Nano writing challenge5/16/2023 ![]() I don’t think 250 words per day would be sufficient. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been sitting down and writing some most every day, for about 20 mins to 1.5 hrs, and have produced between 250 to 2000 words. They say on their site that 50,000 words is more a novella than an actual novel, and I’m certainly not expecting my effort to be a final, publishable draft (far from it), or even a full novel. I’m planning on taking that challenge, more for the discipline of writing every day. ![]() Is it that people are trying to write a “valid” 50,000-word novel in one month, and that’s too few words, in too short a time, to be any good? I’d agree with that. I guess I’m not quite sure what your gripe is against NaNoWriMo. I view NaNoWriMo as literary training wheels: Mighty helpful when you’re just learning to ride, but you won’t need them forever. Once you’ve got the discipline to start a novel, and to ignore your internal editor and see it through to the end no matter how bad that first draft is, you no longer need it. I did NaNoWriMo three times, which turned out to be one too many. “Dare to suck” is a common bit of advice I hear from writers. Shutting up that internal editor is important if one’s going to complete what one starts. Writing fifty thousand words in thirty days means the internal editor has to be shut up, or at least bought off. The social element of thousands of other people doing it at the same time provides encouragement and reinforcement.Ī second important element of NaNoWriMo is daring to suck. NaNoWriMo, in my view, can be a first step toward developing that discipline. ![]() It doesn’t matter if someone’s never written before, it doesn’t matter if someone’s got a bunch of short stories published, tackling a long project takes daily discipline. NaNoWriMo is a tool to get people motivated to set aside those distractions and actually write. However, because writing’s a solitary activity, it’s all too easy for everyday trivia to pull one away from a project after a chapter or two. I disagree conditionally, and I’ll tell ya why: There are many people who keep telling themselves they’ll write a book someday. 250 words a day will give you breathing room and let your writing improve.Ģ50 words a days is all you need. It gives you time to read the authors you love so you can look at how they line words up and get to the root of what you love about their work. Those 250 words will, if you are consistent about writing every day or on a regular schedule, out-do any day’s work on a NaNoWriMo binge.Ģ50 words a day gives you room to do research. But you will have thought about those 250 words and done your best to make them count. Now, if you are a beginner, that novel might not be any good. In other words, you will have a full-length novel. If you write 250 words a day, at the end of a year you will have over 90,000 words. So you want to write a novel? Bag NaNoWriMo. Guaranteed that a lot of those attendees busily typing away for the cameras are not concentrating on the words but rather are thinking, “hey wow! I’m doing it! I’m really writing a novel!” Writing is a solitary effort that pays off when you pay close attention to what you are doing. Most cities host writing events and there’s plenty of fanfare as people kick off their novels in coffee shops and bookstores.ĭon’t get sucked in. ![]() Some writers liked the sense of cameraderie they can get from NaNoWriMo. Blasting through a novel at over 1000 words a day means that you will get a lot of crap and at the end of the experiment you will have 50,000 words, far too short for any market today. Writing requires steady, consistent effort. If you are interested in writing a novel and have never tried, you probably think NaNoWriMo is just the ticket to give you the jumpstart you need. November is coming and that means NanoWriMo is closing in fast. Happy writing! (But remember to write in December too.) ![]() It’s working, but I’m not trying to get 1,500 words a day, and I’m doing what I always have done - routine, steady writing.Īre you doing Nano this year? Good. It’s for a very specific project, in which I am working on a writing team, so to speak, and we decided to use Nano as a way to be accountable. Writing is a muscle - it benefits from daily exercise. I look at my writing practice and really, while I have done what I call “writing with my eyes closed” thing, my work has been really about routine, steady, writing. I reread this post and I think, boy, I was all about prescriptivism back then. But this is the post that started it all, including a mention on TIME’s website and an interview on NPR. The funny thing is, ha ha, guess what I’m doing this year? Yep. It’s another Throwback Thursday! And it being November, it’s time for the classic “Don’t Do Nano” post that made waves years ago. ![]()
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