National Novel Writing Month Approaches

Once again November 1st approaches, offering yet another opportunity to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), an annual celebration of stunt writing when several thousand people attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I've 'participated' a couple of times in this event, although I've never reached the 50,000 word goal. I seem to recall hitting 25,000 one year. The image to the left is a cover I put together for this year's planned entry, a science fiction novel about a lost spaceship. Both the novel and the ship are called Morningstar. I thought it might be easier to write about three different main characters, so I don't get bogged down in any one storyline. Each of these characters get caught up in separate searches for the lost vessel, a thousand year-old colony ship from Earth that contains genetic samples of original human and animal species. The last five chapters will bring the characters together on the cusp of discovery. What will they find?

NaNoWriMo Final

Another November 15th passed by, another end to whatever NaNoWriMo ambitions I may have had for the month. At the halfway point I have written maybe 7,000 words in my main project and the various distraction projects (word count exercises designed to inspire creativity) that I started on November 1st. With two weeks left, there is little chance that I will achieve even my more modest goals. I’m pretty sure that it’s almost impossible to successfully do NaNoWriMo without taking the entire month of November off. Maybe next year I’ll plan to do that and see if I have any more luck.

NaNoWriMo 2

It almost feels counterproductive to spend time blogging during NaNoWriMo, to write something that does not contribute to the legitimate word count of the novel you are supposed to be working on. But then, I've hardly been working on that novel anyway, and as I explained in my first NaNoWriMo post, I’m not taking the whole thing all that seriously.

But blogging does bring up an interesting element of the whole NaNoWriMo experience, the social media aspect. NaNo participants share a certain connection to each other via the official National Novel Writing Month website. Many of them also blog or Tweet or write Facebook posts about their novel, the process of writing, or the various events that they participate in. There are write-ins and meet-ups that allow many them to work together toward their common goal. I suppose the moral support is important to many of them.

Now I’m not much of a joiner or event attender. For me writing is a solitary activity, and I actually prefer it that way. But I do plan to do some social media stuff to promote my participation, and the book (or books) that will be the final product of my efforts. So I’ll use the hashtags #nanowrimo and #amwriting during November when I Tweet about my activity. I also plan to Tweet a line or two of my day’s best work using the hashtag #lineoftheday (on those days I actually produce something). And so far, based on the Tweet below, that has attracted some attention (favorited by four people).

Yes, this writing already requires editing, even the lines that I have tweeted.

NaNoWriMo 1

Another November, another National Novel Writing Month, an opportunity for thousands of amateur and professional writers to get down to work and produce an entire 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Of course 50,000 words doesn’t exactly add up to a complete novel, and 30 days is not sufficient time to produce anything of quality (especially for those of us holding down a day job), but National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short) is always a good opportunity to get inspired, to focus on your writing, and to try to increase your productivity to 1,667 words a day.

I’ve never taken NaNoWriMo seriously enough to finish the thing, that is write a complete 50,000 word novel in November, and I have no intention to start now. My “official” NaNoWriMo project is not even a novel, but a 20,000 word novella that I’m planning to self-publish as an e-book. And it is the sequel to a first novella that I am still working on that I hope to finish by the 15th. So both novellas will only add up to about 40,000 words, are actually two separate stories and I’ve already finished two and a half chapters of the first. Those are three rules that I’ve broken right from the start. 

So clearly my goal is not to win NaNoWriMo, but to use the time to complete other projects, my own personal interpretation of the event. The novellas I’m working on are science fiction time-travel adventures titled Tethys Trades: Pirates and Dinosaurs and Tethys Trades: Convicts and Castaways. More details on these works will follow as I use this blog to report on my progress (or lack thereof).

Good luck to all NaNoWriMo participants!