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Archive for October 21st, 2006

Remind me to stare at this on Decemeber 31st

Posted by danleone on October 21st, 2006

I have just spent 10 minutes watching this What do I call this?

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NaNoWriMo?

Posted by danleone on October 21st, 2006

For anyone that has thought about writing a novel (who hasn’t?), but has been too scared to actually sit down and do it, beginning November 1 and running through midnight November 30, writers from all over the world will be participating in an event where the sole goal is to write 50,000 words or 175 pages. According to their website, National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) states:

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.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

Well, I have spent the last year writing 110 pages, so I am easily going to find a million excuses not to accomplish this. But it appeals to me because at this very moment, the reason that I am not able to proceed is that I really am not sure how the next few scenes are supposed to go. I can think beyond that for a little while but I quickly l get lost again. I truly have no idea how to proceed. I also have been tempted to go back rewrite everything I have done in a different voice. With the NaNoWriMo event, I have permission to keep from making the big commitment to my “real” novel and allow myself the creative outlet to try new things.

Does anyone have any personal experience doing this?

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