The Dutch NaNo Podcast

DNP 14 - TGIO Special

2006-12-05T23:09:00.000+01:00

Just two interviews at the TGIO party

Interview with Bianca aka HK

Interview with Linda aka Sahi

The end of the DNP, until next year?

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DNP 13 - The Final Sprint

2006-11-28T23:06:00.000+01:00

Adult Language. Not Bleeped. You have been warned.

It's time for the final sprint.

Solo-Segment: make sure you like your characters.

Main Topic:

How to survive life after NaNoWriMo.

Tips for the final sprint.

Good Luck everyone!

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DNP 12 - Have Fun!

2006-11-22T00:29:00.000+01:00

Solo segment: some warnings and some resources

Main:

Keep Having Fun

Stay Motivated

Don't Get Stuck

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The Link Fest:
Writer Beware
Writer Beware 20 Agents
Writer Beware Blogs
Preditors & Editors
Absolute Write forums: Bewares & Background Checks
Making Light: Slushkiller
Making Light: On The Getting Of Agents
Making Light
Miss Snark

DNP 11 - Don't Panic

2006-11-14T23:57:00.000+01:00

Solo segment: Five tips to help you get in the writing mood

Main topic: Writing buddies, racing each other, and progress threads

Important: Don't Panic!

A word from your friendly neighbourhood ML

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DNP 10 - One Week In

2006-11-08T00:48:00.000+01:00

Warning: some harsh language

Chocolate letters update

Solo segment: small, reachable, goals

Main topic: Nico joins me to discuss finding time to write, dealing with false starts, and what to do when you get stuck

Hear Nico's podcast here

Promo: Slice of SciFi

I went insane on wordcounts again

Edit: I completely forgot to add the chocolate letter photos. You can find them here and here.

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DNP 09 - On The Eve Of NaNo

2006-11-01T09:44:00.000+01:00

Recorded on the eve of NaNo.

Wordwars, exercises and progress threads.

A word from your friendly neighbourhood ML.

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DNP 08 - Kick Off Party Live

2006-10-29T20:41:00.000+01:00

Some live recordings from the Dutch Kick Off Party with all the expected background noise.

Recorded on my MP3-player's built-in microphone so please be gentle.

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DNP 07 - Combining NaNo And Your Life

2006-10-25T00:03:00.000+02:00

Chocolate Letters Update: only 6 or 7 left to go

Solo Segment: Things I won't be doing in November

Rik (Apneist) joins me to discuss how he'll combine NaNo with his thesis. Check out his site about free diving

Linda (Sahi) joins me to discuss combining NaNo, a full time job, and a commute

Anita (Cayendi) joins me to discuss combining NaNo with her family life and studies

Episode 9 is due a week from now, but before that there will be a special Episode 8 from the kick-off party

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DNP 06 - Writing Quality

2006-10-18T00:18:00.000+02:00

We're trying to give one of our MLs her entire name in chocolate letters at the Holland & Belgium Kick Off party

Shout-out to York and Leeds!

Solo-segment: my views on cheating for NaNoWriMo

Main topic: Marius (aka Gnawbird) joins me to discuss maintaining writing quality during NaNo

Possible new sigline: spearheading the bulldozer way of writing

Promo: The Babylon Podcast

I found out about NaNoWriMo though Forward Motion

Next week we'll be talking about combining your day to day life with NaNoWriMo

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DNP 05 - Wordcount Sheets

2006-10-11T01:49:00.000+02:00

An honorable mention for Robin of the Holland & Belgium regional lounge, who won a guess the post count competition.

Solo-Segment: training for NaNoWriMo.

My sister Dorinde (Devones) joins me through skype to talk about wordcount sheets. Tracking your progress can help keep you motivated.

So can sibling rivalry.

Quick closing remarks. I'm running late on this one -- I had some technical difficulties editing the Skype segment this time.

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There are two example sheets available. A version of Dorinde's sheet from last year updated to 2006, with estimated wordcounts. And my Flame Dancer sheet, tracking last years progress. Including my wordcounts after NaNo as a bonus. They're availabe in ods (OpenOffice/OpenDocument) and xls (Excell) file formats.
Dorinde's 2006 mockup in ods or xls
My 2005 sheet in ods or xls

DNP 04 - Outlining

2006-10-04T00:02:00.000+02:00

The forums are back.

Some useful things to do during October.

To Outline or Not To Outline? That is the question.

The article on my site I mentioned can be found here.

The Holland&Belgium Regional Lounge gained an IRC chatroom between recordings! The channel is #DutchNaNo on irc.blizted.org , you can also use this webinterface to get there. Be warned, most of the conversation will be in Dutch. And the /me action may be criminally over-used, judging by the first night of operations.

Next week, using sheets to track your wordcount. Just how much can they track for you?

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DNP 03 - Software

2006-09-26T23:59:00.000+02:00

The forums are locked, the podcast is going stronger than ever

Solo Segment: Conflict on every page, but what is conflict?

Main topic: software for writers

yWriter: novel creation software.

Zim and WikidPad: wikified notes.

Any number of tangents, among others about distrusting anything that puts info online.

Closing things up: cut content

yWriter doesn't do markup or layout.

yWriter lacks an undo function, but backups saved by day may provide a work-around.

yWriter does have spel czech, uh spell check. Just check yWriter's help under "Spell Check"; it will tell you where to download the external dictionary you need.

Also other report getting yWriter to work with Wine under Linux, but I haven't been able to duplicate this. YMMV. Check this page for details.

Next week: Outlines.

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DNP 02 - Characters

2006-09-19T23:51:00.000+02:00

I pass along some official news. We'll have to do without the forums for a while soon. Yes, it's tragic.

This weeks solo segment, another big rule of writing: show don't tell. It's good, but doesn't apply as often as you'd think.

The main topic: Characters, discussed with Erik (aka Frats). How are characters created and kept track off. The pros and cons of writing our character information.

Promo: I Should Be Writing

Closing remarks: I had a sore throat while recording much of this, I hope it isn't too audible. Next week's show should be about writing (related) software. A section of the main topic about character sheets has been cut and turned into the post before this one. Here's a link just in case.

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Character Sheets

2006-09-19T23:36:00.000+02:00

As was promised, or rather as will be promised in the episode about to be posted, I'm posting an example of my current character sheets. It's been converted to HTML so you can easily view it in your browser. For my own use it's basically just a table in an OpenOffice Writer file, apart from the personal history which sits below the table. This is actually a minor character from the work I'm currently editing. I've filled in a few blanks before posting this, but the character's personal history remains incomplete.

My apologies for the huge scroll down, I'll try to get that fixed tomorrow, but can't currently work it out.

Constance Eveline Ballard

Born
03 May 2270
Profile Date
01 January 2317

Rank(s)/Title(s)
Commodore (Allied Space Forces)

Ethnicity
Mixed: Japenese, Egyptian, Inuit, Bantu and Caucasian
ancestors.

Hair
Dark brown, wavy
Eyes
Grey

Height
184 cm
Weight/Build
79 kg

Other Physical
Complexion roughly a match for the darker side of the Japanese
spectrum, but round eyes. Nails often bitten.

Background
Grew up in Japan and later North America. Both parents university educated.

Character
Ambitious, aggressively competent. Genuinely concerned about
the public good, but does keep an eye on her own position at all
times.

Speech Style
Somewhat slow to speak, a result of having to overcome a
childhood stutter. Says less than she thinks. Tends to use long
words and sentences.

Mannerisms
Still bites finger-nails at times, though she tries not to. Drums
fingers on desk.

POV Style
Tends to introspectives. More likely to describe sounds than
sights.

Personal History:
Constance was born near the top of one of the Tokyo harbour towers.
She was a quick study at school, but withdrawn because of a stutter.
Even after she overcame her stutter she remained withdrawn, more
likely to think than to speak.

It was Forester's Horatio Hornblower who first got her
interested in military service. The purposefully quiet hero held an
appeal for a fifteen year old girl of a quiet disposition. Her
family didn't approve though, and yielding to the pressure Constance
actually qualified as a psychologist, before joining the ASF after
all.

The space forces would have preferred her to be a psychologist
in the service, qualified psychological and medical personnel are
continually scarce, but she managed to get into the regular officer
training program.

Constance Eveline Ballard
Born	03 May 2270	Profile Date	01 January 2317
Rank(s)/Title(s)	Commodore (Allied Space Forces)
Ethnicity	Mixed: Japenese, Egyptian, Inuit, Bantu and Caucasian ancestors.
Hair	Dark brown, wavy	Eyes	Grey
Height	184 cm	Weight/Build	79 kg
Other Physical	Complexion roughly a match for the darker side of the Japanese spectrum, but round eyes. Nails often bitten.
Background	Grew up in Japan and later North America. Both parents university educated.
Character	Ambitious, aggressively competent. Genuinely concerned about the public good, but does keep an eye on her own position at all times.
Speech Style	Somewhat slow to speak, a result of having to overcome a childhood stutter. Says less than she thinks. Tends to use long words and sentences.
Mannerisms	Still bites finger-nails at times, though she tries not to. Drums fingers on desk.
POV Style	Tends to introspectives. More likely to describe sounds than sights.

DNP 01 - Worldbuilding

2006-09-13T00:04:00.000+02:00

Technically posted late on Tuesday, but realistically Wednesday (CET).

Yes, the podcast has gone live. New episodes every week on Wednesday, at least until the end of November.

My first solo segment: write what you know, with a twist.

Skype conversation with Tijs (aka Deus) about Worldbuilding and NaNo. Hopefully the sound-quality on Skype should go up further in the future, due to improvements on my end. But even with the present quality we had a nice discussion about our contrasting worldbuilding strategies. Hopefully the comparrison of advantages and drawbacks will help you decide what you want to do for NaNo this year.

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Episode Zero

2006-09-07T12:37:00.000+02:00

The first or rather zeroth episode of The Dutch NaNo Podcast is here. Setting out the mission of this podcast: to help as many people as possible reach 50k words in November, regardless of whether they speak Dutch. A must for everyone doing NaNoWriMo.

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