Hi, everyone! My name is Linda Ward, but I write as Isabella
Norse. I’m thrilled to be a new member of the Fire Star Press family. (My short
story, The Nerd in Shining Armor, is
a part of the Nine Deadly Lives
anthology which was published in October.) I’ll be blogging here the first
Wednesday of every month. Since my first post falls in the month of November, I
want to introduce you to NaNoWriMo and tell you why it works for me.
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and it
takes place every November. During the month of November, writers from around
the world come together to cheer each other on as we each strive to write a 50,000
word novel in 30 days.
Now, don’t let the terminology fool you. The term “writer”
doesn’t just mean someone that has already written a novel; it means anyone
that has ever dreamed of writing a
novel. And, our novels are as different as those of us that write them. Some of
us focus on original works while others write fan fiction. It doesn’t matter
what you write, only that the words are original to you and that they are
written during the month of November. You can’t copy and paste 50,000 words
from a pre-existing story. Well, you can, but that would be known as cheating.
I had never heard of National Novel Writing Month until 2011,
approximately ten days before it started. I had a story that I wanted to write
and thought that I would get around to it someday. That year, I decided that
someday had arrived. I threw myself into the process and, at the end of the
month, I had a rough draft of my first novel!
In the process of writing that draft, I learned that
NaNoWriMo actually works very well for me. Why? Well, I’m a perfectionist. It’s
easy for me to spend a lot of time editing the words that I’ve already written
instead of actually getting new words down, which means that a first draft can
take me a Very. Long. Time. Successfully completing 50,000 words in 30 days means
writing an average of 1,667 words per day. That’s a lot of words, especially
when doing this on top of working full time, or going to school, or any of
those things that make our lives so full. So, in order for me to reach that
goal, I have to bind and gag my inner editor, shove her in a closet for the
month, and just write.
Just writing isn’t always pretty. You may be thinking that
no two characters should ever be forced to have such banal dialogue or that
your action scenes have all the impact of snowmen fighting but… It. Doesn’t.
Matter. You have the rest of your life to edit. The point of NaNoWriMo is to
simply get the words down no matter how rough they may be. However, a few years
of experience have shown me that when I go back and re-read my novel, a lot of
the things that I thought stunk royally really aren’t that bad. As a matter of
fact, some of it is pretty darn good.
Another reason that NaNoWriMo works for me is because I am a
very competitive person. I’m not the type to just sit back and not make my goal
while my Writing Buddies blow past me to the finish line. Nope. If I start the
race, I’m going to do my best to finish it.
So, have you been dreaming of writing a novel? Well, you’ve
still got time to sign up. Just go to www.nanowrimo.org
and get started. When you get there, look me up, I’m known as RedHeadedViking
on the site. We’ll cheer each other on to victory!
Until next month, take care. And, to those of you in the United
States, Happy Thanksgiving! If you get a chance, look me up on social media
(links below). I’d love to get acquainted!
Nine
Deadly Lives Anthology: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/580457
Website: http://www.isabellanorse.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorIzzy
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/isabellanorse/
I like your explanation about how NaNoWriMo worked for you. I've never been bitten by the novel writing bug, but if I am I'll do it by keeping your advice in mind. Looking forward to reading your next post, Linda. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHi Ally, thanks for stopping by! I think this is the first time we've "met" outside the Twitterverse. :-)
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