NaNoWriMo: What the heck is my book about?
So, this coming Sunday, I'm supposed to start a mad dash to write a 150 page (50,000 word) novel in just 30 days. And, just maybe, you're wondering what this book is going to be about.
Me, too. Like all writers and would-be writers, I've got a million ideas. I don't have too many ideas that look like an entire plot yet. And of those ideas, I have to choose one that fits into about 50,000 words and will survive a head-on collision with the mad dash of "getting done is all that matters". Add to that the NaNoWriMo culture of "writing 50,000 words of a 100,000 word novel in 30 days does not count for purposes of calling yourself a 'winner'." The "winning" isn't important to me, but what it represents does… you don't "win" unless you finish a novel. Writing half of a novel, even if I wrote over 50,000 words, means didn't go through the whole process, beginning, middle and end.
I've got some ideas, but I haven't made a decision yet. I'll keep you posted.
NaNoWriMo meet-n-greet
I went to my first NaNoWriMo meet-n-greet on Saturday afternoon. It was scheduled for an hour, and I ended up staying for three.
It was rather interesting… my big reluctance was that I would have to admit I want to write "speculative fiction" (fantasy, scifi, horror, etc). I was the last to introduce myself, and by the time my introduction came up, my fears were completely alleviated; every single person there was writing SF.
I was also worried I'd be the oldest person there. And while the majority of participants there were in their first year of college (having done NaNo for two or three years in high school), I certainly wasn't the oldest.
It was fun. I didn't have a great deal to say with the whole group, as a core making up over half have been doing this together for a few years and it was kind of hard to get a word in over the chattering college girls. But after a couple hours, most of them cleared out and I found myself discussing writing and a few authors with just two of them for another hour. It was a fun discussion, and I'm looking forward to getting started on my book and meeting up with folks for weekly "write-ins"… we meet at a coffee shop and write together for moral support.
I think that's an important part of this process. I won't be able to finish if I don't have someone putting pressure on me to stick with it. And it helps a lot if those someones are in the same boat, sticking with it with me.
NaNoWriMo: At least I’m not starting from scratch
I read a lot of "how to write" stuff. I've got a boat-load of writing books, nearly all of them purchased with the intent to mine them for ideas that would help build a better roleplaying experience. But one of the things I have realized is that I have quite an advantage over a lot of would-be writers. I have a lot of experience writing, and I'm pretty darned good at it… I just haven't written much fiction.
Many of the how-to books address getting around the barriers of not knowing basic English grammar, intimidation by the basic act of writing anything, and not knowing anything about the mechanics of storytelling. I at least have that much under my belt already. But in some ways, it's like having taken the classroom portion of Driver's Ed… until I get behind the wheel and drive it down the road, I can't really say I'm a driver. I'm a writer, but I'm not yet a novelist.