For some crazy reason, I decided before the start of NaNoWriMo that I would handwrite the novel. I think the idea had something to do with being able to write anywhere, not just at a computer. So far that's about the only practical reason I can think of. Why was I so dumb to think that handwriting was a good idea?
After all, the biggest problem after I'm finished this thing is going to be typing it up. I'm at 11k words right now - and let me tell you, my handwriting is not the easiest to read. There are words that merge together in a messy jumble, and in some of the places where I decided to add a word, it's very hard to read.
As for the word count - at first I decided to update my word count by using an average word/page, which I determined after the first 5 pages of my novel. I quickly threw this out the window after hand-counting some more pages, because my average number was way off from what I was fitting on the page. That's not to say I'm so terrible at math that I can't calculate my average word/page, I just mean that I wildly fluctuate from lower than, same as, or higher than the average that I was missing a lot of words for my daily word count.
Surprisingly, what I thought would have been the worst aspect of all this has not been a factor at all. I thought my wrist and hand would be screaming in pain, and that I would be jumping ship from the paper notebook to the electronic notebook. That hasn't been the case at all, for which I am very thankful. Otherwise I think I wouldn't even be this far in my writing.
I think the greatest benefit, the one that outweighs both of the negatives I mentioned above, is that the writing process is not being slowed down by the easy access to a delete key. Sure, I can easily cross out words, but I find that I rarely do that unless there's a change I feel I really need to make. I find that I'm thinking about what I'm putting to paper as I write - sure, the novel will need major work (see my twitter updates) when I'm done, but my creative output has never been as good as it is right now.
As crazy and sadistic as handwriting a 50,000+ word novel is, it is definitely working to my benefit. I think it is the sole reason why I have the confidence to say that I WILL cross the 50k finish line and I WILL work hard to trim the novel into shape after November 30th.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Do You Cheat?
Hello out there! I'm taking (yet another) break from writing my novel. While I'm writing this ahead of time, I'm sure that I'll have deserved yet another break at some point in the future.
My question today is: do you cheat in NaNoWriMo? I don't mean the little tricks that boost your word count (eliminating contractions, writing out full names every time, so on and so forth). I mean really cheat. The word count that you update on the NaNo website is never validated until the last week or so of the month, which means you could give yourself an extremely high word count if you chose to do so.
Of course, once you uploaded your file for validation, the proper word count would be reflected. But I'm sure that doesn't stop some people from trying to "fit in" and keep up their word count when faced with other writers who are legitimately reaching different plateaus.
Personally, I don't cheat. What is really the point? The word count is really a competition against yourself, not other people. Plus, as I said, you have to validate your word count at the end in order to be declared a "winner". Sure I could enter that I wrote 100k words, but as soon as I upload my file the NaNoBots (those sound cool, by the way) would see that I really wrote 35k or 40k or what have you.
Of course there are ways around that too - NaNoWriMo even gives you a link to a Lorem Ipsum generator, for those that are handwriting. That certainly wouldn't stop anyone from adding a few extra thousand words to their novel to reach the 50,000 word goal if they're just a little short. Then they too would be able to claim the CreateSpace free proof. Or the software discounts. Or the flashy Internet badge.
And THAT is really the reason why I don't cheat in NaNoWriMo. There are actually prizes on the line for people who manage to write 50,000 words, prizes that cost somebody real money. So not only are you denying yourself the actual purpose of a prize by cheating, you're stealing. Sort of.
I think in that case, I don't mind doing the little bit of word padding to legitimately write 50,000 words and earn my CreateSpace proof copy.
My question today is: do you cheat in NaNoWriMo? I don't mean the little tricks that boost your word count (eliminating contractions, writing out full names every time, so on and so forth). I mean really cheat. The word count that you update on the NaNo website is never validated until the last week or so of the month, which means you could give yourself an extremely high word count if you chose to do so.
Of course, once you uploaded your file for validation, the proper word count would be reflected. But I'm sure that doesn't stop some people from trying to "fit in" and keep up their word count when faced with other writers who are legitimately reaching different plateaus.
Personally, I don't cheat. What is really the point? The word count is really a competition against yourself, not other people. Plus, as I said, you have to validate your word count at the end in order to be declared a "winner". Sure I could enter that I wrote 100k words, but as soon as I upload my file the NaNoBots (those sound cool, by the way) would see that I really wrote 35k or 40k or what have you.
Of course there are ways around that too - NaNoWriMo even gives you a link to a Lorem Ipsum generator, for those that are handwriting. That certainly wouldn't stop anyone from adding a few extra thousand words to their novel to reach the 50,000 word goal if they're just a little short. Then they too would be able to claim the CreateSpace free proof. Or the software discounts. Or the flashy Internet badge.
And THAT is really the reason why I don't cheat in NaNoWriMo. There are actually prizes on the line for people who manage to write 50,000 words, prizes that cost somebody real money. So not only are you denying yourself the actual purpose of a prize by cheating, you're stealing. Sort of.
I think in that case, I don't mind doing the little bit of word padding to legitimately write 50,000 words and earn my CreateSpace proof copy.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Writing "Crap"
I told myself I was going to stay far, far away from the NaNoWriMo forums this year. I've kept that promise in part, because I haven't been posting. Just reading. And it is driving me insane. That's where I found this nugget.
If you believe the posters in this thread, there are a lot of people participating in NaNoWriMo shitting gold bricks (if you'll pardon my language). The entire thread is basically a bunch of authors saying, "Oh, I don't write crap. My stuff is ALWAYS good."
I understand that they're trying to talk about authors writing in silly, random scenes into their novels just to boost their word count. However, how it really comes across (and especially in the original post), is authors saying that because they edit as they write, the words they're writing are of the highest possible quality. They likely think that their draft needs a slight grammar/spelling polish, and it's ready to go to press.
This is why publishers hate NaNoWriMo - a bunch of authors think their writing is good enough to submit as soon as they're done writing their book, because they think they're that good at editing on the fly. I will note that I mentioned I would only be doing a quick edit on my novel, but that will happen AFTER I finish writing it. And even then, I doubt I'll be sending the manuscript to publishers of any kind (electronic or traditional).
NaNoWriMo is about writing 50,000 words in 30 days - how you choose to do so is your own business. Editing on the fly will speed up the process after November 30th, but at the same time that you're speed-writing, you're speed-editing. You're bound to miss something, just as much as someone who is not editing as they write will miss a lot more.
Sure, damn me for writing a detailed account of how my two main characters cleaned up an attic. But don't tell me that the words you write on paper are any better in your FIRST DRAFT than mine are. We should consider ourselves on the same page after November 30th; you just have to spend considerably less time in the editing process.
EDIT: Some people have recently responded in that thread with voices of reason. At least some people in that thread espouse the same view point about NaNoWriMo that I do. *phew!*
If you believe the posters in this thread, there are a lot of people participating in NaNoWriMo shitting gold bricks (if you'll pardon my language). The entire thread is basically a bunch of authors saying, "Oh, I don't write crap. My stuff is ALWAYS good."
I understand that they're trying to talk about authors writing in silly, random scenes into their novels just to boost their word count. However, how it really comes across (and especially in the original post), is authors saying that because they edit as they write, the words they're writing are of the highest possible quality. They likely think that their draft needs a slight grammar/spelling polish, and it's ready to go to press.
This is why publishers hate NaNoWriMo - a bunch of authors think their writing is good enough to submit as soon as they're done writing their book, because they think they're that good at editing on the fly. I will note that I mentioned I would only be doing a quick edit on my novel, but that will happen AFTER I finish writing it. And even then, I doubt I'll be sending the manuscript to publishers of any kind (electronic or traditional).
NaNoWriMo is about writing 50,000 words in 30 days - how you choose to do so is your own business. Editing on the fly will speed up the process after November 30th, but at the same time that you're speed-writing, you're speed-editing. You're bound to miss something, just as much as someone who is not editing as they write will miss a lot more.
Sure, damn me for writing a detailed account of how my two main characters cleaned up an attic. But don't tell me that the words you write on paper are any better in your FIRST DRAFT than mine are. We should consider ourselves on the same page after November 30th; you just have to spend considerably less time in the editing process.
EDIT: Some people have recently responded in that thread with voices of reason. At least some people in that thread espouse the same view point about NaNoWriMo that I do. *phew!*
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Day 4
What kind of benchmark is "Day 4"? I should really be writing this tomorrow. But who really cares? I have the opportunity to write a blog post today, so I'm taking it gosh darnit!
I'm going to put my progress thus far in a side bar on the blog, but for now here's how I'm doing:
4188 words, or as it translates to my handwriting, 17 pages. So far that represents two chapters, though those are being roughly defined at this point and will be fixed up in the editing process anyway. In fact I am more than willing to bet that these 17 pages would really turn out to be something like 10 pages after editing.
Some things I've learned in the last 4 days: my wrist loves marathon writing with gel pens. So far I haven't experienced any crippling pain from my writing, so I'll take that as a Good Sign. Of course I haven't been writing for hours at a time, so that also helps.
I also learned that the vision in my head is far different from what I'm jotting down on paper - what I envisioned beforehand is not getting written exactly on paper. BUT again that's where the editing process will help. I know that what I'm writing now is not doing justice to what I want to come across in my writing, so I'll be able to expand later after re-reading and seeing that it has room for improvement.
I am also, technically speaking, behind in my word count. This is because Life Happened yesterday, and I only managed two and a half pages. I just finished that half page, which means I need roughly 10 more pages to get caught up. Hopefully I can do so, but I have plans tonight - so that may not be possible. Maybe my friends will understand if I write the novel while we watch a movie.
I'm going to put my progress thus far in a side bar on the blog, but for now here's how I'm doing:
4188 words, or as it translates to my handwriting, 17 pages. So far that represents two chapters, though those are being roughly defined at this point and will be fixed up in the editing process anyway. In fact I am more than willing to bet that these 17 pages would really turn out to be something like 10 pages after editing.
Some things I've learned in the last 4 days: my wrist loves marathon writing with gel pens. So far I haven't experienced any crippling pain from my writing, so I'll take that as a Good Sign. Of course I haven't been writing for hours at a time, so that also helps.
I also learned that the vision in my head is far different from what I'm jotting down on paper - what I envisioned beforehand is not getting written exactly on paper. BUT again that's where the editing process will help. I know that what I'm writing now is not doing justice to what I want to come across in my writing, so I'll be able to expand later after re-reading and seeing that it has room for improvement.
I am also, technically speaking, behind in my word count. This is because Life Happened yesterday, and I only managed two and a half pages. I just finished that half page, which means I need roughly 10 more pages to get caught up. Hopefully I can do so, but I have plans tonight - so that may not be possible. Maybe my friends will understand if I write the novel while we watch a movie.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
NaNoWriMo Artisans
The talk of NaNoWriMo is almost always restricted to the purpose of the competition itself: writing. There's a good and obvious reason for that, and I don't feel that I need to explain it. What's looked over most of the time are the artists who are generous enough to create book covers.To the left you can see what one of the aforementioned generous souls created for my novel. Her forum name is Lauraqua something and donated her free time to do this. It exceeds the skill level I would have put toward it by quite a bit, and as I said - it was free. The quality is pretty much all I could hope for, and this is something that a lot of people would otherwise charge for.
However, the spirit of NaNoWriMo seems to bring out the best in people, as Lauraqua isn't the only artisan to offer their cover design services. There's also Radio-Nowhere, who on top of having a novel to write herself and working a full-time job, offered her excellent services to forum members a month ago. You can check out her work in this thread, or her website. Unfortunately she had to put a stop to any new requests, but the covers she made are pretty fantastic.
There's also the 30 Covers, 30 Days competition, which challenges 30 artists to design a cover for nominated novels. It's a quieter side that doesn't really get much recognition in the flurry of scratching pens (does that metaphor even work? flurry of scratching pens?), but it really should.
However, the spirit of NaNoWriMo seems to bring out the best in people, as Lauraqua isn't the only artisan to offer their cover design services. There's also Radio-Nowhere, who on top of having a novel to write herself and working a full-time job, offered her excellent services to forum members a month ago. You can check out her work in this thread, or her website. Unfortunately she had to put a stop to any new requests, but the covers she made are pretty fantastic.
There's also the 30 Covers, 30 Days competition, which challenges 30 artists to design a cover for nominated novels. It's a quieter side that doesn't really get much recognition in the flurry of scratching pens (does that metaphor even work? flurry of scratching pens?), but it really should.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Day 1 in the Books
Day one is in the books. The shortest way to convey to you how it's gone today, I started writing this post at friggin 2:45pm. So not very well. I didn't start writing in the morning, as was my intention. I wrote approximately 671 words in 45 minutes at lunch time today, which in hindsight is not terrible. It's just that I feel my prose is terrible and needs major work.
This in itself is not really surprising - I recognize that I am not primarily a fiction writer, and that this is simply a first draft. Everything can be fixed when I type it up - worst-case scenario, I hire a ghost-writer and be done with it. Worst-case for sure though, I mean I don't have any money / illusions of making money off this book.
As I said I began typing this in the middle of the afternoon, so please don't feel like I'm being all "doom and gloom" on you. There's a positive message to this post, despite the negative beginnings. The point is that I learned something, though its importance is as yet unknown. For now it's "high" because there's nothing else on the list.
What Did I Learn Today?
I learned ... what the hell did I learn? To try not to read the story as I write it. And to describe every frigging thing. And also to just "not care", which I sort of took from Wil Wheaton's playbook (I can't find the link, but basically he wrote a story entirely for the fun of it, without letting his inner doubting self tell him otherwise. It was a good inspirational post).
Without really having read back on my work, I already feel that there is a drastic difference between the stuff I wrote between 12:30 and 1:15 and what I wrote after 6pm tonight. So I'm going to keep on going with that vibe. Mind you I'm sure half of what I've written is still crap, but that's for Stephen Gower, Editor to decide - not Stephen Gower, Author.
For the record, I am at 1,724 words (approximate number based on an average of 245 words/page).
This in itself is not really surprising - I recognize that I am not primarily a fiction writer, and that this is simply a first draft. Everything can be fixed when I type it up - worst-case scenario, I hire a ghost-writer and be done with it. Worst-case for sure though, I mean I don't have any money / illusions of making money off this book.
As I said I began typing this in the middle of the afternoon, so please don't feel like I'm being all "doom and gloom" on you. There's a positive message to this post, despite the negative beginnings. The point is that I learned something, though its importance is as yet unknown. For now it's "high" because there's nothing else on the list.
What Did I Learn Today?
I learned ... what the hell did I learn? To try not to read the story as I write it. And to describe every frigging thing. And also to just "not care", which I sort of took from Wil Wheaton's playbook (I can't find the link, but basically he wrote a story entirely for the fun of it, without letting his inner doubting self tell him otherwise. It was a good inspirational post).
Without really having read back on my work, I already feel that there is a drastic difference between the stuff I wrote between 12:30 and 1:15 and what I wrote after 6pm tonight. So I'm going to keep on going with that vibe. Mind you I'm sure half of what I've written is still crap, but that's for Stephen Gower, Editor to decide - not Stephen Gower, Author.
For the record, I am at 1,724 words (approximate number based on an average of 245 words/page).
NaNoWriMo!
Today is November 1, 2010, marking the start of (inter)National Novel Writing Month. Naturally,I'm writing up this blog post rather than writing my story. Don't worry, I will be doing some writing today. Promise. I just may not hit my 2000-word goal, which would be an approximate count anyway.
I have a series of blog posts planned (sort of) for the month, and things are going to start with the side of NaNoWriMo you don't often hear about: the cover artists. That post will be coming later this week, because as I mentioned I have some writing to do. Although I kind of have to do this thing called "my job" before I can get to any writing.
Happy writing everyone!
I have a series of blog posts planned (sort of) for the month, and things are going to start with the side of NaNoWriMo you don't often hear about: the cover artists. That post will be coming later this week, because as I mentioned I have some writing to do. Although I kind of have to do this thing called "my job" before I can get to any writing.
Happy writing everyone!
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