NaNoWriMO

November is just around the corner. This means cooler weather (hooray!), the last month before finals, and Thanksgiving turkeys. It also means you may start to see small groups of people scattered around campus, huddled over their laptops, and typing with fervor not typical of students doing homework.

These people are writers.

In addition to being chilly and promising a much-needed Thanksgiving break, November is also National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is a month-long writing event that is hosted annually online. During the 30 days of November, thousands of writers worldwide each attempt to write 50,000 words of a novel. NaNoWriMo steps in and provides writers with many useful perks and tools, such as a word counter to keep track of their progress, links to forums with other participants, pep talks from famous writers, and prizes for those impressive individuals who complete the word count goal.

Crazy? Perhaps. Rewarding? Absolutely!

Read more about NaNoWriMo at http://www.nanowrimo.org/, and if you plan to participate, be sure to check the Tempe forum for more info about write-ins at ASU. Happy novelling… 

Writing Does Crazy Things

Writing can do crazy things to people. No matter how you feel about your skills as a writer, it’s likely that it won’t always be smooth sailing.

Sometimes, it’s difficult to decide how you feel about your essay. This emotional confusion can be overwhelming… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9oxmRT2YWw. 

In the later stages of writing, there often comes a time when you might want to have someone rip up your paper while you laugh hysterically, like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP4abiHdQpc.  But that’s not the right answer. Take a deep breath and realize that in the end, teamwork is key: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K_0rF403vE.  

The ASU Writing Centers are a great resource for peer communication and collaboration on writing from any discipline. Recognize your potential as a writer. You can handle any writing project that gets thrown your way!!

National Day on Writing: Tempe's Tale

The following is Tempe 's horrifying Halloween short story, composed by students and staff, on October 22, 2012, National Day on Writing:

IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT…

The dog was barking. When his flip flop broke. Anne was sitting in the writing center all alone when the lights mysteriously turned off. The shadows were lurking and in the distance the rain was impairing the vision of drivers. She waved her arms frantically but to no avail. I saw my ex-husband. And, one accidentally ran over him when he was lamenting his broken flip flop. Suddenly, the elevator bell rang. He was holding his-now-girlfriend’s hand. He died. Beep He looked very happy; that’s all I ever wished him, was happiness. He must now travel to the underworld. Anne froze in her seat, dreading what she knew would come next. It’s a beautiful day to save lives.

Polytechnic's Horrifying National Day on Writing Short Story

After some minor edits for the sake of coherency, the following is Polytechnic's horrifying Halloween short story, composed by students and staff, on October 22, 2012, the National Day on Writing:

It was a dark and stormy night. The flashlight app on my phone wasn’t working. So then I went onto Facebook. There is a test Friday so I probably should study. I need more sleep. I have class in an hour. And I’ve a quiz and didn’t study for it. But I don’t regret it, because the party last night was awesome!

Soon after, I married Sharlene in a small chapel outside of Vegas but she was shortly murdered by a serial killer. The serial killer was an angry twelve year old boy whose cat was run over by a truck earlier that morning. His mother packed him an awful lunch which threw him into a fit of rage. It was filled only with green vegetables: broccoli, spinach, peas, pods, lima beans, green beans, avocado, and green jell-o.

Tiptoe through the tulips.

The tulips I tiptoed through were filled with poisonous pollen-sized viruses that attacked my shins and left puss-filled welts. From those welts sprouted annoying talking gnomes. Whose mouths stopped moving only to bite down with sharp vicious teeth. These monsters ere not really monsters though; they were just a fat poodle. The poodle got really upset and went to a magical castle. There he saw a unicorn made out of cotton candy being eaten by a goblin.

And then there was the potato.

The potato went to Japan and took hold of his destiny… He became Potatozilla! Potatozilla began to destroy a town in Japan. The town’s people have never seen Potatozilla, they have only heard the murderous stories passed down from generations. The legend of Potatozilla left all the town’s children quaking in their beds at night, so much so that the families of the town had to build a fortress made of ginger to protect them; for Potatozilla was repulsed by ginger-esque smells. Over time Potatozilla mutated and became immune to ginger, and was able to devour the fortress! This was because Potatozilla was a bad guy; bad guys have castles and good guys have castles. What can Ginger do? She went to the Batcave and grabbed the Batmobile.

There was a body. This body was very special and had many different super powers like invisibility. Even the cape he wore is invisible. He lost it last night after he took it off. A homeless man found it. Contemplating over the small object, he hid it in a treasure box filled with plastic bags. Suddenly, a faint sound in the distance caught his attention, the shrieking sound of sirens… And a giant green monster ate a big red velvet cake with a cherry on top. Its ingredients included rat poison, dirt, and blood. He couldn’t believe how much he wanted to touch it. He touched it.

I am… above the coffin. And there are ominous crows encircling Oregon because it’s amazing.

“Did you just stick your donut in my hair?”

“That’s rude!”

“No, you know what’s rude? A zombie eating your face off.”

Welp, there goes my face and my arm. It goes completely numb when I eat on it. OMG, here comes a zombie. Damn it! I’m surrounded everywhere by zombies. Oh crap… I tripped and the zombie was coming up fast behind me, it was only a matter of time before it catches me and eats my brains! Thank God I packed my duct tape. I needed it to lock my car door on my trip to Rome. Once I realized that it was missing I was horrified. I started looking through my bag, but I still couldn’t find it. The wicked witch couldn’t best me, and her flying monkeys couldn’t test me. No matter what they do I always best them. And today was no different, however the monster stalked through the night. Unaware as to who was hunting, and who was hunted.

Joshua made his way down the dark alley. He had no idea what was about to happen. He walked down a dark corridor. A man with decaying flesh stepped out of the darkness. He staggered his way toward me. Clutching his stomach. In agony. Several giraffes clothed in black sweaters surrounded Joshua and bit into his tender flesh. A chilling scream filled the air. His life passed before his eyes and he closed his eyes, never to be opened again. 

West Campus' National Day on Writing Story

It was a dark and stormy night as rain lashed the windows of Marshall Manor, where every tree outside of the manor was shaped like the deceased residents who once worked at the manor. The trees swayed and the wind howled, oblivious of the lonely watcher of that dreary night. A ghoulish looking man with a Roman nose peered into the forest from underneath his wide-brimmed hat. A frightened girl finally appeared between the rain soaked branches cold and terrified; she approached the man in the wide-brimmed hat. Seeking the safety known only in numbers, she asked him a question, “Will you protect me?” And he replied “Run!” 

Just then, a vampire, a werewolf, and Jason came running at them from behind the surrounding trees. When all of a sudden, an unexpected tree branch impaled the vampire. As the vampire burst into flames, which just so happened to catch Jason on fire as well, provided enough distraction for them to run inside the haunted manor. The girl runs to lock the door of the mansion but forgets that it’s haunted! 

She then ate a waffle. Yum! Then she feels it, like a swift kick to the stomach... and Montezuma take his revenge. She runs back into the mansion and into the toilet. This is not what she thought the man with the wider-brimmed hat meant when he said “Run”.

Meanwhile, the man with the wide-brimmed hat met the werewolf at the door! “she’s upstairs,” he said. The werewolf transformed back into his human form and went upstairs to great his unsuspecting bride. She had recovered and sat by the window reading Edgar Allen Poe. “The story goes that he was no Mo.”

He was “no mo” wolf than he was man, but the young girl could not help but love him. She dreamt of a time where they were scurvy pirates in a former life. And woke within their breasts memories of reptilian savagery and gelatinous minds. The story concluded for a brief moment just to begin once more. Staring blankly at the ceiling fan above, the man felt as if his hat came to define him, and then everyone was toast. Yaateeh Dine’ students! The walrus said, I am the egg man, I am the walrus. Koo Koo ke choo!

National Day On Writing

Today, all four ASU campuses will celebrate the 4th annual National Day on Writing event through NCTE. The National Council of Teachers of English began this event to draw attention to the amount of writing that we do each and every day - as students, as professionals, and as social beings!

All four campuses will hold events throughout the day that engage in writing. The ASU Writing Centers will host an "Add-a-line" story/poem on each campus with the starting sentence "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...." - feel free to stop by any of the Writing Centers at Tempe, West, Downtown and Poly to add your line to the story. The final stories will be published on our ASUWrite blog this week.

Stop by and help us celebrate National Day on Writing!