Chatterbox: Chirp at Cricket

NaNo help

So, for those of you guys participating in NaNo, here's the place to ask for help, share emotions, vent, plan, whatever you need.

I'm going to start by asking for some advice. Actually... Two pieces of advice.

Firstly: I have two novel ideas. The first, a novel I've been working on for a while with a few friends, but that only has some 20,000 words. I could really do with putting an extra 50,000 on it. I know it's a bit of a rebel plan, but it would be something good to do. Plus, I've already got rigorous planning for it. The basic plot is this: three new girls who end up as room-mates in a boarding school, and have to learn to over-step their differences. I know the plot sounds super cliche, but it's a big character development book, and I'm really working on making the characters three-dimensional and interesting.

The other idea is one I've had in my head for an entirely new novel. It's just barely an idea, with little to no planning, but more traditional for NaNo, and intriguing. The basic plot: a historical fiction book set at the turn of the nineteenth century. Two sisters are a part of a club that all the kids in the town form. The older sister is adventurous, fun-loving, and everything a girl shouldn't be. The younger sister, though, is the perfect house girl, always doing the right thing, but she wants to be accepted by her friends, and more like her sister. Eventually, their club members grow up, and get involved in the life shattering events of World War I. Romance, suspence, etc. guaranteed! (hopefully)

So, which should I chose to stick to for a month? Advice, please?

Secondly: So, I am a very busy person, with high school and homework and all. But I know many of you are too, and still do NaNo. So, how do you make time in your lives for writing? How do you buckle down and say "I'm going to do this"? Rewards? Punnishments? What? Help!