Looking toward NaNoWriMo
Wow, signups for NaNoWriMo are less than a month away. And I still haven't decided if I'll participate this year. I'm leaning toward "yes." Last year was a bit of a downer for me. About 2,000 words into the novel I was unhappy with it, but felt I had to press on. So I ended up writing a 40,000 word novel and 10,000 word afterword (which is perfectly acceptable by Nanowrimo rules) , which left me somewhat unfulfilled.
If I do it this year, I'm going to come up with something that's not going to end on Nov. 30. My last two novels are both sitting in files in my computer and paper in my closet. This year, there will be revisions, there will be something more. I want to get something more out of it, even if it's just some better revision skills.
Are there any readers participating this year? Any advice? Anyone want to comment on how ridiculous the whole thing is and how I'm wasting my time? Feel free, that's what the button below is for.
2 comments:
Hello,
I did my first NaNo last year, and similar to how you described your experience, I ended up with around 40,000 words of lukewarm stuff - preceded by 1,000+ words that I actually liked and followed by 10,000+ of an epilogue where I explained what I'd like to do if I turned the novel into a series of some kind. It was a really crazy month, but I'm looking forward to doing it again. Why? Mostly because of the community; the best part of my day for a month was my morning surf through the discussion boards, asking or answering or just reading for a good laugh or encouragement (the Worst Lines thread was unforgettable).
I didn't touch my manuscript after November, but the idea is still there. So I might go with one of the alternatives I came up with at the end.
Advice? If you had fun last time, do it again.
The only reason I'm considering trying it is to take a shot at something really long. Mostly I've been writing micro-fiction stuff and a few long stories. It might be a good exercise if what comes out could be turned into something good but I have my doubts. We'll see. Good luck if you decide to.
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