As NaNoWriMo approaches, I realize that I'm not ready for it, not really. I have a general plot, a cast of characters, a general locale and a few specific locations in which to have things happen.
I know who is going to live, who is going to die. I know what condition my protag is in at the outset, I know the challenges I'm going to throw at him to make him change and grow. I know who the supporting cast is, who the bad people are, why they are bad, and what they want out of life.
In the general plot outline I wrote, I tried to balance scenes of pathos with scenes of humor, violence with sex, despair and fear with hope and reconciliation. I alternate exposition with action, conflict with resolution.
I've connected with writing buddies on the NaNoWriMo website, made comments in Twitter and various forums, made public my intentions on this blog.
So what haven't I done?
I haven't told anyone in real life, because I don't think I would get any support. Rather the opposite, in fact.
I haven't worked out the logistics of time and space. I don't yet know how I'm going to squeeze out three hours a day, even if I put this blog on mothballs for a month and stop doing FridayFlash.
I need a certain amount of silence and privacy to write, a certain amount of space. That's not something I can get very easily.
All of this begs the question: is it possible to do NaNoWriMo quietly and unobtrusively? To fly under the radar and maintain the rest of your life as usual without any telltale signs?
I guess we'll see.
I think it's possible, though it'll take some finagling. Depending on your schedule, is there a way to get up half an hour earlier, or stay up later, or go to a cafe or bookstore or library for an hour at some point to write?
ReplyDeleteI've only ever mentioned casually to my family I do NaNo, and they know I write anyway... so that's a different scenario, I admit.
If you don't think you'll get the support you need, then yeah, maybe doing it as unobtrusively as possible would be good for now... and when (see? optimism :)) you finish and have a shiny certificate of awesome, you can prove the time spent was used well. ;)
If NaNoing is something you really want to do, you may want to consider doing perhaps a little less blogging (and use the time for writing) or skipping one week of Friday Flash to work on the novel, or cut out some other activity for Nov. It's one month, after all, and I think, if not in real life, online people will definitely understand. :)
Best of luck!
These are some good thoughts, Merc. Doing it completely under the radar will be impossible, I think. I just need to try to keep the discretion at high intensity as long as possible.
ReplyDeleteThe finagling will be a challenge. Although it's best for writing in general to pick a time, set a schedule and stick to it, it may end being best for my particular situation to mix it up.
Alas, a shiny certificate of NaNoWriMo completion doesn't convey very much awesome to people who don't write, don't have much of an understanding of what it means to want to write, and don't really like my writing anyway.
The blog will suffer, no doubt. I've got a few #FridayFlash pieces already written, so they can be preloaded. I'll still miss some, but I could put up some material from the files.
More thought required, certainly.