I’m doing NaNoWriMo. That’s National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to write the first draft of a novel during the month of November. The draft should be 50,000 words.
I’ve never done NaNoWriMo before mainly because I’ve always assumed I can’t write a novel in a month during the school year. I’ve written first drafts in a month, but only during the summer.
One of my teacher friends mentioned she was doing it and asked if anyone wanted to join her. At first I said no. 50K words in a month? While teaching? Impossible.
Then, I started to wonder if I could do it. I mean, I’ve written three first drafts already so this isn’t new. How does one begin a new writing project? Why, at the beginning, of course.
I’ve been reading Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some instructions on Writing and Life (Anchor Books, 1994). In her chapter “Shitty First Drafts,” she uses the metaphor of driving at night to describe first drafts. We can only see as far down the road as the headlights reveal, but eventually we’ll come to a destination.
What’s that destination?
Last a week a character came to mind. A setting. That’s where I start a draft. Just write about the character and the place. Things will present themselves. This is the beautiful serendipity of fiction.
Sure, I will likely cut out most of the opening fourth of the book when I get to revisions, but that opening part is where characters are met and discoveries are made.
I started yesterday and wrote about 3,500 words. I like the narrator, and I like the premise. Toward the end of writing, another character walked up and whispered something in my protagonist’s ear. I was as surprised as him.
Doors begin to open and the world grows. I can’t wait to see what happens today.
That’s the excitement of first drafts. You just write what seems right at the time, taking the words as they come. Don’t worry about plot holes and inconsistencies. So what if your protagonist is 37 on one page and 42 on another. Fix it in post, as they say in the film biz.
That’s where I do research too. Since this is a sci-fi project, I’ll have a lot to do to create the verisimilitude I want, but for now, I intend to tell the story as it unfolds in front of me.
As with football, it’s all about forward progress and at the end of November, I’ll have a first draft to revise and craft into something good. Something beyond a “shitty first draft.”
Working title is A Fire to Be Lighted.
Wish me luck.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
I am also doing NaNo, and I have taken to using Scrivener…which is helpful in that it allows me to work on different parts of the overall story without having to work on a particular part until my head hurts from banging it on the desk due to frustration. I get stuck, I just take up a different part of the story. This has proved helpful in dealing with a couple of knotty plot or character problems.
Best of luck.
I haven’t heard of Scrivener. Is it a word processing platform?
Like you, I sometimes bounce around as I think of things, but I always try to write a little bit forward each day. I hope NaNoWriMo went well for you!
Wow, to a non-novelist, 50K words in one month sounds like a massive undertaking. I wish you lots of luck!
Thanks, Heather. I made it, but have miles to go before I sleep.
Go, write, go!
Lighted, not Lit, huh? Hmmm. I kind of like the pun on lit (light) and literature. The fire (passion/fervor of writing so much) to be(come) lit? Sorry, I’m an over-editing addict.
Thanks, Jessica. I hadn’t thought of the light-literature thing. “Lighted” is actually an archaic past tense form that was replaced by “lit,” though “lighted” is still acceptable to use. The title comes from an old translation of a Plutarch quote: “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, it is a fire to be lighted,” which Dave Scott adopted as something of a mission slogan when he commanded Apollo 15.
Coming to the end of the month now, how did it go?
I have only admiration for anyone capable of writing any sustained work of fiction; do you do it all on keyboard or use any manuscript drafts?
Thanks, Lucy. It went well. I still have some writing to do, I suspect it;ll be about 80K when it’s done, but I’m having a good time. Mostly.
I write fiction almost exclusively on a keyboard, though I do keep a notebook for each major project wherein I write notes and sketches and ideas. However, I write all my first draft poems on paper then revise onto the computer.