October 28, 2006
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Writing Life
I don't write because I have some grand artistic vision. I write because that's how I make sense of the world.
National Novel Writing Month officially begins Tuesday night at midnight. In thirty days a great many people will attempt to create a 50,000 word rough draft of the novel in their head. Each year approximately 1 in 7 of those who begin the process complete it. I lead a small but elite circle via email of Xangans who support each other through the process and our numbers are better than the national average.
Do you have a story to tell? A book waiting to come out? The point of National Novel Writing Month is not that you will produce a polished novel - although some people (who are not well liked) seem to be able to do just that. No, the point of NaNoWriMo is that you will get your crappy rough draft done. It's SUPPOSED to be bad. It's supposed to be disjointed and chaotic and have characters doing things that don't make great sense. It's supposed to be a first draft.
And knowing that we're shooting for something less than perfection takes off a lot of pressure.
There's still plenty o'pressure to go around with the need to average slightly less than 2,000 words a day in order to make the goal.
And where's the sense in that? Isn't it just ... silly to set out to intentionally write something you know is bad?
A completed bad rough draft with story problems, spelling problems, and other issues, can be revised. If the alternative is blank paper, then there are worse things than a silly little idea to pound out a bad novel in 30 days.
So what do you say? Is this the year to cast your doubts to the wind, slap the obstacles aside and say, "I TOO can write a bad book!"
Comments (11)
We like to call the first draft the "sloppy copy."
I'm thinking about it, but still don't have a story idea nailed down. I'm going to see what develops. Good luck to you!
It seems a lot my blogring buddies are ready to write for NaNo... I have heard about it, but never tried it myself (mainly b/c I already started writing). It sounds fun to try, though. This entry has definitely got me thinking...
I know I can write a bad book. I have three of them smelling up my hard drive.
Hiya.....did the snow melt away?
So I have some questions about this process......do people actually strive to write a great book in this 30 day period or do they approach it with the mindset that the purpose is to create something cheesy? A "novel" -- so fiction only, right? And do you put it up on a blog or something, or do you get to keep it to yourself? I'm intrigued.......
I have a book I have been working on for years ! I really should try an dtake the time to finish it.
I write because I can't make sense of the world.
I'm ready! Last year I finished 50K but not the novel, this year I'm hoping to do both. Let's GO.
Rah!!! It's good to have a group this year. I'm ready to go!
I have a crazy month but I will try! Thanks for the reminder about this. I forget every year!
I'm SO not ready!!!
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