It’s NaNoWriMo time! (National Novel Writing Month for those not in the know). I’m not NaNo’ing this year. In fact, I’ve only done participated once. It was fun, but I’m deep into revisions on the first of two manuscripts. No time to NaNo. Yano?
Are you NaNo’ing? Why or why not? If you are participating this year, what are you working on? Did you honestly not write a word of your manuscript before November 1st? Just planned? Or have you tweaked the NaNo write-50K-in-one-month-without-editing parameters to suit your personal creative process? I wouldn’t blame you if you have.
It’s the first week. Four to go. Good luck!
I’ve never NaNo’ed but I may try it some year. I could see me cheating though, and starting early. Cringe.
The year I did it, I confess I did have the partial of the manuscript in question already written. I continued from there for NaNo and I did complete 50K in the month, but it was all over the place. I just drafted whatever scenes popped to mind. When I went to work on the book later (after putting it aside to work on other projects), starting from the beginning again, I was surprised that scenes I drafted for NaNo for the end of the book still worked, as I’m usually a linear writer. But I didn’t find the NaNo process helped me finish the book any earlier, because there was so much work to do around the NaNo scenes. It was a different process for me, but not a faster process. In fact, in a way, it made the book slower for me, because I wasn’t discovering as I was writing any more. I was putting chunks together and filling in the missing pieces. I didn’t have the same drive to discover the story putting chunks together as I do writing in a linear fashion.
But that’s just me. I know NaNo works wonderfully for others. I would like to try it again someday. But the timing has to be right. I’m not willing to put aside a current project to NaNo a new one, for example.
I don’t NaNo. I actually think it would make me write slower. I’d want to check every one else’s counts and waste time on that. lol When I’m in the middle and the end of the book, I can write 40-50K a months without NaNo. I’m slower in the beginning, but if I try to force it, I’ll end up with a storyline that’s wrong.
You’re very fast compared to me, Edie. I swear, I’m like a turtle.
I don’t remember wasting much time on other’s word counts. I’d just check in at the end of the day. Seeing how others are doing can spur you on.
You obviously don’t need NaNo!
NaNo is really designed for people who can’t BICHOK, or who can but dwell on the first portion forever instead of finishing, or whatever.
I don’t NEED NaNo, but I love it. In the years I did it, I wrote 88k, 89k, and 60ishk in 29 days. Seeing other people’s counts spurs me to write more. And keeping the book in my head makes it flow out so much easier! It’s the one time of year I can write pure, without stopping and starting for a million other reasons (like revisions on a contracted book whose publisher will close just as I finish, for example LOL).
That’s excellent, Natalie. I think you were on my NaNo friend list the year I did it, and I could never beat you. I did well, but I must have been one of those spurring you on, LOL.
I really should give NaNo another chance, but it has to work with my schedule. Maybe next year when #1 will be in full time attendance in a local teaching cert. program and #2 will be away at university. I find it hard when my alone time is limited, as it is this fall (#2 is only working part time right now).
Cindy, I’m NaNo’ing for the first time! I brainstormed my characters and jotted some scene notes before November 1, but I’m not counting any of those scenes in my NaNo count. I’ve been quite pleasantly surprised with my output for the first 8 days (I’m up to 15,000 words) and I’m really excited to see if I can finish a complete rough draft in the last 3 weeks!
That’s really exciting, Lexi. Way to go. Let me know how you do.