IWSG Post: Pros and Cons of NaNoWriMo
A writing frenzy, coming right up! But first, it's time to connect with the best on-line writer support system I know of.
Why? The IWSG is here to share and encourage, to offer a place for authors to admit their insecurities and offer help and support to each other.
How? The official IWSG posting day is the first Wednesday of every month. Hop around the list and see who has worries, triumphs, and news to share.
Every month we have an optional question to spark discussion.
Our motto:
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
Every month, we announce an optional question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story.
November 1 question: November is National Novel Writing Month. Have you ever participated? If not, why not?
I've written about my preparations (early stages, research) over the last few weeks. In the last week I've been badly distracted by a new computer and problems with my photo library (a bloated beast if ever there was one, but it takes a LOT of time and mental/emotional energy to fix that problem, so I'm applying band-aids). Now, writing this on Monday with only 2 more days to prepare to start, I know what I need to do: immerse myself once again in my notes, world-building, and outline, so that I am eating, sleeping, and breathing my character and her story.
So what does NaNo provide for me? Structure. A deadline. A sense I'm not working in a vacuum. Those are things that authors, indie authors in particular, can be pretty short on. Participating in NaNo tells me to stop writing this post and get back into that novel prep. Time is running out.
Now your turn--how do you feel about NaNo? I didn't go into the reasons I have reservations about the whole thing, but feel free to point them out, or just tell me why it works or doesn't work for you.
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When a local pariah is killed in a scenic Maine village, no one seems to care except outsider Seffi Wardwell. Seffi brings her good heart and decades of experience teaching science to the problem in a race against indifference on one side and murder on the other. |
Hey Rebecca, I'm not a current fan of NaNo. I like to write slowly and edit as I go. OOOOOh, naughty me. I did NaNo twice and one day I may pick up those books and start again.
ReplyDeleteIf you are used to editing as you go, dealing with the messy first draft that NaNo-style writing produces could be daunting.
DeleteI'm like Denise. I like to write slowly and edit while I'm writing. So NaNo is not for me. Good luck with it this month.
ReplyDeleteYeah, not the NaNo style. NaNo flies in the opposite direction of something else I believe in: that if you can write just 300 words a day, you'll have a novel at the end of a year.
DeleteI love nano! My subconscious works on my character's backstories for a long time before I'm ready to write, so while I'm not a planner, my brain is usually ready to write when it's had sufficient thinking time. I just finished one draft, but I'm diving in with a new one. all words = good words! Good luck with yours!
ReplyDeleteMy planning is a combo of letting the characters live in my head and making more concrete notes. Plotting the way the mystery goes helps. If I were writing a different sort of book, I might plan less.
DeleteI’m with you on NaNo, Rebecca. Too much pressure in my already pressurized world. C. Lee McKenzie
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm kind of seeking out the pressure, because my every-day life doesn't have much structure (when I'm not traveling, at least :D )
DeleteNano isn't for me. My brain just doesn't operate on that level, and I've learned to accept that. Now, if I can just figure out how my brain wants to operate so I can at least be consistent.
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe consistency isn't how your brain operates? :D
DeleteNaNo is not for me either. I'm slow and I hate writing to a deadline. I do it all the time as a journalist, but that is different from writing fiction. As a journalist, I have to compile facts I already have in a readable whole. As I fiction writer, I have to come up with new facts only I can imagine. And my imagination doesn't like to be rushed. So I never tried NaNo.
ReplyDeleteOlga Godim from https://olgagodim.wordpress.com/
I think I make it work best when I give my imagination lots of time with the story before November starts!
DeleteI liked it for the same reasons. Forced me to designate a few hours every night to writing. (Well, more like four or five.) And glad we were able to feature your book in the newsletter.
ReplyDeleteNaNo is hard on those who work full time, not to mention if you aren't a fast writer/typist.
DeleteCongrats on the new book.
ReplyDeleteDLP keeps me occupied enough that I wouldn't have time for a full month of writing of my own. It was a rare lull last year that allowed me to complete the final two stories in my current series.
Yeah, sometimes it's just not a good fit! You are doing amazing amounts of writing and other work!
DeleteNot writing in a vacuum is definitely one of the benefits :-)
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for IWSG day Done and Dusted. An Author’s Year in Review 2023
Hmm... kind of like the IWSG :)
DeleteThanks for stopping by my blog last month. Sorry for not making the rounds. Congrats on your new release. Glad to hear NaNo provides you structure. I agree, that's something indie authors really need.
ReplyDelete