During October, besides the excitement of Halloween, there's always a debate that goes on about NANOWRIMO.
What is it? Good question.
NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth - a free activity for the month of November
www.nanowrimo.org
The basic idea - Write a Novel in November (50K words)
I'm what's called a Nano Rebel - because I don't start a new project in November, I just keep writing on whatever I'm writing.
Basic 'average' of words per day to get to 50K - 1,667
There are local events to attend, ways for people to volunteer and help, all kinds of great stuff, but there are those that do NOT like the event.
And I see why. There are a lot of Nano-police - people who want to decide if you won fairly. What do you get when you 'win'? A download ready certificate and maybe a couple of discounts on products. You do NOT get a publishing contract or money... but some people want to tell you what to do...
But the point (to me and a number of others) is to WRITE -
to GET THE WORDS DOWN - because, like I remind myself, you can't fix a blank page.
At 'write ins' - events were writers (those solitary creatures) actually go out in the world and meet each other. It's usually at a coffee house (although, those are disappearing) or somewhere there are table and in Hawaii, air conditioning!
And we have 'word wars' - we pick a time and during that time we write as fast as we can. Again, a number of people will decry the idea. "You can't write anything good that fast." and maybe that's right, but I usually use the time to work through issues. If I have a plot hole/problem, I'll write about the problem, just letting my mind and fingers work through it.
Online, I have 'word sprints' with other authors. Again, someone picks a time and we'll just write, write, write for that time. Take a break and then go again. I'll use the 'break' time to think ahead and focus my mind on the next section/chapter of the story.
I've done NANO for about fifteen years and I've seen people come and go. I've seen the groups change in good ways and bad. And I'm firmly in the camp of PRO-NANO, mainly because it can be a positive influence on someone's writing.
I don't listen to the Nano-Police... I just do what I need to do to work toward my goals. I try to encourage others to do what they need to do.
So, tell me... have you done NANO before? Doing it now?
What do you love about it? Do you have things that have bothered you in a past? Currently?
Have a success story? Let's have it!
If they would do NANO with a different month, I might give it a shot. But November is a very busy month for me with travel and Thanksgiving. And, to be honest, I don't like the pressure it puts on someone. I'm a slow writer, but my manuscripts need little revision when I finish. It wouldn't do me much good to spend more time fixing word salad that came out under pressure. Just my opinion. I wonder how everyone else feels.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you. I've never thought November was a good time to try to shoehorn a whole book into. I have won it a few times, but I write every day, anyway, so I only commit to Nano if I happen to be starting a new project in or near November. Alas, this year, I just finished two projects prior to Halloween so wasn't ready to start up a new one so quickly. Good luck, Reina (and everyone!) who can take it on this year! :)
Deletethat's why I'm a rebel.. I just keep working on whatever i'm working on :D
DeleteI did NaNo one year. I continue to simply write as rapidly as I can.
ReplyDeleteit was fun for awhile.. I still like seeing my friends from last nano but this year I went to the kick off and that's about it.. there are some people with nasty attitudes and I just needed to focus.. about ten years ago we had an amazing community.. many have moved away :(
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