In the month of November, hundreds of thousands of people will participate in National Novel Writing Month, in which they attempt to write fifty thousand words of a novel. And like every year, people will write blog posts and columns about why they hate NaNoWriMo.
To be clear, NaNoWriMo is not for every writer. Not everyone likes to write fast – and that’s totally fine.
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Many people’s lives simply cannot accommodate the pace. For instance, if you have a full-time job and kids, or a full-time job plus school, I don’t know how you do it, unless there are drugs involved. (I know a few people do manage it, without drugs. I just don’t understand how.)
Personally, I like NaNoWriMo. One of my two published novels started as a NaNo project, and I’m participating again this year. People have fun, they connect, and they challenge themselves. And I’m annoyed that so many of the arguments against it are inaccurate.
“Fifty thousand words isn’t a novel. Nobody wants that length.”
Granted, it is more of a novella, but lots of publishers want that length. It’s perfect for digital. Tor Books went so far as to call novellas the future of publishing. This is a stupid argument anyway, as the guidelines of the event itself make it clear that the 50,000-word count may not be a finished story.
“Real writers take years to finish a novel.”
Go tell Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb that she’s not a real writer. Go ahead—I’ll watch. In fact, I know many successful authors who write and publish several books a year.
“If you write that fast, it’s going to be crap.”
I will be the first to admit that drafting this fast means a hell of a lot of editing down the line, at least for me. But as Hemingway famously said, “The first draft of everything is shit.”
I can tell you from personal experience that it is also entirely possible to write a first draft very, very slowly, and still have it turn out to be shit. So there’s that.
Occasionally I’ve been concerned about people who have done NaNoWriMo several times, but haven’t finished up any of the projects later. I want people to reach their goals. But maybe they just enjoy the process, and anyway, it’s their business and not mine.
“People on Twitter keep talking about their word count and I don’t care.”
Hon. They don’t care about most of the things you tweet, either.
But maybe you could be happy for someone who is achieving their goals, even if you don’t share those goals? Maybe feeling happy for them rather than scornful of them would make the day more pleasant for you. Just a thought!
“I’m an editor/agent and I get a bunch of crappy unedited NaNoWriMo manuscripts every December.”
Okay, yeah. That’s a drag. People shouldn’t be sending you their hastily written, messy first drafts!
But since very few people are editors or agents, just statistically speaking, it’s not a good enough argument against NaNoWriMo. Sorry. We’ll just keep trying to convince our fellow participants not to do that.
“It makes anybody think they can write.”
I have some interesting news for you.
Anybody who is basically literate can write. Some people can’t write very well, but does that mean they shouldn’t do it? We don’t go to public tennis courts and yell at the people playing: “Stop! You are not professionals!”
Moreover, writing crappy novels is the way that most people learn how to write not-crappy novels. It’s the way I learned, and believe me, if there had been an easier way, I would have done that instead.
We mostly get better at things by practicing, so what’s wrong with diving into an intense bout of practice?
~
If you’re doing NaNoWriMo this year, I hope it goes well, and I hope you’ll ignore anyone who disparages your efforts and interests. Why does anyone ever want to put down people’s passions and creativity? Now that is a questionable use of time.
Reblogged this on Author Cate Tayler and commented:
Another great post from Bryn Donovan, this one about ignoring the NaNoWriMo critics. I love National Novel Writing Month. I’ve actually reached the 50K goal a few times (and got the t-shirt, because what kind of competition would it be if you couldn’t get a t-shirt?) and I have a completed, ready-for-submission manuscript. It took more than half a year’s worth of revisions, but it’s done. NaNoWriMo is great for getting that shitty first draft out of the way. Who else is doing NaNoWriMo? (ps: You can find me on the site as LadyCroc. Come be my buddy!)
Thanks for sharing! And congratulations on finishing a few times, and finishing a manuscript — that is impressive! I’ll link up with you — I’m donovanesque 🙂
As always, I love how positive and encouraging you are 🙂
Well, it’s easy because I have so many cool and positive friends, you see… 😉
Reblogged this on Like A Phoenix and commented:
Just well said. I’ve done NaNoWriMo for 4 years now. I especially think folks need to pay attention to her final point.
Reblogged this on islandkayaker.
Thanks for this, this is year four for me, and two published but every year I see people post their nastiness. It is so refreshing to see people being positive. By the way I am denamhall feel free to add me as a writing buddy!
Thanks for the kind words Dena! And congratulations on your success. I’ll add you as a buddy!
I don’t do NaNo per se because I think it is a reason to motivate yourself to finish what you start. And I have done it several times, without the deadline of one month. I have written (in my mother tongue) stories between 19,500 and 203,500 words.
I can do better without the stress of a deadline more. I have enough of it at work. Why hurry? If there was the prize of publishing the story for free, yes, this was an incentive. But just to show I can – I can do it any time of the year, taking as long as necessary.
However, the support groups, I think they are wonderful for any kind of writing/ writers. I wish there would be more of them all year long. I have taken part in some, even if my writings weren’t destined to be a NaNo novel.
Yeah, it really is not for everyone, and clearly you don’t need a deadline to finish, which is impressive. I agree, writer support groups are so important, and everyone doesn’t need to have exactly the same goals or schedule to appreciate the discussion and support. 🙂
What a great inspirational post (I’m a writing newbie ) First time on NaNoWriMo this year. Very excited 🙂
Aw yay, welcome to the madness! I hope you have a blast!
Reblogged this on Sofia Black and commented:
A great defense of National Novel Writing Month. Honestly, I know a lot of people either can’t wrap their heads around the idea of it or don’t like it, but NaNo is the one time of year where no matter how busy my life is, I make time to write.
Two years ago, I was working on a psychology thesis experiment, a seminar for my second major, and an overload of courses aside from those two things. Plus work. I was the busiest, most stressed-out undergrad senior you have ever seen. But when November came around, I still tackled NaNo. I made time to write–I wrote in classes, I wrote in the middle of the night, and I wrote (thanks to the “note” app on my phone) while I walked to classes. Even though I was busy beyond belief, it was worth it. I came out on the other side of November with a 75k word mostly-finished first draft of my novel.
NaNo might not be your “thing”, and that’s fine. But for the people who enjoy it? Why not just let us be, instead of all of the “Here’s why NaNo is awful” posts every November?
I think learning how to squeeze in writing like that is one of the great things about NaNoWriMo! And congratulations on the finished draft 🙂
Thank you for your insightful post. I’ve done NaNoWriMo nearly every year since I first heard of it. The first time I did it I finished my 50,000 words while working a full-time job, which showed me I could write and still hold down a full-time job. It it weren’t for NaNoWriMo I might never had tried to write while working full-time. For those who don’t want to do it, well, that’s their choice. Certainly hasn’t stopped me and I’m doing it again this year. Personally I don’t understand why anyone should care whether someone does NaNo. Seems to say more about the person doing the criticizing than about NaNo itself IMHO.
Yeah, NaNo makes people realize how much they can do sometimes!
“Seems to say more about the person doing the criticizing than about NaNo itself IMHO.” It really does. I’ve learned that some people like to define themselves by what they criticize… “I’m mad, therefore I am,” or something. 🙂
Another very important thing about NaNo is that is instills a deep respect for the written language, something that is vastly lacking in today’s society. In a world where people don’t use capitalization, punctuation, or spell check on business documents/emails/etc., where someone with dyslexia and social phobias (me) is responsible for all communication in her department (and is always the best at communication), any enterprise that encourages people to love the written word once more means they will possibly come to find a certain respect for the rules that go along with it. Then, maybe in a hundred years, we might not all be imbeciles that can’t spell their own names…
That is an interesting point, and I hadn’t thought of it!
Thank you!
I’ve done 10, aiming for #11. Ten insane wins, all without drugs (and typically working/volunteering/school/etc…. at any given time two of those are involved in my November [last year: working PT, starting grad school, and my father dying at the start of the month… so last year was hell]). I’m the bat-shit crazy one who did 16K on the final day one year (2009) because I *hate* not finishing. I’m competitive with myself that way. I woke up December 1st not remembering much about what I’d written the previous month, all because of that final day.
I’m AmandaWolfe on the site… I don’t post much or do a huge amount outside of my region (Portland, OR) and gave up trying to encourage ADD folks to use timers to help them focus. I think I gave that up a few years back. If I can do it, anyone can do it. I’ve published three of my NNWM books with the intent on catching up one day and getting them all out there for the world to see.
The one article/blog post that reemerges every freaking year bugs me. I swear it shows up every year. So what if they don’t like NNWM? Move along…. It isn’t for everyone. For me, it provides a rough draft and forces me to write like the wind in a Cat 5 hurricane.
Thanks for commenting… and congratulations on your 10 NaNo wins!! Not to mention your really awesome username. I love it. 🙂
Reblogged this on Not a wasted word and commented:
A beautiful blog defending NaNoWriMo
YES!! ALL that! I personally haven’t ever tried NaNoWriMo, because I’m not a good speed writer. I prefer to work at my own pace. But I sure as heck don’t mind other people doing it! I mean come ON people! They are WRITING! Thousands of people are being inspired to write 50,000 words in ONE MONTH! And a lot of them are BELIEVING IN THEMSELVES enough to do it! That, my friend, is awesome sauce!
This is my first year doing NaNo 😀 so far I’ve only had positive feedback from people who know I’m doing this. I have a friend who’s only recently become interested in writing – she didn’t feel ready for Nano and is putting all her effort into cheering me on. We need more people to hold up creativity for the beautiful thing it is. It’s heart-breaking to think some will step on your dreams before they can understand it.
Thanks for this post, at least if I receive negative comments I’ll know how to receive them.
Thanks for commenting Micahla, and congratulations on doing your first NaNo — bet you’ll rock it! That’s so great that you have your own cheering section 🙂
“We need more people to hold up creativity for the beautiful thing it is. It’s heart-breaking to think some will step on your dreams before they can understand it.” That is so well said. Thank you.
This is my first year participating and I loved reading this. While I’m probably too new to have come across any negative commentary I still appreciated the points you have made.