NaNo
Thought I'd mention this since a lot of people tend to ask me whether I'm planning on doing NaNoWriMo. (That's National Novel Writing Month; every November, it's a sort of writing event where people try to write a 50,000-word book in 30 days. They register, cheer each other on, get support, and get a "winner" graphic if they get 50,000 in the allotted time frame.)
I have never had any interest whatsoever in participating in NaNoWriMo.
I think it has a time and a place. It's a wonderful, freeing way to get over the fear of starting a book, fear of wanting it to be perfect, fear of pooping out--just DO it, drop all your worries and write a damn book! People don't have to worry so much about quality as they do about quantity, just trying to get to that magic 50,000 words before the end of the month. The community is supportive; the pressure is on and off at the same time; and it even provides a nice atmosphere for people who've never written a book before to try out their wings without judgments.
That said . . . I'm not in a situation where I need another hastily written, badly crafted novel lying around waiting for editing, and I *certainly* don't consider it a challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days. You know what'd be a challenge for me? Writing 50,000 words in a DAY. I'm not saying that to brag or anything. I'm just very aware that I'm incredibly wordy, and I have spun off a good 10,000 words in a couple hours before, so I know I could do it. I wouldn't prove anything to myself by finishing NaNo, and I'm certainly not afraid of writing a book or starting one. If anything I've got to learn to take my time somewhat, because it's much tougher to edit documents down after I've barfed a ton of text.
Last year in November I got a story idea for a novella, committed to writing it, and ended up with 35,000 words in a week, conception to completion. I later decided this really was a novel in novella's clothing, and that the lack of fleshed-out characterization was mainly due to feeling like I needed to write a short story, not a novel. Eventually I'll return to that story and give it clothes that fit, and I'm hoping that being based on a 35,000-word novella will restrict it from becoming too huge.
Then again, the short story version of "Bad Fairy" was about 5,000 words. The novel version was 255,000. (It took me five weeks.)
So, my short answer is that word count is not a challenge and doesn't matter to me; I am in fact on the opposite end of the spectrum, trying to say more with fewer words so I can be more concise and effective with my work. No need for me to race toward a finish line that's measuring nothing but word count. I hope the way I said this isn't making anyone think I am talking down to people who participate in it, of course; like I said above, its purposes resonate with a great many writers, and a lot of them probably have reasons I don't know about or didn't mention. I just wanted to say why I don't have any interest in participating--for me, "winning" would be meaningless.
I have never had any interest whatsoever in participating in NaNoWriMo.
I think it has a time and a place. It's a wonderful, freeing way to get over the fear of starting a book, fear of wanting it to be perfect, fear of pooping out--just DO it, drop all your worries and write a damn book! People don't have to worry so much about quality as they do about quantity, just trying to get to that magic 50,000 words before the end of the month. The community is supportive; the pressure is on and off at the same time; and it even provides a nice atmosphere for people who've never written a book before to try out their wings without judgments.
That said . . . I'm not in a situation where I need another hastily written, badly crafted novel lying around waiting for editing, and I *certainly* don't consider it a challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days. You know what'd be a challenge for me? Writing 50,000 words in a DAY. I'm not saying that to brag or anything. I'm just very aware that I'm incredibly wordy, and I have spun off a good 10,000 words in a couple hours before, so I know I could do it. I wouldn't prove anything to myself by finishing NaNo, and I'm certainly not afraid of writing a book or starting one. If anything I've got to learn to take my time somewhat, because it's much tougher to edit documents down after I've barfed a ton of text.
Last year in November I got a story idea for a novella, committed to writing it, and ended up with 35,000 words in a week, conception to completion. I later decided this really was a novel in novella's clothing, and that the lack of fleshed-out characterization was mainly due to feeling like I needed to write a short story, not a novel. Eventually I'll return to that story and give it clothes that fit, and I'm hoping that being based on a 35,000-word novella will restrict it from becoming too huge.
Then again, the short story version of "Bad Fairy" was about 5,000 words. The novel version was 255,000. (It took me five weeks.)
So, my short answer is that word count is not a challenge and doesn't matter to me; I am in fact on the opposite end of the spectrum, trying to say more with fewer words so I can be more concise and effective with my work. No need for me to race toward a finish line that's measuring nothing but word count. I hope the way I said this isn't making anyone think I am talking down to people who participate in it, of course; like I said above, its purposes resonate with a great many writers, and a lot of them probably have reasons I don't know about or didn't mention. I just wanted to say why I don't have any interest in participating--for me, "winning" would be meaningless.