There Are Plenty of Plots in the Cemetery
Monday, November 10. 2008
The beautiful and terrible thing about NaNoWriMo is that it forces one to make decisions. There's no time to sit around and wait for inspiration to strike, for all the various parts of the novel to form themselves whole in one's head, so the writing path is clear and well-lit. Words must be wrought. Or at least written.
Often, and surprisingly, this works out pretty well. When I just let my mind wander on the page, so to speak, I "accidentally" came up with some interesting story arcs and elements last year for 200 PC. This year is only my second NaNoWriMo, so I'm not yet confident the results will be as pleasing to me every year.
In the pep talk he e-mailed out last night, Chris Baty (father of NaNoWriMo) says, "Happily, there are no wrong directions in NaNoWriMo. The only bad plot move you can make in the next week is lingering too long at your story's crossroads, vacillating over the right path." Well, I'm not certain I entirely agree with that. From a word count standpoint, it makes sense. But I do hope to use what I'm writing this month after November's done. For myself, once I've established an element of the story, it's "happened" in my mind. It's tough to let it go, to revise it, if I decide later that it makes about as much sense as...well...as committing to writing 1,667 words a day for a month. Without an outline.
The weekend was less productive than I'd hoped. So I'll have to spend a significant amount of quality time with my characters today, and see where they think the story's going. Then, it's my responsibility to pick some completely different direction and herd them along that way. I'm hoping the direction I pick will be both illuminating and fun. I suppose, according to Baty, it can't be "wrong." But there are degrees of being "right."
The beautiful and terrible thing about NaNoWriMo is that it forces one to make decisions. There's no time to sit around and wait for inspiration to strike, for all the various parts of the novel to form themselves whole in one's head, so the writing path is clear and well-lit. Words must be wrought. Or at least written.
Often, and surprisingly, this works out pretty well. When I just let my mind wander on the page, so to speak, I "accidentally" came up with some interesting story arcs and elements last year for 200 PC. This year is only my second NaNoWriMo, so I'm not yet confident the results will be as pleasing to me every year.
In the pep talk he e-mailed out last night, Chris Baty (father of NaNoWriMo) says, "Happily, there are no wrong directions in NaNoWriMo. The only bad plot move you can make in the next week is lingering too long at your story's crossroads, vacillating over the right path." Well, I'm not certain I entirely agree with that. From a word count standpoint, it makes sense. But I do hope to use what I'm writing this month after November's done. For myself, once I've established an element of the story, it's "happened" in my mind. It's tough to let it go, to revise it, if I decide later that it makes about as much sense as...well...as committing to writing 1,667 words a day for a month. Without an outline.
The weekend was less productive than I'd hoped. So I'll have to spend a significant amount of quality time with my characters today, and see where they think the story's going. Then, it's my responsibility to pick some completely different direction and herd them along that way. I'm hoping the direction I pick will be both illuminating and fun. I suppose, according to Baty, it can't be "wrong." But there are degrees of being "right."
Often, and surprisingly, this works out pretty well. When I just let my mind wander on the page, so to speak, I "accidentally" came up with some interesting story arcs and elements last year for 200 PC. This year is only my second NaNoWriMo, so I'm not yet confident the results will be as pleasing to me every year.
In the pep talk he e-mailed out last night, Chris Baty (father of NaNoWriMo) says, "Happily, there are no wrong directions in NaNoWriMo. The only bad plot move you can make in the next week is lingering too long at your story's crossroads, vacillating over the right path." Well, I'm not certain I entirely agree with that. From a word count standpoint, it makes sense. But I do hope to use what I'm writing this month after November's done. For myself, once I've established an element of the story, it's "happened" in my mind. It's tough to let it go, to revise it, if I decide later that it makes about as much sense as...well...as committing to writing 1,667 words a day for a month. Without an outline.
The weekend was less productive than I'd hoped. So I'll have to spend a significant amount of quality time with my characters today, and see where they think the story's going. Then, it's my responsibility to pick some completely different direction and herd them along that way. I'm hoping the direction I pick will be both illuminating and fun. I suppose, according to Baty, it can't be "wrong." But there are degrees of being "right."
Craig on :
I know that is how you build an effective story, but it certainly sounds like Brent the DM talking.
Brent on :
So what's Jimmy writing, then? You told me once he was a better game master than me, so he should be a whiz at noveling...
Craig on :
All I remember is that every time we thought we were in the clear or that we had figured something out, we would hear the dice roll behind the screen and you would say, "Suddenly,..."
Jimmy Anderson on :
I'm also writing a podcast episode to be recorded soon, as well as a new tech podcast for my school district.
I had forgotten the "suddenly..." until you said that. Now I remember.