November approaches, and with it comes National Novel Writing Month, a “writing event” that involves people all over the world trying to write a 50,000 word novel from scratch during the month of November. Along with NaNoWriMo comes, inevitably, a flock of earnest would-be writers asking whether or not they should participate (and, occasionally, whether I have).
Taking the easy part first: No, I haven’t ever done NaNoWriMo myself. I’ve thought about it a couple of times, but I know my process pretty well, and generally, I’m a plodder. 500 words a day, day in and day out, works fine for me; 1700 words a day for 30 days is beyond hard, unless I’ve hit on an idea that simply won’t let go and that just flows out my fingertips. Which has happened exactly twice in the past 30 years…and I’m not sure either thing would have continued to flow like that if I’d been trying to make myself meet that goal every single day.
Then, too, November tends to be a busy month, with holiday preparations and Thanksgiving both taking a big chunk of time that would normally be available for other things. There have been quite a few years where I didn’t even make my normal 500 word daily quota. This year, I’ll have all the usual, plus house guests early in the month, plus a bunch of family business that’s been hanging fire while I got the page proofs for Across the Great Barrier proofread. In other words, I’d have the chance of the proverbial snowball in hell of finishing.
The hard question, though, is really the first one – should someone try this? The reason it’s hard is because there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. You have to know something about the person asking, their capabilities, and their other responsibilities before you can even begin to guess whether they’ll be able to tackle it. (When Lois and I did a college tea the week before last, one of the students we were talking to asked us whether she should do NaNoWriMo. Lois looked at her and said, “Do you have any finals that month?” The student looked startled, having apparently expected a simple yes or no response.)
So if you’re thinking about doing NaNoWriMo, consider: What else do you have to do in November? If you have no finals, projects, or reports due at school or at work; if you aren’t responsible for anything at Thanksgiving except showing up to dinner; if your holiday presents and preparations are either well under control or perennially done at the last minute some time in December…then you’re good in this regard. If one or more of those things isn’t true, you’re going to be juggling priorities. Take a long, hard look in advance and decide just how good a juggler you really are before you make a commitment.
Also consider: How do you react to failure? If you’re going to be devastated if you get to the end of the month with 49,000 words instead of the requisite 50,000, maybe this is not the thing for you. If, on the other hand, you’re pretty sure that if you weigh in with 25,000 words at month’s end, you’ll be utterly delighted because that’s twice as many as you’ve ever achieved before…maybe you should give it a go.
Next, consider whatever you already know about your work habits and what works for you. If you work best and produce most under pressure, by all means try and see whether this sort of public deadline helps. If deadlines and pressure make you freeze up, you probably shouldn’t. If you’re not sure…well, sometimes experimenting is the only way to find out what works.
Even if you’re pretty sure that you are, like me, a slow-and-steady plodder, you might want to experiment with NaNoWriMo, just to see whether the commitment, the deadline, and the public support and accountability help or hurt your production rate. Sometimes, forcing yourself past your limits helps move those limits outward. Other times, it results in a nervous breakdown. Consider carefully what your particular reaction is likely to be, and factor that into your decision.
The absolute most important question to ask yourself, though, is this: Will it be fun?
Because really, if it isn’t going to be fun on some level, why do it?
I’ve never actually done the sign ups and registered all the way, and November really is the worst month to do it in, (I imagine I’ll be writing 50,000 words anyways, but they will be term papers about Japanese Syntax and Old Irish Phonology.) But when I was a senior in college and was working on my creative thesis i found it really helpful to know that November was the month everyone else was struggling with writing too. I would get up in the morning, hammer out somewhere around a thousand words and then hare off to Classical Japanese. On the days when I didn’t feel like writing, i could always remember that there were a ton of other people grumbling about not wanting to write, and, well, when you have competition, no one wants to be the one to flake out first, right?
Hey, look! Support for my decision not to join NaNoWriMo. Thank you! I now feel much less like a Scrooge. 🙂
Ah, but it is also support for my decision TO join it. It’s a wonderful case of, “Whatever floats your boat,” isn’t it?
I’m doing it this year! Actually it’s my third year in a row and I have failed MISERABLY in past years, but this year I’ve actually taken the time to outline and pre-plan and I think I can actually finish this time. But I’ve always been a fast writer when I know where my story is going. The biggest problem is going to be keeping up with school and married life AND my story.
But luckily, my husband is my best support system 🙂
Amen! I always lose the last week of November to family and holidays.
I participated in NaNoWriMo twice. The first time was to exorcise a second story that was taking over brain space from the current work in progress. I petered out around 22,000 words sometime in the third week. I’d used up all my world building and character stuff. Then Thanksgiving preparations started and I had no more time for writing.
The second time was an effort to restart after a too long writing hiatus. It didn’t work. My mind isn’t geared that way. I do best with a page a day minimum with Sunday’s off commitment. I usually wind up writing more than that one page when I work like that.
Although I did declare October as FiThDaBoMo – Finish The Damn Book Month. The last year has been tough, time wise. I’ve had a lot of plotting time, but very little writing time.
Nano is impossible for me under strict rules because I meet new books by writing scenes and you’re allowed to have 100K of outline but not 100 words of scene.
Nano is bad for me because there’s such a thing as writing too fast: where I reach for clichees, fail to add description, and get myself into a mess that takes longer to sort out than it would have done to write well in the first place.
Nano is great because I have met other local SF writers through it – it’s a good way of finding writers.
Unless it’s pouring with rain (due to a very annoying mess I am currently car-less – car is fine, garage I was forced to use isn’t, so going to town involves a 3m bike ride before I can catch a bus) I shall attend Sunday’s kickoff meeting.
I will be writing on the book I worked on last year. (I write 12500 words last November), and I shall aim for ‘make writing more of a priority’ and just ride the creative wave.
I’m in a group with someone who regularly writes 100K in November, so competitive doesn’t even get started.
I’ve done it once, in 2006, when I started my first novel. I only wrote 26000 but that was more than I had ever written so I was thrilled.
I’m also a plodder and the idea of 1700 words (or 2500 in my case since I take weekends off) a day turns me off writing.
I’ve been doing NaNoWriMo for a bit now and have to agree, it’s not for everybody. Different strokes, and all that. Every year I try to tell myself that I’m not going to do it and every year I’m back to the grind.
Still have to do more editing on last year’s too. *sigh*
Cara – The competition can be a good thing or a bad one, depending on one’s attitude. If it spurs you on to keep going when you don’t feel like it, great; if you get discouraged by how far behind you are, or keep obsessively checking on how everyone else is doing (that would be me…), then it isn’t so great.
Michelle – It’s like Theresa said: Whatever floats your boat.
Kaitlin, Theresa, and Deborah – Good luck! Let us know how it worked for you when November is over! (Oh, and I should mention that Scrivener is doing a beta of their new Windows version; anyone who uses it during NaNoWriMo and gets their 50,000 words certified will get a major discount when the final version of the software is released in January. Might provide some extra motivation…)
green_knight – And good luck to you, too. I like that NaNo can be a bit flexible, and you can work with a group on an existing project, even if it means you can’t get your 50,000 words certified.
Alex – I can do 1700 words a day for a while if I absolutely must (I did it when I was trying to meet the deadline for Across the Great Barrier), but by the end of three weeks I’m cranky and exhausted and not at all sure about what I’m producing…and it ends up needing a lot more revision than if I do it my usual way. Plodding just works better for me.
@Theresa
Ah, but it is also support for my decision TO join it. It’s a wonderful case of, “Whatever floats your boat,” isn’t it?
Something for everyone!
I thought NaNoWriMo sounded like a fun thing for other people when I first heard of it. I am constantly astonished at how right that assessment was. Other people have a lot of fun with it. That’s great.
I can’t help hoping, though, that when the next cool writing community thingy pops up, it’ll be something that will be fun for me too. :rueful:
@ VIctoria
I like your October a lot! For me this November had better be the Finish Those Damn Revisions Month, then maybe December can be (should be) Write Those Query Letters before Another Year Passes Month. Somehow that concept is hugely more intimidating than write 50,000 words in a month. I’ve written a ton of words in my life, and I’m usually decent at producing more, but polishing something up until it’s actually a decent novel is a whole different ballgame.
I did NaNoWriMo last year, and it was probably one of the funnest things I have ever done in my life. Yes, it’s a little hectic, but that’s just part of the fun. I think that I can actually get more accomplished if I have a set deadline to work towards.
Thank you for the information! I always enjoy reading your blog for practical advice about the writing process.
I think your sound advice made me move forward and take the plunge into the frantic creativeness that seems to be NaNoWrMo! I did not know such an insane competition existed.
I tend to dally in character sketches and outlines, so NaNoWrMo seems to be just the push I need into actually finishing or attempting to finish a novel.
Thanks again!
Thanks for the encouraging words, Patricia. I’ve been revving up for this and am just hoping that things don’t finally go off track this time around.
I think a lot depends on what you’re looking to get out of the experience. I did it once, years ago, and completed 51,000 words. Is it a novel I can edit and sell? Maybe – if I rewrote it completely.
I learned a lot about me and my process. I learned the truth about writer’s block – for me. I learned what my common writing mistakes were. My word count production time decreased by half in the first week alone. And I wrote almost half of those 51K words in the last week in order to finish. 7K on the last day alone.
If I viewed the experience more as a writing class, it was well worth the time and effort. And yes, it was a busy month for me with many fun things happening – including being rear ended by an 18 wheeler. 🙁
One other interesting thing I learned – working that hard at writing isn’t good for me. I didn’t write another word until February.
A contest for writing with that kind of support system? Oooh….. sounds like fun! Not this year tho – 15,000 words is more then I write in a month even if you include emails and comments in the total. Maybe by 2012? 😀
I’ve never completed a novel before and I’m currently unemployed. NaNoWriMo it is!