2008 Woodie Awards
Tech Junkie: In 30 days, you could be a novelist
Luke McIntyre
Issue date: 10/31/06 Section: Life
"Once upon a time," the book starts out, "I believed you needed to have several things before you set out to write a novel." Chris Baty, one of the founders of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), writes that plot, setting, character, and many other things often thought essential to creating a novel are, actually, not.
"What you need to write a novel is, of course, a deadline."
This is what NaNoWriMo provides. The challenge starts on November 1st, and ends promptly on the 30th. That challenge is to write your own novel, 50,000 words, in the 30 days allotted. The theory goes that every person has a novel inside of them, and the goal here is to simply force that novel out onto paper. Holding to such a lofty deadline pushes people past a great inhibitor of writing, what Baty calls the "internal editor." When one has to average 1,660 words a day for 30 days, revision and rewriting is not an option. Participants are encouraged to go back and edit their work. Just not during the month-long writing marathon. Get it on paper, and then edit it. What comes out may not be Pulitzer material, but it is your own novel. If nothing else, at the end of the month you can say you're a novelist. NaNoWriMo will even send you a certificate to prove it.
That aforementioned book, No Plot? No Problem!, is just one of the many Baty has written over the years. It serves as a sort of guide for the four-week novel writing adventure - one that Baty has taken every year since its beginning.
NaNoWriMo was started in 1999 with only 21 participants, six of whom finished their novels. The next brought 140 participants, the year after that it skyrocketed to 5,000. In 2005, over 59,000 people participated, and just shy of 10,000 finished their books. This giant group of writers, all frantically struggling towards the same goal, creates a large community of support. In the forums on NaNoWriMo's website, writers talk about their stories, struggle together though the tough spots, and get help from more experienced NaNaWriMo participants.
And it's not all amateurs competing here, or at least not for long. At last count, nine novels spurred by NaNoWriMo had been picked up by major publishing houses.
Participation in NaNoWriMo is free, but donations are encouraged. 50 percent of all proceeds - from donations given and profit from the website's store - are used to fund the construction of children's libraries in Southeast Asia. So far the site has been able to build ten, three in Cambodia and seven in Laos.
Though you can join in at any point during November, the 30th is still the last day to finish. It officially starts tomorrow. How many people talk about writing a book one day? The thing about that one day is, it never comes. Stop talking. Start writing.
Visit www.nanowrimo.org for more information.
"What you need to write a novel is, of course, a deadline."
This is what NaNoWriMo provides. The challenge starts on November 1st, and ends promptly on the 30th. That challenge is to write your own novel, 50,000 words, in the 30 days allotted. The theory goes that every person has a novel inside of them, and the goal here is to simply force that novel out onto paper. Holding to such a lofty deadline pushes people past a great inhibitor of writing, what Baty calls the "internal editor." When one has to average 1,660 words a day for 30 days, revision and rewriting is not an option. Participants are encouraged to go back and edit their work. Just not during the month-long writing marathon. Get it on paper, and then edit it. What comes out may not be Pulitzer material, but it is your own novel. If nothing else, at the end of the month you can say you're a novelist. NaNoWriMo will even send you a certificate to prove it.
That aforementioned book, No Plot? No Problem!, is just one of the many Baty has written over the years. It serves as a sort of guide for the four-week novel writing adventure - one that Baty has taken every year since its beginning.
NaNoWriMo was started in 1999 with only 21 participants, six of whom finished their novels. The next brought 140 participants, the year after that it skyrocketed to 5,000. In 2005, over 59,000 people participated, and just shy of 10,000 finished their books. This giant group of writers, all frantically struggling towards the same goal, creates a large community of support. In the forums on NaNoWriMo's website, writers talk about their stories, struggle together though the tough spots, and get help from more experienced NaNaWriMo participants.
And it's not all amateurs competing here, or at least not for long. At last count, nine novels spurred by NaNoWriMo had been picked up by major publishing houses.
Participation in NaNoWriMo is free, but donations are encouraged. 50 percent of all proceeds - from donations given and profit from the website's store - are used to fund the construction of children's libraries in Southeast Asia. So far the site has been able to build ten, three in Cambodia and seven in Laos.
Though you can join in at any point during November, the 30th is still the last day to finish. It officially starts tomorrow. How many people talk about writing a book one day? The thing about that one day is, it never comes. Stop talking. Start writing.
Visit www.nanowrimo.org for more information.
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