Ready to write a novel?

I did nanowrimo in 2013. Me and 380,855 other people. And we’re all going to be famous writers just as soon as we’ve polished up our manuscripts.

For anyone who doesn’t know, nanowrimo means national novel writing month. It’s an online community where members commit to writing 50,000 words or more during the month of November. The idea is that writers  support each other as they push they push through the pain barrier and get that first draft nailed. 

I’ve got a major misgiving about nanowrimo. Not all longer works of fiction can be written in a month,  a year or even a decade.  Despite this, the publishing industry regularly forces writers to produce a novel in a year, or less. Should we really be encouraging this?

I’m not against deadlines. As a journalist I know the advantages of having to submit copy by a given date.  But we already have a situation where publishers compel writers to finish books to deadlines that reflect commercial imperatives but show little concern for quality or the creative process. Publishers  gush over an author when they sign the book deal but once the ink has dried they exploit their unequal relationship with authors to force them to produce books to an unrealistic timescale. Then they blame the author if nobody wants to read the book.

You could argue that tight deadlines help focus the mind, especially when writing overtly commercial books, and the same might apply to some highly formulaic genres or sub-genres (I know of one writer contracted to produce two steampunk novels a year, for instance). A rushed manuscript might be a work of towering genius or a best-seller. Then again, it might be trite and derivative – or just a mess. The point is that writing shouldn’t be a race against time; it should be a quest for the Holy Grail.

Having said that, nanowrimo was a worthwhile experiment for me.  I needed to do something drastic to prove to myself that I was committed to writing after a couple of years of  going round in circles, producing self-indulgent wish-fulfilment twaddle that amused myself but probably wouldn’t excite The Reader.

In the run up to last November, I spent about six weeks writing an outline and notes on the main characters, as well as doing some research, which was unavoidable as I perversely decided to set  the story during the Napoleonic Wars. In November 2013 I succeeded in producing  50,000 words, but did the process take  me any further than I would have reached with a slow, patient approach? And will nanowrimo ultimately help me to get a first draft finished more quickly than taking my time would have done? I’m not sure.

Here are a few personal pros and cons of doing nanowrimo, but I’d be keen to share experiences with others who’ve tried it.

Pros

• It reminds you of the value of spending some of your available writing time just forcing yourself to develop narrative. I’ve learnt over time that spending ages planning out a novel in advance or nailing a character’s every trait and entire biography can produce static fiction. We should remember what ‘drama’ means: the thing done. The gun-to-the-head approach forces you to bring characters together and put them in conflict, and to generate what happens next.
• Having a community that supports you, and competes with you, generates momentum in itself, and the graphic that charts your progress each day against your target is a great motivator.
• You’re forced to to carry on writing when you don’t feel like it, and that can lead to discoveries you might not have otherwise made (writer’s block is for cissies).

Cons

• You end up writing drivel just to meet the target wordcount. When out of narrative steam, I  padded the story out with description which is one of the avoidance habits I was trying to shake off.  
• The time pressure mitigates against trying things out (e.g. exploring the story from a different point of view, or testing out alternative actions or motivations for a character).  On the other hand, you learn what your default tactics are and that might help you move beyond them at a later date. 
• The subconscious/unconsious may not have time to work, solving problems that your analytic mind can’t. 
• You have to write when you’re stale and what you produce is often stale too.  
• Creating stories at speed can lead to crude black and white character motivation and themes. Which might not be a problem for everyone. 
• At the end you post your masterpiece into a void, and you get no feedback.  

So would I do nanowrimo again? Yes, probably. But next time I’d give myself different rules. For example, I might start with a couple of characters and a premise and commit myself to trying out at least five alternative ways to develop complications at every stage. So on the whole I’d recommend at least giving it a try.