November 5, 2009
Ok, this thing to do was at one point considered a thing I would have removed from my list. However, the more I thought about it, the more I thought I may like to try to write a book one day. So maybe this thing to do should be more like “Write a Novel” rather than a “best-seller,” per se. But who knows, maybe I’m a genius writer and don’t even know it…
Once again, fellow TTDer Miranda has alerted me to this awesome annual event: National Novel Writing Month. From the website:
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.
Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.
Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.
When I originally learned about this, honestly I considered participating, but the only story ideas I have are more along the lines of non-fiction. I’ve never been very good at making up stories. Plus its already a week into the month. I do like the idea of just writing with abandon, without getting caught up in the quality or even if it makes sense. AND the online community support would be great. Of course, my favorite part is that if you succeed in writing your 175 pages, you are included in the inner circle of winners and get a certificate!
My good friend Sumner did something similar to this in the summer; she made a deadline to have 150 pages written by a certain date, and it pushed her to get the words on the page without worrying too much about the plot or getting caught up in the details. Afterall, once they are on the page, you can always go back and tweak it to make it good!
So maybe something to think about for next year…
Any other writers out there? I’m jealous of people that can come up with creative stories; everything I’ve ever written ends up just grabbing from books I’ve already read or movies I’ve already seen.
Yeah, I have officially penciled this in for November of next year. And I agree, I think Writing a Bestseller will be turned into writing a Novel. I can’t help it if the masses don’t see why my (of course yet to be written) book is genius.
175 pages in one month is just a little daunting, although I have a feeling I probably would work better under a deadline. Plus, I really like the idea of being the “Finisher’s Circle” or whatever. (I’m such a glutton for recognition)
Hiya Jessica.
How’s your novel task faring?
I’m a writer, and aspire to writing a novel as well. I’ve been writing kids stories over the past year (separate project from my novel writing). But it has been challenging to SHIP, without a deadline.
Anyway. I’ll add novel writing to my list, “write” now.
Good luck with it!
Bolaji.
I didn’t do it in 2010. I instead focused my energy on completing a Marathon in November, plus I had a LOT of dissertations to edit for the close of the fall semester. I fear that will be a hindrance this year as well but I’m going to try again!