Write a Novel by the End of This Year (#FinishThis)

Francally I find Fungi extremely interesting, but have fun. My parents are doing something similar for summer break, so no IPad to write my stories. Unless I want to retype it later.
Anyway, Draknghar what ever works for you. I'm not much of a writer under pressure, so free writing works best for me.

Um... When did I mention writing under pressure? I also enjoy just going at my own pace. Although, I must say, my own pace could use a little speeding up.

no prob duckeh, it's my style----at work...XD

So, I think that this thing should be a little more real. I personally do not see this existing above the few hashtags and an interesting idea...

How about... We would gather the user names of all participants (to send newsletters/quick updates), there would be a figurative price for everyone who finished this, and perhaps lesser prices for those who did not (I was thinking of prize pictures for all. I myself am experienced with 3D modeling so I could create some), and perhaps 2-4 annual meetings on some days (to satisfy those in different time-zones).

I just thought that a certain loose formality might help people to #FinishThis

So, what do you think?

Draknghar - I think that could work well and to make sure everyone remembers what they're working towards But could you elaborate a little more? What all would be included in the newsletters/updates? (Like how far everyone has gotten, success/challenges while writing...) Would similar things be discussed in the meetings? I'm guessing these would be virtual?

Another idea, for those interested, would be to have mentors. Everyone is motivated differently, some are easily motivated by a group while others are more motivated by one or two people. So for those that prefer the later, they could choose a mentor to encourage them and support them through the process. I'm thinking the mentors would be people that have already finished a novel or two and know a bit about the process so they can answer questions and give tips when the writing gets tough.

This is a bit random, but for everyone involved, could you give a brief blurb about what your novel is about and how far you are? I'm so curious!!

So... My elaborations might not be truly better than yours, as I have not thought up much yet... But you did give rise to some interesting ideas.

What would you think of users being able to submit their current word coumts, telling us of their goal word counts, and a graph being available showing who has completed how much and perhaps a different coloured line for their editing status? Although... That might prove a little too difficult for me to script... Ah well, I can always try Those with no goals might just have it stated...

Although, the above might provoke some unease... I would be interested to know on your opinion on this.

Anyway... The newsletters (PMs) might just consist of various advice and updates and events etc. to help people to finish their novels.

Hmm... On this thread and the meetings people could discuss what worked to help them write. Yes, meetings would be virtual. Perhaps in the chatroom? I think that there are numerous rooms here... But if necessary, I could organise a different chat room, although I can not see why this would be needed.

Mentors? Um, ok. I would not have thought of that

Oh, and of this forum proves too limiting, then I have a domain name and a hosting account which we might use for things like live statistics etc.

Ooh.. And we could also hire J.K. Rowling and perhaps H.P. Lovecraft to correct our novels!!! Awesome

So... Perhaps I might have gotten a little too excited here, but this is truly a great idea (#finishthis) and could evolve into something which would help people complete the novels.

So, my story? Well, the revised version features a character (basically me) who is invited into a mansion because of his "outstanding employment performance". It later turns out that the old guy who invited him, Jacob, had in fact attempted to summon a spirit, which took him over, a few thousand years ago. He was able to control it after some time. Although this event almost destroyed his sanity, he was able to function reasonably well, although that spirit always wanted to take control over his body, sometimes achieving this. Well, in 1964 the spirit, having rested for years, had finally absorbed so much rest that he was able to control Jacob for a few weeks. In that time he found what he thought to be weak-willed people and invited them over, so that he could kill Jafob and posses another who was easier to control (the MC being one of the candidates). Enough said.

And sorry for this unorganised reply. My fingers hurt from typing on my phone.

By the way, I like your avatar. Reminds me of those light probes

Okay, great ideas ya'll! I am totally for having weekly/multi-weekly meetings, but I will go ahead and say, I won't be able to attend every meeting if they are multi-weekly. The thing about that is, I don't necessarily have to be at every meeting, I'm just the guy with the idea, other people (more qualified than me probably) could head meetings too. If you guys wanted to, it'd be great for us to start a "head team" type thing. Just folks for organization and things like that.

Meetings could be organized through the chat bar. Sometimes the chat bar fails on people though, so as a back up, we could use Titanpad, or just this thread.

Prizes are a great idea. I am totally for this, but the big thing I want to make clear is, we shouldn't compete with each other. We need to be competing with ourselves. I could see how if we set it up like that, people would just be in it to win and then give up if they see they couldn't finish first or whatever.

However, competitions like word wars, or milestones in your novel would be great! That way people won't take them too seriously and end up quitting on themselves. I dunno, competition motivates some folks, and I am for prizes, but we'd have to do them right. Or, how do you guys feel about "medals", like once you reach so many words in your novel, you get a medal, which could be a picture you can put in your signature, that way you have more to push for.

Mentors! Golden! This is a great idea, I'm totally for it. I think we should do a form so we can see who is compatible for mentor and apprentice. It'd also be good to get to know each other, so later tonight I'll post a form!

Now then, the idea that really caught my eye! A newsletter! This is definitely a good idea. I will set to work on this, if you want to write an "article" for the letter, feel free and shoot it my way! We can do birthday wishes, word counts, milestones, featured novels, fun stuff like that. If you have ideas for this, or anything really, hit me up anytime.

Back to what I said about other people in "leadership" positions. I wanted this to kind of run itself, but that's not gonna happen. There's so much momentum, and so much potential, it'd be a waste to try and do this on my own. I am lazy, I am busy, and I have never actually finished a novel, thus, we should have a team.

Team members would just fill in roles like mentors, post in here every now and then, write for the newsletter, or just do whatever they are good at. Just like Drak said with prizes, he's got experience with coding and graphic design, if he wanted to he could fill in some of the needs that may be presented. It wouldn't be anything big, or too time consuming, just what you can do, and what you volunteer to do, I will never ask you for anything. If you are interested, you know what to do. (In case you don't, shoot me a PM or post below! )

I can't post a blurb of my novel yet because I haven't got to a seen that doesn't involve drugs or violent death... I'll work on that!

So then, I think that's addressed everything. I like these ideas, and I'd be more than willing to help bring them into realization, like Drak said, right now it's just a few hashtags and a thread, and it could be so much more. Let's do FINISHTHIS!

Oh, and, I'm going to end the polls this Monday, when I get back from lame camp, so get your votes in!

Ok, I admit that I was not sure what I was talking about and perhaps competition wouls not so at all.

I am lazy, I am busy, and I have never actually finished a novel,

Wait, did you just write down what I think about myself? Aside from that, yes, teams should be best. Otherwise there might be one person who will have no time to get any writing down.

So... I will see what I can do about the medals. I am not a graphic artist, I am a 3D artist, so any medans I create will be 3D. So... I will create three small medals, perhaps, for those who reach a certain percentage of their goals... One larger and more complex medal for those who finish their first draft and perhaps a small feel-good video for those who finish their novel. Each of the prices will have the username of the writer in then, in 3D, perhaps ingraved in the medal.

Ah so I will try that.

And meanwhile somebody else will organise a different aspect of the thing, right?

Goodbye, then

And man, I almost forgot.

First, the my phone, which I usually use to access this forum, does not like the YWS chatroom, so I might not be alway on those meetings.

And secondly, where is that poll you talked about? I saw no poll anywhere.

Now... I think that the next step would be to gater the usernames of all the members participating...

Thanks Drak! We appreciate it!

Yes, gathering the names of all members, I'll start in on that. If you are a member, PM me your username. I forgot to make the profile thingy, so I'll do that tonight probably.

NOTE: Do participate, you don't have to send me your username, it would just make it easier for me and you if we know who all is in on this. That way I know who to send updates and whatever.

I'll get a link to those polls real quick.

Hey guys! If you are a Finisher already, or you want to be an official Finisher, I ask that you fill out the form below. It's not a requirement, you can still post advice and participate in Finisher events, but this will let us know a bit about each other, and I hope it'll be a little bit of fun. If you want to be a Finish This Mentor or Apprentice, this is a requirement so you know who to request, and who can request you.

CodeSelect all

[b]Name:[/b] This is your nick-name, or whatever you want to be called.
[b]Age:[/b] (Optional)
[b]Favorite Color:[/b] Roy. G. Biv and such.
[b]Favorite Genre:[/b]
[b]Favorite Book(s):[/b] If it's a Nicholas Sparks novel, you have to explain yourself...  (Not really.)
[b]Favorite Author:[/b]
[b]Blurb from your novel:[/b] (Optional but recommended)
[b]A Paragraph About Yourself[/b]
[b]Available as a mentor/apprentice?[/b]

Feel free to add to the from as you see fit!

Also, turn out that the mushroom camp is next week. And they don't teach you to find the ones that make you fly.

Anyways! Here's my form!

Name: Shino
Age: 16
Favorite Color: Dark blue and black belt black.
Favorite Genre: Mystery and thriller.
Favorite Book(s): Harry Potter series, Hercule Poirot books, particularly Murder On the Orient Express, The Fifth Vial, Things Not Seen, and more.
Favorite Author: Agatha Christie and me in the future.
Blurb from your novel:

Spoiler

"So what did it feel like? Dying?"
Henry propped up the hospital bed and took a second to think before answering his friend's question. The young woman had been the one who found him with no pulse. She performed CPR and saved the dying heart surgeon's life. He probably was not as grateful as he should've been.
"It felt like falling asleep, but scary and you can't fight it." Henry told Amy. He had known her for a couple of months, but he had never talked to her much. It was more like knowing of her than actually knowing her. After his previous neighbor passed away, she filled in his apartment. He had talked to her in the halls, in passing, but the two didn't have much in common. Amy was cheery, annoyingly so to Henry, and Henry was clinically depressed, and, as he learned from the episode that hospitalized him, suicidal.
"So um, how did you know I was in trouble?"
"You were screaming."
"Words, or just screaming?"
Amy shuffled awkwardly, twirling a lock of blond hair between her fingers, "Well, a little of both."
"So you just did CPR until the ambulance showed up?"
"Yeah."
"Cardio-cerebral?"
"What do you mean?"
"You only used chest compressions, as opposed to cardiopulmonary, which involves artificial breathing."
"What?"
"Did you do mouth to mouth or not?"
"It was a matter of life and death."
"Next time, do us both a favor and let me die."
"What are you complaining about? You were unconscious.”

A Paragraph About Yourself I am Shino. I love to write about detectives and fantasy. I have been practicing martial arts for two years, and writing for two years. Initially I mostly wrote crappy fantasy stories, until I discovered Christie. I love Monk, that show is my one weakness, when it is on, everything else must be dropped. I wake up at 4:45 in the morning on weekends to watch it.
Available as a mentor/apprentice? Yes! I am available as a mentor!

Ah...

Name: Draknghar

Age: 17

Favorite Color: Dark red.

Favorite Genre: Horror.

Favorite Book(s): Noble warriors trilogy, a song of Ice and Fire, the Wheel of Time, Necropolis, Necromonicon.

Favorite Author: H.P. Lovecraft.

Blurb from your novel: Umm... Later, perhaps.

A Paragraph About Yourself Hm... I usually love horror, am very lazy, enjoy music and video gaming, sometimes enjoy nightmares (depends on how strong they actually are...), using my phone have access to yws about 14/24 hours, am rarely frightened anymore by horror movies, am very bad at talking (my own mother can barely understand me, seriously) and have discovered an emotion felt by very few which I call the Darkness (there are some variations, and it feels great).

Available as a mentor/apprentice? I am not qualified to be a mentor, and do not think that I want to be an apprentice.

Hope that was enough...

Name: DragonGirl11, Dragoness, DG, Dragon, etc. (I don't like DG11 for some reason...)
Age: I'll be 16 a month from Sunday
Favorite Color: Purple
Favorite Genre: Fantasy and Sci-fi
Favorite Book(s): The Chronicles of Narnia, Eragon, Dragon Rider
Favorite Author: C.S. Lewis
Blurb from your novel: This is the opening half-page or so.

Spoiler

Wester High was a school for powerful teens. No, I don’t mean they are strong, or of high birth, or rich. I don’t really mean they have superpowers either. I mean they have magic powers. These powers come from a gene mutation they carried, which I’d tell you the name of, but I can’t pronounce it. This mutation has five variations, which determines which element they have control over: earth, water, air, fire, or electricity.

Anyway, Wester High was only for these kids. That is, until recently. A couple years ago, they started accepting all abnormals. After a while, “accepting” wasn’t quite the right word. The government legislated that every abnormal now had to go to high school at Wester High. There was also a preschool, primary, and elementary school for abnormals, but those aren’t mandatory, because younger kids were less likely to stick out. What I mean by “abnormals” is vampires, half-animals, “fantasy” creatures like fairies, elves, and so on, talking animals, and were-whatevers like me. Basically, anything that’s not supposed to exist.

Oh, that’s right. I’m Beacon, the were-dragon. My personality is about the same in both forms, unlike some werewolves I know of. I shape-shift only when I want to… or when I’m nervous and in my human form, a reflex because I’m braver and stronger in my dragon form.

My dragon form is yellow, I walk on two feet, and I have a crest of scales down my back. In my human form I’ve got blond hair (it matches my dragon scales) and I like to wear a black zip-up hoodie, a yellow t-shirt, and black skateboard shoes. In both forms I’ve got yellow-green eyes with slit pupils, and I’m constantly listening to my IPod - with headphones, not those silly little earplug things. My favourite (and only) magic item is my backpack, which never gets full or heavy.

There now, that’s the background. On with the story...

A Paragraph About Yourself Let's see... I am crazy about dragons, and a huge Jesus Freak. People say I'm a genius, but I don't know... I've just got a good memory. My stories, whether they start out like it or not, always end up with an element of romance. I can't stand horror movies or haunted houses, but I'm brave and strong when I want to be. I tend to join too many Storybooks, and I live in a tiny little town in Canada.
Available as a mentor/apprentice? Apprentice please :3