Writing Wrongs

January 31, 2007

So the lovely Anno asked yesterday what I had against NaNo (I know, I know, I�m such a hater of democracy), since what I�m doing is essentially a NaNo type word-count drive.

Let�s look at some numbers and I�ll elaborate.

I have 56 days to do this versus the 30 of NaNo. Nearly twice as long. Don�t think that matters? Think again. If you want to �win� NaNo, you have to write 1666.666 (50,000/30) words per day. If you don�t see evil lurking in that number, you�re not looking hard enough.

My word count is based in part on time and in part on what I feel I can do each day. When I reach my quota, I can quit. Writing a novel is like running a marathon. Not everyone is in good enough shape to write 1666.666 words every day right out of the gate. It�s a good way to burn out, in my opinion.

At first, I was hitting 930, but I slowly crept up on the word count. I did write 2,000 words one day, on the weekend, but otherwise, I haven�t broken 1,600. From a NaNo point of view, I�m a loser.

The process, even though I�m sharing it here, is very insular. I email Kelly each night--that keeps me honest. Otherwise, there isn�t a lot of static to go along with this. I don�t have to listen to how someone managed to write 3,500 words, whip up a gourmet meal, and shellac the dog, and oh, by the way, her publisher can�t wait for this novel. I also don�t have to listen how someone typed 350 words that were so tortuous their fingers bled.

Stephen King talks about �closing the door� when writing a first draft. I think that can apply to both the writing and the process.

And I�m all about reexamining process. Last year, I looked at revision. This year, one of my goals is to look at generating more material that I can revise. I have nothing against writing faster. But I�m looking for balance.

Instead of pushing myself to write as much as possible each day, I stop when I reach my number (or if I�m on a roll, a little past that). I read. I recharge. I think about upcoming scenes, review character bios and scene cards.

And so on.

I know, I know. NaNo is supposed to fun. (See the part where I hate democracy above. I also hate fun.) It�s supposed to be silly. You�re not supposed to care how good the story is at the end.

But I do care. A lot. I know this is a rough draft. If I get to the end and realize I need to pull the whole thing apart and put it back together again, that�s okay.

There�s a balance I�m trying to maintain. I want to write fast enough to squelch those first-draft doubts. But I want to write slowly enough so I don�t desperate and decide to drop aliens (or alients as Kyra calls them) into chapter fourteen.

This is my long way of saying that I don�t actually hate NaNo, or have anything against it, or think others shouldn�t participate; it just doesn�t work for me. And hey, this is the rough draft. It�s the time when it should be all about me, Me, ME.

The short answer is I probably just hate democracy.

The Fine Art of Holding Your Breath
39,844 / 60,000 (65.00%)

Charity Tahmaseb wrote at 10:32 a.m.

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