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I think I am really considering participating in NaNoWriMo this year. I have the time, I haven’t started any fics so no need to put off any projects for a month, and there are no video games to distract me this time. I just need a plot and I’m ready to go! Shame I don’t have one yet…
But I was reading over NaNoWriMo’s website and they spell it out plainly. The whole endeavour isn’t about writing the great (insert country of origin here) novel. It’s just about writing and getting over that creative road block of thinking too much. My Creative Writing prof called it your internal editor. It’s that annoying little voice who’s constantly shouting at you, saying what you’re writing is crap and you need to redo it. If you’re trying to reach a word count and a daily quota, then you got to tell your internal editor to shove it. This is about quantity, not quality. And that may seem silly, but it’s a good exercise to me. To just write and not worry about whether it’s good or not sounds very freeing.
It’s just the implementation of writing those words that’s making me hesitate. I know my goal shouldn’t be “Must reach 50,000 words by November 30!” especially since this would be my first time, but the thought of trying and totally failing just feels, I don’t know, frightening. I like to get stuff done and not finishing something this monumental would just be wrong. I’ve been trying to work out a writing process: 50,000 words over 30 days equates to about 1667 words per day. So I thought, “Hey, I’ll just write 30 chapters that are each 1667 words long!” But as I think about this, that just seems stupid. I would just be following a formula, not going with the flow. There would be no room for spontaneity. Having an outline is good, but mapping out each chapter sounds a bit too rigid.
To avoid having to build any worlds, because I’m lazy, I’m going to take a suggestion from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
newnumber6. Set the story in the “real world” as it was, but have one fantastical element that’s secret. So that inevitably means venturing into the world of the supernatural. Of course, everyone and their dog is writing a vampire/zombie/sea monster novel these days, but I really don’t feel like coming up with anything new. Vampires are easy and I can see why they’re suddenly all the rage. And I will admit beachkid and I, when we were in our high school Creative Writing class, did try our hand at a vampire story. Maybe it’s time to revisit those characters.
Work’s über slow right now anyway, so I could probably get away with writing at work. Plus my office mate is like the nicest guy ever. He totally gets that there are lulls during the day and he could care less about what’s on my screen. Writing looks like working, right? It looks a lot less conspicuous than say, an internet window browser.
But I was reading over NaNoWriMo’s website and they spell it out plainly. The whole endeavour isn’t about writing the great (insert country of origin here) novel. It’s just about writing and getting over that creative road block of thinking too much. My Creative Writing prof called it your internal editor. It’s that annoying little voice who’s constantly shouting at you, saying what you’re writing is crap and you need to redo it. If you’re trying to reach a word count and a daily quota, then you got to tell your internal editor to shove it. This is about quantity, not quality. And that may seem silly, but it’s a good exercise to me. To just write and not worry about whether it’s good or not sounds very freeing.
It’s just the implementation of writing those words that’s making me hesitate. I know my goal shouldn’t be “Must reach 50,000 words by November 30!” especially since this would be my first time, but the thought of trying and totally failing just feels, I don’t know, frightening. I like to get stuff done and not finishing something this monumental would just be wrong. I’ve been trying to work out a writing process: 50,000 words over 30 days equates to about 1667 words per day. So I thought, “Hey, I’ll just write 30 chapters that are each 1667 words long!” But as I think about this, that just seems stupid. I would just be following a formula, not going with the flow. There would be no room for spontaneity. Having an outline is good, but mapping out each chapter sounds a bit too rigid.
To avoid having to build any worlds, because I’m lazy, I’m going to take a suggestion from
newnumber6. Set the story in the “real world” as it was, but have one fantastical element that’s secret. So that inevitably means venturing into the world of the supernatural. Of course, everyone and their dog is writing a vampire/zombie/sea monster novel these days, but I really don’t feel like coming up with anything new. Vampires are easy and I can see why they’re suddenly all the rage. And I will admit beachkid and I, when we were in our high school Creative Writing class, did try our hand at a vampire story. Maybe it’s time to revisit those characters.Work’s über slow right now anyway, so I could probably get away with writing at work. Plus my office mate is like the nicest guy ever. He totally gets that there are lulls during the day and he could care less about what’s on my screen. Writing looks like working, right? It looks a lot less conspicuous than say, an internet window browser.
