NaNoWriMo
1st January 2011
The dust is still settling after NaNo 2010. My writing friend, Sammy has proudly shown me her 50,000 words – and I have to say I’m impressed by what she’s created in such a short time.
Still not for me, but everyone works in different ways!
1st November 2010
NaNo time is here again…
Would that work as a song?
November is blast-off for all NaNoWriMo contestants…however, I’ll be far too busy trying to complete ’Angels Instead’ to even look up as this annual event screams past.
Larry Brooks still has his doubts and my reservations about the whole concept remain unchanged (see below) but having read some of the hints, tips and advice that has sprung up across the Interweb, I can say that whilst most of the information is probably very useful, it’s the pace that I find disagreeable.
However, that’s if I apply it to my own personal circumstance…I imagine that there are many budding writers out there who are eagerly looking forward to immersing themselves in thirty days of head-down creativity.
And to them, I say: Good Luck!
AJ Toynbee
5th August 2010
Basically, I think it works for some, but not for me. However, the flurry of activity that erupted last autumn (2009) over this may possibly have been the catalyst that got me determined to write a ‘real’ novel…
What concerns me is the intensity of NaNoWriMo…thirty days of heads-down oblivious-to-everything writing. I have spoken to people who have emerged from the other end of this exhausted, sickened and depressed. More than one writer has gained the impression that this is how the writer’s life will be and has decided that it’s not for them. A friend of mine managed six days before her family rebelled against what they called ‘her obsession’.
Perhaps she didn’t properly brief them on what she planned, but the result was that she hasn’t written since.
Larry Brooks shares my view, preferring to see people treat a novel as a marathon rather than a sprint.
In my (limited) experience, many of the ideas that have bubbled up and made it onto the pages of my novel would never have seen the light of day if I had used NaNoWriMo to frame my book. Some things, like a good stew / curry / wine /cheese need time to develop. The good ideas emerge during that maturation process. Akin to travelling across a country – you can take the highway and get there so much faster, or you can elect to drive on the smaller roads and enjoy the scenery and build many lingering memories from the countryside you are passing through.
NaNoWriMo time (2010) is approaching…but I will have my head down, trying to complete my First Draft of my First Novel.
AJ Toynbee
SocialVibe