NaNoWriMo 2011 Wrap
NaNoWriMo is over for another year. The bad news was, I only wrote 17,454 words. That’s less than last year’s effort of approximately 27,000 words, and well short of the 50,000 word target. In my defence, I was in Sydney for three days in November and didn’t have computer access. And Thursdays were generally “no writing” zones, since I watched “The Slap” and “Crownies” at night, and afterwards it felt too late to start writing. (Incidentally, now that it’s December, both shows have come to an end, thus freeing up my Thursday nights, only too late). And I did go to trivia on a couple of the Tuesday nights. And I hold down a full-time job, which limited my writing time.
Excuses, excuses. Many people on the NaNoWriMo forums also had busy lives - working full-time, or studying for exams, or looking after small children - but still managed to win. I could have woken up early and written before work. Or stayed up later at night. Or chucked sickies and written during the day instead of going to work. Maybe not the last one. I’d feel really guilty if I’d done that.
And I didn’t really write a story. I just wrote a series of scenes. Some connected, others not so much. My main downfall was failure to draft a decent outline beforehand. A vague premise is simply not enough. And once you’re in the throes of NaNo, writing hard to keep your word count up, there’s really no time to stop, go back, and work on a plot. Next year I’ll start working on my plot earlier. Heck, I should really start planning my 2012 NaNo story now .
Another problem was I kept changing my mind as to what story I wanted to write (again, this probably stemmed from a lack of decent, solid plot). I’d have a “great” idea in mind. But sadly, I’d gradually lose enthusiasm for it. Then an exciting, fresh premise would hit me, and I’d fall in love with this new idea, and spend hours turning it over in my head. And like a fickle lover, the old idea would be cruelly ditched, and I’d devote all my attention to the new one. This happened at least three times during November.
My first idea for a story (which I can now reveal, as I’ll probably never use it*) involved meta-fiction. That is, it was going to be a novel about a novel. This is the pitch: A guy and a girl are in a relationship and planning to write a novel together. They break up, but both of them still want to write the novel they jointly planned (albeit separately). Both of them race to get the novel completed before the other, whilst dealing with their break-up. And being individuals with distinct styles and personalities, each of them writes the same story, but differently.
I told Craig of this idea, and he joked “That sounds good. I think I might write my version of that.”
“That’s probably meta-meta-fiction!” I said.
(*Of course, now that I’ve discarded this idea, Hollywood will probably release the movie).
The good news is, some of the scenes I wrote may be salvageable. And I feel that this year, I improved my writing by paying more attention to the subtext of a scene - the life underneath the surface, the difference between the spoken and the unspoken. I also worked harder at character development and especially character motivation. Over the past twelve months, I’ve read several books on writing and storytelling, and it was good to apply what I’ve learnt to my own work.
And I had fun. I enjoyed reading the NaNoWriMo forums and feeling the camaraderie. Knowing that there are other people out there also trying to become novelists. Bring on NaNoWriMo 2012!
Excuses, excuses. Many people on the NaNoWriMo forums also had busy lives - working full-time, or studying for exams, or looking after small children - but still managed to win. I could have woken up early and written before work. Or stayed up later at night. Or chucked sickies and written during the day instead of going to work. Maybe not the last one. I’d feel really guilty if I’d done that.
And I didn’t really write a story. I just wrote a series of scenes. Some connected, others not so much. My main downfall was failure to draft a decent outline beforehand. A vague premise is simply not enough. And once you’re in the throes of NaNo, writing hard to keep your word count up, there’s really no time to stop, go back, and work on a plot. Next year I’ll start working on my plot earlier. Heck, I should really start planning my 2012 NaNo story now .
Another problem was I kept changing my mind as to what story I wanted to write (again, this probably stemmed from a lack of decent, solid plot). I’d have a “great” idea in mind. But sadly, I’d gradually lose enthusiasm for it. Then an exciting, fresh premise would hit me, and I’d fall in love with this new idea, and spend hours turning it over in my head. And like a fickle lover, the old idea would be cruelly ditched, and I’d devote all my attention to the new one. This happened at least three times during November.
My first idea for a story (which I can now reveal, as I’ll probably never use it*) involved meta-fiction. That is, it was going to be a novel about a novel. This is the pitch: A guy and a girl are in a relationship and planning to write a novel together. They break up, but both of them still want to write the novel they jointly planned (albeit separately). Both of them race to get the novel completed before the other, whilst dealing with their break-up. And being individuals with distinct styles and personalities, each of them writes the same story, but differently.
I told Craig of this idea, and he joked “That sounds good. I think I might write my version of that.”
“That’s probably meta-meta-fiction!” I said.
(*Of course, now that I’ve discarded this idea, Hollywood will probably release the movie).
The good news is, some of the scenes I wrote may be salvageable. And I feel that this year, I improved my writing by paying more attention to the subtext of a scene - the life underneath the surface, the difference between the spoken and the unspoken. I also worked harder at character development and especially character motivation. Over the past twelve months, I’ve read several books on writing and storytelling, and it was good to apply what I’ve learnt to my own work.
And I had fun. I enjoyed reading the NaNoWriMo forums and feeling the camaraderie. Knowing that there are other people out there also trying to become novelists. Bring on NaNoWriMo 2012!