NaNo 2013 (and a bit of a fed-up moment)
I didn't post before because... I just forgot. I've kept forgetting this LJ for a year, so it's not really surprising, I guess.
This year, I'm just trying to finish "Our Darker Purpose." I'm not sure yet whether I'll need 50k or less to do that, but if I don't, I can always "fill in the blanks" with a related (or not) short story.
I basically know where I'm going with ODP. I've juste managed to avoid a huge plot hole, which is always good (I know we're supposed to correct mistakes after November, but if I can avoid making them for starters, it's all for the best, right?).
I went to the Kick-off party in Paris again this year. Last time was in 2010, back when I was starting ODP. Quite fitting. I was too tired to be really efficient (efficient according to my own logics in such a case, that is, a.k.a. "if I'm going to pull an all-nighter, I'd better reach 10k on the first day"), but I was there mainly for the socializing anyway, so it's all right. I haven't been writing that much, being still tired this weekend, a bit sick, and busy with working on a RPG sessions I've owed a group of RL friends for, like, two years. I should be able to catch up during the rest of the month. I'm in no hurry, and I just plan on doing this the laid-back way. As usual, I guess. :)
On the other hand, I'm much less impressed with some of the reactions on FB, Twitter and other networks.
I can understand people, especially newcomers, wondering about those who manage to crank up 50k words in a day or two. Trust me, I do wonder as well. And this is knowing where I'm going with a story and being able to write 2k/hour. (Although I guess my not reaching such high word counts fast is mostly due to my inability to focus on something for long, even if that 'something' is a story I'm psyched up about.)
I can understand feeling overwhelmed, impressed, and/or a little jealous, too. Hell, I'm a little jealous of authors who manage to finish their stories, and thus can actually pitch them to agents or publishing houses, while I'm still whining to myself about how I want to be published but can't because I've got nothing to show for all those years of writing. (Whining's good for about 5 minutes, and then it's time to pull my fingers out of my ass and actually do something, by the way. Yes, I'm aware of it. Yes, I'm working on my short attention span problem.)
But reactions like "those people don't seem to have a life", "it must mean they're writing 100% crap", "it's easy to write the same two words over and over"... Well, this is just dumb. Of course NaNo is about writing crap if this is what it takes. Nick frelling Baty said it himself. It's not some literary contest during which you're supposed to write the next Hugo or Goncourt. It's not about whether you need 4 days or 30 to write your story. It's a personal challenge for you to give you an incentive to write that story at last, and possibly have fun in the meantime, while we're at it. One can still aim for quality, evidently, but it'd also be nice to refrain from showing condescension towards those who write fast, especially when it involves disguised personal attacks. (I know this isn't necessarily the intent, but the way some comments are worded, it sure feels like it. It's like when I'm told that I'm not a "real woman" because I'm not married with kids. This, my friends, is incredibly insulting. It invalidates everything else I've done in my life, studies included. So when I'm told that if I wrote 10k today, it can't be anything else than crap and I don't have a life, it's a bit like the same, and sorry if it annoys me, but, you see, it is annoying.)
Writing fast doesn't equal writing complete crap. It may, but not always. Some of us have been planning their NaNo for weeks or even months, and thus start it with a clear view of what they want to write, which in turn allows them to go staright for the finish line. Others have simply been writing for years, and thus are used to string proper sentences together better than they were able to on our first NaNo. That's all. It doesn't mean they're Gods, or that nobody else can do it. This is just mechanical. Training. Whatever. It means we've progressed, and if you go on working on your writing, you will progress, too. Nobody's better or worse than the others. The only people we should strive to compete against here are ourselves.
If someone finishes in 3 days, ends up with his/her story and had fun, then who are we to pass judgment, tell them openly "what are you even doing here" or "get a life"? So what, I don't have a husband nor kids and I've got "so much more time to write, it must be easy for you, unlike myself with my exams/job/husband/wife/dog/cat/baby/3 kids/insert watever floats your boat." Well, all right. Would it make people feel better if I were to go around moping about how depressed I am, how my personal life sucks, how I hate my job and the town I have to live in, and what a sorry creature I am because the only positive thing in that life, these days, is some stupid daily word count?
I don't know. This is just so stupid. So pointless. Let's just write, okay? Let's write what we want; use word wars and word count to push ourselves further and further, not as opportunities to bitch about whoever wrote more than us; laugh about typos and silly dialogue lines. Let's just have fun, and enjoy NaNoWriMo as a nice experience, not as some some Shadenfreude-laden pissing contest.
And I've just wasted 30 precious minutes writing this post instead of working on my novel. Too bad. Considering I'm doped on Ibuprofen, though, and am waiting for those stupid teeth to stop hurting, it's probably for the best for my poor novel. ^^;
This year, I'm just trying to finish "Our Darker Purpose." I'm not sure yet whether I'll need 50k or less to do that, but if I don't, I can always "fill in the blanks" with a related (or not) short story.
I basically know where I'm going with ODP. I've juste managed to avoid a huge plot hole, which is always good (I know we're supposed to correct mistakes after November, but if I can avoid making them for starters, it's all for the best, right?).
I went to the Kick-off party in Paris again this year. Last time was in 2010, back when I was starting ODP. Quite fitting. I was too tired to be really efficient (efficient according to my own logics in such a case, that is, a.k.a. "if I'm going to pull an all-nighter, I'd better reach 10k on the first day"), but I was there mainly for the socializing anyway, so it's all right. I haven't been writing that much, being still tired this weekend, a bit sick, and busy with working on a RPG sessions I've owed a group of RL friends for, like, two years. I should be able to catch up during the rest of the month. I'm in no hurry, and I just plan on doing this the laid-back way. As usual, I guess. :)
On the other hand, I'm much less impressed with some of the reactions on FB, Twitter and other networks.
I can understand people, especially newcomers, wondering about those who manage to crank up 50k words in a day or two. Trust me, I do wonder as well. And this is knowing where I'm going with a story and being able to write 2k/hour. (Although I guess my not reaching such high word counts fast is mostly due to my inability to focus on something for long, even if that 'something' is a story I'm psyched up about.)
I can understand feeling overwhelmed, impressed, and/or a little jealous, too. Hell, I'm a little jealous of authors who manage to finish their stories, and thus can actually pitch them to agents or publishing houses, while I'm still whining to myself about how I want to be published but can't because I've got nothing to show for all those years of writing. (Whining's good for about 5 minutes, and then it's time to pull my fingers out of my ass and actually do something, by the way. Yes, I'm aware of it. Yes, I'm working on my short attention span problem.)
But reactions like "those people don't seem to have a life", "it must mean they're writing 100% crap", "it's easy to write the same two words over and over"... Well, this is just dumb. Of course NaNo is about writing crap if this is what it takes. Nick frelling Baty said it himself. It's not some literary contest during which you're supposed to write the next Hugo or Goncourt. It's not about whether you need 4 days or 30 to write your story. It's a personal challenge for you to give you an incentive to write that story at last, and possibly have fun in the meantime, while we're at it. One can still aim for quality, evidently, but it'd also be nice to refrain from showing condescension towards those who write fast, especially when it involves disguised personal attacks. (I know this isn't necessarily the intent, but the way some comments are worded, it sure feels like it. It's like when I'm told that I'm not a "real woman" because I'm not married with kids. This, my friends, is incredibly insulting. It invalidates everything else I've done in my life, studies included. So when I'm told that if I wrote 10k today, it can't be anything else than crap and I don't have a life, it's a bit like the same, and sorry if it annoys me, but, you see, it is annoying.)
Writing fast doesn't equal writing complete crap. It may, but not always. Some of us have been planning their NaNo for weeks or even months, and thus start it with a clear view of what they want to write, which in turn allows them to go staright for the finish line. Others have simply been writing for years, and thus are used to string proper sentences together better than they were able to on our first NaNo. That's all. It doesn't mean they're Gods, or that nobody else can do it. This is just mechanical. Training. Whatever. It means we've progressed, and if you go on working on your writing, you will progress, too. Nobody's better or worse than the others. The only people we should strive to compete against here are ourselves.
If someone finishes in 3 days, ends up with his/her story and had fun, then who are we to pass judgment, tell them openly "what are you even doing here" or "get a life"? So what, I don't have a husband nor kids and I've got "so much more time to write, it must be easy for you, unlike myself with my exams/job/husband/wife/dog/cat/baby/3 kids/insert watever floats your boat." Well, all right. Would it make people feel better if I were to go around moping about how depressed I am, how my personal life sucks, how I hate my job and the town I have to live in, and what a sorry creature I am because the only positive thing in that life, these days, is some stupid daily word count?
I don't know. This is just so stupid. So pointless. Let's just write, okay? Let's write what we want; use word wars and word count to push ourselves further and further, not as opportunities to bitch about whoever wrote more than us; laugh about typos and silly dialogue lines. Let's just have fun, and enjoy NaNoWriMo as a nice experience, not as some some Shadenfreude-laden pissing contest.
And I've just wasted 30 precious minutes writing this post instead of working on my novel. Too bad. Considering I'm doped on Ibuprofen, though, and am waiting for those stupid teeth to stop hurting, it's probably for the best for my poor novel. ^^;