"Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap."
November is National Novel Writing Month. It 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."
The website NaNoWriMo is packed with well organized information, support and inspiration. There are FAQs and a forum for peer support. Groups are set up by region, and you will even have the chance to meet with fellow writers in your area.
The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel by November 30th. Quality does not matter. Quantity is key. This website's goal is to motivate writers to write every day, no matter how they feel or how busy their lives are. It helps to push writers out of editing and rewriting and fussing over the details such as flow or plot consistency. A writer is his or her own worst critic. Him-hawing over the finer points can be done at any time, but if there isn't enough to him-haw over there will never be that novel you've always been meaning to write someday.
Make someday this year!
Showing posts with label National Novel Writing Month. Show all posts
Showing posts with label National Novel Writing Month. Show all posts
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Sunday, November 4, 2007
NaNoWritMo - National Novel Writing Month
It's NaNoWritMo or "National Novel Writing Month" or just November to most people. I found out about this website about a week before the 1st and signed up immediately.
This website helps increase your chances of writing (and finishing) a novel. Writing is usually at the bottom of someone's list and life almost always gets in the way so November is a "no excuses" month! That is the spirit of the website. You don't win anything, but you can connect with fellow writers, including locals, for moral support and helpful tips. There aren't many rules, except that you weren't supposed to write anything more than an outline before the 1st of November.
I checked out the website, I believe it was under FAQ, and they had a list of people that signed up at their website, wrote a novel and have subsequently been published. Sounds promising. Sounds like the place to be if you want a chance at being a "real author"! Perhaps being a part of the program wins you brownie points in the eyes of some publishers... who knows!
I have a whole couple hundred words written, even though I should have about 5,000 by now. I could blame it on any number of things (namely spending five days fussing with a new DSL connection that doesn't want to work, and finally a wireless router, just to find out that my 3 year old computer that is out of warranty did not contain the internal wireless adapter that was supposed to come with it!) But I won't. I could also blame it on the fact that I have to count my words manually because I don't have any fancy "office" programs to do it for me. But I will not blame any of these things.
I hand counted words back in high school for those fussy teachers that didn't want pages but a set amount of words. Really, 500-600 words, 2000-2200 words, these word control freaks needed to rethink what they were doing to stressed out teenagers. And then there was the teacher that marked me off for supposedly quoting someone and not providing a footnote! For the record they were my words Mr. H! It didn't help he waited until the grades for the last report card of the year were already calculated.. I took the hit and took it as a compliment.
He doesn't know I wrote the whole thing the last night, all 13 pages, staying up all night, and had just enough time to get a shower and get on the bus. The report required 5-7 pages and he asked me if I knew that. I said yes, but that I couldn't get the point across in 7 double-spaced pages; it was impossible. My topic? The Church-State Debate. I was an angry young teenager with a chip on my shoulder. Those were the days, fired up and ready to pound out a few thousand words in one night; edit; edit again; and again; and feeling alive as the words poured out of my fingers. I need to get that feeling back to write this book.
I don't have an outline; I have no idea which way the story will go. I only have a few ideas and a history of the main character. She will need to take on a life of her own, as well as the story, bit by bit.
Do you have vague dreams of being a published author? Now is the month! Go forth and write something, anything... like before November ends... no excuses... go... scoot... make me a novel to read!
This website helps increase your chances of writing (and finishing) a novel. Writing is usually at the bottom of someone's list and life almost always gets in the way so November is a "no excuses" month! That is the spirit of the website. You don't win anything, but you can connect with fellow writers, including locals, for moral support and helpful tips. There aren't many rules, except that you weren't supposed to write anything more than an outline before the 1st of November.
I checked out the website, I believe it was under FAQ, and they had a list of people that signed up at their website, wrote a novel and have subsequently been published. Sounds promising. Sounds like the place to be if you want a chance at being a "real author"! Perhaps being a part of the program wins you brownie points in the eyes of some publishers... who knows!
I have a whole couple hundred words written, even though I should have about 5,000 by now. I could blame it on any number of things (namely spending five days fussing with a new DSL connection that doesn't want to work, and finally a wireless router, just to find out that my 3 year old computer that is out of warranty did not contain the internal wireless adapter that was supposed to come with it!) But I won't. I could also blame it on the fact that I have to count my words manually because I don't have any fancy "office" programs to do it for me. But I will not blame any of these things.
I hand counted words back in high school for those fussy teachers that didn't want pages but a set amount of words. Really, 500-600 words, 2000-2200 words, these word control freaks needed to rethink what they were doing to stressed out teenagers. And then there was the teacher that marked me off for supposedly quoting someone and not providing a footnote! For the record they were my words Mr. H! It didn't help he waited until the grades for the last report card of the year were already calculated.. I took the hit and took it as a compliment.
He doesn't know I wrote the whole thing the last night, all 13 pages, staying up all night, and had just enough time to get a shower and get on the bus. The report required 5-7 pages and he asked me if I knew that. I said yes, but that I couldn't get the point across in 7 double-spaced pages; it was impossible. My topic? The Church-State Debate. I was an angry young teenager with a chip on my shoulder. Those were the days, fired up and ready to pound out a few thousand words in one night; edit; edit again; and again; and feeling alive as the words poured out of my fingers. I need to get that feeling back to write this book.
I don't have an outline; I have no idea which way the story will go. I only have a few ideas and a history of the main character. She will need to take on a life of her own, as well as the story, bit by bit.
Do you have vague dreams of being a published author? Now is the month! Go forth and write something, anything... like before November ends... no excuses... go... scoot... make me a novel to read!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)