Sometimes, life needs to be made harder
My friend soleta_nf just posted about an event that intrigues me, the National Novel Writing Month. The idea is that you write a 50,000-word novel during the month of November. To many people, this might seem a little insane, adding a project of that magnitude on top of my accounting class and baby preparations, but to someone who's done both the 3-Day Novel and the 24-Hour Comic*, a deadline of a whole month? That's easy!
Well, not really. But I can pretend.
What I love about these sorts of things is that it puts a rather monstrous load of self-induced pressure on you. Worried about the plot? Frustrated by the characters? Sleepy? Too bad, find some way to deal with it and move on. You don't have time to have problems; figure out what you're going to do and just keep moving, keep writing, keep pushing yourself, because if you slow down, you're done. For some people, that kind of pressure is a recipe for choking. For me, it's a battering ram that breaks down the usual barriers to creativity.
One thing that I miss about the 3-Day Novel and the 24-Hour Comic is the sheer intensity. Writing a novel in a month? That's not really all that hard. It's a lot of work, but it's not completely insane. Writing a 20,000-word novella in 3 days? That's insane. It's hopeless. There's no way that anyone could possibly do it, but laughing in the face of certain defeat, you throw caution and reason to the winds and leap joyfully into the fray. Knowing that failure is inevitable, you still set aside a weekend of freedom and set yourself against the impossible. At some point during the weekend, you come face to face with your nemesis, staring out at your from the depths of the mirror. And you can either finally give in to reality and quit, or discard every fragment of doubt and every shred of sanity and push yourself further than you ever dreamed you could go. And what you find, after all that, is that you can go farther than you ever dreamed you could. You've done the impossible, you've accomplished what you never thought you could, and now there's nothing that can hold you back.
Except possibly little details like personal hygeine and sleep. Now that your novel's done, it's probably time to take care of those. Cuz phew, showering? Good idea right about now.
In contrast with the madness of a 3-day novel, a 30-day novel seems practically leisurely. It just doesn't have the charmingly overwhelming insanity. On the other hand, it's a lot more realistic and there's a much greater chance of having some good writing come out of it.
I suppose it all comes down to what you're expecting to get out of it. If you want to write, the 30-day contest is for you; whereas if you're looking to explode your own limitations, and don't mind the fact that you'll produce a hundred pages of utter dogshit, the 3-day novel is probably what you're after.
* The next 24-Hour Comic session is October 7th, so if you're interested, you don't have a lot of time to get prepared!
Well, not really. But I can pretend.
What I love about these sorts of things is that it puts a rather monstrous load of self-induced pressure on you. Worried about the plot? Frustrated by the characters? Sleepy? Too bad, find some way to deal with it and move on. You don't have time to have problems; figure out what you're going to do and just keep moving, keep writing, keep pushing yourself, because if you slow down, you're done. For some people, that kind of pressure is a recipe for choking. For me, it's a battering ram that breaks down the usual barriers to creativity.
One thing that I miss about the 3-Day Novel and the 24-Hour Comic is the sheer intensity. Writing a novel in a month? That's not really all that hard. It's a lot of work, but it's not completely insane. Writing a 20,000-word novella in 3 days? That's insane. It's hopeless. There's no way that anyone could possibly do it, but laughing in the face of certain defeat, you throw caution and reason to the winds and leap joyfully into the fray. Knowing that failure is inevitable, you still set aside a weekend of freedom and set yourself against the impossible. At some point during the weekend, you come face to face with your nemesis, staring out at your from the depths of the mirror. And you can either finally give in to reality and quit, or discard every fragment of doubt and every shred of sanity and push yourself further than you ever dreamed you could go. And what you find, after all that, is that you can go farther than you ever dreamed you could. You've done the impossible, you've accomplished what you never thought you could, and now there's nothing that can hold you back.
Except possibly little details like personal hygeine and sleep. Now that your novel's done, it's probably time to take care of those. Cuz phew, showering? Good idea right about now.
In contrast with the madness of a 3-day novel, a 30-day novel seems practically leisurely. It just doesn't have the charmingly overwhelming insanity. On the other hand, it's a lot more realistic and there's a much greater chance of having some good writing come out of it.
I suppose it all comes down to what you're expecting to get out of it. If you want to write, the 30-day contest is for you; whereas if you're looking to explode your own limitations, and don't mind the fact that you'll produce a hundred pages of utter dogshit, the 3-day novel is probably what you're after.
* The next 24-Hour Comic session is October 7th, so if you're interested, you don't have a lot of time to get prepared!