NaNoWriMo
NaNaWriMo and Autumn Leaves.
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 11/12/2007 - 10:32The past few days, I’ve been spending a bit of time off line. I’m still managing to get at least one blog post up everyday, and get at least 1,667 words of the novel written each day. I’m holding my own on the never-ending influx of emails. So, it doesn’t feel like I’m making any headway, but it doesn’t feel like I’m losing ground either.
Yesterday, Fiona and I went for a hike in the Naugatuck State Forest. The day before, we went with Kim to Sperry Falls. Both days, Barley came along for a romp in the woods. (See our photos on Flickr.)
Apparently we weren’t the only ones taking advantage of a beautiful fall weekend to take our dogs for a walk in the woods. Heather, whose blog I found via MyBlogLog took her dog, Lily for some walks in the Ohio foliage.
But perhaps these autumnal strolls are good for the writing anyway. Yesterday, I received a NaNoWriMo ‘pep talk from Sue Grafton’. In her email to all NaNoWriMo participants, she writes of her dreams for her novels,
The pacing will be relentless, yet the story will ebb and flow in a manner that will produce both thrilling surprises and quiet moments where the reader can reflect on what's gone before.
This weekend was filled with quiet moments of reflection, and it showed up in the sections of the story. I’m that the pace will quicken before I know it.
Community Novel Writing
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 10:25Humans, by there very nature, are storytellers. From the gatherings around campfires and drawings on cave walls, to the modern day novel, people have always told stories. The problem with the modern day novel, however, that like so much of media in our recent history, it is broadcast. The writer sits down, writes the novel, revises then novel, tries to get someone to publish it, and eventually, it is out there in a static form, broadcast to anyone that will read it. There is very little interaction between the writer and the audience, except maybe at a book signing or in random hate mail. At least that is how it has always seemed to me as strictly a consumer of novels.
Now, however, I am making my first attempt at writing a novel. Sometime this weekend, I expect to pass the half way mark. I’m not sure where the point of no return is, but I believe I’ve passed it and now have to finish the novel.
During this experience, I went to a write-in. To people who view writing as a solitary experience, a write-in doesn’t make a lot of sense. I know that I write better when I am alone and not interrupted or distracted. A bunch of writers getting together to write, and chat about their writing and eat curly french fries, well that just seems too distracting, and at my first write in, I only accomplished 800 words. I probably would have done twice that if I stayed at home.
Yet, I’m finding that writing isn’t a solitary experience, or it doesn’t have to be. The municipal liaison for NaNoWriMo in my area sent out an email to all of us, encouraging us on. It had various statistics about the average number of words written by various groups of writers and the writers that attended write-ins were the most prolific.
More significantly, I’ve been speaking with friends about my novel. I’ve sent them sections of my first draft and they’ve provided great suggestions. I’ve worried about whether I’m bugging them too much, but they’ve commented about how much fun they are having watching my novel unfold and making suggestions.
Perhaps this returns the story telling process to a little bit more like the stories told around the campfire. The audience asks questions and the story take shape with their participation. If you are doing NaNoWriMo, I would encourage you to get to write-ins and to talk with trusted friends that can give you good advice. It makes the experience all the more fun.
Overload
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 11/09/2007 - 10:03The first snow of the season graces the fallen leaves as I dally in bed. It has been a busy week and I am on overload. Wednesday, I went to ad:tech, and there is still more to write about that. In the evening, I received additional emails about the alleged trademark infringement in Second Life, which deserves much more attention. Thursday, I addressed various business concerns and the never-ending effort to get a little more cash in the door. Last night, I went to a panel, “The State of Student Free Speech” at Quinnipiac University School of Law, sponsored by the American Constitution Society. It was a wonder session that deserves a write up of its own. Through all of this, I continue to work on my novel for National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo, and process the great input I’ve been getting from a small set of friends who are reading the rough draft of my first write through.
I’m not officially participating in National Blog Posting Month, NaBloPoMo, which has a goal of putting up a post every day during the month of November. This is in part because I’ve got too many things going on already, and in part because the goal of putting up a post every day is one that I’ve been seeking for the past few months anyway, and intend to keep pursuing. I only missed one day in October, none in September, and two in August, so I’m in pretty good shape there.
However, on the email side, I’m not in as good shape. The unread emails in my inbox has expanded back up to close to 1400, and for the first time during NaNoWriMo, I didn’t write the 1,667 words for my novel which is the average number of words needed to be written each day to complete the 50,000 words by the end of the month. However, I am still in good shape with the novel. During my first week, I averaged close to 3000 words a day, so I’m currently at 21,306 words and interesting new subplots keep hatching
So, I’m overloaded. I’ll get my blog posts up as soon as I can. I’ll get back to emails as soon as I can, and I’ll try to keep my novel goals on track. Wish me luck.
Getting Help
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 11/06/2007 - 14:10It is day six of National Novel Writing Month, (NaNoWriMo). If I write 1,667 words a day, which will put me at 50,000 words by the end of the month, I need to be break 10,000 words today. In reality, I’m closing in on 17,000 words, so I’m in pretty good shape.
My biggest concerns are running out of storyline before I hit the 50,000 mark, as well as how compelling and realistic the story is. So, I’ve started casually asking around for help. My wife has read everything I’ve written so far and tells me it is compelling. She has offered help in areas that I’m not well versed in, such as describing the preparations for a date that a twenty-year-old woman might do. She also gave me the idea for a small scene that I’ve added which I think works quite nicely, and I thank her for that.
One of the heroes in my story reluctantly gets dragged to a therapist. I’m on a mailing list of group psychotherapists, so I sent a request to the list, asking if any of them would be interested in reading my story and offering comments about the story, and especially about the one therapy scene that I’ve written so far.
I received a few replies. The readers found the story compelling and the therapist plausible. I’m starting to dig deeper, because I hope to introduce some interesting ethical issues and would love to add real depth to the therapy sessions.
Today, I received one email that made me stop and think. The writer said, “I got to the therapist, and had to stop reading, because I was shook up by the quick decision of dismissal by the Doc.” It was an incredibly valuable comment.
Let me give you the context. A seventeen-year-old boy has been hanging out in Second Life. Something bad has happened there. Depending on your perspective, he enabled or permitted this bad thing to happen. There are other people who are particularly upset about this and are threatening the boy. The boy is scared. He reluctantly talks about this with a therapist and the therapist doesn’t take this as seriously as he ought to.
On the one hand, I want my characters to be as realistic as possible. Is the therapist’s too quick dismissal of the danger the boy is in unrealistic? Would that happen in real life? Does it reflect a real concern about people dismissing online events as not being all that important?
As I pondered these questions, it struck me that this is really an important theme in the book, not only concerning the therapist, but also concerning everyone. Are some people taking events in Second Life too seriously? Are some people not taking events in Second Life seriously enough? We will have to see how the novel turns out.
Until that time, I thank the folks who have read portions of my first write through and offered such helpful comments. If you are writing a novel this month, how are you doing research for your novel? Who are you asking for help? What sort of help are you asking for? How are you asking for it? Is it working?
My First Write-In
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 11/02/2007 - 09:13Regular readers of my blog, when hearing the words “write-in” are likely to think of campaigns where voters write-in their favorite candidate, such as how Avery Doninger won the election as class secretary at Lewis Mills High School, even though the administration refuses to recognize the results.
For those that don’t know, I’ve decided to attempt to write a novel this month as part of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Yesterday, I had meetings in New York, which afforded me three hours sitting on a train, and a great chance to write. I’ve gotten off to a strong start, but I worry about whether I am starting like the proverbial hare in the story of the tortoise and the hare.
Last night, I went to my first “write-in”. This is a gathering of NaNoWriMo participants. We were supposed to meet at a local eating establishment, but they had had a flood, so we moved to a diner down the road.
There were about fifteen writers there. The organizer handed out various bits of swag. Stickers for laptops about NaNoWriMo, notepads, and an “Official Plot Ninja”. It seems as if the muses of old are getting edged out by a newer generation.
A NaNoWriMo write-in is a gathering to be experienced. A blog entry just doesn’t do it justice. However, I will try to capture some of experience here. Just about everyone had a laptop. Just about every laptop was some sort of beat up PC. There was one Mac there that I saw. There was some weird wiring to get enough power strips to everyone whose batteries would not last the duration of the write-in.
There was a lot of chatter between the writers, and perhaps some of the quotes I overheard provide the best glimpse into the gathering.
Last unicorn fan fic… Text your story on you cell phone… A plant, which she watered with coffee every morning… I dropped Latin for a reason, because I hated it, I dropped History for a reason, because I hated it...If you want instant self-esteem, just go look around MySpace for a little while…
During the write-in, some people experimented with an electric keyboard; very small and portable. You could type your text into the electric keyboard and later upload it into your PC. It had a small screen on which you could only see a couple lines of text.
One person quipped, "At least the blank page is smaller.” In the end, that is what we all confronted at the write-in, the blank page. Fortunately, many of us went away with pages having been filled up. Today, I’ll attend to other issues, but I plan on find an hour or two somewhere in the day where I can make more progress on my novel.
Are you writing a novel this month? If so, tell me about it, here, on the NaNoWriMo site, in a Facebook group, an BlogLog group, or other online communities where NaNoWriMo participants are gathering.
