I have something resembling an outline (or at least as close to a formal outline as I've ever written), note cards handily organizing crucial scenes, and motivation to spare. Go me.
Seriously, though, planning a piece of fiction longer than a few pages is hard work. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I'm planning to Camp NaNo in July. Contrary to what I've written here, I do work on fiction during NaNo's "off season(s)," but I like the structure of NaNoWriMo, even if I don't finish. With Camp you can set your own word count goal, so that's good. Now I just have to turn off my brain and write. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but if anything, I think too much when I'm writing. My internal editor is a combination of the vaguely christian woman in a writing workshop whose sole criticism is always "I don't get it;" and someone I barely know who is convinced I'm her nemesis. I need to please both of these people, and I'll never please either of these people.
I know NaNo gets its fair share of criticism, some of it unjust, some of it well-deserved. It's easy to get caught up in "NaNo brain" and just slap anything down to make the day's word goal, but it's also a great motivator for the unmotivated. I think NaNoWriMo is unfairly characterized as fun time for amateur writers, but the point isn't to have a finished product by the end of the month, but a crap draft.
I'm cheating a little a starting early, at least with some preliminary scene work so I can get a heard start on what works, and what doesn't. I've accepted that I'm the kind of writer who needs more structure, not less, and that doesn't make me any less creative than the person who can sit down at her computer and bust out a 2000-word screed in a hour cold. I don't really believe she exists anyway.
Some of us run Julnawrimo, because the major holiday is early in the month, and there is nothing good on Tv. 8)
ReplyDeleteI've written several Julnowrimo books, and a few Nano books as well. One can slap anything down, or one can write hard and fast, know it's first draft, but making it as good as possible.