November 1st is the start of National Novel Writers Month, or NaNo as we writers like to nickname it. It's an annual challenge to turn off the internal editor for 30 days, and strive for a goal of 50,000 words. That's a lot in a short time. It breaks down to 1667 words a day. I write tight, so it doesn't take me long to reach the bottom of my word bucket to get a scene down on paper, and I'm usually lucky if I hit a thousand words. Once in a great while the bucket overflows and I get a bit more done.
I've had a story idea going on in the back of my head for sometime now. A minor character in another story decided he wanted the spotlight for himself, so I'm giving him a chance to shine. At this point he doesn't have a whole lot to say, but I'm sure he'll do better when he settles in to telling his tale. He's got a couple decisions to make before he gets started on his great adventure. The idea is to concentrate on what this one character has to say and not let anyone else interrupt. After all, everyone has to wait their turn, even if they don't think so.
If you're taking part in this challenge, or even if you're not, post your comments here, pro or con for this annual event. What do you think of it? Does it help you, or put on more pressure you don't need? Share your thoughts with other writers.
Until next time...
3 comments:
Nano is an experiment for me. I don't do fiction. I don't do long projects. I don't do outlines. Nano is a long fiction project I'm doing from an outline. So it may make a different kind of writer out of me.
I'm doing Nano for the second year.
I think it's fun and writing with the buddy system motivates me to keep writing.
And you can polish it later.
Last year I tried to write a lot in the first two weeks so I was over half way there, just in case I slowed down as the weeks progressed.
This year I'm starting with only a germ of an idea, so we'll see where it takes me.
This is year number 8 for me. It seems every time I attempt the challenge, life steps in the way. Or maybe I'm just choosing to take part when I know I probably shouldn't. LOL
Here's to a SUCCESSFUL year - however you define the word.
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