How the
Writer Got His Cash
Or,
NaNoWriMo and its benefits
By Vitora
Oh yes. It is crazy.
In fact, it’s 100% insane. But
since we’re all bordering on that line anyway, does it really matter? So let’s take a quick look at one of the most
ambitious writing projects you can undertake—National Novel Writer’s Month.
30 days. 50,000 words.
Sounds like yet another cheesy reality TV show, doesn’t it? But it’s not.
This is much more real. Much
more…well, rewarding. (Watching Nanny 911 isn’t going to get you a wad
of bills to stick in your bank account, not for most people, anyway.) As Cairn of QBII says, “Was it worth it? You bet it was!” And even though this will be my first year
doing NaNo, I have a feeling the experience, whether I finish or not—though
that’s my ultimate goal, of course—will actually make me a better writer, no
matter what kind of junk I churn out.
Cairn goes on to say:
Did I make mistakes? Think I
already mentioned the sex changes and the species switches many of my
characters made during NaNoWriMo. The
missing commas and the fragmented sentences were everywhere. Passive voice seemed the only voice I
had. The dreaded “ly” adverb popped up
with an average frequency of once every 35 words. Dialogue ran on for pages without ever saying
anything important and let’s not even discuss spelling. (Had the spell checker turned off as that red
line was too distracting.)
So is there room for these
mistakes? You’d better believe it. Ringet Loris, a moderator at Terrouge, states,
“I went through the agony [last year]—succeeded in producing 50K; failed in
creating anything readable, unless I want everyone’s opinion of me to severely
plummet.” Even if you don’t end up
using—or ever reading again—what you write over the month of November, it can
at least kick-start your writing life and get you back into the mood.
Granted, as I’ve never done this
before, I’m not even going to touch the word “expert” with a thirty-foot
pole. However, I will direct you to the
true experts—the admins and founders of NaNoWriMo, over at their website: http://www.nanowrimo.org. You’ll find useful tips on the website
itself, plus a load of extras on the forums, including regional meetings, daily
exercises, tips for staying awake, and plot help.
I’ve got a few things that I think
may help me over the coming month, and, if you plan on doing it, may aid you as
well. The list:
*
Set aside a time, preferably at night or in the
morning, during which you will be free at least 20 out of 30 days in the month
(that leaves room for studying for tests and other such things). The time slot should probably be between
thirty minutes to two hours, depending on how fast you type and how much you
can churn out in a fairly short time.
For me, I’m going to be using the
*
Drink lots and lots of liquids. As we don’t keep caffeinated drinks (or any
pop, for that matter) around the house and I can’t stand the bitterness of coffee, I’m going with water myself. I mean, hey, I don’t drink enough as it is,
and since it helps me stay awake at nights (learned that one when the Olympics
were going on…hehe), it’ll hopefully improve my NaNo writing.
*
Keep a folder with ideas for your novel. This includes, but is not limited to,
character sketches, plot outlines, ideas you’ve picked up from various places,
revision notes, encouragement from friends and family (reading that stuff
REALLY helps), and anything else related you can think of. You’ll also probably want to post a sign of
some sort somewhere prominent that displays your current word count. ‘s always motivating when you can see it
right there.
*
Talk with friends and acquaintances who are also
doing NaNoWriMo. Booting someone else in
the butt for procrastinating helps kick you in gear, too. Also, you can bounce ideas off one
another. However, don’t use your writing
time on MSN or AIM—just a big waste there.
*
Tell your friends that aren’t doing NaNoWriMo that you’re going on a month-long vacation
and can’t be disturbed. This way, you
can get everything done that needs to be done, including those stacks of
schoolwork. Very important.
*
Use your NaNo writing time as motivation for doing
your other tasks. If you’ve got a paper
that absolutely has to be written,
then tell yourself that after you write it, if it’s good enough to be turned
in, you’ll allot yourself an extra, say, twenty minutes of NaNo time. But make sure that everything pressing is
done before returning to your keyboard (or paper and pencil, typewriter, whatever
you use)—otherwise, it’ll never get done.
Especially if you’re a procrastinator like me.
*
Don’t edit as you go along. This is one of my worst habits—halfway
through a sentence, I’ll glance up the page and see something that needs
changing. Don’t do this…it only stops
the flow and makes your writing time less productive. Read Cairn’s quote above and realize that the
editing comes second.
*
Read lots of writing books before and after you
start, but only the appropriate parts.
If you read stuff about editing before you’ve even begun, that’s all
you’ll have on your mind.
*
Reward yourself upon hitting specific goals. For instance, if you’ve set yourself a goal
of 2,000 words per day (that’s what it averages out to, give or take a few
days), reward yourself when you reach 5,000, or maybe even 2,000. That way, you’ll be motivated to keep going.
*
Stop reading this article and go sign up. Now.
It’s the only way you’ll put any of this to use.
So hopefully I’ll have some
accomplices in crossing that dreaded line into insanity…or is it sanity? Only those who survive the month of November
can tell.