A novel in a month? Crazy!
September 10th 2008 21:57
I had a discussion the other day with someone who claims to be a writer. She told me how she wanted to write a novel but never seemed to find the time. Life got in the way all the time, and her novel remained unwritten. Needless to say, I threw in NaNoWriMo at this point. I thought I was doing her a favour, providing her with an excuse to write.
Instead, she told me that I had to be crazy. She wanted to produce a work of art, great literature, and she could not just write it all down in a month. No, she would write her novel when the time was right.
It turned out we couldn't have a constructive conversation about writing fiction. She firmly believed that the circumstances had to be right, she needed to be in the mood, and so on. In my opinion, she came up with a lot of excuses why she couldn't write her novel in November.
I believe that if you want to write a great novel, you have to sit down and start writing. And once you've started, you have to keep writing until you've told your story.
But what do I know, I'm crazy.
Instead, she told me that I had to be crazy. She wanted to produce a work of art, great literature, and she could not just write it all down in a month. No, she would write her novel when the time was right.
It turned out we couldn't have a constructive conversation about writing fiction. She firmly believed that the circumstances had to be right, she needed to be in the mood, and so on. In my opinion, she came up with a lot of excuses why she couldn't write her novel in November.
I believe that if you want to write a great novel, you have to sit down and start writing. And once you've started, you have to keep writing until you've told your story.
But what do I know, I'm crazy.
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Comment by Chris Champion
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I suppose we are all different, but those reasons for not writing sound like an excuse. We are all potentially brilliant novelists - why actually write a novel and find out the truth?
You are right. The way to train for and ultimately run a marathon is to take it one step at a time. But you have to take that next step. The way to write a novel is to take it one word at a time. But you have to write that next word.
As for being crazy, I note that there were 9,765 NaNoWriMo winners in 2006 and 15,335 in 2007. That's a lot of crazy people
Regards,
Chris
Comment by Sonya 1
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Thanks for your comment.
I agree, we are all different. Writers (and I mean the kind who do actually write) who tell me NaNoWriMo is not their cup of tea - fair enough. Some things work for you, some things don't. In the end it doesn't matter how you get there as long as you get there.
I guess the girl who told me I was crazy will not be getting there any time soon. If the choice is between crazy and moaning about not having time to write a novel, I choose crazy any day!
Sonya