My Five Stages of NaNoWriMo

First, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I hope your days are filled with pumpkin everything and chocolate most things and more treats than tricks!

I've been asked a few times: "Are you doing that whole crazy novel in a month thing again?" NaNoWriMo? Yes.

So this year, despite my life being insanely chaotic I'm doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month-- I'm going to call it NaNo from here on out because it's so much easier!). Jenny's post yesterday sums up pretty much exactly why I NaNo most years. I would add that usually November is a quiet month for me, but this year, Holy Hannah in a Hoop Skirt, it's a mental one.

I'm going into this process with a major time crunch throughout the month, a lot of evening events for work, holiday (yes yes yes!) and in general more commitments then I would normally take on while attempting to write this much in a month. However, it's been the kind of year that really needs a good kick in the pants and the best way to do that is to win at NaNo. I won't have a publishable book at the end of this month. I repeat I won't have a publishable or even very good book at the end of this month.This is my note to NaNo-ers, you might be able to write 50k in a month, but that is rarely an entire book and unless you are the 1% of writers who can pull off a first draft kissed by the gods, it won't be a good draft. It is not ready to send out to agents and publishers. It will need a full revision which will take you (I should think) more than a month to complete. For me, I know won't even have a full manuscript (about half a book, probably) and that book will need a serious rewrite. But what I will have is something that shows my dedication to improving my craft. Because NaNo is all about the writing, even if it at times it is terrible. It's about getting your butt in the chair for a solid month and creating something. It's about putting the writing first. I can't argue with that.

If you want to follow my progress or be my buddy (a girl can use more buddies!) then you can do so clicking the widget below.

Jenny and I will also be gif-ing out way through NaNo over on the brand new Cupcakes and Karma Tumblr which you can visit by clicking here. You can also Tweet me (@gennmcmenemy), if you want to let me know how you're doing. This year I'm writing a romance loosely set in Ancient Rome (in my mind its all about Romans and Revolutionaries) Angel has dubbed it-- "Centurions, Lions, Revolutionaries and Roman Hooters". It should be good fun and I doubt in the end any of those words will be accurate in describing this book.

Let us know if you are NaNo-ing. We'd love to hear how you get on!

My Five Stages of NaNoWriMo

1. Insane Joy

This is going to be the best thing ever! I'm going to spend a month writing like a fiend and it will all pay off. I'm going to write the best book ever! (Days 1-5)

2. Crushing Overwhelming Terror

Why am I doing this again? I can't plot my way out of a paper bag. Zombies! Zombies will fix any plot holes. What do you mean there were no zombies in Ancient Rome!! (Days 6-15)

3. Despair

I'm so over this whole NaNo thing. I mean, it's not as if this novel writing month was my only shot at proving to myself I can do this. I can do this. Oh God, I CAN'T DO THIS! Give me wine and a desk to sob under!  (Days 16-20)

4. Rally

You know what, I do this every year and SOMEHOW I manage to win. It's time to rally. Because this can't be the year I lose. It just cant be. I am so not doing this next year. (Days 21-25)

5. Zombie-Style Relief

This is the homestretch. I can wrtie 2k a day for the next five days. Eat. Sleep. Work. BRRAIIINSSS. I mean WORDS. I mean BRRAIINNSSS! No, definitely WORDS. Brains are far too chewy. 

And finally, that sweet sweet victory!

Welcome to November.

Why I NaNo

For anyone who doesn’t know, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo, or “NaNo” for short) is a yearly event that challenges writers to write a 50,000-word novel in one month. It’s a nonprofit organization, thousands of people do it each year—and it has both its supporters and its detractors.

Some people claim that trying to write 50,000 words in a month is too fast—that people inevitably care more about quantity than quality, and NaNo’s main effect is the production of a lot of bad writing that’s then sent off to agents way too soon. There’s also the point that 50,000 words isn’t a novel—it’s half a novel. The NaNo organization tries to get you to feel like you accomplished something by finishing the challenge—it will even print your“book” for you if you do the allotted words in the allotted time.  Personally, I think that's really premature.

And yet I do NaNo, and I support it. Here’s why.

First, NaNo is a tool. Like any other writing tool, what you get out of it depends on how you use it. It isn’t bad or good in and of itself.  Sure, you can go around claiming you “finished a book” after completing the challenge. But really, finishing 50,000 words of your novel is only a tiny fraction of the work you need to do in order to get it agent-ready. A lot of writers know this. I don’t believe it’s a good way to get a finished book in a month. But I do think it’s a great way to kick-start a new draft.

Second, there is no “right way” to write a novel. Different methods work for different people. There may be a few geniuses out there who have produced amazing work at NaNo that needs little editing. I doubt there are many. But who am I to tell them their work is crap just because they wrote it during NaNo?

I’ve done NaNo every year for the past four years. I do it with friends, and so far, every year I’ve completed the challenge. This year, I almost decided not to do it. Mainly because of the time commitment and the fact that I currently have four novels in various stages of edit that are more of a priority.

But I changed my mind—because my friends and I came up with a new way to use NaNo this year. We’re all committed to writing novels that have strong romance components—yet we all feel that our romance threads in previous drafts haven’t lived up to what we hoped for. This may be because we keep trying to do too many things with our drafts. They’re romance, but they’re also fantasy. With a historical component. And zombies. You get the drift.

So this year, we’re all writing romances for NaNo. Just romance. Some of it is fan fic. All of it is going to be really, really simple. No zombies, no vampires, no complications. And personally, I’m not going to go nuts trying to meet the 50,000-word mark this year, because I’m also going to be editing an old project and querying another old project while I do this. If this NaNo goes well, I’ll get some much-needed practice in honing my ability to write romance. If it goes amazingly well, I’ll get a draft of a story I’ll actually want to finish and query eventually. But I’m not going to be bothering any agents with my NaNo story come December 1. Because for me, that’s not what NaNo is for.

I can't even SQUEE I'm so excited for CATCHING FIRE!

Seriously! I can't even begin to express how excited I am for Catching Fire. I am going to have to re-read the book. But, ZOMG look at the final trailer. What I love about the films is how they give the viewers a greater sense of what is going on in Panem. The books are limited to Katniss' first person narration, which makes the terror and the Games that much more powerful and immediate. However, you don't fully process the revolution that Katniss has sparked in the same way until much later in the books. But the films also look at the society as it begins to unravel and embrace the coming storm of revolution. Both are fantastic, but I love how the films really capture that 'spark' of revolution while juxtaposing the cruelty and barbaric nature of the Games.

 

Ariel: The World's Worst Roommate?

I always thought I was a terrible roommate. Even though I've remained close friends with two of my four roommates from college, I was convinced I was a terrible bunkmate. Maybe it was years of having my own room as a kid, or the fact that I tended to get not enough sleep (it's perfectly normal to function on 4 hours with a nap sometime throughout the day, right?), or maybe that I'm just not the tidest person? I present you with this case study from Cracked (yes, that is snark you are detecting). Is Ariel the worst roommate ever? You decide. Let us know your thoughts on roommates in the comments below.