thirty days and nights of literary abandon

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It's November 1st, and that means NaNoWriMo has officially begun! I mentioned in an older post that I became an official novelist last year after taking part in the event known to many as NaNoWriMo, and after much deliberation I've decided to participate again this year. I thought I'd do a post to fully explain what NaNoWriMo is, just in case some of my readers haven't heard about it. (And trust me, you will be hearing about it again. I'm sure I'll be here all month complaining, panicking and basking in the passionate adventure that is novel-writing. Are you excited?)


NaNoWriMo, which is short for National Novel Writing Month, takes place every year for the full month of November. Beginning on November 1st and ending on November 30th, participants work to create a 50,000 word novel entirely from scratch. Why? Because we can! You don't have to be a published writer - you don't even have to be a writer at all - to join this challenge. In fact, there are a lot of participants who have never written a novel before. Folks with all sorts of careers, stay-at-home parents, college students, all sorts of people living all sorts of lives join together each year for the love of novel writing.

50,000 words sounds like a lot - and it is a lot, when you've only a month to write it - but in the literary world 50,000 words is just above the length of a novella. This makes the NaNoWriMo process no less special, however, because it's all about you. The novels written during NaNoWriMo are not meant to be rushed off to a publisher on December 1st, they're meant to be a very great step in the direction of a novelist's dream. People will write the most unusual, outrageous stories in the month of November simply because they can.

It's easy to join NaNoWriMo - simply sign up at NaNoWriMo.org, open up a word processor (or grab a notebook, if you prefer) and write! You can update your word count on the NaNoWriMo web site as you go along, and if you succeed in writing 50,000 words before the end of the month CreateSpace is offering all the winning participants a free published copy of their manuscript! It's not easy; last year it nearly took over my life and I told myself I would never do it again. But in retrospect, I don't know that I've ever been as passionate about anything before as I was in that month with my elusive, magical little novel. There are all manner of resources on the NaNoWriMo site to help you on your way, pep talks from such great authors as Neil Gaiman and you can even join the region where you live to find other WriMos in your area. Bookstores, libraries and coffee houses will often have Write-Ins where WriMos can meet up and write in a collective environment. (I imagine this is to get us all out of the house and to have some fresh air and social activity in the midst of the reclusive process.)

Last year I wrote a literary fiction that was something of a character study. It took place around a few city streets and in one tiny apartment strewn with twinkle lights, fine wine and deep, profound (I hope) conversations between the six characters who became my best friends and greatest enemies over that month. It was an exhausting, wonderful experience. As difficult as it might be, there's something so thrilling about being able to tell people you're a novelist! This year I wanted to write a holiday story that was quite light and cheerful, maybe a little romantic comedy, but somehow at 12:30am last night it transformed into a 19th century holiday story about a wealthy nobleman, a small village and an annual Christmas ball. Rather like something out of Jane Austen or Elizabeth Gaskell, perhaps. I'm quite excited!

Have any of my fellow writers ever participated in NaNoWriMo? I'd love to hear about your experiences. And if anyone has decided to undertake it this year, let me know!