Writing Blog Number 2

20241004 NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo

Okay, this is going to be brief.
         Regular readers of my newsfeed posts will know I have issues with NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. There has been a litany of things that have turned me off.
They had issues with their forums involving inappropriate behavior by moderators.
One moderator had multiple accounts and used these to harass others.
An incident arose in Melbourne (Australia) and they took one side over the other when both sides were equally at fault.
International communities were made to feel like they were lesser, not only as members but as writers.
They banned the use of Discord as a way for regions to communicate, instead pushing their toxic forum (which is closed as I write this).
They refuse to state that the use of AI to write stories whole-cloth (and therefore, theft of the work of others) is wrong.
They require regional leaders to report people to local authorities if they break the law, which means gay writers in Saudi Arabia are no longer welcome to do NaNo, for example.
                   And on a personal level:
I wrote an email to them and the response I received made me feel like “my type” is not welcome in the NaNo. My type? A white, middle-class, atheist, middle-aged male. We are the problem with the world (not so much the atheist bit, but that is seen as nasty by them anyway), so if we feel like we are excluded, then that’s because we deserve it.

So, now that I have been negative, what am I writing this for?
         Because I am doing naNoWriMo this year. I promised an ill friend that I would accompany her on her first attempt to do it, and so I am doing it for her. I will encourage her and boost her and get her over the line. As for me… I’ll make it. The goal is hardly a challenge for me.

This brings me to the crux of this post:
         To those who are doing NaNo, the goal is to write 50k words in 30 days, at 1667 words a day.
         Look at that goal. It does not say you need to finish a story. Just that you need to write 50,000 words of a story. Or you can rebel and change the writing goal, or write a series of short stories or poems (though that is more NaPoWriMo). Yes, technically, it should be 50k words of a novel (the No means Novel, after all), but by now people just write whatever they feel like, and push for 50k.
         We have a prep going on here at WdC ("October Novel Prep Challenge" ) that I was volunteered to do, though I do not think I am any good at this sort of thing. That will help those who plot get a handle on their stories, and pantsers like me might even see something to it (I’m not doing it; I can’t see how any of it will help me personally). Note: not help me; everyone else, especially plotters, will find it invaluable.
         But, and this is important, I do hate the “competition” aspect of NaNo. You “win” if you crack 50k words. Great. But that means you are said to “lose” if you don’t.
         That is rubbish!
         Every word you write is a good word you have written, and one more you have written that you have not written before. So many people claim they are going to “write a book”, but never do, so if you get words down, then you are ahead of the vast majority of the population. And just because you don’t crack 50k words in November doesn’t mean you stop writing. Keep working on it – you’ve got the base for a longer story. And it is only a first draft, so it does not have to be perfect. Not at all. Other drafts can occur at any time – this is 50k words of a first draft.
         This whole “winners and losers” thing sucks big time. I hate competitions and contests at the best of times, but making a challenge into a win/lose situation just reeks of elitism.
         So, write, do NaNo if you desire, or unofficially if not (which is what my region has opted for) and just remember: All writing is good writing!