This month I've taken on the ultimate dilettante task of writing a novel in a month, inspired by the bizarre and brilliant NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. You can read more about the origins and details on the website, but the basic version is this: in November, people all over the world make the committment to write 50,000 words of fiction in 30 days.
Having never written a novel myself, I felt a deep affinity for this idea-- all of a sudden, novel-writing seemed crafty. Once I learned to sew, my first thought upon seeing a nifty bag or skirt was "How can I make that?" Learning to knit and crochet gave me the same feeling about hats and scarves and sweaters. Perhaps it is more time efficient and cheaper to buy something mass produced, but one of the joys of craftiness is knowing that you can make the things you like with your own style and your own two hands. Even though novels are right up there with clothes and accessories as necessary consumables for me, it had never occurred to me that I might be able to make one. Possibly this is because we are conditioned to feel that writers are rarified creatures living in thrall to their creative muse, squirreling themselves away in ivory towers to be brilliant and inspired. Or perhaps because, if we are people who love to write, we believe that the whole point is to be published and adored, and the fear of writing something awful that only our mothers and closest friends could pretend to enjoy reading keeps us from even trying.
Once I started looking at writing as something crafty-- something to be worked at, 1700 words a day for 30 days with the goal of 50,000 words-- I started feeling about it the way I do about knitting. I am not a great or creative knitter, but I get a deep sense of satisfaction from every scarf and hat that I finish, no matter how flawed. It is still warm, it is still the color and texture and weight I've chosen, and I still wear it with pride. I can knit without feeling it has to be perfect, or that I should be a professional knitter or pattern maker for it to be worth it. Why should noveling be any different? There is a value in exploring the byways of your imagination and vocabulary, whether you let anyone else read it or not. And just as even the simplest garter-stitch scarf requires hours of time and attention to make it to 5 feet long, so does a work of imaginative fiction require steady work both at times of inspiration and otherwise.
Enough with the philosophy-- just trust me that freeing yourself to think of writing a story as a crafty thing that you'll get better at with practice makes it a lot more fun. And in lieu of a tangible stash of expensive yarn begging to be used, or a holiday or birthday as a gift deadline, NaNoWriMo provides an excellent structure for finishing a writing project.
Preparation: By the arcane and wonderful rules of NaNoWriMo, everyone must start with a word count of zero, and not begin writing before the stroke of midnight rings on November first. However, this does not mean that preparation is forbidden. While it is utterly acceptable to start totally off the cuff on November first (or even November 7th) and go from there, many people do prepare outlines and notes so as not to run screaming in terror away from an utterly blank page on day one.
I decided to approach my story a bit like an imaginative term paper. I was very comfortable writing papers in college-- research, note cards, outline, topic sentences and boom, a paper was written. It was like a little assembly line. Imagine my thrill at finding a resource online that actually showed how to put together a novel using notecards! My choice for writing my story was to loosely follow Holly Lisle's wonderful advice. Other people feel deeply about the Snowflake Method. And still others have their own way of unravelling a little length of plot to follow when they start writing. The key is that if you feel uncomfortable freestyling, it is helpful to write yourself a pattern for where you want your story to go.
You can also allow your characters to be your starting point by writing character studies, then setting them all loose together somewhere and seeing what happens. This is also a great time to follow the train of "what ifs" that go through your mind when you read an interesting article in a magazine, hear a song that touches you, or see a work of art that suggests a story.
Staying Motivated: So, you have your outline, or notes, or character studies, or courage to just wing it-- how do you manage to sit yourself down and write every day? Another great thing about NaNoWriMo is that it is a community where people share their joys and woes and wordcounts. This can be both inspiring and daunting, so I recommend making sure you have a real-life support system too. I recruited my friend Jen to join me in the NaNoWriMo adventure. She is a professional writer who writes fiction on her own time, so she signed right up. We agreed to try to write together as often as possible, and to check in with each other once daily to keep ourselves honest and on track. My fiance is also a great motivational coach. Once I told him what I was going to do, his eyes got very big and he said "That's a lot of words." But he knew I was serious, and so has dedicated himself to asking me about my word count every day, and encouraging me to sit down and write when I might be procrastinating just a little bit. He is also fully supportive of ordering out for dinner in order to save time.
Jen and I also decided to get involved in our local NaNo community, so we went to the Bay Area Kickoff Party on October 20. They gave us all NaNoWriMo buttons and nametags where we filled in our name, our genre and the title of our soon-to-be novel if we had one. Jen wore and showed hers off proudly:
We spent a bit more time socializing with each other than meeting other writers, but the atmosphere was inspiring and festive, with balloons on the stage spelling out 50,000:
and soon to be 2005 NaNovelists using their NaNoWriMo buttons to spread the word:
And NaNoWriMo founder, Chris Baty, was also on hand to give a touching speech about how amazed he has been at the popularity of such a wacky endeavor, and the potential that he has seen NaNoWriMo unlock.
Once November first came around, Jen and I were ready-- prepared to stay on a steady pace of 1700 words a day to hit 50,000 by the end of the month. We met for lunch on November 2 to write quietly, and went to a NaNoWriMo write-in at a local cafe after work on November 3. I've written at the coffee place before work, and on the bus on my way home, then typed it all into Word and obsessively hit "tools" and "word count" to see where I was.
I wish I could take you through the whole triumphant month, but my novel, and my word count, are still works in progress. What I can tell you is that so far I've been thrilled at what my characters will do, or what will come to me when I wrack my brains for "what happens next." Even when I sit down not wanting to write at all or feeling totally uninspired, I somehow get through it because I believe that I can. You can start on NaNoWriMo today and write to catch up, or you can start your own Writing Month with friends in December, or January, or May-- the main thing is to free yourself of fears or expectations and get writing the way you get crafting.
Short list of Resources: No Plot, No Problem- NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty's book on how to tackle 30-day novel writing
Forward Motion A community of writers
Seventh Sanctum A random plot and everything else generator for inspiration when you just can't think of ANYTHING.
A very scientific progress tracker Lulu: A place to self-publish your book when it is done.
Nancy Flynn is a dilettante crafter who lives in San Francisco with her fiance. At this writing her word count is 10,380.
comment by jean Monday November 07th, 2005 08:23 AM
yeah. i love this idea. it's exactly how i feel about writing. keep us posted on your word count.
comment by Hula Mania Monday November 07th, 2005 11:40 AM
WHAT A GUY
comment by extrafinesugar Tuesday November 08th, 2005 04:05 AM
I'm participating too. Good luck!
comment by deadliner Wednesday November 09th, 2005 09:16 PM
Great article, and nice site.
I'm all for anyone or anything that kicks the mystique out of the writing process and makes it a hands on, smash and grab sleigh ride.
The party looks cool. I don't think we had any over here in Tokyo:( Even if we did, I joined five days late, anyway. Hope you're managing to keep on top of the wordcount. I have some serious catching up to do. So, I really should get off the net and get to it.
Nice tips on motivation. My own site, deadliner, is an attempt at one such way of keeping the productivity going beyond November. Check it out if you get a minute.
Thanks for the links, too!
comment by ~paperpeople~ Monday November 14th, 2005 05:24 PM
i love this idea, spent a lot of time at the nanowrimo site today, it's so intriguing! thanks for sharing!
question i'm dying to have answered:
is the site and forums at nanowrimo still going even after the november writing spree is over? i ask because i'd like to try this in january.
thanks!!
comment by belleepoque Friday November 18th, 2005 05:13 PM
yes ~paperpeople~! the forums keep going until October of the following year, when they shut them down to re-vamp for November.
comment by ~paperpeople~ Sunday November 20th, 2005 08:34 PM
thank you bellepogue! does that mean when i start in january, i'll find others there who decided, like me, to start their novel writing spree in january? that would be great, as i can't seem to find anyone IRL who wants to do this, except for one, possibly. the forums look like a great place to gather with others "going through" the same thing as you are.
i'm excited!
comment by sugar cookie Monday December 12th, 2005 02:52 PM
awesome! i self-published my own graphic novel this year, and it is totally inspiring to read this. i also have done journal comics daily for over 2 years. here is a site that helped me get stoked about self-publishing - maybe it will help all of the writers here...
