It is the time of year once again when peer pressure abounds in the writing community. Every online writer must ask herself, “will I join NaNoWriMo* this year?” Those who do join are all excited and seek to recruit others. Those who don’t, feel compelled to explain why.
I’m in that second category. There may come a year where I can take a month and put writing first. I may be able to really dive in and write thousands of words in a day. This is not that year. It will probably not be that year until my youngest child is over the age of 10. I have too many other things in my life that are more important to me than writing 50,000 words in a month. I admire those who have the time and drive to do it, but that isn’t me this year. This year I will have to be content with mailing out hundreds of schlock books. A secondary goal is for me to do a final revision on my story in progress and select an idea to be my next work in progress. Maybe I’ll even attempt to write in my blog daily for the month of November. Having writing in my brain is good. If nothing else then NaNoWriMo has accomplished that much for many many people.
*NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. Writers are challenged to produce a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. As far as I know the only prize is a sense of accomplishment and a jpeg you can put on your website.
Personally, on the basis of the [admittedly limited] sample I’ve seen, I’d guess NanNoWriMo outputs rates at least two Sturgeons — which is to say, at least 99% of those 50,000-words-in-30-days novels are crud.
It’s not necessarily a reflection on what the writers could do, given more time. It’s just that 30 days is an awfully short time for most people to write a book. There are authors who can write a good book in 30 days from start to finish … but not very many.
Personally, on the basis of the [admittedly limited] sample I’ve seen, I’d guess NanNoWriMo outputs rates at least two Sturgeons — which is to say, at least 99% of those 50,000-words-in-30-days novels are crud.
It’s not necessarily a reflection on what the writers could do, given more time. It’s just that 30 days is an awfully short time for most people to write a book. There are authors who can write a good book in 30 days from start to finish … but not very many.
I decided to not do NaNoWriMo this year because I’m using the time I would have spent on it to plan my next webcomic. I still think the idea has inspirational potential, even if you don’t strictly follow the constraints of the challenge. If you can use NaNoWriMo to inspire you to further your own writing goals, it can be valuable.
(For what it’s worth, I finished NaNoWriMo last year, but wasn’t terribly happy with the overall quality of the product, even if I did like some individual pieces of writing I did.)
I decided to not do NaNoWriMo this year because I’m using the time I would have spent on it to plan my next webcomic. I still think the idea has inspirational potential, even if you don’t strictly follow the constraints of the challenge. If you can use NaNoWriMo to inspire you to further your own writing goals, it can be valuable.
(For what it’s worth, I finished NaNoWriMo last year, but wasn’t terribly happy with the overall quality of the product, even if I did like some individual pieces of writing I did.)
I can see the motivational factor of it would be handy to spur you into action, but I think the goals are a little too rigid. Maybe one where you can write a much shorter novella or write at least 10,000 words in that month on some project would be more reasonable for busy people.
I can see the motivational factor of it would be handy to spur you into action, but I think the goals are a little too rigid. Maybe one where you can write a much shorter novella or write at least 10,000 words in that month on some project would be more reasonable for busy people.
Most would-be authors never get around to finishing their first book, though. This event lets them do that.
If they’re wise enough to then go back and properly edit their work, it may be worth reading. I would never trouble myself to read a 30-day novel that hadn’t then been through a 30-day editing/rewriting gauntlet.
Most would-be authors never get around to finishing their first book, though. This event lets them do that.
If they’re wise enough to then go back and properly edit their work, it may be worth reading. I would never trouble myself to read a 30-day novel that hadn’t then been through a 30-day editing/rewriting gauntlet.
Very true.
It would be interesting to know whether any professionally published (as against self-published vanity-press) authors got their start from NaNoWriMo, but I don’t know if it’s been going long enough.
Very true.
It would be interesting to know whether any professionally published (as against self-published vanity-press) authors got their start from NaNoWriMo, but I don’t know if it’s been going long enough.
Part of the point of NaNoWriMo is that you’re likely to write crud. They expect you to write crud. You’re encouraged to write crud.
A lot of the goal is just to get you to commit to a difficult writing project, and hopefully to see it through. Most professional writers I’ve known have told me that the best way to be a writer is to write, write, write — even if you’re writing absolute crap. You may find one sentence worth keeping, but the process itself helps shape your thoughts and make the abstract much more concrete.
The organizers freely admit that only a rare NaNoWriMo project will be, in and of itself, any good. (I’m juuuuust proud enough of my entry from 2005 to think I managed to do a “pretty-good-for-a-thirty-day novel”.) They just want you to get in there and do it, and prove to yourself that you can.
Part of the point of NaNoWriMo is that you’re likely to write crud. They expect you to write crud. You’re encouraged to write crud.
A lot of the goal is just to get you to commit to a difficult writing project, and hopefully to see it through. Most professional writers I’ve known have told me that the best way to be a writer is to write, write, write — even if you’re writing absolute crap. You may find one sentence worth keeping, but the process itself helps shape your thoughts and make the abstract much more concrete.
The organizers freely admit that only a rare NaNoWriMo project will be, in and of itself, any good. (I’m juuuuust proud enough of my entry from 2005 to think I managed to do a “pretty-good-for-a-thirty-day novel”.) They just want you to get in there and do it, and prove to yourself that you can.