I can't believe I've never heard of National Novel Writing Month before. What a great, great idea. Go read up about it. Here, here's a sample, from the FAQ page:
If I'm just writing 50,000 words of crap, why bother? Why not just write a real novel later, when I have more time?
There are three reasons.
1) If you don't do it now, you probably never will. Novel writing is mostly a "one day" event. As in "One day, I'd like to write a novel." Here's the truth: 99% of us, if left to our own devices, would never make the time to write a novel. It's just so far outside our normal lives that it constantly slips down to the bottom of our to-do lists. The structure of NaNoWriMo forces you to put away all those self-defeating worries and START. Once you have the first five chapters under your belt, the rest will come easily. Or painfully. But it will come. And you'll have friends to help you see it through to 50k.
2) Aiming low is the best way to succeed. With entry-level novel writing, shooting for the moon is the surest way to get nowhere. With high expectations, everything you write will sound cheesy and awkward. Once you start evaluating your story in terms of word count, you take that pressure off yourself. And you'll start surprising yourself with a great bit of dialogue here and a ingenious plot twist there. Characters will start doing things you never expected, taking the story places you'd never imagined. There will be much execrable prose, yes. But amidst the crap, there will be beauty. A lot of it.
3) Art for art's sake does wonderful things to you. It makes you laugh. It makes you cry. It makes you want to take naps and go places wearing funny pants. Doing something just for the hell of it is a wonderful antidote to all the chores and "must-dos" of daily life. Writing a novel in a month is both exhilarating and stupid, and we would all do well to invite a little more spontaneous stupidity into our lives.
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I'm gonna do this and I encourage anyone who ever thought "I wanna be a writer" to do the same.
My participation may mean, in terms of this site, there will be really, really bad novel excerpts posted beginning November 1st. However, it'll all be over November 30th, so deal.
This has to be the single most "Eshtine" thing I have ever seen, and being who you are, I'm surprised you've never heard of this too. I can't wait to see what you come up with!
I also encourage you to post your "novel" on your web log... that way I can read as you write. {grin}
Posted by: PolluxStL at October 27, 2002 06:53 PMWell, that's an interesting idea... :-D
I wish you success!
Go for it, girlie. I feel like I've been waiting for this all my life and I've only known you since August of '94!
From the voice of Nike, JUST DO IT!!
Have I hugged you recently?
(((((HUG HUG HUG HUG HUG)))))
There, that's better.
Posted by: PolluxStL at October 29, 2002 07:01 AMBest idea since the "write a novel in one weekend" idea.
Whoooo!!!!!! You are going to KICK ASS!!! WHOOOO!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Elena at October 31, 2002 08:10 PM