Ever since I came across NaNoWriMo, the month of November has taken on a new image for me. It used to be a 30-day slog of dark, damp mornings with stubbornly misted windscreens, and crawling traffic jams under brooding skies that insisted on drizzling their payload throughout the entire day. Then I discovered that deep below that sulky exterior, November hides a secret cavern abuzz with the creativity of thousands of writers. All you have to do is find the hidden door and sign up.
For those of you unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo, it is an annual event whereby people from all over the globe commit to writing every day during the month of November. The target is to write 50,000 words during the thirty days, but the real goal is to establish a habit of writing every day, no matter how little. Last year, National Novel Writing Month attracted 384,126 writers. During the month, the good folks at NaNo HQ offer encouraging emails, pep talks and motivational tools, so you really feel part of a worldwide community.
Like myself, many writers know that once they start putting some words onto the page, ideas begin to flow and they are transported to the fictional world of their novel. This almost magical experience may last for ten minutes or several hours. Regardless, this is where the magic happens, and it is worth pursuing. However, for some unknown reason, we frequently resist those first steps, afraid of freezing at the sight of a blank page and sending our creative selves scurrying back to their cave and sliding several bolts across the door.
Although I was going on holidays last year for two weeks during November, I was determined to try NaNoWriMo. I’d been editing Hard Choices from August to October, and so hadn’t written any new material for a while. NaNoWriMo presented me with the perfect opportunity to take a break from editing and to kickstart something new without the pressure of producing quality work. You see, that’s one of the great benefits of NaNoWriMo – the emphasis is on writing, and just writing. No planning, no editing, no revisions, and no judgement. Like myself, most participants are part-time writers, and getting down 1,667 words every day doesn’t leave much room for the aforementioned distractions. Any planning must be done during October, and revisions must wait until December or January.
So last year, I just dived in without any plot or storyline, apart from knowing it would be a follow-up to my first book and would feature the same private detective, Rogue. My target was a modest 15,000 words, similar to Hard Choices. On the morning of 1st November, I sat at my keyboard and wondered where a private detective might be at 11 am, and what she might be doing. An image arrived in my mind of her sitting in a cafe, watching for someone. That was it. I started typing and followed the thoughts wherever they went, nervously trusting I wouldn’t get trapped in a dead end.
By 30th November, I had produced 25,000 words, exceeding my target. Much of it was done on a much-too-small Bluetooth keyboard linked to an Amazon Fire, resulting in several hundred typing errors. Without a well-planned storyline, I often struggled to keep going, unsure what the character’s goal was. But on the last day, that didn’t matter. I had written 25,000 words in one month. It proved to me that I could write and that I had ideas. Imagine how much better it could be with some planning!
Today, 31st October 2017, I am more prepared. I have a plot, a list of scenes sufficient for at least two weeks work, and last year’s trepidation has been replaced with excitement and expectation. Tomorrow morning I will drive to work, oblivious to the weather, and look forward to an evening of writing. Regardless of the outcome and the word count, I believe that by November 30th, I will have thousands of new words for my next novel. That sure beats moaning about the rain.
Happy writing,
Harry
Useful Links
NaNoWriMo Website
Camp NaNoWriMo
#4 – Be Prepared When You Sit Down to Write
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