NA-NO-WRI-MO! NA-NO-WRI-MO!  

Posted by Devin Parker

I'm gonna write chapter one! Then I'm gonna write chapter two! Then chapter three! And chapter four! And chapter five! And I'm gonna keep on writing until the month runs out and I write 50,000 words or more! HYYYYEEAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!

So here I am, early Saturday morning after a little Undead-playing on World of Warcraft, a late viewing of "I, Robot" and no trick-or-treaters (no big surprise; we live in an enclosed apartment building). I woke up two hours ago and now, after puttering around for a little while, I am preparing to return to bed. But suddenly it dawned on me: today is November 1st, the first day of National Novel Writing Month.

And I still don't really have any idea of what I'm going to write. I had been tossing the project around in my head for the past few days, wavering between writing straight fantasy (perhaps giving another stab at the fantasy story I tried to do last time), historical fiction, or science fiction. I looked through some of my historical reference books, which of course, made me want to do Tolkien-style medieval fantasy or perhaps something set in Ancient Rome... I really don't know.

Here's what I was bearing in mind, though. This time, while I do want to give attention to the setting, obviously, I really want to try to make the story about the characters. I don't know how much I was really doing that last time. Setting is backdrop and occasionally MacGuffin, but stories are about characters and their relationships, goals, etc.

That's about as far as I've gotten. I need to have 1,666 words of this new story written before midnight tonight. One advantage I have this year that I didn't have the last time I tried is a laptop computer. Now I can go to Starbucks or a library or somewhere other than the apartment to write. That's a big boon to me, because as much as authors seem to advise people to get into a routine and always write in the same location, I think a change of scenery is invigorating.

...What am I going to write?!

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 01, 2008 at Saturday, November 01, 2008 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

3 comments

Michael Slusser  

I, too, am on this existential out-of-control train ride to who knows where this month. Let's hope we both make it through to the end, eh? I'm also facing the difficulty of choosing a story to run with—I have a dozen ideas, but two that are real possibilities, and I'm not sure whether to run with one of those or something totally new. I figure I'll start on the most promising today and see where it goes.

One word of advice, though: it's a fine idea to want to really work on character, but don't let it bog you down. As soon as I start to try and focus on doing something _well,_ it's an invitation to killing the writing. If I can just jump in with abandon and write whatever comes to mind, no matter how bad or good or close to my dreams or way off base it may be, the writing goes far better. If I have a goal as to what I want to focus on, then as soon as I'm not focused on it, I feel guilty or force myself to get back on track. Tracks are for revisions, I think—just write what you feel at that moment and it will come together.

I applaud you if you can really write the thing in a linear fashion; certainly that's the way they seem to favor. I just can't manage it, though. I feel like I'm forcing the characters to do things without really figuring out why when I stick to strict linearity. The last times worked for me because when I'd get finished with one scene, I'd just go to the next that seemed interesting, even if I didn't know where they were eventually going to fit. But that's just me.

If this gets any longer, I'll have to post it as my own blog entry. Maybe we can find a few days to meet up at some coffee shop in Pomona or somesuch and crank out the pages, eh?

¡Via con Dios, mi amigo Senor Caliente!

3:52 PM
Devin Parker  

Meeting for a writing cram session would be great. I'd love that.

So this week's guest author for the pep talk is Philip Pullman? Ugh. Now I'm actively discouraged.

5:39 PM
Michael Slusser  

Rise above it! And take whatever he says for its best (i.e.: if he rants about fighting the status quo, you can safely ignore him; if he talks about how he crafted an, at times, fascinating semi-historical world, take it in and use it for the powers of Good!).

5:41 PM

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