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Kamikaze Novel Writing
spotmonk writes "November is National Novel Writing Month, and the beginning of this year's nanowrimo program will be starting on Nov 1st. Participants will write a novel of a minimum of 50,000 words in a month's time. Described as valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over talent and craft, nanowrimo takes a kamikaze approach to writing a novel - you may not get the best novel out of it, but at least you've written a novel. Sign-ups last till the end of the month."
The night was moist.
...that Windows was written exactly the same way.
ROMANES EUNT DOMUS
...how the screenplay for The Phantom Menace was written.
A million monkeys with a million typewriters...
"you may not get the best novel out of it, but at least you've written a novel."
Was that the thought process behind MS Millennium? - May not be a good operating system but...
Whatever happened to "if you're not going to do it right don't do it at all"?
Instead of raising your voice, try strengthening your argument.
Goatse, the novel.
The opening chapter is a real killer....
Monstar L
yournovel.com
Seriously, who wants to write a novel no one will want to read?
...a very good crowd has turned out to watch local boy Thomas Hardy write his new novel 'The Return Of The Native,' on this very pleasant July morning...
While it seems a really wasteful thing to do, what's to stop somebody from just submitting their already written 50,000 word garbage opus to the contest? I'm sure a hack who's spent more time and effort doesn't produce quality, but wouldn't it give them a leg up?
Besides, I'm not sure if this is "news for nerds", save for the subset of "nerds" who like to write and/or are heavily involved in fandoms.
!sig
Japanese, divine wind (from the legendary name of a typhoon that in 1281 saved Japan by destroying the Mongol navy) : kami, divine + kaze, wind.
i fail to see what this has to do with writing a book, unless you mean full of hot air from a windbag
Reminds me of the "I'm sorry this letter is so long... I didn't have time to write a shorter one." quote.
In middle school we had an assignment to write an 8-page paper. After we handed it in, our next assignment was to make the same paper 5 pages.
If any of the novels turn out to be good, we'll have found another Asimov (he wrote hundreds of books, so must have been able to write this fast).
See what I've been reading.
I have participated in Nanowrimo for the past three years. There are a lot of people who think about writing something but never set any structured goals in order to get it done. You can take it as serious as you like or loaf all month. It won't make you a great writer but you might find out that you can produce a lot more than you thought. 50,000 words is a hard goal for many and reaching it can be quite rewarding.
There are municipal liaisons that cover areas throughout the country and organize writing groups. I am one in eastern Ohio and what I do is try to keep track of the people in my local area, provide a little encouragement and pass out a couple freebies that the Nanowrimo staff sends out each year. All in all it can be an interesting experience if you are into writing.
It's just a way to make us write something, no matter how horrible, in order to have a story that we can edit and improve on after November's over.
!sig
Last year, you could sign up on the last day of November if you wanted to. If you could write a 50,000 word novel in less than 24 hours, more power to you.
!sig
Pshaw - I'll stick to the original, classic Three Day Novel Writing Contest, started by Pulp Press way back in 1977, and now located here. And yes, entries are judged on quality, not quantity.
Three Squirrels
I remember that the teacher spends weeks coming up with "The night was humid" only to read it in one of his student's works.
So, as soon as you've finished your manuscript do you dive head-first into your word processor, destroying your work and blowing yourself up in the process?
AT&ROFLMAO
The 3-Day Novel Contest has run every Labour Day Weekend {CDN} for 27 years and has garnered a reputation as the cheeky and uncompromising rebel of literary forms. The world's most notorious literary marathon demands that would-be novelists produce a masterwork in a mere 72 hours.
more info
back in the day we didnt have no old school
Then nobody would ever do anything, would they?
This sounds like a good time, even if your novel isn't all that great. At least you can go up to people and say "I wrote a novel, it just hasn't been published yet." You could go hang out at trendy coffeehouses with a laptop and pick up chicks, or something. The sheer geekiness of carrying around a laptop is overcome by the mysterious author bonus! Though you may lose the art bonus when they find you pulled a space ghost and filled the last chapter with "lu lu lu lu lu lu lu lu lu lu lu lu lu lu lu" to meet the word count.
may as well plug my short stories: http://fred.wackiness.org
SAILING MISHAP
There are hack writers and there are blocked writers, but there are no hack blocked writers... :-)
Many good writers have the skills to write well, it's the writing fast which confounds them.
My wife is a writer and she summarizes succinctly: "It's easier to fix crap than air".
Nanowrimo does many would-be writers a service: permission to write lots of crap and then spend the next 11 months fixing it.
I'm finally going to get that story together next month. It might not be 50,000 words, but it'll be better than nothing.
My father is a blogger.
I can appreciate the motivational aspic of telling someone to "get off your butt and do something". The act of trying can get people past the initial hurdle - but isn't 50k words a huge undertaking? That alone seem daunting. (Clearly I am no novelist). (In fact I hardly have a grasp on the English language)
Also this kills me..."valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over talent and craft " that is a quote right from the Bush and Kerry handbook.
Instead of raising your voice, try strengthening your argument.
They don't read your novel. At all. Word-counting is done by scripts.
Besides, the "Kerry vs. Bush" thread on the forums skirt dangerously close to a flamewar from time to time, and no moderators have said anything.
!sig
...Is that they never write sequels.
November is National Novel Writing Month
*rollseyes* When's National Month Naming Month?
described as valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over talent and craft
Yeah that's a bullshit topic, what is it suppose to encourage short-term thinking and consumerism? I know, lets get a bunch of gullible smart writers to support this idea.
With 'talent and craft', it's something you must work at, sure there will be little enthusiasm at first and less of a reason for perseverance, but after your over that hill, You'll love doing it. Excluding that what your doing is really worth doing. But then again, if you cant think that far, what your doing probably deserves to be thought lower than enthus. and perserv. This world is so damn pointless, no wonder murders, rapist, stupid geeks, politicians and wars exist!
'"Please Mr. Tiger, don't eat me, I'll give you my beautiful green jacket"
"OK young male person of South Indian descent, I won't eat you this time."'
Completely off topic...but you rock for that reference.
How do you determine if a novel is "done right"? Just because it doesn't satisfy what someone else says its not "done right"?
And how will you know if you can't do it "right" if you never actually do it?
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
I'd hardly consider 50,000 words a "novel" - maybe a novelette or something like that, though. 50,000 words only clocks in at roughly 60 pages in MS Word or some similar editor using defaultfonts, borders, etc.
If you look at it from a "per day" basis, that's only 1666 words a day, which is roughly twice the size as a medium-to-large slashdot post. How many of you have multiple "Click here to read the rest of this post" comments several times a week? If so, I'd wager you've got the perseverence to finish writing a 50,000 word book in a month. It hardly seems like a difficult task to me, provided you've got the motivation to sink your soul into such a work.
I'd hope that 1600 words a day wouldn't be difficult at all for a novelist. However, I'd hope they'd spend the majority of their time thinking of what to write, so that their books wouldn't be shit. For me, that's what takes the longest amount of time - thinking of how you want everything to interact in a realistic manner.
If you had a good idea going into this with relationships already fleshed out in your head, there's no reason you couldn't write a decent to good novelette, IMO.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
And if we don't win this year, there's always next year.
!sig
There's another month for getting it right. NaNoWriMo is for getting it written.
-----------------------
You are what you think.
And when you're done with your novel you can publish it on Lulu. I think Lulu is a fantastic idea, and I hope they don't go out of business.
Education is the silver bullet.
>valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over talent and craft
Go get to the point where you have talent and craft you need enthusiasm and perserverance.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
Well I suppose that the determining factor of 'right' is that the author's intent is.
If 'right' equals the act of writing 50k words in 1 month, then that substantially lowers the bar.
On the other hand, if 'right' means writing 50k words in such a way that it tells a well thought out, compelling, and interesting story to not only the author but to the reader as well, then that is much more of an undertaking.
My definition of 'right' is the latter, after all isn't a novel meant to be read by others? If not shouldn't it be called a personal journal? I understand my definition isn't the only one.
Instead of raising your voice, try strengthening your argument.
Take part in the ICFP programming contest. It's exactly about that. And the time you have there is 72 hours.
Don't drink and sudo
...we send you over to the west country on Dorset.
Commentator: Hello, and welcome to Dorchester, where a very good crowd has turned out to watch local boy Thomas Hardy write his new novel "The Return Of The Native", on this very pleasant July morning. This will be his eleventh novel and the fifth of the very popular Wessex novels, and here he comes! Here comes Hardy, walking out towards his desk. He looks confident, he looks relaxed, very much the man in form, as he acknowledges this very good natured bank holliday crowd. And the crowd goes quiet now, as Hardy settles himself down at the desk, body straight, shoulders relaxed, pen held lightly but firmly in the right hand. He dips the pen...in the ink, and he's off! It's the first word, but it's not a word - oh, no! - it's a doodle. Way up on the top of the lefthand margin is a piece of meaningless scribble - and he's signed his name underneath it! Oh dear, what a disapointing start. But his off again - and here he goes - the first word of Thomas Hardy's new novel, at ten thirtyfive on this very lovely morning, it's three letters, it's the definite article, and it's "The!"
(continues)
p
In Korea, long hair is for old people!
I'm currently writing a novel, I saw this post, then out of idle curiousity, I counted the words I have typed so far.
Approximately 6400. That is barely more than a single chapter. I am currently thinking that my novel, at the rate I'm going, is quite possibly going to be over 150,000 words long, at least.
50,000 words is approximately three or four hardcore writing sessions for any decent writer. It's the tweaking that takes time.
Any decent writer worth their salt is a perfectionist when it comes to their own work. This means not leaving gaping plot holes, filling out characters, and not losing the reader by having incomplete descriptions. It takes a great degree of care to make characters that are more than two-dimensional stereotypes. However, stereotypes do, and always will, fulfill many character niches.
Just my 2 cents.
To get to the point where you can write something that is well thought out, compelling and interesting to others, you need to write something half-assed, boring and uninteresting to others so that you can learn and grow. By not writing, you can't find out and learn.
Thats why your first quote of "if you can't do something right then don't do it at all" doesn't apply here. (I'm not even sure where it would apply)
Its very rare where someone trys something (writing, drawing, singing, programming, rocketry, etc) for the very first time and there is no room for improvment.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
>> On the other hand, if 'right' means writing 50k words in such a way that it tells a well thought out, compelling, and interesting story to not only the author but to the reader as well, then that is much more of an undertaking.
... and they don't write a freling thing. In that case, you're left with ideas in your head, and maybe a stack of notebooks from 'universe building' sessions at coffee shops ... and no fiction.
... but to get a participant writing SOMETHING. Even if it's complete dreck. That's the same advice that published authors and writing seminar teachers give -- get in the habit of writng *something* every day. 100% guarantee that most of it will be crap. However, there will be gems hidden in the crap, that you pull out and polish.
... maybe even print it out doublesided and let it sit on the shelf so they can point to it and say "See? My novel!"
... instead of a bunch of ideas that "aren't quite right", and writer's block inspired dents in the monitor from when you've driven your skull into it repeatedly.
Quite a few people (me included) spend so much time angsting over getting the plotline "just right" and all the various interconnecting subplots to "mesh perfectly" and/or throwing away plot ideas because they're not the gold-plated shining storyline
The goal with NANO is not to shoot for mediocrity
The mediocre participants can reach the 50K mark at the end of November, call their novel finished
The real authors in the crowd will know they've written dreck that will need serious re-writes. If they lack motivation to do *that*, 'NANOEDMO' (editing month) is a few months later. There's a good chance that 90% of the mediocre crap they churned out in November will be thrown out-- leaving 10% to recraft into a new story.
But at least they have the 10% out there to work with
_________________
This mind intentionally left blank.
There's a similar exercise for writers with a more visually artistic bent: 24-Hour Comics. There are a few rules, but the gist of it is that one creator produces a complete 24-page comicbook in 24 consecutive hours. That includes coming up with the idea, writing the story, laying it out, finishing the art, and lettering it. You can do one any day you like, but 23 April 2005 is going to be the next "official" 24 Hour Comics Day in which probably hundreds of cartoonists around the world will each attempt it over the same weekend. The first organised event was this past April, and I plan to participate next year.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
"if you can't do something right then don't do it at all" doesn't apply here. (I'm not even sure where it would apply)
Brain Surgery
Point taken. You're exactly right you have to crawl before walking, running, completing a triathlon etc...
Instead of raising your voice, try strengthening your argument.
No one said you had to stop writing after the 30-day limit. The idea here is just to get people off of their asses and onto the word processor, notepad, napkin, whatever. Originally, the thing didn't have a deadline - it was added because of the ability of the author to come up with unique and creative solutions to problems when burdened in such a manner. Basically, Hacker Logic applied to writing. I don't see why the Slashdot community seems to be so viciously against this; haven't you ever produced a piece of code in a limited amount of time? Does time, in that sense, automatically yield bad results? Well?
It's already been done many times over.
The author's name is Piers Anthony.
-Sir Woody Hackswell, the Arch-Fool
I've been working on something similar, encouraging people to write their life stories in short, daily segments. Anything that helps people to write something deliberately, every day, is a good idea. It doesn't have to be perfect. You don't have to show anyone. You just have to practice putting words to paper (so to speak) every day for a month.
See Write Your Life.
how to invest, a novice's guide
I'm a published novelist (Star Dragon, Tor, and my second one will be out in early 2006). I sold the second one, Spider Star, under contract and had a deadline to meet. I spent several months working on background and other research, started writing the draft last February, and finished in July. Because of teaching, I'd only hit about 50k words by the end of May and wrote about 50k words in the following six weeks. It's a harsh effort. Burnout is possible. Revisions will be super necessary, and extensive. If you haven't spent a lot of time doing research in advance, you're likely to make big mistakes somewhere. There are some fast-writing professionals out there. You've heard the stories, many true, about cranking out a book in a week. They don't put their own names on those. Those writers still say they need a few months, WORKING FULL TIME, to write a good book. I'm just a little worried that people will write bad books, get burned out, and fail at their dreams by this approach. The sense of community can help, but this smacks more of a stunt than a serious professional effort. If you need stunts to write, maybe you're not a writer. If it's just a fun thing to try, fine, but think hard about your goals and the relationship with your writing before attempting this.
Professor of Astronomy, Author of Spider Star & Star Dragon (Tor)
Now that's satanic!
It's done right if the final story works. I was going to say it would be done right if it satisfied the author, but a lot of us writers are never entirely happy, even with books that have won awards. I guess the only ones who judge this professionally are editors. By that standard, it's right if you can sell it, or at least be told it's good even if they can't buy it for some reason (and marketing departments do veto editors).
Professor of Astronomy, Author of Spider Star & Star Dragon (Tor)
Well, I don't think people should be trying to write a novel for the first time with the "all in one month approach." That's kind of dumb.
What they should be doing is practicing their craft on short stories, failing and learning there, before tackling an entire novel with any hope for success.
Trying to do something like a novel fast for the first time might create some bad habits and missed learning opportunities. On the other hand it might indeed be educational, and some people can write well and still write fast. But I wouldn't bet that this is good way of doing it for most.
But hey, what do I know? I sold the first novel I wrote.
Professor of Astronomy, Author of Spider Star & Star Dragon (Tor)
despite peacing off the creators, & draining the lifeblood out of most of US, those whoreabull thieving murderers are still at it?
for each of the creators' innocents harmed there is a badtoll that must/will be repaid by US, as the cowardly greed/fear/ego based perpetraitors will be unavailable to make repairations. lookout bullow.
all is not lost.
consult with/trust in yOUR creators. making things right/rebuilding civilizations since/until forever. see you there?
I do appreciate this point.
There is a large group of would-be writers who spend so much time fiddling with chapter 1 they never finish a book. For those sorts of writers, this may be a good exercise.
Professor of Astronomy, Author of Spider Star & Star Dragon (Tor)
...I'm gonna kill you. ;)
As in, Lark's Tongues In?
Seriously, I would bet that some of us here have written more than 50k words in a month just posting. Gather your posts, and make a book out of them! ;-)
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
I imagine that people participate in this for the same reasons that other people run marathons despite the impossibility of them placing well... mostly for the experience of doing it. And maybe they'll learn something from the process and perhaps next time they'll do better.
Also, if you're familiar at all with the writing process, you may have heard of something known as the "first draft". A stunt like this seems like a good way of generating one of those.
Whatever happened to "if you're not going to do it right don't do it at all"?
Hopefully it's in the rubbish bin with all the other excuses for giving up before you start.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
You're missing the point of the exercise, which is to encourage people to turn off their self-criticism for a while and actually produce something. Often in life, one of the biggest causes of procrastination is excess perfectionism. Especially when it comes to works of creativity, it's often good to drop one's perfectionism.
Sadly, it clashes with BiMonSciFiCon.
1/3 of jokes get modded OT. If you get the joke, mod 1 in 3 insightful/interesting/underrated to restore karma balance.
Neal Stephenson started this way?
What they should be doing is practicing their craft on short stories, failing and learning there, before tackling an entire novel with any hope for success.
Short stories and novels are totally different fields. That's like saying you need to practice writing four-minute pop songs before you can learn to write a symphony. You learn to write novels by writing novels, not by writing short stories.
Slash has nothing to do with Slashdot.
Good fiction does teach you something, if it is good. You learn about being human and human relationships. You learn about things that can't be expressed with equations or numbers. Again, if it's good.
Having said that, I work hard to have accurate science in my science fiction novels. I think there are a lot of advanced concepts that can be effectively conveyed through fiction. For some people, non-fiction, textbooks, are simply not engaging. But have them read Larry Niven's story "Neutron Star" and suddenly they really get what tidal forces are all about.
Professor of Astronomy, Author of Spider Star & Star Dragon (Tor)
There's some truth in what you say, but learning how to write scenes, dialogue, setting, characters...you need those skills for short stories and novels both. I was talking about those particular writing skills by using the word "craft." Short stories in particular let you experiment, quickly, by trying different approaches to story telling. For instance, you can learn some things from writing in the second-person. You'd be foolish to do that in your first novel, but a short story is the perfect vehicle for trying it out. That's what I meant.
Short stories and novels are different, yes, but they're built from the same foundations. I doubt many composers other than perhaps Mozart started out writing full-fledged symphonies.
Professor of Astronomy, Author of Spider Star & Star Dragon (Tor)
Thats why your first quote of "if you can't do something right then don't do it at all" doesn't apply here. (I'm not even sure where it would apply)
Open heart surgery. Which is why open heart surgeons get paid the big bucks, and those who get the privilge of fixing our mistakes at leasure don't.
I could easily write that. "Michael Sims is a fucking jerk" 8333 times then "Everyone knows".
Nah.
Handwritten text:
The average line has 10 words.
The average page has 25 lines
That makes the average page be 250 words.
4 pages are 1,000 words.
40 pages are 10,000 words.
400 pages are 100,000 words... Woa, went too far. Should have stopped at 200 pages.
You write 1 page per day (7 pages per week), you'll have a 50,000 word novel in about 7 months.
Now, the editing is the bitch.
On an aside, me, aspell dic and a python script can churn a 50,000 word novel in about 15 minutes. Won't be worth reading, you know...
"Piter, too, is dead."
I happen to be friends with the organizer of NaNoWriMo, Chris Baty. In one conversation we had about it he said something along the lines of "If you're forced to write 1600 or so words every day you don't have time to revise away your best stuff. You write so quickly, sure a lot of it is crap but when you look at it later the novel is full of gems that you might never have written if you'd had more time to think about it"
All I can say is I learned more from writing 57,000 words in a month last year (actually, 94,000 in two months, since I didn't stop) than I learned in over ten years of writing short stories.
You don't learn much about scenes from writing short stories. You don't learn much about gradual character development, or long-term plot arcs, or pacing of subplots. Short stories can teach you basic skills of writing description and good sentences, but so can essays and writing exercises.
More importantly, they require different skills. They require a concise idea and usually a single plotline. They require a certain style of presenting and dealing with characters that doesn't apply to longer works.
Some people seem to be natural short story writers, some natural novelists. Some people can easily handle both. The problem is with the people who are natural novelists: excellent at long plots, large casts, and gradual character developments, but no good at handling the short-story format. They're told repeatedly that they have to do stories before they can do novels, and they end up never trying novels because they haven't had success with short stories. This is the sort of person who is an excellent candidate for NaNoWriMo.
What I discovered last year was that for me, novels are easy, breathtakingly easy, compared to short stories. I could write a single novel in the time it took me to develop one or two painful and difficult short stories. And it was fun and fascinating, and the writing got markedly better as I went on. (Though it wasn't much to brag about before the second edit.) Apparently, I'm not much of a concise-idea person, but I do well with a long, complicated plot structure.
If short stories helped you, then great. But don't assume that it works the same way for everyone. Many people spend years hearing the myth that you must learn short stories first, and never get a chance to develop their real skills with novels.
Slash has nothing to do with Slashdot.
Most publishers these days seem to want a minimum of 80,000 words for a novel. Often this is explicitly stated in their submission guidelines. If you're writing a first novel, you should anticipate having a hard time getting it published; there's no need to make it even harder by making it too short to be marketable. (I'm referring to fantasy and science fiction markets. The story could be different in other markets. This is also the kind of thing that changes back and forth over time, like hemlines of skirts.)
Find free books.
Separately, I see here that Jamie Muir actually came up with the name.
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
Many of you seem very opposed to this idea for a number of reasons and seem put off with the idea of this challenge. I think what you fail to realize is that there is far more to NaNoWriMo than producing a published novel; certainly, that is the immediate goal, but there's something to be said for the process itself.
This will be my fourth year participating in NaNoWriMo. My first year was spent cranking out 78k for my autobiography. I can't tell you, from an emotional perspective, what a valuable experience that was... looking back over my life from beginning to end in its entirety put many things in perspective for me. My second and third years were focused on writing fiction instead, and even though some parts of the resultant novels are hideously crappy, being so intensively creative and imaginative every day was very rewarding and inspired me to keep writing after NaNoWriMo was over (it's difficult to go from such a high level of productivity in the evenings to none at all), at which point I produced more deliberate novels in a longer period of time and they turned out quite well, IMO.
One of the major points of NaNo is that so many people talk about writing a novel but never actually do it. NaNo provides a challenge and a supportive, active community to these people. Novel writing seems like a daunting task, but NaNo gives you the platform to do it.
But then, 95% of fiction on store shelves these days is utter crap. It's written by morons whose idea of prose style is dominated by extensive TV watching, whose plots are recycled from LoTR, Star Wars, or possibly Speed Racer. And maybe all three. You do NOT learn good writing techniques in crap-cramming marathons. You only learn to rush your thinking and self-judgement, not to think well and write well. As Harlan Ellison said in another context, these people are merely going to be 'creative typists'.
In the coding context, a tight dreadline may force your focus to be tight, but it does not guarantee good code nor learning quality. It just leads to code-spew. All I ever see from the majority of pressured coders at work is half-assed broken limping code done in death marches. Discipline and thought and a little pride in standards of quality are way better working standards than treating production like some video game you're trying to beat the clock on.
You say writing essays or exercises can help learn the necessary skills. Well, just consider short stories a kind of writing exercise. Personally, I found the idea of writing a novel without the skills to do it well psychologically daunting. I didn't want to invest a lot of effort into it until I thought I was writing well enough to sell one. It doesn't matter how you learn to do it, as long as you do. I agree, different writers learn in different ways. I just see a lot of beginners tackling novels before they have the skills to do it, and getting so wrapped up in their baby that it's devestating when they can't sell it. You have a few litters of short stories on the other hand, and it usually isn't so bad to forge ahead.
Professor of Astronomy, Author of Spider Star & Star Dragon (Tor)
The night was saltry.
He spewed so much so fast in the 70s he wouldn't break a sweat to write something good for this.
ID: the nose did not occur naturally, how would we wear glasses otherwise? (apologies to Voltaire)
If I remember right, anyway, the sign-ups go until the last week of November. So you can't write your novel on the last day, but you still have plenty of time to sign up.
Slash has nothing to do with Slashdot.
"Vathek" by William Beckford is a classic example of a book written "kamikaze style" in 1786 (or thereabouts).
It is a dark gothic novel about a caleph who sells his soul to the devil, and it is one of my favourite stories - but most amazing of all is that Beckford wrote it in a single sitting of 3 days and 2 nights.
The e-text is available over at Project Gutenberg.
YOU might not be able to get to 50k. Speak for yourself.
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
I just see a lot of beginners tackling novels before they have the skills to do it, and getting so wrapped up in their baby that it's devestating when they can't sell it.
That's the beauty of NaNoWriMo. It's so ridiculous, so high-spirited, so much pure fun, that no one expects their novels to be great literary works of art. They're not paralyzed by the fear that they'll write 50,000 words of crap, because they expect to write 50,000 words of crap. Instead of spending years struggling to write the Great American Novel and then being devastated when that first effort doesn't sell, they can write 50,000 words of something they enjoy for pure fun, and learn something in the process. And they don't have to invest years of struggle into it.
For a few people (myself included), that first hectic effort is a very rough draft that later gets ripped apart - I literally cut and reworked 40,000 words in my first edit alone - and polished several times for eventual submission to publishers. In those cases, we're still talking about a significant time investment and a serious project. For other people, it's just fun, a way to see if they can do it.
I haven't yet seen anyone on NaNo who considered their unedited NaNo effort to be a work of genius or who was disappointed about seeing it rejected. And at the rate of one NaNo a year, a writer would likely have at least two books completed before getting the first one rejected, so there's unlikely to be the same element of "I can't believe they rejected my baby" in the process.
You say that the idea of writing a novel before you were ready was psychologically daunting. The whole point of NaNo is to make the process less psychologically daunting. Isn't that a good thing?
Slash has nothing to do with Slashdot.
Recently I've semi-vowed to write the ending of each book I read before I finish it (could also apply to other sections of the book). I think it is a great exercise (although it's making it tough to finish my current PKD book right now. ;o)
I'm assuming the forum rules don't apply to the actual novels or it would exclude a lot of great lit that's been written.
If you need text styles to communicate then you don't have a message.
Who the hell moderates a Monty Python reference "Informative"?
The cure for cancer is coming: Reovirus
...the sun beat down upon my brow, popping sweat globulals out of my skin like a high school cheerleader popping out breasts in the locker room.
I drank what? -- Socrates
I thought the idea was to be able to say (brag) that you had written a novel, but that it was 'too much' for modern sensibilities or some such hogwash?
Seriously, though, two friends of mine, who have done the nanowrimo thing have gone on to be published authors (short stories) and are both working on multiple novels and piling up the rejection slips. Cool! They'll be able to comp me at lit events.
I drank what? -- Socrates
I did Nanowrimo last year. I had about 40000 words written years ago, but never finished it. So I took the situation and characters and wrote a new book, different adventures. It's not great, but I got off my posterior and WROTE it!! That's the important part. And yes, I am doing it again this year. Don't have a plot yet, but it'll come to me.
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For what it's worth, I did get my 50k words last year...
!sig
Phillip K Dick used to get stoked on amphetamines and write a novel in one week. ... now this explains a lot to me :)
wait, im not saying i dont like dick's novels, i think he had a lot of incredible ideas (amphetamines may have helped)... but his writing is not that good, I always end up mad at his stories because i feel he never exploited their full potential.
Well maybe what i just said is just what this contest is all about, not just bragging about having written a novel but forcing out of you a story that would have never been written.
it's gonna take a whole lotta booze..
I love this thing. It's the second year I'm participating, and I can advise it to anyone who ever wants to write a novel! You'll have fun, you'll be tortured, you'll be crying when you don't get your daily word count. In other words: join up!
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You write. That's what you're supposed to do when you enter. You write, and that's how you learn. People learn from their mistakes. Also, folks that want to write a GOOD novel (like I want to do), use this month to write a novel DRAFT. Also, who are you to judge if you'll learn to write well during NaNo? In January and February this year, I wrote over 20 000 words (I know, that's nothing). Trust me, I LEARNED a lot.
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You have to be able to take a step away from your novel, once you've finished it (not easy). I think writing 5 novels in a year (yes, some NaNoWriMo members do so) will learn you a lot more about writing novels, than writing 50 short-stories in a year.
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True. Someone (Alma H. Hromic) compared writing and open heart surgery, and said WriMo'ers were regular people attempting heart surgery. That's the most lousy comparison I've ever heard!
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I think that one thing that a lot of people are missing here is that most professional writers don't just throw down 50,000 words of sterling prose. Many professional writers have a habit of treating their writing as a business in which, at the end of the day, they have to produce some product.
In addition, I think one of the things that is killing the arts in the United States is a lack of appreciation for amateurism. Because we think that it is not worth doing anything if you are not the next Claude Monet, Tony Morrison, John Hooker, or Rachel Podger, we have a culture with both pathological stage fright but yet is willing to play armchair critic. In the arts, pro-ams provide important services as informed consumers promoting good works by word of mouth, and fund-raising boosters for art programs.
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That if you can do something and stick to it for 21 days, then you've successfully created a habit that will be hard to break.
It worked for me with flossing (I still hate to do it) and cutting out caffeine (although the headaches were a bitch).
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I wish I knew your nick at nano, so I could read your story though.
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