Quantum Storytelling

I’ve been marveling how different NaNoWriMo is for me this year in contrast to last year:

• Writing deliberately. Saying what I want to actually say, instead of writing in a pure ‘free’ mode stream of consciousness like I did last year.
• Working on a scene-by-scene basis. Keeping my story blocks organized into discrete managable chunks, as opposed to treating my draft as one big long train track.
• Checking for naturalness of dialogue as I write. This is a bit like editing on the fly, which everyone advises you not to do. However, when typing out a line of dialogue from a character, taking a few seconds to say it out loud and see if it feels and sounds right can make a world of difference. This slows me down, but the writing is better.
• As much as I plot and plan, it can never be enough. My story is doubly organized over last year’s, and I can both see and feel the benefit of that planning as I write. Yet I am still finding myself completely unprepared in some ways. Last night I wrote a scene featuring a minor character, but one who happens to get a lot of face time early in the story. Because it is a minor character, I hadn’t developed him out much. I probably should have. I ended up having to create a personality on the fly. Turned out OK, but made my scene-writing more challenging than it needed to be. *Note to self.

These are just some of the things I have learned that have helped me improve over last year. What has helped you in the last year? What new things have you learned that have made a difference in your writing?

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?

Woke up at 7AM, an hour before my alarm. I must be excited for NaNo. I busted out a quick 572 words before I had to start getting ready for work. The other 1100+ will have to wait until tonight. I’m so into this. I’m loving this year’s new widget graphs and progress report. For those that don’t know, it’s that graph to the right. I’m curious to see how this plays out over the next 30 days. I think I’m going to save out my progress reports just as a momento to look back on. Fun times!

I didn’t finish my outline, but it’s much more solid than last year’s. And having been through the process, I feel a lot more confident because I can anticipate certain problems and pitfalls. Here are a few:

• Day 15 or so is hard. You’ve come a long way, but even if you’re on target with your word count you still have to take what seems like a massive 25K words and double it.
• Missing a day or two, or falling behind in your count. I fell behind a couple times last year by skipping a day or two here and there. It increased my worry, in addition to some self-scolding. Two things I didn’t need and only detracted from kicking butt. The times I fell behind also tempted my closet pessimist to say, “I’m behind. Why bother finishing now?” For me thoughts like those are brief. I usually squash them immediately. But to be honest I’d rather not have thoughts like that at all. Falling behind only encourages thoughts like that.
• Hitting a blank part of the story that your outline/plot doesn’t cover. It’s easy to stress over The Nothing. Don’t. Try to come up with 5 or so ideas to elaborate on. Then pick one. In the absence of brilliant ideas, anything will do… for now. Remember that this is only temporary.
• The thing you create during NaNo is a first draft. Remember it. Don’t be too harsh on yourself. Don’t freak out. Don’t be down on yourself because the work isn’t good enough. It’s a first, rough draft. With anything you do and any thoughts in mind, don’t forget it.

All that said, for me nothing captures the energy and excitement of the organized push. Once you find a momentum things start to snowball. Ideas fly. Thoughts gel. Everything grooves. There’s nothing like it.

Are you feeling it yet?