What is so terrible about trying one’s hand at being creative?
I think it is unfortunate that our culture encourages us to look for art outside of ourselves. We look at a painting, watch a play, or, yes, read a novel and marvel at a genius that can never be ours. Not true. I appreciate NaNoWriMo if only because it prods everyone to explore, again, EXPLORE the creative process.
Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought fleetingly about writing a novel. I’m sure you have heard about this world wide phenom that encourages people to put fingers to keyboard and hammer out over 1,667 words per day for a month. It’s not so much a marathon as a K2 expedition: the glory isn’t in coming first, or writing more than anyone else… it’s just in crossing that 50,000 word line by the end of November.
NaNoWriMo won’t turn bad writers into good ones. I myself am a participant in NaNoWriMo, and am not at all used to writing this way. True, my writing is often abysmal. True, the motivational speeches and community spirit are sometimes lost on me. But if the result turns out to be crap, I’ll still have flexed my muscles and no one will have to be subjected to it. If, on the other hand, the result is passably good, I can get to work editing it and turning it into something real. I don’t think I would have been able to do that without obsessing about writing a lot in short time. Impossible, you say? No. Massive pain in the neck? Probably. I’ve tried NaNo twice, and have not met the goal of 50,000. This is my year, right?
The NaNoWriMo mantra is to write without looking back: a rough novel can be edited, polished and perfected; there’s not much that can be done with a blank page. In the words of Ernest Hemingway, “the first draft of anything is sh!t.” It’s creating this sh!tty first draft that NaNoWriMo is about: the ability to let go of perfectionism, ignore the thoughts telling you to give up and start again; to just let the words flow.
IMO, MANY of the writers on NaNo are serious writers who are exploring their writing in a new way, such as myself. It has opened me up to ideas I wouldn’t have considered without the sense of deadline. Indeed, even if you aren’t a “serious” writer, you are for the month of November. Writing a novel is not easy and by the end of the month many others will have discovered that as well. Whether the novel that comes out at the end of November is a masterpiece or a laughable failure by “literary” standards, each and every person deserves credit for the amount of time they devoted to writing during this month, regardless of whether they write during the rest of the year or not. And if they don’t? All the more reason to write during November.
I can honestly say that yes, anyone CAN write a novel, and I often encourage people to do it. Why? Because everyone has a story worth telling. Yes, everyone. And if they can only manage it through the competition of 50k in 30 days, well, then I say go for it. Regardless of whether or not that novel is publishable, setting a challenge for yourself and coming through it is a positive thing. It all begins this Friday. If you have a writer’s itch that needs scratching, sign up, get planning, stock up on pens and paper, caffeine and booze or whatever you need.
Remember the basic rule: write. Every day. Edit later. If you must, open a notepad for other things that come along and then back to the story. For more information, please visit www.nanowrimo.org
Anyone else here giving it a go this year?
-Dagobot
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