Quantum Storytelling

I found this piece amusing because it makes several false assumptions:

1. That people who write for NaNoWriMo are only dabblers, none of whom actually write anything outside of November.
2. That NaNo is offensive to real writers because NaNo is only about pretending to write, rather than actually writing.

First, at this point in my journey as a writer, I have no problem accepting the label of amateur. I have some professional aspirations for my writings at some point, but I’m happy as a clam working as a game developer creating interactive experiences. I’m not in desperate need of a ‘creative profession’ because I already have one. Writing is just extra credit. So nyah. And I write outside of November, even as an amateur. I’m sure lots of other amateurs do as well, including many of the ones that flock to NaNo every year.

Second, I’m not sure how NaNo could be misperceived all about ‘pretending to be a writer’ — You have to write 50K words in 30 days, or you don’t pass the test. There is no stigma attached if you don’t make it, but the dirty work is still required. I’m not sure how any possible measurement of 50K words could be perceived as ‘faking.’ If you wrote it, you wrote it. Writing makes you a writer. A published author is another story… and it has to be pointed out that ‘professionals’ can have just as hard a time as amateurs in getting published. The same is true in the game industry, film industry, or any other entertainment industry. Just because you made something once doesn’t mean you get a free pass for life. Get in line with all the other pros, amateurs, whackjobs, or whoever else happens to be standing in line.

Third, the anecdotal story told is a false analogy. Heart surgery is not analogous to writing a novel, neither as a profession, nor as a basic activity founded upon formal method. One of them involves operating on a human life that might be snuffed out if you do it ‘wrong,’ the other involves inventing clever fiction, for which there is no consequence if you fail. There is no ‘right way’ to write a novel. There is a right way to perform heart surgery, if you want the person to live. The two are not even remotely comparable. It was an amusing tale though. Like something you’d hear repeated ad nauseum at the Annual Bitter Writers Club, where you can don your pipe and smoking jacket, pat each other on the back, and commiserate misery while drinking too much and simultaneously puking on the rug. Sign me up! I can just picture it. The smoky VIP room for ‘Real Writers’ — grizzled, drunken, miserable aging men moaning about publishers and life. “Haw haw, so get this Larry… the guy says to me, ‘I’m a novelist!’ hardeee harrrr!” *Coughs up a lung only to send it back down with another swig of brandy. Um, yeah. :)

I talked a little about this in my post A Fuzzy Culture of Negatives. The idea that someone could crank a novel (good or bad) in 30 days ought to be downright threatening to ‘real writers.’ It means the cliche of the tortured artist spending three, five, or seven years perfecting their masterpiece as a ‘professional’ waiting for lightning to strike may just be a maladaptive dinosaur waiting to be shown up by a fresh, hungrier, more flexible writer. Am I wrong? Maybe. But if I am, that doesn’t explain why people would waste time and emotional energy being bothered by something like NaNo. That’s time and energy they could spend working on their ‘pro’ novel, happily ignoring NaNo. In which case there’s no problem right?

So then why else would NaNoWriMo be offensive or annoying to some people?