I’ve decided to attempt NaNoWriMo for the third time, which begins tomorrow.
For those that haven’t heard of this strange sounding acronym NaNoWroMo stands for Novel Writing Month which begins 1st November and shuts again on 30th November. It’s a website that encourages anyone and everyone to write 50,000 words in 30 days.
All sounds pretty simple so far. For those that like a challenge it’s definitely a challenge and for those that like to write even more so because of the resounding complexity of novel writing. NaNoWriMo takes any complexity out of the writing process because no one see’s your writing, it doesn’t need to be a polished finished novel and it doesn’t even have to make sense. All that’s important is that you just go for it and get the words written.
As a writer (I write therefore I see myself as a writer), I’ve never actually finished any of my on-going 5 novels I have dotted about my hard-drive and mind and NaNoWroMo is another great example of my inability to stick to something long enough to just get the damn thing finished.
In 2010 I wrote 10,567 words. The novel was about a guy getting over the death of his wife, but later on in the story you find how she dies which is a not as you’d imagined or at least wouldn’t have if I’d ever have finished it. Those 10,567 words were created without a plan, layout or even getting down details of the characters. It was really a seat of your pants job and probably the main reason it failed.
Last yr I thought it would be great to write a fan novel and bring Desert of the Heart (film), right up to date into the 21st Century. This time, in hand written notes, I detailed characters and locations much better but ended up quitting the novel at 12,838 words. Why? Because as per usual I got bored, got distracted and finally thought what’s the point my writing is crap so best to give up now. Even though I knew, it was a first draft, even though I knew my basis for the novel was pretty solid. My inner critic (which has been the bane of my life) got shirty and that was the end of that.
Well, not this year. This year I am buffed and ready to go. I have spent days on detailing as much as possible around characters, locations and chapter ideas. My inner critic is already saying the synopsis of my story sounds like shit but I’m not listening. This year my novel is purely an idea I’ve been exploring in my mind – what would happen if you were in a good relationship but you got given attention from someone you liked the look of? Where would attention lead to and what would ultimately happen to your relationship? The attention might start off quite innocently but what if it triggered something much bigger? When a relationship gets tested how do certain characteristics respond?
The Forget-me-Not Cultivation Blog 