The inestimable Rose Fox of Publishers Weekly’s Genreville blog is on vacation right now, and I’m one of the guest-bloggers covering for her. So I’m over on their site, being a NaNoWriMo grinch and discussing the pros and cons of various ways to get yourself to produce a novel.
I need to figure out what I’m posting for SF Novelists this month, though.
Very nice article, with many good points.
Now me, my internal editor is a dominatrix with a bitch-collar and a riding crop who screams with a German accent “VHY MUST YOU VITE DE NOVEL MORE DAN VONCE???” Or something similar. ^____^ I’m hoping NaNo will turn the tables on her and I’ll end the month with her tied down with a ball-gag in her mouth.
>.>
Or something similar.
. . . well, ain’t that a vivid metaphor.
<g>
If it works for you, awesome.
^____^ Sorry? Not sorry?
This will be my first NaNo, so I don’t know if it will work, but we’ll see!
Nanowrimo
Good points in your article, but it really comes down to your goal. My goal is just to put butt in seat and write. The pressure of a deadline that (as you point out, some professionals couldn’t meet) really does help shut down the dreaded internal editor. Mine is a cobweb- and rag-draped harpy who sits on my right shoulder shrieking, “Fool! You cannot write!” into my ear. Well, probably not, but the great American/sff novel isn’t the point here. Surprisingly, the last time I did this I actually got some usable prose out of mostly dreck – and isn’t that the writing process no matter which method one uses?
Re: Nanowrimo
My goal is just to put butt in seat and write.
Like I said: the official NaNo goal may be unreasonable and/or not useful, but achieving some fraction of it might be exactly what a given individual needs.
Surprisingly, the last time I did this I actually got some usable prose out of mostly dreck – and isn’t that the writing process no matter which method one uses?
Yes, but ideally you want to optimize your process for the highest proportion of usable prose to dreck. 🙂 For me, that means about 1K a day, working at night, and all the other habits that make me productive. For others, it’s 500 words per day at the crack of dawn. Some people do great with a 5000-word marathon weekend, and then nothing during the week because their jobs prevent them from getting much done. My grinching about NaNo is based partly on the observation that for some people, the setup causes their quality of output to drop like a rock. So they end up working their butts off, but to a less-than-optimal result.
Also, random information, but I think it’s relevant: I know someone who writes 50,000 words every NaNo only to delete everything. She does it every year. It drives me nuts to think about writing all of that only to delete it, but it’s what she does. She had absolutely no interest in getting published (so she says), she does it out of pure enjoyment.
