If you’ve been on Facebook or Twitter, then you might have
seen posts about National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. During the month
of November writers from around the world collectively put their butts in the
chair and pound out a novel. There’s a website
where you can register your project, track your daily word count, and interact
with your friends and colleagues who are also participating. To win NaNo, you
must write 50,000 words by November 30. If you’re a writer, you know how tough
this can be. And if you’re a reader, you might wonder what all the fuss is
about.
I’ve successfully completed two previous NaNo’s—the first
was for my western romance THE BLACKBIRD (2014), and the second was my romantic
suspense novel about great white sharks titled DEEP BLUE (2016).
How does NaNo benefit a writer? It forces the internal
editor to take a vacation. Believe me, this is far harder than it sounds, and
is probably the biggest battleground an author will face in trying to complete
NaNo. The internal editor not only encompasses good sentence structure and
proper grammar, he/she also wants fully-fleshed characters right out of the
gate, will insist on researching the name of the road in that western town in
1877 before allowing any more forward movement in the story, and wants to
investigate every Irish surname for a secondary character who only appears in
one scene. The internal editor can be the harshest of critics, and many a writer
has succumbed to crippling self-doubt as a result.
But if an author has already published several novels,
he/she must have found a way to work with this ridiculously overbearing boss,
right? Excuse me while I laugh hysterically. Okay, I’m back. The short answer
is, no. But all is not lost, and that’s where NaNo helps writers to shine. It forces
us to push past the persnickety side-commentator and get the story down. NaNo
is all about the first draft—those random and sometimes illogical beginnings of
our stories. As a reader, all you’ve ever seen is the spiffed up final version
of a project, so it’s hard to understand that it didn’t always look that way. Most
first drafts would shock the spit right out of you. Just kidding. They’re not
that horrifying, but they can be quite the hot mess.
To write 50,000 words in one month (and November only has 30
days), a writer must punch out 1,667 words per day. I usually round up to
2,000, because life doesn’t stop for me to write, so there will be days when I
don’t hit that goal. Since my novels tend to be 75-85K in length, writing 50K
won’t be the entire book. This leads to the most important advice I can offer
about NaNo—make sure you get to THE END. This means that some scenes will be
skipped, heavy description and backstory will be lightly touched upon, and
character development will be invariably sketchy. But this is a good thing.
Getting to the end offers insights that can’t be found any other way, and it
will make the first revision pass much more fruitful.
One quirk I’ve learned during NaNo is that my scenes end up
out of order. Since I know this about myself, I don’t spend too much time in my
transitions from one incident to the next, because I’ll likely be moving them
around later. I simply try to find the interior energy of a scene and expound
on that as best I can. Then I move on. You can’t dilly-dally during NaNo.
And while it’s true I’ll be forced to discard large chunks
of my preciously speed-written prose during the refining stages of the
manuscript, it’s never wasted. I almost always learn something from the misstep,
either about my characters or a plot direction that wasn’t going to work. I’ve
also had delightful surprises. I didn’t find the great white shark star of my
suspense book until the very end of the first draft. Her name was Bonnie, and
when she arrived she changed the whole tone of the story. That’s why it’s
important to get to the end. Once I knew about her, it was clear how I needed
to lay the groundwork for her presence earlier in the book, and it completely
informed the direction of my revisions.
This year, I’m unofficially participating and I won’t lie,
it’s stressful. Some days I just can’t figure out what should happen next, and
my mind’s innate tendency to wander off—online Christmas shopping! Let’s do
that!—must be held in rigorous check. The manuscript (ANCIENT WINDS, the third
book in my suspense series) is unfolding in a choppy and somewhat haphazard
way, and it’s downright maddening. But … I’m finding those little gems along
the way. (I have a fabulous scene in the Amazonian jungle with my hero and
heroine and an anaconda that quite surprised me.) And this is because NaNo
doesn’t let up; it forces you to write something. Anything. It
inspires innovation.
So, if you’re a writer and haven’t given NaNo a try, consider
it. You might astonish yourself. And if you’re a reader, have sympathy for
those participating. We won’t be grumpy lunatics for long.
I spend large portions of November weeping quietly as I read and hear my friends talk about their NaNo successes and what it means to them, while I push my fiction writing aside to wade through the stacks of student essays I have to grade. Almost any other month would be better for me than November -- so very close to the end of the college semester! I have done Camp NaNo in July several times and did find it helpful, but I would love to have the huge November community along with me.
ReplyDeleteCate,
DeleteI've always wondered why they chose November. It's a tough month, especially for us Americans with the Thanksgiving holiday. But if you think about it, there's really no good month. Writing is hard and carving out time for it can be even harder. But I'm glad that you've had success with the July camp. I've never tried that.
Kristy,
ReplyDeleteI'm NaNoWriMo-ing. This is year eleven. I've crossed the 50k finish line several times, but I've also come up short on word count, too. Each year has its own challenges: the story, real life interfering, health...
Kaye,
DeleteThat's awesome. You go, girl. I have to admit that I've only done NaNo when I was fairly certain I could succeed. I never wanted to come up short! It's one reason I'm unofficially participating this year. I didn't think I could hit 50K because of my family and traveling schedule. I also didn't begin a new project - I'm working on a book that already had 20K down. But I do like the push. Some of what I'm writing is rubbish, but at least it's forcing me through the bones of the story. The big work will come later with the edits, but at least I'll have the structure laid out. Good luck!!
I've never been enticed to NaNoWriMo. I am very dependent on being in the mood to right, and would find that forced output would end up in the bin. Kudos to anyone who can do this. I'm just not built that way. I wish I could.
ReplyDeleteC.A.,
DeleteThere's certainly no one way to write, and NaNo can be a bit of a train wreck if you're not careful. It helps to plan out some things in October - general direction you want to go, who the characters are, backstory, research, etc. I was curious how the writing would go the first time I tried it, and was pleasantly surprised. I certainly had a lot of editing to do after but it helped train my brain to sit and write, no easy feat lol.
Hi, Kristy. I'm so glad you're posting about NaNo. When I first started writing and was feeling guilty about spending hours not doing what some people might think of being productive, I learned that I could write 50k words AND do everything else I needed to do. Which included hosting Thanksgiving and celebrating the many November birthdays in our family. But in reaching 50k it left my novel a bit of a mess. I still like the concept and characters and once in a while I revisit it, but it's hard for me to un-write. I do want to start that one from scratch one day. No regrets, though! It was one of the most important step I took as a writer.
ReplyDeleteThis year I'm working in the spirit of NaNo but excluding the word count goal. I am however writing blind. Like my first attempt I'm starting with a concept and seeing where the characters take me, only I'm taking my time. If I need to sit and stare at the wall for an hour, that's okay. It's surprisingly terrifying!!! But a great exercise.I'm going to my first NaNo write-in at our local bookstore.
Good luck with your WIP!
Patti,
DeleteI'm glad you found something useful from the experience. I think it can really teach you about yourself as a writer. We all have different strengths and weaknesses, and it really helps to know what they are because then you can optimize your time. There is a lot in my wips during NaNo that are unusable to me, but I find that it gives me a framework in which to do the real work required. It really calms my mind, actually. Good luck with your project as well!!
Great blog about NaNo! I've never participated, probably because I'm chicken. Don't know if I've ever done 50K in one month, but I know I've done that much in 6 weeks. It would definitely be a stretch for me, as I am one of those persons who doesn't like throwing out whole scenes, etc. I usually plot the next scene or two in my mind before I ever stare at the blank page, probably would be tough to do in NaNo. Maybe next year, when we're not running around so much, I will give it a try!
ReplyDeleteHebby,
DeleteIt sounds like you have a great writing habit already. I like NaNo because it helps me to turn off the inner editor, which can really slow me down at times. And I always do a lot of editing, so writing fast and sloppy doesn't seem to change my process too much lol. But it's interesting to try if you never have, especially the story points that are released as a result of the pressure to write fast.
I completed it once. Life has gotten in the way since then, but I write in an improv writing group and since that's timed and you always read what you write, it does a great job of shutting off my censors. I've written the first draft of a lot of my work in that group.
ReplyDeleteAnything to shut up that censor is a blessing even it you do hat it. LOL. Doris
Doris,
DeleteImprovisation is a good way to describe it. It helps you let loose and let go and just write. Some may not be usable lol but amongst the dregs are usually bits of the good stuff.
NaNo strikes terror in my heart. I'm a dedicated writer, but a slow one. I admire anyone who attempts it. It sounds like you got so much out of the experience.
ReplyDeleteAll the best...
Sarah,
DeleteIt strikes a little terror in me as well lol. It's a bit like riding a roller coaster with your eyes shut.