nine the second, and over seven hundred completed the third year.   They hope that over 1000 people will reach the finish line this time.  We at Forward Motion will certainly do our best to help them out. 

Soren even wrote us a wonderful little poem...

The Night before NaNo

With apologies to, well, everyone. - Soren

'Twas the night before NaNo, when all through the site
Busy Wrimos were pondering; "What shall I write?"
The plotting was hurried, and done without care,
Soft muttered hopes to the Muse filled the air;

The laptops were warming, the coffee laid in,
Adrenaline flowing, not a quivering chin;
And Zette with her novels piled high on the couch,
Had dashed off another one; we know she's no slouch;

When there in the chat room suddenly scrolled such a clatter,
I refenestrated to see what was the matter.
Clicking a window, I popped it up like a flash,
Re-set my tag line and cleared out my cache.

On the midnight blue background, a simple white text
The plaintive request of a newbie quite vexed,
"The hours are few, my novel barely a notion!",
"Don't worry", typed all, "You're in Forward Motion!"

With rapid-fire questions, and quick repartee
The chatters all mustered; can they save the day?
More rapid than eagles the plot twists they came,
And the regulars marshaled, all listed by name;

"Now, LAURA now, FETU! now, LYRICALMOON!
On, ROBERT! on KIMMY! Pitch in, SPLODGEMAROON!
To the rescue!" they chanted. "To the rescue!" they piped.
"Brainstorm away! Brainstorm! More ideas!" they typed.

As blank pages before a word war will stare,
Then quickly fill, words pulled out of thin air,
So was this man's passion, unformed but there yet,
With the right kind of prompting, it was beginning to set.

And then, in an instant, his Muse hit the roof
His ideas full flowed; you could see them go 'poof!'
And the rest, they continued to toss them around,
Back and forth, the ideas built up from the ground.

From nothing he'd started, just a goal for November,
To have 50k under his belt by December;
And knowing naught else, he had grown quickly frantic,
But now the words flowed; "perspicacious! pedantic!" .

He felt for the first that this wasn't insane,
As sub-plots and characters leapt into his brain.
It wouldn't be painful; it could be quite fun!
And thirty days, plus some hours, from now it would be done;

The chat turned to others, he pitched in and helped.
One person spilled coffee on her keyboard and yelped.
From medieval religion to a relationship play
The chat continued for hours, and time spilled away;

Then suddenly midnight! Upon them it pounced.
"To work!" They typed boldly, and re-set their counts.
And the newbie sighed softly, in the quiet of his den,
His dread had been vanquished by the help of new friends;

He sat at his keyboard, with a merry subconscious whistle,
And away the words flew "...like the down off a thistle".
But he added one line, as he closed chat for the night,
"HAPPY NANO TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD WRITE!"

© 2002, Soren

Good luck to everyone! Keep watch on the Forward Motion Discussion Board to see how we are doing!

  A list of Forward Motion members who joined in this year:

  1. allikat

  2. baka_kit

  3. BklynWriter

  4. Caitrin (who found us through the NaNoWriMo Site)

  5. chrysoula

  6. Crista  

  7. Dragon

  8. Eliste

  9. emily_horner

  10. Feath

  11. glennwkillinger

  12. Helenf

  13. Ipsissimus

  14. JamiJo

  15. jheron

  16. jlralston  

  17. Jolie

  18. lyricalmoon

  19. makou

  20. mamarose1900

  21. melannen  

  22. Mirumoto_Chris

  23. Misty the Pyrate

  24. Nodigio

  25. Nonny

  26. pkurilla

  27. Rang  

  28. Ravenbear

  29. Resasaurus  

  30. Restless Pen

  31. Rio76

  32. robertsloan2

  33. RuthAnne

  34. Sandhawk  

  35. Shelley

  36. silver_fire

  37. Sophia

  38. Soren

  39. Weird Jim

  40. wolfsfury

  41. YvonneMc

  42. Zephrene

  43. zette