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bogging Down
Apologies to any readers who don't give a rolling doughnut about madcap novel-writing, but that's sort of what I'm doing and thinking about these days so maybe you can just skip these posts and not hold them against me? I'll become a law student again soon enough, I'm sure. In fact, that's one possible reason I've never made it past about 36k words in any previous year. Starting a novel is easy, and putting the rest of your life on hold for a few days, or even a week, maybe two—that's not so hard either. But at some point, the backlog of work begins to catch up with you, and the focus required to keep a narrative moving becomes more and more difficult to maintain. Thinking back on my past NaNoWriMo experiences, it seems that it was always around week two or three that I really began to sputter, and I wonder if the reason for that was simply that the rest of my life began reasserting itself, demanding attention, and making each word that more difficult to come up with. As I try to juggle the different demands on my time this month, I find my mind pulled in so many directions that when I do sit down to write, it's hard to concentrate, or even remember the story I'm supposed to be telling. Could it be that a month is, in fact, too much time to give yourself for hacking out a really really bad 50k-word novel? Maybe Sui Generis is onto something doing nearly the whole thing in two weeks... Elsewhere: The WaPo featured NaNo yesterday!Posted November 14, 2004 09:10 AM | NaNoWriMo
I don't think it's too long... I think you've just discovered a fact known to most writers: writing is hard. :)
Posted by: Dave! at November 14, 2004 12:16 PM
so, i think i'm getting a bigger kick out of hearing about the writing process than writing. currently i find i can write tech books and stories at a sustained pace of 1000 words a night (i have a day job and a life i try and keep going). after that when inspiration strikes i can go upwards of that, but i can't usually. i think most of it is the fact that i'm fact checking constantly and, of course, editing. but yes, the impact of life piling up certainly gets in the way. a girlfriend telling you you're neglecting her and your life, the fact that you forget what the sun looks like, etc .. it all adds up, and suddenly you can't function any more in that space. it's tough, but when you have finite deadlines and goals, it's easier, i think, to do it. then again, you have more pressing, costlier, and more severe things impacting you, ie law school.
as someone who has two books (plus a chapter in a third) written and a 55k word ph.d. thesis under his belt, i think i appreciate the difficulty of writing that many words and i definitely think it's a worthwhile pursuit for everyone involved. i wonder if i should write my next tech book in a month .. or try to.
Posted by: jose at November 14, 2004 05:09 PM
Well, writing nonfiction is very different. Like you said, those pesky facts slow you down! The motto of NaNoWriMo is "No Plot, No Problem," but it could also be, "No Facts, No Nothing But Gibberish, No Worries!" You can't really get away with that if you want to get published...
Posted by: ambimb at November 15, 2004 10:02 AM
"'No Facts, No Nothing But Gibberish, No Worries!'" You can't really get away with that if you want to get published..."
I dunno... Ann Coulter has *three* published titles. :)
Posted by: -Dave! at November 15, 2004 10:34 AM
Just thought I'd send some words of encouragement on your novel progress. I've been browsing around NaNoWriMo sites today and am impressed. I'd probably go crazy if I tried it, but I can see how it can be rewarding. Kind of like running a marathon (which was a great experience that I actually did do).
You guys know anyone posting their full novel on a blog? http://staeiou.info is the only one I could find so far.
Posted by: J. J. at November 16, 2004 01:19 AM
