This year, for the very first time, I participated in the month-long writing frenzy that is NaNoWriMo. The goal: to write 50,000 words of fiction in 30 days.
My main problem as a writer is switching off my internal editor. I have the unfortunate tendency to polish the first few chapters of a book to death, and somehow never move forward. A crisis of confidence inevitably ensues whereby I decide whatever I’ve written is utter dreck. Then I abandon the project to start a new one, and the whole process repeats itself.
What appealed to me about NaNoWriMo was that I would be forced to ignore my internal editor for the month of November and simply write. I found this incredibly difficult for the first few days. My fingers itched to use the delete button and “correct” whatever it was that I’d written. As the days went by and my word count crept up, something amazing happened. I stopped worrying about the quality of my writing and concentrated on meeting (and sometimes exceeding) my daily word count goal.
The result was more impressive than I’d anticipated – at least in terms of quantity. I wrote over 65,000 words in 30 days, setting a personal record. I’m well aware that the manuscript I produced is in need of major revisions. Plotholes abound, the villain became the hero, and my heroine changed profession at least three times. Nevertheless, my book has a beginning, a middle, and – most importantly – an end. To paraphrase Nora Roberts: you can fix a bad page but you can’t fix a blank one. While not all of my 300-plus pages may be salvageable, at least I have something concrete to work with.
There are definite pros and cons to the NaNoWriMo method. I certainly wouldn’t advocate it for everyone. I’ve heard the argument that it’s a waste of time to continue when you know you’re writing rubbish. However, if you’re a procrastinator, or if you share my tendency to edit your text to death, NaNoWriMo might be for you.
Here’s what I learned from my NaNoWriMo experience:
• The delete button is NOT my friend!
• If you want to write badly enough, you’ll find the time, no matter what real life commitments you might have to distract you.
• Treat yourself as professional and your family and friends will start to regard your writing as more than a hobby.
• Anyone who participated in NaNoWriMo and wrote more than they otherwise would have done in a month is a winner, even if they didn’t reach the 50,000-word goal.
Have you ever done NaNoWriMo? What did you think of the method? Is it an act of masochism? An utter waste of time? Or something worthwhile?
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I did my first NaNo this year (and won!) and I think it’s a great way to set a goal and achieve yet. And yes, I’m also a firm believer in what Nora Roberts said. I think a lot of people who say it’s 50,000 words of drivel probably have never finished a book and sent it out.
If you ask me, Nanowrimo is a lot like Weight Watchers. It’s a tool, not a miracle; you only get out of it what you put into it. Some people put more into it than others. Others are just there for the donuts.
I’ve done NaNo three times, and won once. All three times I’ve learned something valuable about myself, my writing and how I work, and even if I never end up publishing anything I write during a NaNo, it will have been worth it to me for those learning experiences.
Angie
I agree with Liz. I finished Nano before Thanksgiving with approximately 51,000 words and found the experience both interesting and annoying. If I do it formally again, I won’t join one of the groups. My inbox was flooded with pep talks and invitations to ‘write-ins’ where it was encouraged to discuss plots and character and development of your novel. The point of NaNo was to WRITE, not to socialize and I think a lot of the people were there, as Liz said, for the donuts. To paraphrase another Nora Roberts, the best way to write is “sit your ass in the chair and write.”
Thanks to all of you for sharing your NaNo experiences.
@MicheleKS: Congratulations! If NaNo did anything for me it was to prove that Nora’s butt-in-chair approach works.
@Liz: I love your Weight Watchers analogy! So true.
@Angie: I’m definitely planning on doing NaNo again next year. Obviously, I intend to continue writing between now and then, but perhaps not at such a frenetic pace.
@Wendy A: Funny you should say that about the “write-in” invites. In order to attend such a “write-in”, I would have had to travel over 90 minutes to get to the one nearest to me. That made absolutely no sense and would have cut into my writing time. Maybe if one had been held in my town I might have gone along for an hour or so.
I must say I quite liked the pep talks, particularly those given by writers I know and like.
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I have yet to participate in a NaNoWriMo, but plan on doing it next year! Kudos to those who did!!
~Caroline
As you said, Nano isn’t for everyone, but it does work in many ways. If you want to finishing something or start something Nano is great. It also has several successes to its name. Water for Elephants was one, which state on the NYT for months. I didn’t do it this year. But hope to next year. I’ve done it in the past and helped me write those final words, the end.
I was very close to not taking part in NaNo this year. I am so glad I did because not only did I meet the 50K, but know I can write way past the word count needed. I shut off my internal editor and the words just flowed from my head to the pages.
Perfect advice is definitely to just sit and write, no excuses no hemming and hawing, just do it!
I’ve been doing Nano for 9 years (okay, maybe 8 if you don’t count the year I quit before 1000 words because of an eye infection).
This year’s book, I got to the end of act two (of the three act + denoument novel structure) with 52,000 words before the end of yesterday. Now I just need to get the last act finished, then I can start major rewrites, and see if this story is one that I would let anyone else read.
Congratulations to everyone who participated. I never have and probably won’t next year either. I always seem to be in the middle of some other project with a deadline in November. Thanks to my local chapter of RWA, I set a goal each month and it helps me keep going when I want to slouch off.
Congrats! Thanks for sharing your experience. I pittered out a crazy busy month for me. I so wish it was a spring time thing. But you have given me that extra nudge that maybe next year it will be worth trying. Cheers!
Wow, 65K in a month is a great accomplishment! I’ve never done NaNo because I’m in a similar situation to Susan’s — November, December, and January are absolutely crazy months for my day job. I’m lucky if I can write even ten pages a week during those months.
My trick for turning off the internal editor is to write longhand, either with a pen and paper or on my tablet laptop. If I try to type draft straight into my PC, I just cannot stay away from the delete key! I’m not sure why my longhand method works, but I’m glad it does.