National Novel Writing Month

With September at the doors, some of us are starting to work or are already working on our plans for NaNoWriMo, at least, those of us who write outlines. So I think it's not too early to be posting a thread about the event.

For those of you who don't know what the heck I'm going on about, National Novel Writing Month is an entirely free-to-join event held annually from November 1st through November 30th, in which the goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. It's a challenge, certainly, and it values quantity over quality, certainly; but the first draft I wrote for it three years ago was the first 'big thing' I ever actually finished and I'm STILL working on refining last year's project so maybe it can be gotten in print.

For those of you who do know, or who are intrigued, are you participating this year? Are you a rigid outliner or do you wing it? Personally, I'm usually an outliner (I know last year's project was rigidly outlined and as meticulously planned as I was capable of), but this year, I find myself lost for plot. I have a few options I could work with, but I get stuck on either the characters, the story, or how to get from story point to story point. I might have to hit the forums and adopt a plot this year, embarrassing though that is...

I wing it. I push the little ignition button on the seat of my pants and see where my trousers lead me. For me, it's more rewarding on a day-to-day basis that way; finding new and shiny things in my plot that I'd never thought of and following them down a merry trail of emotions and pain.

NaNo can be 0 commitment after November. I know BP works on her stuff afterwords, but I don't even take a second glance. Once December hits, I'm done. I have no intention of editing, and they don't push you to do it. If you like editing your stuff and want to put it out there, they have channels to help. If not, if you're in it (like me) to just write a novel and be done, they shower you with praise, wave goodbye, and sing "see you next year!"

NaNo's great because it forces you to abandon such concepts as "my muse" and "the writing bug." The idea that you can only write when inspiration hits, and that it's impossible to write when it's not knocking on your door, is one that gets brutally crushed time and time again every November by hundreds of thousands of writers all across the globe. It makes you sit down and write; it makes you abandon your inner critic of "this isn't good enough" and "I need to write something better" and just keep plowing forward; it makes you accept the quality of a rough draft and leave editing behind for the sake of getting that first draft done.

The lessons you learn in NaNo are, in my opinion, invaluable for any writer. Whether you're a novelist, journalist, or (yes) RP'er, NaNo will help you. I've done it for two years, and I know it's helped me. Writing little 100-300 word posts is a breeze and takes no time at all after NaNo. I would highly recommend it.

In my defense Quill, it's only last year's project that's under scrutiny and that's because it's a very special project for me. I MIGHT do editing on what I have ended up coming up with for this year, but no guarantees... It depends on the project.

I think it's great that it means that much to you, BP, and it's really cool that you have the drive to keep working on it. There's only good things to be said about that kind of thing; I was just making the point that post-November work isn't for everyone, and it's not at all a required part of NaNo.

Oh, and something I forgot to mention. Busy-ness is no reason not to do NaNo! It actually works best when you are busy, when you have no clue when you'd find the time to write 1,667 words a day, when you think about doing this cool thing someone mentioned online but shove it aside because you "don't have that kind of time." Nobody has this big, floaty, open space in their schedules that is conveniently perfectly sized for novel writing- part of what NaNo teaches is time management; the ability to work on the rough draft of your novel wherever you are. Every word counts- on the bus, between classes, before/after meals, every little bit. That's part of the appeal :)

( Shh, I was never here. Must pop out for NaNo, though! )

My plans are to participate this year in NaNoWriMo--last year was my first year, which I finished, and it was totally awesome and worth it. I came into the party almost a week late last year and spent almost the whole thing writing double-time, which was crazy, but in the end it was great. Because it was so sudden for me, though, the whole thing was very spontaneous and written on the fly, resulting in a pretty mangled final product. Still totally worth it.

This year I'm working with a friend and am fleshing out the story long before getting into it. So far I have somewhere near 10k words in notes on the story and expect it to go quite a bit more, if everything continues according to plan. I am really excited about this year, though

For those of you who do not get the NaNo bug and check the site obsessively between September and October like me, OLL has re-launched the site, so you can set up your profile and your novel now. If you want to, you could add me as a Writing Buddy- just drop me a line beforehand so I know who you are.

Yeah, I don't really like NaNoRiMo, my sister is doing it and when she does it I have to cook more...