The writing event of the year is finally here – NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month.
Although I don’t have a specific storyline for this year’s NaNoWriMo (I guess I will start with some gibberish storyline before fine-tuning later), here is an interesting article I picked up on the event that might inspire you:-
If I were asked to guess the number one obstacle that stands in the way of a person finishing a novel, I wouldn’t choose writer’s block, a busy schedule or running out of ideas. I wouldn’t choose lack of a laptop or quiet writing space. I think that the main obstacle to a completed novel is simply the act of not writing.
Sure, the above list of reasons will get pulled from, but in most cases they’re just used as excuses to not write. If a determined person wants to, and really tries, I believe that he or she, under almost any circumstance, can write a full novel, simply by sitting down and writing it.
This way of thinking is put to the test every November, during National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo was started by Chris Baty in 1999, with less than two dozen writers, and has taken off like a rocket since.
For the twenty-one participants in 1999, as well as the eighty-thousand in 2006, the goal is simple. Starting November first, write a fifty-thousand word novel in one month.
It’s by no means easy, but it may be a little easier than you expect. What Chris Baty did was create a writing environment where the focus is on speed above all else. Words, pages, chapters as quickly as possible, and barely time to take a breath.
This may sound like a terrible idea. A novel, after all, isn’t just a string of words. Sure, maybe a person could type out fifty thousand words in a month, but if it’s poorly thought out, then they’ve just typed out fifty thousand useless words.
To make a good novel, some might tell you, you think, you plan, and you outline. You look before you leap. If you get writer’s block, maybe you should take a break from it, and go walk in the world. See if inspiration hits you. You don’t just hurry through.
That was an inspirational read – a good start for NaNoWriMo 2010. My NaNoWriMo third run in a row and hope to complete the finishing line on time as to how I did in 2008 & 2009.
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