LAST DAY of NANOWRIMO!

Well here we are. It's the end of November. Today is the last day to finish your novel. We have many winners already and many more to come through out the day! Congratulations everyone for your amazing noveling stamina.

Day 18: NaNoWriMo

Good morning,

Happy Friday.  By today you should be at 60% of your novel.  Remember your last day to change your word count goal is next Wednesday, but the important part is to keep writing every day over break. You'll have lots of extra time right?   Also keep updating your reading progress in GoodReads!

I'm so impressed by your stamina and determination to write these books. You are all amazing.  As you read this I am in Chicago telling hundreds of other English teachers how awesome my students are and picking up some great new books to share with you after break.  Now get to work and write a novel.

Day 17: NaNoWriMo

Good morning,

I'm sorry I can't be with you today.  You need to work on your novel, but before you do will you please answer a few quick questions for me.   After that work on your novel. You can email me if you need to, but it might take me a while to get back to you.

Day 16: NaNoWriMo

Whoo Hoo!
We are halfway through November are you half way through your novel?  Since I'm out of town for the next two days we have one more crucial lesson to get to today. We are going to go deeper into your novel.

Choose a 500 word section that you can share with your writing partner. Highlight it in your novel. I'll explain how we are going to use that in a moment.

DO NOW:

Go to your Writers Notebook. Yes, your writer's notebook in docs. Add an entry for today.  That entry should be the beginning of a novel that starts in this room. You are the protagonist of this novel that starts in this room. You must include details about the room that relate to the sights, sounds, smells and feel of this room. Taste might even be a factor too, (but please don't lick your desk or any classmates.)

As of today you should be hitting 40%, yes 40%.  If you are having trouble hitting your word count adding more details to your novel can help. Describe your settings in detail and watch your word count soar.

Read more about adding details.

Day 10: NaNoWriMo

Good morning,
   You should be very close to or just past 20%. If you haven't hit 20% yet you need to plan on doing a lot of writing in the next three days.  You won't have school so that should give you lots of time.
    For a few of you we need to consider revising your word count.

Principal Skinner

    In addition to writing I want you to give some thought to sub plots. The best place to see these quickly is in a 30 minute cartoon like The Simpsons, Phineas and Ferb or The Brady Bunch.  All of those shows usually have a main plot and also sub plots.  Read the Subplotting sheet from NaNoWriMo and add a sub plot to your novel.

Day 8: NaNoWriMo

Good morning,  You should be hitting 20% today. You should be into at least the inciting incident or the rising action of your novel.

Day 7: NaNoWriMo

Yes, it is Day SEVEN!  Did you write over the weekend. I know lots of you did. I was bragging about you at a technology conference. I pulled up my docs list as part of a presentation and I could see that many of you were noveling. I had to stop and tell my audience how cool my students are.

Here's a bit more advice about dialogue from NaNoWriMo. Check it out and get back to noveling.

Day 4: NaNoWriMo

Good morning,

I'm sorry I can't be with you today. I'm meeting with other 9th grade teachers to plan curriculum for you.
Please continue working on your novel.  make sure you stop at the end of the period to paste your entire novel into the word count verification box to update your total.  http://ywp.nanowrimo.org

Remember you should be at 10% complete by today. If you are not please write heavily over the weekend or think about how you might need to change your plot to fit a shorter word count.

If you have a question for me send me an email. I may respond.
If you were absent and missed the beginning of NaNoWriMo please re read the blog posts from this week and get started.

Day 3, NaNoWriMo... Dialog

Do Now:
Talk to your writing partner about the dialog in your novel so far while your computer is booting.


Example of dialog:

Dialog from Black Boy by Richard Wright

I was hungry and he knew it; but he was a white man and I felt that if I told him I was hungry I would have been revealing something shameful.

"Boy, I can see hunger in your face and eyes," he said.

"I get enough to eat," I lied.

"Then why do you keep so thin?" he asked me.

"You're just scared, boy," he said.

"Oh, no, sir," I lied again.

I could not look at him. I wanted to leave the counter, yet he was a white man and I had learned not to walk abruptly away from a white man when he was talking to me. I stood, my eyes looking away. He ran his hand into his pocket and pulled out a dollar bill.

 "Here, take this dollar and buy yourself some food," he said.

"No, sir," I said.

"Don't be a fool," he said. "You're ashamed to take it. God, boy, don't let a thing like that stop you from taking a dollar and eating."

The more he talked the more it became impossible for me to take the dollar. I wanted it, but I could not look at it. I wanted to speak, but I could not move my tongue. I wanted him to leave me alone. He frightened me.

 Extra advice about dialog.

Day 2! NaNoWriMo!

Do Now:
While your computer is booting talk to your writing partner about your novel so far. What's going well? What surprised you?

By Friday you should have 10% of your novel written.

NaNoWriMo Starts Now!

Do Now:
Create a new Google Doc. 
Name it like this period_your name_Novel (3_Rob_Novel OR 4_Sandy_Novel) and SHARE it with me. Then begin.

http://my.hsj.org/Portals/2/Schools/1201/Article325835_novels.jpg

We will stop 10 minutes before the period ends for word count updates. You may continue writing at home if you did not make your word goal for today yet.

Link to NaNoWriMo
http://ywp.nanowrimo.org

You can make a COPY of this spreadsheet to track your word count progress.