What I like about NaNoWrMo (National Novel Writing Month) is the bloody insanity.
You start November 1st and WRITE LIKE A DOG for thirty days. Your goal? Write a 50 000 word novel. Start to finish. In thirty days.
That's 1 666 words a day, my friends. And don't think for a minute the 666 is accidental. By the time the third week begins, most of us look like the devil himself: strung out on coffee and lack of sleep, fingers twitching, and screaming 'kill your inner Editor!' at random (usually in a public place).
NaNo Pros:
If you become active in your area, you get to meet some equally reclusive people (writers tend to be). You can attend write-ins, share the plot twist you came up with at 3am (you'll be amazed how many others were up at that time, too), brag about your incredibly high word count (I kid you not, some guy messaged that he had 10 000+ words by the end of day 3) and, best of all, WIN NaNo. Which means you completed the novel in time (who cares if it's any good, that's not the point). As a winner, you print up the Winner Certificate, hang it on your wall, and then go ice your wrists. Even if you choose not to become active in your area, there's something about going onto your NaNo news feed and realising that there's a whole bunch of people out there as crazy and committed to their craft as you are.
QUALITY is not the point:
Frankly, it's impossible to commit quality on a deadline like this. So what? Kill that inner Editor (not a bad practice). At the end of November you will have the first draft of a novel. How about that? Then put it in a drawer. back away slowly. Do something else for two to three months, then have at it. You may find you did something worth working with. It has happened before.
NaNo Cons:
Besides the carpal tunnel syndrome and lack of personal hygiene?
I am struggling with a big con right now. I have four other projects on the go: short stories, all of them, and all of them I'm quite excited about. Doing NaNo means putting them aside for a month, and I'm just not sure that's a good idea right now. If I had the first draft of all of them done, I would be happy to put them in a drawer and let them steep, but I'm not going to get to that stage by Sunday.
So here it is Tuesday and I still haven't signed up for this years' NaNo. All around me (on Twitter and Facebook, anyway), writers are gearing up for the madness. My area had their kick off on Sunday (at the pub! Twist my rubber arm! Dang!), the air is becoming thick with coffee and plot bunnies, and I still don't know what to do.
Plus, I have this really great idea for a novel.
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| Damn. |
Feeling the itch? Get help here:
http://nanowrimo.org/
NaNoWriMo Survivor Guide
Turn Your Plot Bunny into a Novel
Blocked? Try this plot generator.
