Waaaay back in November, I finally grew some balls and participated in something that I've been interested in for years, but could never bring myself to do. You know, because I lacked the aforementioned balls.
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| "You finally lost your virginity?" |
That activity was NaNoWriMo.
For those of you who don't know what the hell I'm talking about, NaNoWriMo is an acronym for the National Novel Writing Month. It was created by a genius by the name of Chris Baty. He, along with 21 others in the San Francisco area decided to sit down and write a novel in a single month. And despite how crazy that sounds, they did just that. The next year, they decided to do it again, this time in the month of November, because other than nom of turkey during Thanksgiving, there's not much else to do during that time of the year.
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| "November is nothing without me!" |
The rules for NaNoWriMo are fairly simple: you write 50,000 words in the span of the month, starting at 12:00 am on November 1st, and ending at 11:59 pm on November 30th. It can be any theme, any genre, and in any language. Fun, no?
Having had the strange yearning to write for some years now, but nothing to really write about has been a plight I've wrestled with for sometime. But somehow, I had developed the inkling of an idea for a book; apparently my muse decided to stay sober long enough to do her freaking job for once.
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| My muse. |
So with inspiration for a story in my head and the grim determination of a would-be writer, along with some much needed encouragement from a few friends, I set out to play an epic game of chicken with my laptop.
NaNoWriMo was, if anything, a learning experience which presented a number of challenges and obstacles for me to overcome, such as:
1. The need for speed. In order to hit the 50,000 mark by the deadline, I would need to write an average of 1,667 words everyday. Which was a daunting prospect for me considering I'm a notoriously slow writer;even during those rare moments that I know exactly what I want to type, it takes me a few moments shy of eternity to actually get it written up. So you can imagine how slow going it was when I would have to pause and collect my thoughts or even think up a scene...
It doesn't help matters that I technically don't know how to type. I'm a certified chicken pecker; I only use two fingers to write, and my eyes never leave the keyboard.
I'm happy to say that my typing speed doubled over the course of the month; my average was around 500 wph before I started NaNoWriMo. Now, I easily hit 1000 wph without too much effort; during day 11, I managed 1300 words in just 49 minutes, which is the equivalent of the tortoise sprinting ahead and lapping the hare.
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| "Do you even run, bro?" |
With this boost in speed, I only needed about two hours each day to hit my word requirements.
2. Shutting down the need for perfection. I can't speak for other writers, but I suffer from this idea that whatever I'm writing as to be perfect the first time, otherwise it's putrid garbage that has to be disintegrated for the sake of the world.
This affliction is one of the major reasons why, despite having the desire to write a book since President Obama was first elected, I'm only just now actually trying; why put so much effort into something that will undoubtedly suck worse than Dick Cheney's aim? Better to play it safe and let the dream live a bit longer.
Well, the great thing about NaNoWriMo is that in order to win, you don't need your novel to be perfect. Or even good, for that matter; this first draft is going to be uglier and grosser than a greased up Hutt.
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| So, a hutt... |
The only thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is the word count. 50,000 of them, to be exact. You can write the biggest piece of garbage on Earth, and as long as it meets the word count, you're golden. With that in mind, I was able to suppress that horrible itch for perfection and hammer out 50,076 words of pure vomit. And it was glorious.
3. The need for a plot. The motto of NaNoWriMo is "no plot? No problem." While it certainly helps to have a plot outline, character biographies, and copious notes about the setting, it isn't necessary. There are two types of people who do NaNo, plotters and pantsers. Pantsers are the folks who "fly by the seat of their pants" and don't do any sort of planning. They just sit and write whatever comes to mind. Or whatever would be cool. Or whatever their cat tells them to write. I'm sure you can guess which group I belonged to.
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| "Dude, write about vampires. Everyone loves vampires." |
Originally, the concern was that I would never be capable of completing the challenge; 50,000 is a lot of words after all, and I'm not very creative/smart/etc. The well of inspiration would run dry long before I reached the goal and I would be left floundering in the sand.
Thankfully, I was very much wrong about that. While 50,000 words sounds fairly daunting, it's not quite as bad as it seems. At the end of November, much to my surprise, I found myself meeting the word count goal with my book still incomplete. As it stands, it isn't even the fully formed skeleton of a story; half the bones have been stolen by wild animals, who have proceeded to suck the marrow out.
And I still have much to write before this first draft is done.
In the end, I managed to complete the word count goals and "win" NaNoWriMo. It was a truly awesome feeling, because I'm not used to winning at anything; I mostly fall flat on my face in the mud. Being able to sit back in my chair and exalt over a hard won victory is a rare thrill. These days, I am in desperate need of any sort of win, and completing NaNoWriMo was like a balm.
With that victory came a rush of hopes and ideas for the future. Maybe I can do this thing. Maybe I too will make the New York Times Bestseller list. Perhaps people will one day compare me to the greats, like Stephen King or Jim Butcher or Terry Pratchett.
Perhaps, perhaps. We shall see.
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