Saturday, November 1, 2014

So I've Decided to Do the NaNo

Did you know November is NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month? It's when people buckle down and try to pump out a 50,000 word novel in thirty days. I tried to do this many years ago and epically failed for several reasons:
  • I hadn't given my story idea any thought prior to November. So there was no character sketching. No pre-plotting. Nothing. It's pretty daunting to come up with an idea and write it to completion in 30 days.
  • I had the misconception that 50,000 words was a full length novel. It isn't.
  • I didn't have enough time.
  • I was too tired.
  • I thought I wanted to do it, but it turns out I really didn't.
  • I thought my brain was incapable of churning out creativity in such mass quantities.
So when writer friends asked me if I was doing it this year. I was like, no. Nope. Definitely not. And I listed my reasons about how my writing method did not conform to NaNo. Or about this or about that. Blah, blah, blah.

But then I got caught up in all the NaNo pre-hype. 
And all my writer friends were doing it. 
And I already have an entire novel pre-plotted, characters all dreamt up, and worlds ready to be built. And I felt this itch to do NaNo. I didn't want to be left out of all the writing fun.

So I signed up for NaNo today and plan to join the drafting frenzy. My NaNo name is: AnitaSk8. If you're doing it, add me as your buddy, and we can cheer each other on.

Do I expect to complete an entire YA Fantasy novel this month?
Heck no, considering your average YA Fantasy can be almost 80,000 words.
Do I expect to write 50,000 words?
Probably not.
Do I plan to have fun and enjoy the camaraderie of writers striving to put words on a page?
Absolutely, yes!

5 comments:

  1. Over planning is actually not your friend. If you care too much about what you are writing for NanoWriMo then you'll grind to a halt. This is all about tying up your inner critic and locking her in a trunk for a month. Check out the founder of NaNoWriMo's book No Plot No Problem for a great guide to the process.

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    1. Don't say that to someone who used to be a total pantster and every novel she wrote stalled in the middle. I don't over plan, but I plan just enough so I don't stall in the middle and I'm left with a bunch of incomplete drafts.

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  2. Well not ALL your writer friends are doing it! ;) This is one of those things I just can't do. I'm too much of an edit-as-I-go drafter, the idea of writing for word count alone makes me itchy. I love a clean first draft so my revisions are a breeze. Sure it takes me a long time to draft, but it doesn't bother me when revisions take three days. :)

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