For those of you who don’t know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Originally launched as a US only online endeavour where budding authors would attempt to write a 50,000 word novel over the course of one single month. It has proved incredibly succesful and soon people from all over the world started participating. Sticking with the original title, NaNoWriMo (InternaNoWriMo would’ve been too much of a mouthful) has over one hundred participants annually. This is a far cry from the 21 who attempted the first NaNoWriMo in San Francisco back in 1999.
NaNoWriMo is open to all sorts of authors, and every genre imaginable. There is everything from sci-fi to historical fiction to crime thrillers to romance to steampunk vampiric Gossip Girl tributes. Well maybe not the last one, but I wouldn’t rule it out! If you want to sign up now, but feel that it’s too late, don’t worry. Many authors have started later and still reached the 50,000 word count goal by the end of the month. It only means that you’ll have to write much more than the 1,667 words a day the rest of us are writing!
This year, both myself (Ronan) and Darren have signed up and are trying to get to that marvellous 50,000 goal by the 30th of the month. It’s harder than it sounds. Kind of like a mental marathon…
Ronan’s NaNoWriMo Diary
Last year I had intended to do NaNoWriMo. I even had a great idea, plot outline, everything (although I can’t remember any of it now). I don’t know what exactly happened, but the great Irish novel never materialised. It was probably a Joycean rip-off anyway. This year, however, I was much more determined to get something done. I had characters in my mind, an outline, a turning point, and a setting that everyone would be familiar with. I also had strong intentions of doing something fantastic enough to be published. Maybe even win prizes, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s still 50,000 words to go…
Sunday started well. The first chapter (I decided I’d split the entire thing into 30 chapters, one for each day of November. Then at least I could get some closure on everything every day. A bit like a televesion soap. But with less adultery.) I hadn’t written anything this long since college (by this long I mean 1,667 words!); blogging doesn’t have a target or a word count. You’re finished when you’re finished. But I met the goal alright. And was about 6 words ahead of it. Day one and ahead of target. Cakewalk.
Monday wasn’t so easy. Whereas with Chapter One, I knew exactly what I was going to do. Chapter two was there to tie-up some loose ends and expand on the main characters, so it proved a little tougher as it wasn’t as action filled. It did, however, allow me to give them some background, a history. Oh speaking of history, I really should tell you what my novel is about. It’s a historical novel which takes place between the years of 1916 and 1922. It begins in 1916 when the protagonist, Maurice is still a teenager and is trying to take in the Easter Rising and all that’s surrounding it. Later… well, we’ll get to that, next week.
Tuesday was another central chapter as it involved the complex relation between religion and politics. Well, kind of. Wednesday involved alcoholism. And Monday’s chapter had farming. I think that’s the entire Irish race covered in 6,897 words so!
Thursday was a travesty though. I moved to a new apartment. Gorgeous place. Nicest place I’ve lived in. So I spent the whole day moving. How many words did I add to that 6,897? None. At least I was a little ahead of target, so I have less catching up to do today. Ideally I’ll write 2,500 words today and tomorrow. That’ll fill in the gap I missed. I was too wrecked last night at 11 p.m. after unpacking to do anything. Today is a new day. I know what I’m writing today, and tomorrow. And even Sunday. After that it’s a blur. But it’ll sort itself out. When I get there. I will get there.
Now I want to see what happens to Maurice myself.
-Ronan
Darren’s NaNoWriMo Diary
I always knew this was going to be a huge undertaking. I always knew I’d be strapped for time. I knew I’d have to start saying no to event invitations, to big nights out, to that ‘one drink’ after work. These were sacrifices I was prepared to make in order to complete the NaNoWriMo. But the reality is far harder to manage than the vain promises I made in the run up to November.
On Sunday – I began well. I had a faint idea in my head and I just started writing. I managed to type out just short of 2,000 words and I also jotted notes on future chapters.
Monday saw little produced from me. I was tired on my way to work and wrote nothing; I had a full working day, so couldn’t steal ten minutes for the project; my journey home was full of procrastination (a common feature of the NaNoWriMo project, I suspect); then The Apprentice live blog took over the end of my evening.
Tuesday was slightly more productive, but only slightly. I managed to draw up an outline for the entire book. The 20 chapters are neatly laid out. I know the pivotal points of each and I have an inkling as to what tone I need to set as I go through to build tension. I know how it all ends.
Wednesday – I’ve no excuses. I did nothing. I had time, but I used it sending emails, chatting online and then watching TV (incidentally, the new TV show Eastwick, based on The Witches of Eastwick, is not bad).
Thursday evening brought me to the very impressive launch of ReachOut.com, a much needed youth resource for Ireland. After that, I went along to Adolf in The Tivoli (reviewed here). I did find time at the start and end of my day to add another 1,000 words to the stock pile.
So, it’s the start of the 6th day of NaNoWriMo. I’m 3,200 words in, when I had hoped to be at 8,500. I have one chapter done, another started and a solid outline for the others. Tonight, I am going straight home to start writing. It’s all about discipline. I think.
- Darren
Wow, sounds like a huge undertaking guys and I am impressed at what you have done so far!
Ronan, you’ll get there because you are interested in where the story is going yourself
Darren, you have most of the hard work done already, a plan and an idea for every chapter, you just need to fill in the blanks, ‘just’ heh.
Looking forward to seeing the end products or at least some summaries of the novels at the end
I have written a lot, most of it on 5×7 pads of paper, in different stages. This is about writing a 5k word novel within the month of November ? Interesting, I just registered. So just have to starting thinking and typing I guess. Any rules ?
Are things that I have started not applicable, does it have to be off the top of our heads, now ? thanks !
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I started writing a detective novel about a month ago and so far I’m at around 5000 words. Ten times that? No thanks. Fair play lads.
@Ronan How many Twistories would be in that?
Ro, you’re already putting me to shame. I promise I’ll be up to speed by next week’s update.
@Niamh Thanks a mil. The ideas bit has never been a problem for me. It’s the follow through that lets me down.
@Keleher There’s no specific rules. I don’t think there’s anything strictly wrong with developing something you’ve already been working on. Ronan might contradict me, but I say go for it.
@Niall Ah, but this is all about quantity not quality. You just need to lower your standards a bit.
Thanks guys for the info, I have stuff in different stages, might look through them, or write something new.
I’m doing nanowrimo too.. hey LOVED that video for Saints and Angels by the Water Boys. Cheers.
@Niamh Thanks. Ah I’ll fill in the gaps. Just need to get up off my ass and do something.
@Keleher There’s no exact rules. You can do what you want. There’s guidelines, but you can ignore them if you wish. What it’s about is getting you to write. You can make up the rules as you go along!
@Niall You can do much more than that. Expand the short story into a novel. You’re well able to. Or make it like Chesterton’s Father Brown Stories! (I’d say it’s about 100 twistories!
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@Darren You’ll catch up. Just need to set aside some time each day. Probably best if you say 7-8 p.m each day is writing time, and let nothing else interfere. (That said, I haven’t been able to do that!)