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Thoughts on NaNoWriMo

Thoughts on NaNoWriMo
2010, October 17

An edited response to encouragement (How to Write a Novel in 30 Days) from just4him:

Some additional thoughts/advice:

1. November is a difficult month for me.

A. Choose another month. The down side? Not being part of a group. Solution: make a group!

2. I am not going to write on Thanksgiving, my best friend's wedding, my mother's birthday... I'm taking a trip.

A. Subtract those days and divide into 50k. Me? Last year I tried 2k/day. That's 25 days (or 5 days to myself). I finished early.

3. I want to cheat!

A. Go ahead. This is not Grade School. The goal is to get it written! I thought of starting October 20th and getting done by November 20th (It's the Montana-Montana State game and I want to go to Costa Rica, maybe as soon as November 22nd.)

4. I don't write novels.

A. Write a book of short stories, a novelette with a sequel, a book of poems. I wrote 60k of short stories (I'm a poet) last year.

5. I don't know my characters.

A. Get to know them. Beyond physical attributes (my characters in Blood of the Garlic were missing most ...on purpose) know what motivates them, know details only an intimate friend would know (you don't have to share... ). My favorite colors are orange and green. A boring detail I'm sure, but if my favorite color were black it would be more interesting than me having black hair.

6. The idea of 3x5 cards is great, but why?

A. You'll regret not having them after you've written 20k! Believe me! It's hard to keep track of characters, story lines, relationships, et cetera. You DO NOT want to have to reread you work every day to glean details you've forgotten... you need to focus on writing! Editing comes later.

7. My short stories and/or poems don't have a story line...

A. Ah... but they will hang separately if they don't hang together. I realized after writing 60k that the stories were in three parts. Extra work to try to figure out the chronology later... believe me on this. Group by themes if nothing else.

9. I have no time!

A. Well make some! This may come at great sacrifice. Is this worth it?

10. I'm sure there are many other lessons learned from attempting NaNoWriMo last year. Others need to share theirs.

Peace, Kåre

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