#nano2025

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2025: November Wrap-Up.

Hello, world!! I emerge from a fungal fugue state having SUCCESSFULLY WRITTEN ANOTHER BOOK (peep my little notebooks of proof!) and also apparently having read a not-insignificant number of others!! What a great time!! (NaNo!Antagonist DNI)(actually NaNo!Protag DNI either, sorry girl)

Review photos linked:

WHIRLWIND ROMANCE ★★★ Weird and fucked up little collection of domestic, intimate stories (which was. not what I was expecting. when I put it on my TBR this year. but that's on me lol). I liked his style enough that I'll probably check out his novel-length work, too!

YOU MADE A FOOL OF DEATH WITH YOUR BEAUTY ★★ I've loved Emezi's other work, so this one was a HUGE disappointment to me. Messy and fucked up in an infuriating way (not a fun way). If you're considering picking Emezi up, don't start here.

COMMON BONDS ★★* Ugh okay as a Fellow Aro™ and Aficionado of SFF, I desperately wanted to love this anthology, but: unfortunately as a collection it was. not great. There are a few knockout stories in there, but they're mostly buried in the second half. I'm glad we've got more aro anthologies coming, and I do list my favorite stories from this one in my review, but maybe don't read this volume in order. *I feel bad rating this low, because aro perspectives are important and I want more of those, but from a technical perspective...these could be better, I'm sorry, I can't just not have standards because I'm aro lol.

A TASTE FOR POISON ★★★ This was fine! I wanted more science than I got (it's heavy on the true crime: historical edition). Interesting starting point for All Things Poison, though.

SILENT SPRING ★★★★★ Finally got around to reading this, after [mumbles incoherently in Biologist Interested in Ecology and Conservation]! Very good, very approachable, very incisive and relentless. The number of times I hollered GET HIS ASS, RACHEL while reading is unreal.

Now, if y'all will excuse me: I have to go enter a second, smaller fungal fugue state, in which I type up this book that I scribbled by hand in 29 days and knit a bunch of Christmas gifts and then collapse until New Year.

Under the Cut: A Note About ~*★Stars★*~

Historically, I have been Very Bad™ about assigning things Star Ratings, because it's so Vibes Heavy for me and therefore Contingent Upon my Whims. (Example: I don't like that stars are Odd, because that makes three the midpoint and things are rarely so truly mid for me)(I have hacked my way around this with a ½, which is really only applicable for me at ★★★ and up). Here is, generally, how I conceptualize stars:

★ - This was Bad. I would actively recommend that you do NOT read this one, no redeeming qualities whatsoever, not worth the slog. Save Yourself, It's Too Late For Me. Book goes in the garbage (donate bin).

★★ - This was Not Good. I would not recommend it, but it wasn't a total waste or wash--something in here held my interest/kept my attention/sparked some joy. I will not be rereading this ever. Save Yourself (Or Join Me In Suffering, That Seems Like A Cool Bonding Activity).

★★★ - This was Good/Fine/Okay/Meh. I don't care about this enough to recommend it one way or another. Perfectly serviceable book, held my interest, I probably enjoyed myself (or at least didn't actively loathe the reading). I don't have especially strong feelings. You probably don't need to save yourself from this one--if it sounds like your jam, give it a shot! Just didn't resonate with me particularly powerfully. I probably won't reread this unless I'm after something in particular.

★★★½ - I liked this! I'll probably recommend it if I know it matches someone's vibes or specific requests, but I didn't commit to a star rating on Goodreads. More likely to reread, but not guaranteed.

★★★★ - I really enjoyed this!! I would recommend it (sometimes with caveats about content warnings or such--I tend to like weird fucked up funny shit, and I don't have many hard readerly NO's). Not a perfect book for me by any means, but Very Good. This is something I would reread! Join me!!

★★★★★ - I LOVED THE SHIT OUT OF THIS, IT REWIRED MY BRAIN, WILL RECOMMEND TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE AT THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION (content warning caveats still apply--see 4-star disclaimer). Excellent book, I'll reread it regularly, I'll buy copies for all my friends, I'll try to convince all of Booklr to read it, PLEASE join me!!

[firesidefantasy]

10k first day? it's more likely than you would think

[sabraeal]

NaNoCryMo 2025!

It's getting to be that time of year again: where I hang up my fic writing for a month and go all-in on my original writing! For the whole month of November I'll be aiming to but 50K on the project I worked on last year, and maybe even stitch up all the bits that have been floating around between drafts for YEARS. I'll probably have a few fics coming out here and there, but I'm expecting I won't be back to my regular posting schedule until January!

However, this month I'll be reblogging a few ask games about OCs and worldbuilding to set me up for success in November! If you'd like to help out, please feel free to participate-- the more asks I get, the more I have to think about how this story will come together! All these posts & their answers will be tagged: #nanocrymo and #nanocrymo25 if you'd like to follow along (or miss them entirely!)

Misery always loves company, so I'll also be dragging a few friends along with me, so if you'd like to help them out too, please feel free to pop by and give them some asks too:

@infinitelystrangemachinex @kirayaykimura @ccprovolomies @k-itsmaywriting

[neeinearts]

first week of independent nano is done! going from 11/1 (sat) to 11/8 (sat); though, i didn't write the first two days, whoops

11/3: 3731 words; worked primarily on substack posts

11/4: 1616 words; worked on first novella draft

11/5: 3384 words; mainly substack posts and novel draft

11/6: 1554 words; worked on second novella draft

11/7: 1470 words; mainly substack posts

11/8: 564 words; second novella draft

in total, i wrote 12,301 words WHICH was a lot more than i anticipated; i really only planned for 10K words this month bc i wanted to give myself space for burn out, but ive already surpassed that goal LMAOOO

honestly? alternating between creative fiction works and creative nonfiction helped a hell of a lot from burn out, like sure, im not sure if i like the changes i made in my novel and im not sure if i like the direction my first novella draft is going in, but i can take a break from it and write about metroid prime 2 for a day and its great

goals for next week: continue novel draft, rework first novella draft, finish up turnabout transposed edits?

[starsofshadowanddust]

so this most recent November, I decided that yes I did want to do the usual writing challenge but that actually I didn't want to try to do it just by myself. Make it less of a marathon, and more of a relay. So I made a spreadsheet, invited some friends, bullied one of em into putting their little word counts in, and eventually we reached the end of the month. Somehow, we ended up getting to 50k together. It was a lot of fun, and I am glad I got the chance to write with my friends :)

Six different writers worked on this project. Not a single day had no writing! Several days had quite a lot of it! The minute count didn't work great actually, but that's alright, that is data for next year. I am thinking that maybe, next year we can try for a 55k - mostly because I will probably be doing classes then and I just know my ass is going to be writing essays. I might mix up the topics also, to add more depth to what the "wip" topic is.

Anyways! Thanks to everyone who participated, feel free to yell at me in a rb or in the tags, or like, in person. Let me know if you want another spreadsheet for a solstice to solstice writing run!

[cowandcalf]

Does anyone participate in this year’s November Writing Challenge? The official NaNoWriMo website doesn’t exist anymore but many other November writing possibilities for this special month surfaced in the last months. NaNo2.org is one of the sites. I‘ve been doing NaNoWriMo for the last 5 years. I won’t push me to the limit this year but I have two projects I want to finish during November.

NaNo 2.0

I chose randomly seasons and episodes as the base of my writing idea for the boys. I have this wish to write 30 one shots for the boys for a long time already. We‘ll see how it will go and how far I will come. One or two one shots should be possible. McDanno forever. Steve and Danny are IT for me. No other ship has ever had the same emotional impact as the boys. And the keep doing it with my heart every moment of every day since I saw them for the first time.

[fakesurprise]

“I asked Harlow some questions. You’re acting like you can’t answer them unless I tell you how stupid I am?” Kai asked.

Miles winced. “I did once ask someone that.”

I groaned.

“I’d had a bad day. So sorry, not the intent. I can tell you about the gloaming and dweomer for Harlow.”

“But Harlow spoke when he said your name,” Kai said slowly.

“He knew it would get my attention. And I’d wisely stop being hung-over if I was. Which I mostly wasn’t,” Miles said, throwing Kai slightly with his honesty.

“Harlow doesn’t talk because –?”

Miles looked at me. I bit my lower lip and then offered a nod.

“You know magic is a pendulum for most mages, right?” Miles asked.

Kai nodded. “I know that much. A fire mage might have fire and water, or fire and light. And most magic is physical in nature or mostly affects the physical world. My wards keep people away from places without harming, but are physical and solid if I ever need them to be. So far I never have.”

“Well, Harlow doesn’t lose things. It’s a damn weird magic. Not a finding one, or he’d be dead. But the other side is he can cause people to become lost with the wrong word or phrase. He said my name without intonation, not a question or anything like it. But he has to be very careful, so tries to not speak for obvious reasons.”

Kai looked at me. “So if you told me to be lost, no one would be able to find me?”

I nodded.

“Okay. Okay. I get why you triggered the wards now.” Kai paused a beat. “I’m trying to think up a joke, but I can’t right now.”

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2025: PALADIN'S GRACE by T. Kingfisher.

Shout out to @alloreli for supplying me with Banger SFF Romance Recs! I am doing Structural Research for NaNo, which primarily entails intentionally reading more romance than I ever have in my aro life, referencing Gwen Hayes' Romancing the Beat, and jotting down the corresponding plot points to see how it's Done Well.

I've enjoyed what I've read of Kingfisher so far (THE HOLLOW PLACES, NETTLE AND BONE, HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES, wow okay that's more than I thought)--I dig her sense of humor, and the creeping dread in HOLLOW PLACES was *chef's kiss*. Per my same recommender extraordinaire, PALADIN'S GRACE seemed like a good daisychain stop from BONES, if tonally different.

Once again: Kingfisher's humor hits Just Right for me! I was giggling like a chucklehead as I stayed up way too late to finish this last night. I loved all the supporting characters, especially Istvhan, Marguerite, and Bishop Beartongue, and I loved how legible the set-up beats were--it was really cool to match them to the formula, excellent writer brain enrichment. In fact, I had so much fun with this that I'm now side-eyeing the rest of the SAINT OF STEEL books (not in small part because Istvhan my beloved is up next, and I see that Marguerite makes a reappearance later...).