National Novel Writing Month

Sounds ludicrous doesn’t it, writing a novel in a month? Well, that’s exactly
what I thought when I first heard about NaNoWriMo 2008 anyway. It’s so
crazy an idea in fact, that over 100,000 people across the globe seem
to think taking part would be fun, myself included.

Starting on November 1st hundreds of thousands of pens started scratching across pages, keyboard keys started pumping manically, and all across the world thousands of novels were being born.

Now we’re nearly half way into December and despite hours of doubt and
downright disappointment, through days of dank, dark writer’s block,
there are a few thousand new novels in existence, dragged kicking and
screaming from the well of lost plots (J.F).

I’ve been scheming novels for years, I even managed to write one once, but
tragically that was where it ended; a neglected and unloved first
draft, bursting with blemishes and clichés.

Writing my second novel, T.Wrex, was one hell of a climb. It took countless
NaNoWriMo pep-emails to keep my stamina going, not to mention the
constant reminder that other peoples’ word counts were piling on the
pounds every hour I wasted.

The plot was one I had devised when I was 16 and about which I had written
something that can loosely be described as a short story.

So it was unearthed and dusted off, in desperate need of a drastic
overhaul, a complete plot make-over and the addition of one or two new
characters, or explosions, to get it where it is now (which is still
miles away from perfection, but has, at least, traversed into
existence).

The joy of writing it without agenda or any solid plan was that it was as
exciting for me to write as I could ever hope it will be for any
potential readers. A list of objectives got my characters from A to B
and the grey area in between was free game, leaving me as intrigued as
anyone else.

Now I’m half way there, the novel is in the bag and the redrafting devils
are looming in vain over my shoulder. But December is for liberating my
creative urges, for writing those short snappy stories that were all
put on hold, reigned in and channelled into one adventurous and
ambitious project throughout November.

NaNoWriMo founder, director and nine times winner, Chris Baty’s top tips for making the grade:

1) If you can, drag a friend or family member into NaNoWriMo with you.
It’s much easier to do this when you have someone to commiserate and celebrate with.

2) Lower your expectations. Your first draft will
have moments of crap and moments of beauty, and you should never be discouraged if the dreck seems to outweigh the gold. That’s how books get written.

3) Save all editing for December. Think of NaNoWriMo as
a creative experiment in output. Put away the red pen, and turn off your inner critic.

5) Know that you can
do this. Novels are not written by novelists. Novels are written by everyday people who give themselves permission to write novels. Give yourself permission, then go get that book written!

Above all, as Stephen King put so succinctly in his book, ‘On Writing’:

The first draft is for telling your own story. The second draft is where you start telling it to everyone else.