Nanowrimo is here again. I’ve always had mixed feelings about it personally. As someone who has never managed to successfully complete a novel, I can understand the idea behind it, but the grump in me thinks that it encourages people to try and take shortcuts with their writing, which in general is a bad idea. Artificial deadlines can be helpful, but I wonder if some amazing novelist who needs 3–4 years not weeks to finish a book has tried nanowrimo and failed, and given up on it entirely.
Not that history isn’t already littered with failed artists and writers for even more capricious reasons.
I’ve been saying since about 2005 that “this is the year I will write my novel.” Each year, I find a reason not to write one, most of them silly. Ultimately, I figure—I’ll write a novel when my craft and ideas are ready. Until then, I’ll continue to build up writing muscle tone by working on the sprints or medium distance work. I’m eager to do a marathon. One of these days. Probably next year.
And yet… I’m sorely tempted. Very tempted to hammer one out over November. Or better yet, December, just so I can be a little contrarian.
Tags: My Writing, nanowrimo, novels
I’ve heard that there are people out there who do NaNoWriMo and think they’re “done” when they hit 50k and then start querying agents, but I’ve never met one. Those people clearly are not ones who write at any other time of the year, or know anything about the field.
It’s just a first draft, which I think we can all agree will suck. I had intended to do it this year (which would be my sixth year) but life is getting very much in the way and I’m not sure I’ll be able to. I started my novel anyway, all 500 words of it so far, and we’ll see how much I can grow it.
Good luck with yours when you decide to do it. We can commiserate. :)
Good luck!
I wish you would. I’d love to read it.
Thanks! Maybe some day soon.
Never went for nano myself. I always thought it’d be a waste of time. The idea behind it seems to be “Write badly, at least you got that first draft done.” I agree that very few first drafts are publishable, but I don’t think this means they’re badly written. The worse a first draft is, the harder it is to clean up, it might be harder to clean up than it is to write.
Motto: Write your first draft the best you can, then clean it up. Don’t puke all over the pages just to fill them in.
Looks like I’ll beat nano anyway. My novel probably won’t be done at the end of November, but I should have about that many words down.
Good to hear!