Throwing in the NaNoWriMo towel......

Yes, what you see to your left is the official NaNoWriMo towel.
(Actually, it's not, I just photoshopped it, lol)

I'm throwing it in.

I came to the realization that the 50k a month writing marathon was hurting my book more than it was helping it. Not because I wasn't making progress, but because I found myself pushing out content that I KNEW to be crap.

Seriously. Every sentence in the last chapter I have written is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I wrote an entire action scene that is superfluous to the plot. When I finally decided that I needed to tie it back in later, I realized that it would take too long. I took a dare to write the dialog of an entire character using movie quotes from the collected works of a single actor.

It killed three days. Have you ever tried writing three separate conversations using movie lines, and have it flow naturally? As I was writing it, I found myself thinking, "this fucking sucks". And you know what, somethings wrong if I'M saying that as I'm writing it.

If a critic says it later? At least then there's a chance it can be written off as an unpopular, dissenting opinion. I need to be able to live with myself, I don't need to be able to live with every reviewer out there.

So, I've decided for the betterment of my novel I am going to slow down and concentrate more on writing this novel in a way that I can be happy with.

WriMo's, please don't take this as an attack on NaNoWriMo. it's not at all. There are plenty of people that this schedule, or event, brings out the best in. I just happen to not be one of them.

I produce alot better work when I give myself time to think things through for a few days, then sit down and bang out 7000 words. Sure, I can do that for NaNoWriMo, but the problem is that I needed to change a few things in my outline, because my story reached a point where I was writing to fill space until I filled enough words to get to the events that would drive the final three-quarters of the novel.

My novel d.o.mai.n is outlined to be around seventy thousand words in length. Which posed another dilemma-how can I "win" NaNoWriMo with an unfinished book? If I hit 50k, I'm really only 2/3rds of the way done.

Hence, the character speaking in only quotes from Jack Nicholson movies. (Yes, "You Can't Handle the Truth!" is in there......sigh.

So I am going to tweak that chapter, and finish the next, and see if I can produce the kick-ass book that I know I can write before the first of the year.

Because if you haven't heard me say it yet, 2012 is my year. I decided that it would be good to get in one more good year before the world all goes to hell just before next Christmas, so I'm picking 2012.

And this book is my first Salvo.

Now, if you excuse me, I have another 52000 words to write.

PS-Thanks for checking out my blog. I appear to have developed a rather large following in Russia between posts, or at least d.o.mai.n-Book 1 has, so I would like to say hello to all of my peeps from Russia, the Ukraine, and Latvia!

If this continues, I may need to look into translating d.o.mai.n for export!

Comments

  1. I completely understand your feelings.

    As writers, whether we be Wrimos or not, we have to do what is in the best interest of our work. I sincerely think that the key to sucessfully completing the NaNoWriMo challenge (and by sucessfully, I mean not just writing 50K words) is to create a solid draft of a book - with beginning, middle and end in 30 days. From there it can be edited, re-written, and massaged into a polished product.

    I haven't taken part in the official word sprints because I have no interest in working off-the-wall words and ideas into my book. I don't want my characters to speak in movie lines, nor do I want to figure out how to make a black hole fit into a paranormal cozy mystery.

    What NaNoWriMo has done for me (and yes, this is my first year) is give me an excellent excuse to prioritize writing. It's a chance to let family and friends know that his writing business is important to me and that sometimes my goals come ahead of other things. They're surviving just fine without my constant attention. And, while I have no doubt I'll make the 50K in 30 days, I'm pretty sure that my finished draft is going to run more like 95K words, so in the process I'm establishing a consistent writing habit that doesn't require giving up my day job.

    Good luck with your book. I wish you creative dreams and a happy path to your goals.

    P.S. Don't believe that 12/21/2012 stuff. You're going to be around a lot longer than that. You have books to write!

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  2. Janet, thanks for the kind words. The only thing I believe about the Mayan Long Form Calender Prophecy is that it should be gently mocked at every opportunity, lol.

    And as far as making time for writing, it does really help when the people that depend on you understand how important it is to you. I struggle a little sometimes with my son over desktop PC time, as my machine is alot faster than his laptop and thus better suited for his MMORPG. He wants me to finish this book though, because he knows a fair amount of the plot and has drawn the conclusion that the only thing keeping me (and by extension, him) from fortune and fame is the completion of the novel, lol. No pressure though, right? Haha.

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