NaNoWriMo Is Coming!

Yes folks, it’s just about that time again: November IS National Novel Writing Month! For those of you unacquainted with this unique adventure, it is a great way to finally start that novel you always swore you wanted to write.

Back in 1999, a San Francisco writer by the name of Chris Baty and several of his cohorts decided to challenge themselves to each write a 50,000 word novel in thirty days.  It seemed like a crazy idea at the time. Novels took years to write, didn’t they? Anything worthwhile couldn’t possibly be written in a mere thirty days, right? But, conventional wisdom didn’t stop them and they forged ahead. Twenty one of them started the challenge and six of them completed it. The next year, they changed from July to November as the designated writing month (to take advantage of the less desirable weather) and 140 people signed on to take the challenge. Twenty-nine passed the finish line. In 2011, 256,618 signed up with 36,843 passing the 50,000 word goal. Over the years, approximately 100 authors have published their NaNoWriMo works including Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  So, although probably the vast majority of NaNoWriMo manuscripts will never (and probably shouldn’t) see the light of day, there are still a few diamonds to be found.

There is one aspect of NaNoWriMo that makes the challenge unique. The rule is, no editing while writing. So many writers get bogged down by constantly editing and re-editing chapters as they write they never make any progress. The key is to keep moving forward. If you’re persistent, you’ll actually finish the thing. Then, there will be plenty of time for editing and re-writing later. Sure, maybe you’ll pitch the entire thing later on, but the point is, you wrote a novel! Once you’ve written one, you may have the confidence to try another and the more you write, the better you’ll get (hopefully)!

It was 2009 when I decided to take the NaNo challenge. Like so many, I had always wanted to try writing a novel, specifically a kids’ novel, but lacked incentive. Then, my friend, Mackie, told me about NaNoWriMo and I was hooked. I vowed that this is what I had been waiting for – the incentive I needed to make me write an original novel. I figured it would be really bad, but if it got me to actually make an attempt, that had to be a good thing! Right? First, however, I had to figure out what to write about.  That had always been my biggest stumbling block. It’s strongly suggested you have a plot. And characters. And maybe a setting or two. I was in trouble right from the start.

As I pondered possible storylines, I thought about all the things I had liked in books when I was a kid. Things like mystery, ghosts, danger, time travel, and hidden treasure. Of course, I decided to try cram them all in. How could I lose? Then I recalled a story my sister had told me about the dry cleaning shop my father had purchased many years ago. In the storage unit of the dry cleaner’s, they had discovered an old raccoon coat with a bullet in the lining. Who had the coat belonged to and how did the bullet get in the lining of the coat? No one knew.  From that seed, my story, The Gangster’s Gold was born.

The following year, November crept up on me and I found me far less prepared than I wanted to be. I knew I wanted to write some kind of ghost story involving old mines in Alaska (we had recently visited the old Kennicott copper mines there) and again, I wanted to gear it towards kids. This book was harder to write in part because I hadn’t planned it all out. In fact, it’s still not finished. But it’s the story of boy who can communicate with the dead and finds himself in serious jeopardy when called upon to help the spirits of a number of children killed in an old mine. I will finish it one of these days.

When 2011 rolled around, I was so immersed with editing my Gangster’s Gold manuscript, November again caught me unprepared. I prefer to write with a general outline of how the story is going to go but all I had was a germ of an idea but not a lot of plot figured out. I was writing by the seat of my pants, as they say. It’s another supernatural tale. It’s titled Consuming the Soul and the rough draft is completed. Editing it, will be my next adventure!

Now, we come to 2012. November 1^st is just around the corner. Am I prepared? Ummm…not really. My agent had suggested I try writing another novel using the characters from my first book to create a possible series. I’m finding it challenging since I’d never considered Gangster’s Gold to be part of a series, but I have a few ideas rolling around in my head. The question is, can I pull together a possible plot that makes sense?

But, I am determined to make another effort regardless of how prepared I am! I’ve managed to surpass the 50,000 word goal each year thus far, and I don’t plan to fail this time round either.  Maybe it won’t be the next To Kill a Mockingbird or even the next Captain Underpants, but I figure any writing is a good use of time!

For those of you who think you might want to take the NaNoWriMo challenge, just head on over to www.nanowrimo.org. It’s all free. There are local support groups, write-ins, challenges, and just a bunch of people goofy enough to think trying to write a 50,000 word novel isn’t totally crazy. There are forums where you can learn everything from which poisons are best for leaving little or no trace to how do you saddle a horse. Anything you might need to know to write your particular part of the challenge. There are writers ranging from elementary school kids to octogenarians. So, if you’ve ever wanted to try writing a novel, now is the time!