Thursday, November 01, 2007

NaNoWriMo


http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Hmm, to write a novel in a month, or not?

I had intended to give it a crack, you know, in my spare time, because of the fact that I turn 40 this month. Seems like a good enough reason to try to kick out a novel. Only problem, I can't think of a plot, other than to thinly fictionalize my own life.

I'd better not waste my time if I'm going to do this, huh?

3 comments:

Cindy said...

Yes Marie.. WASTE YOUR TIME!!

Really! That is what this isa bout... not perfection, but getting it out on paper/screen.

Just get it out!

Do it! Just do it!

No one has to read it and you may be surprised at what comes out.

for eg.. I would get stuck.. so just start a new chapter. No bridge, no sense, but I kept going. It felt so good and I did it.

You can too!
(check out his book, No Plot No Problem.. he will tell you this much better than I did...)

Marie said...

Hi Cindy,

Thanks for your encouragement. Actually, as I was getting dd ready for bed, a story line came to me (I won't call it a plot), and even a first sentence. I figured I had to dive in.

But in terms of wasting time, I know it isn't a waste of time to do something creative, but I will have no time to waste if I want to do this. Does that make sense? LIke, in other words, I'd better snap to it, as day one is almost over?!

MS Word tells me I have 237 words. How long is this thing supposed to be?!?!?

Cindy said...

HI Marie--

237 is a great start!
Your goal is 50 thousand words. Yes, you can do it...! I highly recommend going to the nanowrimo site and getting ideas. One thing that got me very prolific was music.

As i was writing about a character named Jamie who just happened to be going to graduate school where I did in west texas, the music I loved from those days got my juices flowing! There are many other ideas/tricks you can do.

Now, I admit I did not have young children when I did this, so could closet myself away, but I didn't have tons of time, either, so really pounded it.

The book No Plot No Problem has ideas, too... Maybe break into a free write when you are stuck.. only thing that matters is word count! I would skip all over with the plot, start writing about un-introduced characters, etc and tell myself that it was my editor's worry to have it all make sense..

and keep going!

I also made myself a quota (kind of like 50000 divided by 30 days) kind of thing.

I also had a couple of buddies on the journey with me.

All just some ideas.... but, yes, it is a committmement.. maybe K could give you some creatives ideas?? lol

Good luck!