Are You Going to Write a Novel Next Month?
Why would anyone do NaNoWriMo?
Hi friends,
I have been considering doing something very dumb: NaNoWriMo. For those who don’t know, that’s National Novel Writing Month, and you write a novel—50k words—in a month. It’s a stunt, but one with a lot of infrastructure.
I do not have to write a novel next month. No one is waiting for it. I only have a half-baked idea that could work for it. And I haven’t even finished editing the novel I just finished. But I also just finished training for and running a half marathon (it was great! I didn’t die!) and having something big to work toward was fun. This is not usually my idea of fun, but it worked with the running so maybe it would work with the writing.
I do not have time to write a novel next month. I’m perpetually behind in my reading and emailing for work, I have a family I would like to hang out with sometimes, I hear there are some good plays on Broadway right now that I would like to see. Sleeping, someone told me once, is great for you. But still. I’ve been thinking about it.
Why would I do this? For bragging rights, for one. I mean, that’s mostly why I ran the half marathon. (Or, on the flip side, I didn’t want to tell people I DIDN’T run the race I’d spent the last few months talking about. The prospect of that was worse than the thought of how hard it was going to be to run 13.2 miles.) I definitely think the bragging rights are a big factor in anyone doing any kind of stunt. Succession is over, so I need something new to talk about over dinner with friends and on Twitter.
But why would someone else (and maybe myself a little) actually want to do NaNoWriMo? Here are some reasons:
To actually write a novel. Some people need the pressure and accountability of a group activity like this to get their butt in a chair and do the writing. I think this is a fine reason.
To see if your idea has legs. Sometimes you don’t know if an idea is a good one until you start writing it. And if you’re worried about spending a lot of time on an idea that won’t pan out, NaNoWriMo might be a good proving ground. Because nothing says this idea is going nowhere than being forced to write 1600+ words a day.
To find a writing community. A lot of people do NaNoWriMo and there are forums and hashtags and all sorts of things. If you’re looking for some writing buddies, this might be a good place to start.
Here, though, are some reasons why you shouldn’t do NaNoWriMo:
Because you think you’ll get a quick publishable novel out of it. You’re probably not going to get something great out of writing a novel in a month. You might! But you will likely (definitely) need to spend several months or more revising and rewriting whatever you do in November. Please, please, please do not query your NaNoWriMo novel in December. Please.
Because your current project is hard and you don’t want to do it anymore. Ok, so maybe taking a break from your current project will give you perspective and unlock whatever needs unlocking. That’s valid. But don’t write a whole other novel just because your current WIP is hard. Nothing is more inviting than a shiny new project (that hasn’t revealed all the ways it’s hard and cranky and impenetrable yet). Don’t use next month to procrastinate.
Because writing a novel is easy and you’re gonna prove it to all those dorks on Twitter. Uh, don’t write a novel out of spite? I think that’s a given. And don’t write a [romance, western, SF/F, mystery, whatever genre you don’t like] novel to prove that [your idea of] schlock is something anyone can just spit out. That’s bad, unkind, borish, and lots of other things I’ll keep to myself. This is a family newsletter. And anything you write out of spite, be it an email, a tweet, or a novel, will most definitely be bad and likely full of typos.
You absolutely do not have to do NaNoWriMo. It won’t get you a book deal or an agent or fame or fortune right out of the gate. It could be a good jumping off point if you need that motivation, but it is not a shortcut to anything. It could be a fun thing you do with your time, though. I’ll keep you posted on whether I decide to do it or not.
Happy writing, friends,
Kate