NaNoWriMo meme...

[fajrdrako]

Booking Through Thursday

1. Yesterday, November 1st, began the annual NaNoWriMo challenge--where lots of marginally crazy people try to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. What do you think about that idea? Crazy? Inspired? Challenging?

   A year ago, I might have said "inspired" and "challenging". I wanted to do it myself. Next year, perhaps, I said.
   
   Now it's next year and the word that springs to mind is "lemmings" rather than "inspired". Maybe I'm just jealous of the creative energy it seems to have given people, but there's something about the notion that all these people - and so many of my friends - are doing this all at once that I find vaguely terrifing. As if everyone is programmed to write on command, ready, set, go. I think I consider writing an individual activity, for all I do it as a fannish community activity. Suddenly it doesn't look like writing to me, it looks like sport.
   
   Anyway, my reaction this year is: I want to write, I will write, but there is no way in the universe I would participate in NaNoWriMo.

   
   
2. Would you/Have you tried it yourself? In other years? (Or this one, in which case, shouldn't you be writing and not reading blogs?)

   No. I've written novels, but on my own time.

   
   
3. If you took away the time pressure, would you/have you tried writing a novel of your own?

   Oh, yes, and not just tried, I've succeeded, too. Even if you don't count the novels I wrote and trashed. That's not success or failure, that's just practice. I won an award for Forever True, and I'm pretty much more proud of that than anything else I've ever done.
   
   And I intend intend to write more, and better. Just watch me.
   
   But on my own time.

   
   

Comments

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

I agree. I got a bollocking from a friend the other day because I was critical of this idea, but I detest the idea of creativity-on-command.

I also think there is so much bad fiction around (some of it in print - which kills trees!) that people should, in fact, ask themselves whether their novel is really necessary, or if it's just saying something someone else has already said better.

I know my own limitations as a writer: my aptitude for fiction is not great (fine for fanfic, but not original enough to stand on its own 2 feet). Non-fiction is what I do best. And no, it's not the same, despite what some folk I know have claimed: a different discipline, and with different rules. If a novelist lets his/her imagination run away with him/her, that's fine; if a historian does, and runs ahead of the evidence, it's bad.

I also dislike the emphasis on quantity, not quality. Churning out x-thousand words in 30 days is no achievement if those x-thousand words are crap. Look at how prolific Barbara Cartland was, for goodness' sake! And all of it garbage!

I would give my support to a National Don't Write a Novel Month. The fact is, there is no equality of literary talent, and mass-production of bad fiction hardly needs to be encouraged when there are so many outlets for fanfiction online.

[ladyeclectic79.livejournal.com]

Oh if only I could "just write on command" - alas and alack, I am at the mercies of my muses or, at least, my brain's ability to be creative enough to figure out where my chars are going next. *sigh* I'm participating in NaNoWriMo (although I've yet to actually sign up *headdesks*) this year; have known about it for a while now although I didn't really check into it until recently. It does have good goals - just let yourself write no matter if it's drivel, turn off the inner editor so as to get the story down on paper, etc - but it's HARD. I've started novels/longer stories before and invariably either I lose interest (usually because I get another idea that supercedes the one I'm writing and start on that, then forget both), or just doubt myself and stop because I feel the story isn't worth writing, or that I'll do a bad job of it. I need to get over that second bit in my psyche (and also that first part because, geez) and I'm hoping that forcing myself to just write, even stream of consciousness stuff, will allow me a breakthrough.

Although I so totally see your point. Really. :)

[acampbell.livejournal.com]

I'm not participating, either. I'd rather write on my own time, too, and as the spirit moves me. Who needs more pressure?

I participate in the occasional challenge, but only challenges run by people I know and like. Even those can be curiously unrewarding. I get as much FB and attention from stories I post in my own journal as I do from Challenge fics.

Do I owe you an email?

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

I participated 2 years ago. Got a bit less than half way. I believe it helped combat an upcoming depression at that time, so that is allways good. At the moment my project is my thesis and I have enough trouble with that as it is. 2 projects, no matter how different, would be too much for me.

But I like the idea. There are so much worse pass times people could do.

[haydenthorne.livejournal.com]

People really need to look at individual writers' reasons for participating rather than doling out judgment about the event and the people who participate in it in one sweeping move.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I participated 2 years ago. Got a bit less than half way.

Good for you! Do you still have the half novel? are you planning to finish it one day? What was it about?

I would think a thesis would keep anyone busy.

I agree that there are worse ways to pass the time. It didn't bother me when I didn't know so many people who were doing it. I'm not sure why that makes a difference to my mind, but it does.

I'm certainly in favour of any kind of creativity.

[cupati.livejournal.com]

Zoe 3 doors away is doing it [lifechild], but she already has plot ideas, and has done it before. The longest thing I've ever written is a Doctor Who-Harry Potter crossover fic, that has yet to see the light of day. I don't know how long it is, because I don't have it with me, about 3000 words I think. Drabbles are hard enough getting long enough when you've only written 69 words - I cannot write on demand, or to a length.

[cupati.livejournal.com]

Oh, and your link doesn't work.

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

yeah, I still have he partial novel. i might try to write further one day, but I would first need to read it. And I didn't make a plot chart/outline and it was quite an intricate plot I had in mind.

It is a space opera, with elements of Terry Pratchett and of Iain M. Banks in it. I found it very funny while writing it and a few strangers read it (I had put it on my web page) and they said they like it.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Who needs more pressure?

Maybe that's the real issue - I'm already feeling overburdened; seeing other people take this on is a draining concept!

I like small challenges - drabbles, dodecals, short stories. The bigger things - I have a craving for total control of the project, if it's writing.

Interesting comment about the challenges being 'curiously unrewarding'. I've found that, too.

I don't know if you owe me email but I know I owe you a beta of your story!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I hope I didn't sound judgemental - I don't mean that it's a bad thing to do, or that I don't feel admiration for those who are doing it. It's more that last year it seemed like something I want to do, and this year it seems bewildering. Something in my perception has changed - I'm not sure why. Am I just too burned out?

Bottom line, I think any impetus to creativity is good.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, then, I hope sometime after you finish your thesis that you finish the novel as well. It sounds like a lot of fun.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Oops. I fixed it. I don't know why it didn't work, as it was part of the cut-and-paste text offered by the site! Sometimes the commands go strange....

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I am convinced that everyone who writes does it differently, does it for different reasons, and has a different method that works.

I'd like to see your Doctor Who/Harry Potter crossover, I hope you finish it!

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

it included plants moving of their own volition, very charming pets used as a weapon because of the urge to keep stroking them and spaceships who develloped their own religion. Just the basic elements.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

spaceships who develloped their own religion

Now, that gets me thinking of the new Battlestar Galactica and the Cylon religion! Toasters who find God!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Good luck with NaNoWriMo, I hope it works perfectly for you.

Yes, I know it's hard. Tell me about it. I've never lost interest in a novel I'm writing; I'm more likely to exhaust myself to the burnout point.

just doubt myself and stop because I feel the story isn't worth writing, or that I'll do a bad job of it

Now, that, you should never do. It isn't about you or your abilities, it's about the novel, which is there waiting to be written. Have confidence in yourself! ...Now, since I suffer a little from the same problem, I'm not sure how to advise you to built confidence, but - I'm working on a combination for myself of "just do it" and "I know I can".

And seriously, there's a little more to it than that. The sense that I'm the only person who can do it and therefore I must. But that's driven by the idea, or the material, not by my talents.

I'm hoping that forcing myself to just write, even stream of consciousness stuff, will allow me a breakthrough.

I hope so - and look forward to finding out.

Although I so totally see your point. Really.

It isn't really that I had much of a point - just that I was bemused by my own attitude, which seemed uncharacteristic of me.

[cupati.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've finished it - I just don't have it with me! On my home PC, rather than my Uni laptop!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I would give my support to a National Don't Write a Novel Month.

Chuckle.

The odd thing is... some of the most awful novels are incredibly popular. I'm thinking of The Da Vinci Code here, actually, where I thought the writing was even worse than the history. But at the same time... so many people loved it, does that not make my elitist views on it sort of irrelevant? Is giving someone pleasure, as I assume even Barbara Cartland has done, not reason enough for a bad-to-mediocre novel to exist?

I don't have answers to my own question, only an awareness that I am a junkie for quality and always looking for something good for my fix, and often not finding it.

[cupati.livejournal.com]

I want to learn to knit before next year's NaNoSweTo!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That would be wonderful.

I learned to knit once. And to crochet, too. My accomplishments were the funniest haphazard misshapen hole-filled excuses for scarves and sweaters and potholders and baby blankets you ever saw. Suitable for the Addams family, maybe. Or for trawling for fish in the ocean. I have nothing but admiration for those who can knit.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

You shouldn't allow a decent story to hide away like that.

Good icon.

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

ah, I am sure my ideas are not original, but I have not seen this programm. So.

(actually today I was talking about the meaning of a word like originality when you do think of something yourself but which has been thought of before)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Your ideas are original to you, and you are obviously not doing the machines-with-religion thing in the same way Battlestar Galactica is, especially if your story is funny, like Terry Pratchett. Battlestar Galactica is one of the darkest things I've seen on television.

Maybe it's one of those 'ideas whose time has come' things. You know, like a group of people who don't know each other all inventing the telephone around the same time?

[wijsgeer.livejournal.com]

Do you know Iain M. Banks?

He is about the darkest science fiction writer I know. Even though his universe has strong utopian elements.

My idea was centered around death and fear of loss of individuality (by the space ships), a believe in a soul eater.

[cupati.livejournal.com]

Why thank you!

I shouldn't really admit it - but my mum's unlikely to find this - I made it. But I've changed journals into one my parents know about [which is why I came down on yayworthy a bit for calling me midge].

I can't animate icons no more, though.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

They could learn to read decent fiction. We need a major shift in the popular culture, and stop pandering to the 3-second attention span and desire for cheap sensationalism. People need to stop being afraid of sounding "elitist" (intellectual and cultural elitism is both good and necessary to civilisation). The guardians of culture have lost faith in their own judgement, so are afraid to say that Dan Brown isn't as good as Dickens (who was a huge seller in his day); they've become afraid of asserting the value of quality in the face of the Market.

Is giving someone pleasure, as I assume even Barbara Cartland has done, not reason enough for a bad-to-mediocre novel to exist?

Drug-abuse gives people pleasure, too.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well done!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I have heard about Iain M. Banks, but I haven't read his books. Yet.

The more you say about your story the more intriguing it sounds.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

There's nothing wrong with being judgemental if you are of sound judgement.

There's so much said about "everyone having a book in them", but you just have to look in ficdom to see what most of those books are like. Does the world need a million Mary-Sue fantasies?

Since the www came along, people of little ability seem to have forgotten the idea of 'writing for the drawer', but expect to get kudos for putting their work in the public arena.

[haydenthorne.livejournal.com]

No, you didn't sound judgmental, but one response did. And I just got out of a locked-horns type of thing with someone else about the same issue before I saw your post. *sigh*

It doesn't help being roundly insulted by someone I didn't even know because I happen to write occasional literary fiction. -_-;; That happened a few days ago.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Yes: people who are serious about writing will write anyway, without any gimmicks and enforced timetables like this!

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

This is why I never liked writing classes. I didn't like any limits on my writing, not in topic, length or time. I write because I enjoy it; of course I dream about publishing, but I'll keep writing no less.

And when I see how popular bodice rippers are at my library and how terribly they are written... I really wonder @ the publishing world and modern reading audiences.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I just got out of a locked-horns type of thing with someone else about the same issue before I saw your post. *sigh*

Oh dear - a double-dose! Sorry to have inflicted more with my musing aloud.

Why on earth would anyone insult you for writing literary fiction? I think that's wonderful. I admire your skill. So why - ? No, no, I don't expect an answer to that, I know the ways of LJ are wondrous and strange.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Likely, though I still see the value of encouragement with challenges and writing games.

We used to have a local group that got together to watch recorded TV, play writing games, and talk about the fanfic we were writing. The spur to playful creativity was great fun, and I miss it.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I didn't like any limits on my writing, not in topic, length or time.

Well, I agree; and I'm contrary enough to want to write anything but according to the rules, if there are rules. Which is why I'd be generally hopeless at genre fiction. Unless I create my own genre.

Yes, bodice rippers are badly written, on the whole. I continue to look for exceptions.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

They're fun to randomly read at work when someone's upset, though. Totally breaks the tension.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

And there are bodice rippers I have thoroughly enjoyed, though I haven't read one for a long time now.

[elebridith]

bodice rippers
Ummm... huh? :-) I think I have an idea what that is, but could you explain?

And re: Barbara Cartland and the likes: I worked in a bookshop for ten years, and my boss always said: "Like them or not, but they are selling and they pay *your* salary! It's better people buy these than nothing - and you can always try to get those customers on a higher level." And that's what we all were working on - and still do, even I'm not in the business anymore:-)
But I'm the first to admit that sometimes it's hard to stay tolerant!:-)

By the way, you think Dan Brown is badly written? Try Paul Christopher, Michelangelo's Notebook. (no, NO, do NOT buy it.) *shudders* I still hope that it was the translator doing a very bad job, but at least in the german edition it made Dan Brown look like Umberto Eco. (and I admit freely that I liked The Da Vinci Code as a fast, exciting and easy read - no more, but also no less. I've read waaay worse.)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Nice icon.

bodice rippers
Ummm... huh? :-) I think I have an idea what that is, but could you explain?

Um... a genre of romance fiction (usually known by lurid covers with half-naked brawny men on them) that's heavy on sex. It's usually meant as a sort of put-down. Bodice rippers are not highly regarded, generally speaking.

Try Paul Christopher, Michelangelo's Notebook. (no, NO, do NOT buy it.) *shudders*

LOL - thank you for the warning!

it made Dan Brown look like Umberto Eco

So sad!

and I admit freely that I liked The Da Vinci Code as a fast, exciting and easy read

That it was. It was so readable. I occasionally wanted to throw it against the wall, but I didn't want to stop reading! On that level, it was a work of genius.

[elebridith]

Ah, bodice rippers. Thought that's what is was. Lovely expression! *lol* We usually referred to them as "shoulder biters" cos the half-naked man always seems to try and bite the woman in the shoulder. :-) I'm pretty sure these are not written by human beings but by computers. The programmers gives the "author" a name, a few keywords like "scotland" "medieval" "pretty orphan" or something, sets the number of sex scenes and ranges them from "mild" to "very graphic" and wrrrrt, the computer prints it out. Yep. All a big frame.

"work of genius" that's what sets him apart from others of his genre - you know he's implausible and all, but you want to know how it ends. I'm pretty sure he won't *last*, but - kudos for making people read again!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

One of the most really brilliant things about Dan Brown's writing (at least in The Da Vinci Code, which is the only one of his books that I've read)is the amazingly simply vocabulary. He uses words that are short, simple, and easy to read at, say, a ten year old level. And it all sounds reasonably natural. No wonder vast numbers of people (some of them unaccustomed to reading novels) enjoyed it so much.

We usually referred to them as "shoulder biters"

Yes - that's it exactly!