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Osfer

Ladies! Gentlemen! Intermediate genders!

The time is almost nigh. The National Novel Writing Month is almost upon us.

One minute after midnight on October 31st, about fifty thousand writers around the world will shun their spouses, children, friends and jobs and work themselves to a bleary-eyed state of catatonia until November 30th, with a singular goal:

To write one novel in one month.

The rules are simple. You can do all the preparation you want in advance, but you can only start writing the story itself on November 1st. And by November 30, you have to have reached 50 000 words.

Fiftykay.

It's a glorious challenge, a great test for any writer. The focus is on productivity, not quality. Who cares if it's full of spelling errors, who cares if it has serious plot holes. The goal is to keep writing, to move forward, and fix all the problems later. It doesn't have to be good, it has to be done.

It was the spur of NaNoWriMo in 2004 that caused Maranatha to spew from my brain, and while the deteriorating condition of my fingers forced me to abandon that by the time I hit about 190 000 words, it will soon find new life in the form of a comic, Heathen City.

Err, sorry about the plugging. Back to NaNo!

Yiffstar and my own FurRag are excellent places to participate in NaNo. Discuss the trials of long nights of writing with fellow novelling writers. Post one new chapter after another for your readers to marvel at.

It's incredibly hard work, and unbelievably rewarding.

Who's up to the challenge? Smiley

Midi · Guest

I'm gonna try and enter. I wanted to last year, but I didn't finish anything in time. But I do have a very good idea to what I will write!

Osfer · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:07 am Post subject:

Well, entering means simply starting on time and trying to make 50k Smile

Typically about one in four participants actually reach 50k, but everyone has fun. There's something really inspiring about devoting yourself to writing alongside supportive fellows Smile

No_Idea_What_I'm_Doing · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:53 pm Post subject:

Well, I slapped down 6,000 words on paper over the last three days, but I don't think I can make 50,000 in one month. Sure, if I keep up at that pace, I'm gold. In fact, I'd be on pace for over the mark, but I don't just do all that writing like that. I may, as I said, do three day spurts, but I don't do months. SRY.

Virmir · Registered User Joined: 21 Nov 2006 Posts: 107

Gah ha ha!

I just did 24K words in something like five months, and I'm burned out from that, hehe.

I commend anyone rising up to this challenge. Smile

Tony Greyfox · Registered User Joined: 22 Sep 2007 Posts: 1

Hmm... I've got a couple of ideas I could work with, but as my job involves lots and lots of writing, I'm not sure I can focus in enough to write 50K in my off-time. But, I've had a couple of friends do it, so I might have to give it some thought again. (Shame it has to be written all in that time, I've got a project going now that would easily kill 50,000 if I got wordy...)

ScottyDM · Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:51 pm Post subject:

Osfer · Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:15 am Post subject:

Rock and roll, Scotty.

The goal is, indeed, to write. Your fellow NaNoers give you energy and you return the favor, you strive to keep up because when you're surrounded by writers who stay up late and cancel appointments to keep up, you feel something that you just can't get when you write on your own: writing is important.

The experience of participating in NaNo, of keeping up the pace even when you're in the last week and realize you're too far behind to catch up -- it's powerful stuff. It teaches you what you're capable of as a writer, builds your confidence, and gives you enough experience with disciplined, focused writing that you can realistically plan future stories out in advance, and proceed with a clear idea of what you need to do and how much time it will take you.