Several years ago I wrote a short story called Jump. It was one of many story ideas I had and have been continuing to have since. Jump is the only one that I put a focussed attention into to flesh it out properly, write it fully, and then do rewrite after rewrite to polish it up. In short I did it to see if I could do it, or if I only thought I could. I've been tempted by the same challenge again, this time bigger in the form of NaNoWriMo.
You always seen and hear people say "I could write a book" but most of those people have no idea what's involved. They assume it's an easy run where everything just flows and you get to the end in the same time as it takes for them to read it. It's not anywhere near that easy. I know what planning was involved to do a short story; Jump turns out to be around 14,000 words. I know the amount of different angles you have to work through in your head, characters you have to live and breathe so you get their actions and reactions right, places to lock into your head and inconsistencies to spot. As yet I have no idea how many more magnitudes of complexity a 50,000 word story is going to be, until or unless I try.
I have looked at the NaNoWriMo before but never considered actually taking part, until this year. The contest is about writing a novel in November; 1st to 31st. Complete and submit your 50,000+ word novel by the closing time and you're a winner, after the word count has been verified. The winners get a free paperback copy of their novel and a few other things like discounts to various writers services.
The real value is that it focusses you to create, and the prize is the satisfaction of knowing the final thing came from your imagination through your interpretation and fingers into a form that you can share with others. I'd like to do it this year if for no other reason that "to see if I can". I have no formal training in writing, or literature or even English. I didn't like reading novels when I was growing up, I only got into the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels as an adult, and branched out slightly since then to Douglas Adams, JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien, Terry Pratchett and some Steven King. I am not the end result of a reading and writing upbringing.
I do remember the feeling at the time when Jump was in full flow, then completed. I remember starting at lunchtime, then glancing up feeling very hungry to see the clock, only to spot it was very dark outside and it was 3am. I remember parts of the plot with alternate ideas racing through my head as I try to sleep, and waking up to get straight back into crafting an extension to a scene or refining it a bit as a new idea came to me. I remember the feeling of combing through it looking for references to things I'd changed in a new rewrite, to make them consistent.
I am my own worst critic, it's taken a long time for me to appreciate that some of the things I do, I'm actually pretty decent at. Jump was one of those moments, where I had plenty of ideas for stories of varying lengths, took one and ran with it till it was complete. Turns out it's not too shabby, despite me being a complete self taught amateur. It let me know I could write, and that if I chose that as a career path, I could get better with each new story. A few roadblocks to that have kicked in though, I'm an ideas guy. This is both a blessing and a curse. I have so many ideas for stories, products, services etc that I'll never do a fraction of them myself. This is why I have no problems with throwing out ideas in blog posts or Identi.ca dents. If someone reads them and runs with it to make a fortune, good for them. I have a never ending stream of ideas, only a fraction of them I attempt to do myself, and the best ones I keep to myself.
Since writing Jump, I've bought my first PC, the P4 I still use albeit it's been on it's last legs for ages now. I've learned how to maintain Windows XP (I bought it with XP pre-installed). I went on an MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) course, got the certification then shortly got into Linux. I've taught myself Linux, web design and graphic design to the limited capacity that I have. I've found Drupal. In short, I have a very wide palate and am self taught in almost everything I take an interest in. The downside is that the more you know, the wider the scope for new ideas is.
I am preparing 3 large web projects at the moment around Drupal. I am hoping to use the fact that NaNoWriMo is in November to narrow down one story with the most immediate potential and within my very limited experience as a writer in the next month or so. If I can do that, the time until November will be in trying to flesh out that story with all the prep work I need, or at least feel I need so I'm ready to hit the ground running on November 1st. After doing a word count on Jump, the NaNoWriMo challenge is around 4x the length, which is daunting to be totally honest, but I can at least visualise the amount of work involved.
Since my reading largely fits into the Star Wars Expanded Universe, naturally a lot of my story ideas are there too. I do have plenty outside of that. I won't be doing a Star Wars story as part of NaNoWriMo.
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Comments
YEha!
Just keep in mind that NaNoWriMo is just hte first draft! You just write it all down, and do editing and revising later! :)
It will be a great experience for you, and if you want to you can probably find Wrimos in your immediate vecinity and join a writein, which is always good fun! :)
That does make it more achievable
Jump was about 6 weeks but that was including fleshing it out, and like 6 or 7 rewrites. 50,000 words still sounds daunting though.
Go For It!
It's a great experience. But, if I can make a couple of suggestions...
1) You don't need to wait until November. If you feel like doing it now, do it now.
2) If you can't finish it now, save it for later, and work on something else. A lady I know just remembered a plot idea from ten years ago, and she's working on it (she's a pro - look up Karin Lowachee)
3) I've found that the most important thing is getting started, even if you can't finish it now. The novel which I'm currently 3/4 of the way through is from Nano 2006. I got the basic idea down, but got blocked. Channel Four's Time Team came to my rescue (TVO carries it in Canada) with the details I needed to flesh out the basic idea.
4) Writing of any sort counts. One of the reasons I started Through the Looking Glass was to get more practise in writing. And it's worked. I usually managed 4K words per day total, non-fiction and fiction. And I'm getting better.
5) Talk to other writers. Writing is necessarily a solitary vice. Non-writers can't understand what it's like. The only people who will understand what you are going through is other people who are going through the same thing.
And of course, have fun!
Wayne aka The Mad Hatter
Starting now would be cheating
I see this in the same way as I do in stopping smoking. I stopped smoking over three years ago, I know I haven't had as much as a draw of a ciggy since. I could be puffing away as I type this, the only one I'd be kidding is myself. I'm not, but I could be. Similarly, the only one who cares and gets any benefit is myself.
I will be doing a lot of prep work to be ready to start on November 1st, but being capable of doing something as daunting as 50,000 words in one month is part of the challenge, and the reward if I can succeed. If I start early I won't know if I could have done it or not.
I have seen various writing tips like the links you gave me too, a lot of it is common sense but maybe that's just how my mind works that it seems common sense to me.
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