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Rambling thoughts about the NaNoWriMo trek |
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I tried this journal thing before. It didn't resonate. It felt like air escaping from a let-go balloon. When it was empty, the balloon wasn't inspired to write on. Trying to write something each day is an excellent routine to get into, however, I'm not so sure about gathering random thoughts that may wonder into my head, and putting them out there for you to read in the form a journal entry. My writing can be bad enough when it's charged with purpose. But turning out boring, self absorbed, meandering thoughts won't make the world a better place for any of us. So why is this different? I've decided to take on the insane NaNoWriMo challenge. On my way to November, I will be getting ready for the big blast. Since I can't write on my novel before then, what am I going to do? You guessed it. A journal on the pre-NaNo experience. And who would want to read that stuff? Another NaNoNut, of course. So gather around, but don't expect much. It's just another lame-brained writer who can't produce a novel in the traditional way, trying something, anything, to break the fifty-thousand word mark.  |
In the beginning the novel was void and without form. And darkness was upon the face of the author. And Chris Baty said, Let there be NaNoMo. And there was writing. And the novelists went forth Even to the ends of the earth. And though it was not great, It was novel.  |
| I'm reading Doctorow. He puts more into one sentence than I could force into a novel, even if I could finish the novel. It's rather intimidating. I get frustrated, thinking that he's making it all too vague, but I keep reading until it suddenly becomes clear about where he has been leading my mind. Fascinating stuff. My NaNo novel won't be like that. I will try to write in enough simple sentences to keep my word count on track to finish. I don't know why I believe I can do that. Faith in the impossible? Fear of failing to meet the expectations of all those people that I bragged to about doing it? Whatever it takes. Doctorow has nine years on me and a literary background and education that I would need another two lives to attain but I'll bet he never tried NaNoWriMo. So there. |
| We have two seasons here in the mountains: winter and company. So, now it's company season, which just happens to double as social season. Company left this morning. We'll socialize until Sunday when new company arrives. It's a bad time for writing, but a good time for writing ideas. Company always consists of characters. If they were fictional no one would believe them, if they bothered to read. They have too many inconsistencies and can't get into the mold of either hero or antagonist. Change their names, add a few more flaws, beat them up with a few more problems and let them head off into the world of fiction and they will do fine. Thank you, very much. |
| Daniel Hudson Burnham, the architect and planner, credited with the success of the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago of 1893, allegedly said, "Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood. . ." To write a novel in a month is not an insignificant plan. When I mention it to friends I get double takes and snickers. But behind those chuckles I can feel the esteem that would ensue if it actually came to pass. Dan Zadra says, "Trust your crazy ideas." He talks to executives in training, who mostly have shed their crazy ideas on their way up the corporate ladder. Authors aren't usually afflicted with the same inhibitions. The idea of writing 50,000 words in November, in the hopes that someone out there will want to read it is, well, crazy. !Big crazy plan! |
I got the book, No Plot? No Problem! and have read the first hundred pages. Not supposed to read the next sections until the starting gun sounds. With all the warnings I'm worried about over-thinking it. I have an idea that includes the setting, where I live, a main character who thinks like I do, but isn't me, and at least two other characters to make it interesting. Since I can't start writing, I'm busy designing the book cover, casting parts for the inevitable movie, and trying out appropriate background music. |
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