Hey, y’know
what I realized over the weekend? It’s
NaNoWriMo! Who’s trying it this year?
I’ll be honest.
I’ve never tried it myself. By the time I
first heard of it, as it was just starting to gain popularity, I’d already been
writing professionally for a year or two.
Might’ve even already been writing full time (non-fiction, but
still). For the past eleven years...
well, every month’s been about word count for me.
That doesn’t
mean I don’t have some ideas and thoughts on NaNoWriMo. In fact, a lot. At this early point in the month, I have one
very firm reassurance, and one solid tip.
First piece
of reassurance. No matter who you are, I
can tell you with absolute certainty, you are not going to sell the manuscript
you write this month. No agent will
consider it. No editor will look at
it. It’s just not going to happen.
HANG
ON! This isn’t a kick-in-the-gut
thing. This is liberating. It’s freeing.
I’m not
saying nobody will ever buy this book.
But what we’re doing during this month is a first draft. A rushed first draft at that. It’s going to have plot holes and factual errors
and typos. It will, trust me. It’s a fantastic starting point, but it’s
going to need more work after November 30th. No question about it.
Again, this
is a good thing. Stop worrying
about if an agent or editor or your significant other is going to like this.
They’re never going to see it.
This draft is for you and you alone. Be selfish. Go crazy.
This is the “dance like nobody’s watching” part of the process. Let your creativity run wild, eat nothing but
chips, drink nothing but whiskey, run naked in the coffeeshop, and don’t worry
about anyone else and what they may think.
They can see the second or third draft, maybe, but not this one. Do what
you want to do with it. Do anything. Because this is just the first draft.
Okay, don’t
actually run naked in the coffeeshop.
Yeah, I know they smile at you a lot there, but they’re paid to be nice
to you. They don’t want to see that.
Especially not in a place that sells food.
Second
thing—the solid tip.
Write.
That’s it. Just write.
I know that
sounds kind of flip and arrogant, but stop and think for a moment. Like we just said, this draft isn’t for
anyone else. We’re not going to worry
about spelling, research, current hot genres, book advances, any of that. All
that matters for this month is getting words on the page.
Sooooo...
get the words on the page.
In my first
drafts, I change character names halfway through. I snip off plot threads and remind myself to
pull them out later. I snip off some characters halfway through, and then jump
to the alternate timeline version of the book where I killed them sixty pages
ago (like I now know I should’ve done in the first place). And I can do all this because this is going
to get another draft.
For now,
the most important thing is to just write.
Put words on paper or on the screen or on your arm or your friend’s shirt
or whatever medium you’ve decided to work in. Stop trying to filter or rein in your creativity and get it all out.
So for
now...
Go write.
Is that Lancelot Link typing?
ReplyDelete