Thursday, November 1, 2012

Nanowrimo! Could you write a novel in a month?

Have you always wanted to write a novel but have never made yourself sit down and do it? Nanowrimo is a program that helps you write a novel in a month. From their website:
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing on November 1. The goal is to write a 50,000-word (approximately 175-page) novel by 11:59:59 PM on November 30. 
Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. 
As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.
I did my first Nanowrimo a few years ago. I wrote the novel and never looked at it again. A few weeks ago, I opened up the document on my laptop and it was so strange reading the words. I don't remember writing them and I stopped several times and thought, wow, I did this. It was a great feeling and even though I'll probably never do anything with that novel, it holds a special place in my heart as being my first, big work. It was an amazing experience to go back and read it. I've decided to do Nanowrimo again this year. It is a great way to discipline yourself as a writer. Most of what you write might not be amazing (though it might be!) but it helps you get a lot of practice in.

What about you guys? Anyone else doing it? Anyone do it before and produce something they really liked?

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