So crazy, in fact, I want to do it. But not this year.
November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), the writers’ version of motorcycling’s Iron Butt Rally. It’s a simple contest: during the month of November, write a short (50,000 word) novel. But like haiku, there’s deep water beneath that simple surface.
Both NaNoWriMo and Iron Butt are endurance tests, of both operator and machine. Both require the participant to forego luxuries like sleep, regular meals, entertainment, and family. NaNoWriMo throws in another little monkey wrench, the minor detail of a major holiday (Thanksgiving, at least in the US) — toward the end of the month, when contestants will be pushing hard to wrap up, no less. Not to mention the 8.33% of us who happen to have a birthday in November.
To give you an idea of what 50,000 words is like, look through the October archive for Tales from FAR Manor. Read it all. Then multiply by 4. And I only thought I’d been writing like crazy this month. To really have a shot at completing NaNoWriMo, I would probably have to use up most of my vacation time (by taking November off, which ain’t gonna happen due to deadlines) kick the renters out of the old place in the woods, and move in there for the month.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
2 comments:
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The ending is the hardest part, I've found. I have one I actually managed to complete, and another about half finished. That one I think I know how I want it to end, but it's getting there from where I'm at that's giving me fits. Maybe I need to get the flu again, get 1/4 of the way to delirious like I was that last time, and then I'll be able to write again.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you just copy some else's novel and just replace the names with cool names. It's much easier that way, you should read my novels, War and Piece of Pie and Barry Plotter and the Kidney Stone.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I believe you have the talent to write a great novel, try not to focus so much on the end at first. Just get a good idea and start to let the charaters flow, then you can "let them" find their way to the end.