Okay.
I've just created a National (which nation?) Novel-Writing Month account. I basically did it on impulse, having made the decision to write a novel I've thought about and mentioned before – The Magibonion – this month. By the rules of NaNoWriMo, I'm supposed to start writing today, and must finish before midnight on the 30th of November. The novel must be at least 50,000 words.
I actually have heaps of committments (sp?) this month (you may have noticed I haven't been answering comments here as promptly as I used to; I've been very busy of late), but, like I said, I did this on impulse. I don't even know the mechanics of this. How will they know I haven't cheated and just produced something I prepared earlier? For instance. I haven't read the website properly to understand these things, and I haven't had time to read the website properly. I'm also currently writing another novel The Hideous Child, which I may or not have have to put on hold, even at the crucial stage I've reached with it. Also, I usually write everything out longhand first, but that may not be possible in this case. Etc.
In other words, there are plenty of reasons why I might fail. I make this announcement here so that if I do fail, people can jeer at me, etc.
If I succeed, however, I hope to show all those "you can't get it right first draft" bastards, that you can.
I'm setting myself up for humiliation, in other words.
See you there.
i hope all goes well..all the pressure cud turn out to be very inspirational. i’m currently faced with writers block. any age old remedies from a seasoned writer?
I’m lucky enough not to suffer from writer’s block very often. The thing I try to do when I’m blocked is simply to remember what it is that I actually want to write. Going for a walk can also help.Maybe other people can suggest other remedies – it would seem to be topical.Oh yeah… I’ve heard this as a suggeston: Copy out a passage from a favourite writer. Simply transcribe it, until you can feel your own ideas start to come up again. I’ve never tried this, so don’t know if it works, but it sounds like it might do.
Originally posted by anonymous:Good luck Quentin! I can’t help but think that you are a little bit mad endeavouring to undertake the writing of a novel in a mere month with all the other things you are working on. But of course, I am happy nonetheless, because new writing by you is always a cause to celebrate! :)You’re very kind. I’m not sure it’s a good decision myself. I haven’t managed to get round to writing a word of the novel yet, but I’ve worked out that, to be on the safe side, I should try to write 2,000 words of it each day. I usually write about 200 – 700ish words in a day.Hmmmm.
Alexandra writes:Good luck Quentin! I can’t help but think that you are a little bit mad endeavouring to undertake the writing of a novel in a mere month with all the other things you are working on. But of course, I am happy nonetheless, because new writing by you is always a cause to celebrate! 🙂
Just done about 700 words. I’m not going to make it at this rate.
I find it amusing that Novel-Writing Month and Movember (moustache growing contests to raise prostate cancer awareness) are both November. :{Unfortunately I have already grown out a moustache for two months, decided that I didn’t feel much like my self, then shaved it off. Plus I have no inspiration to write of late.Originally posted by quentinscrisp:I hope to show all those “you can’t get it right first draft” bastards, that you can.I believe that Lord Dunsany only really wrote in ‘first drafts’, and while sitting on a special hat to boot!Good luck with this Quentin. May your muttonchop sideburns aide you in your hour of need.
Hello John.Things are going very badly, I’m afraid, which will no doubt teach me… something. I don’t think there’s any hope of me doing the 2,000 words a day necessary. I sat at the computer earlier this evening, intending to dash off the first 2,000 words that came into my head, and I managed, after some struggle, a sentence. I realised what, in fact, I should have already known, and, indeed, did know – that I can’t compose fiction on a computer. I opened up a new writing pad to continue the story in that, and realised I couldn’t even write with the computer in the room turned on (I’ve noticed this before when I’ve used the Internet for some minor research point when I’m in the middle of writing). I’ve just written about a page and a half in the new writing pad. The lines are closer than in my usual pads, so it’s hard for me to calculate how many words this is, but I’m guessing it’s about 500. With the 700 from yesterday, that makes 1,200.Do I rush and ruin a story I’ve been intending to work on for some time, and maybe not get round to re-writing (in other words, kill a favourite idea with a bad first draft), or do I carry on in my own ridiculous way halfway between the NaNoWRiMo concept and my own usual way of working? Or do I forget the whole thing entirely?For many reasons, I might as well just slit my wrists now.
Well, I would think that you obviously want to write a good story over ‘winning’ the novel writing month. Why are you even stressed? Because you entered your name in some silly theme month website and then announced it to the world? It might be a little embarrassing to just say ‘sod it I’m out of this thing’ now, but no one is going to say anything when you turn out the story that you had envisioned.Let the breeze rustling through your muttonchops guide you!
Do you know who Gilly was in “Weird and Gilly”?Anyway…I did consider throwing in the towel prematurely, but then I thought of Freddie Mercury:I shall persevere, win or lose.
Evans writes:I have a cunning plan,In a few days you need to post a blog entry saying your NNWM novel is going really well but you’ve decided to change the title, then all you have to do is finish and revise The Hideous Child by the end of the month and think of a suitably different title for it.Seriously though I don’t think the time it takes to write matters as long you feel you’ve done the idea justice or came as close as possible to having done so. By the time next year comes round very few people will remember about this year’s competition.
this reminds me of the time last year when i gave myself the task of painting 30 oil paintings in 30 days. i managed 17 then i rebelled against myself. still it was a good experiment and about five of them are very good.did you ever read kerouac’s “doctor sax”? a long stream of consciousness novel (so-called). it was so hard to read. i prefer dickens. 😆
Originally posted by quentinscrisp:Do you know who Gilly was in “Weird and Gilly”?I thought those two were Mick Ronson and Trevor Boulder. However looking at this page reminds me that Mick was ‘Ronno’, which is a crap nickname. Apparently ‘Gilly’ is Trevor after all. I’m guessing that he was called that because of his sideburns, and that you are going to say that you modeled yours’ after his? :sherlock:
Originally posted by anonymous:I have a cunning plan,In a few days you need to post a blog entry saying your NNWM novel is going really well but you’ve decided to change the title, then all you have to do is finish and revise The Hideous Child by the end of the month and think of a suitably different title for it.I’m actually continuing to write The Hideous Child, too. Don’t know if it’s any good, but I finished the third quarter yesterday (the book is divided into four quarters).I’ve completely reverted to longhand for The Magibonion. I don’t know if what I’m doing still qualifies for the NNWM competition, since I haven’t uploaded any of it, but I’m just going to continue writing until the deadline, then stop, and call that the first draft. To add interest to the experiment, maybe there’s some way I can release the unchanged first draft (for free, I suppose, since I wouldn’t expect people to pay for a rough version).Originally posted by I_ArtMan:this reminds me of the time last year when i gave myself the task of painting 30 oil paintings in 30 days. i managed 17 then i rebelled against myself. still it was a good experiment and about five of them are very good.I haven’t painted since my teenage years, but 17 in 30 days sounds good to me. If I can do the equivalent in terms of writing, I’ll be happy.Originally posted by I_ArtMan:did you ever read kerouac’s “doctor sax”? a long stream of consciousness novel (so-called). it was so hard to read. i prefer dickens.I don’t think I’ve read more than a paragraph of Kerouac, but I have to say that I did enjoy the paragraph. I was a child at the time. I suppose the fact that I enjoyed it immediately should suggest that I’ve always been fond of words (strange things being done with words excites me if it’s done with a love of words rather than contempt for words). I suspect that many children would have had an immediately conservative reaction.Having said that, I’ve never been especially tempted to read Kerouac in adult years. I do like Burroughs (though that’s probably another kettle of fish). I like Dickens, too, and sooner or later must read another from his bloated canon.Originally posted by JohnRenard:I thought those two were Mick Ronson and Trevor Boulder. However looking at this page reminds me that Mick was ‘Ronno’, which is a crap nickname. Apparently ‘Gilly’ is Trevor after all. I’m guessing that he was called that because of his sideburns, and that you are going to say that you modeled yours’ after his? Ronno is obviously a joke nickname like ‘knuckles’ or something. The guy was a municipal gardener from Hull, after all, and apparently not especially comfortable with the gender-bending that Bowie required of him. Gilly may have been a name given to Bolder, but I believe the name first belonged to an older boy who was a sort of childhood hero for Bowie. This boy, Gilly, was not someone he was close to, just a sort of legendary figure. Apparently, Gilly had had huge sideburns and had considered it a matter of the highest principle to preserve them. The story goes he was kicked out of school or lost a job (possibly both) because he refused to shave his sideburns.Sacrilegiously, a friend into Bowie suggested I shave mine off in order to make myself more employable. Did Gilly live and die in vain?
Originally posted by quentinscrisp:but 17 in 30 daysthat was 17 in 17 days not 30. i quit.as to kerouac,awww you really would enjoy “on the road”