November is the Cruelest Month… The Orbit Team November 4, 2010

cre: November is the Cruelest Month…

The Orbit Team

November 4, 2010

It’s November, which means thousands of aspiring writers are asking their friends and family to go have some fun. They have a novel to write.

But the beginnings were a bit rough for the NaNoWriMo crowd. For the uninitiated, National Novel Writing Month is that special time of year when anyone likes to write 50,000 words in 30 days. It’s like 1700 words a day. Which is like, 3-4 pages. Every day. It’s a monumental task, especially considering that most of these people aren’t professional writers and mostly have jobs, families, social obligations… It’s one thing for the pros involved. (all of which seem to end early) but your average aspiring writer is missing out on that most precious commodity…time.

That’s why Laura Miller’s Salon post is so… confusing. She’s basically going after NaNoWriMo with both barrels – I’ll get to the details of her argument in a moment. In addition to his high-profile attack, I feel like there’s a bit of pushback in the air this year. Galleycat this morning tackled fantasy novelists for the first time with a fun article on what not to do. It’s hard to argue with many points, but something about the principle struck me as wrong.

Basically, for me, it boils down to this. NaNoWriMo is not for professionals. It’s not for people who are particularly concerned with writing the next Great American Novel or, damn it, the next James Patterson. It’s for people who have a dream and who, in their busy daily lives, need a kick in the pants to get there.

For starters, this is all a misnomer – 50,000 words don’t make a novel. (An aside: I mostly limit my comments to fantasy and sci-fi, a) because that’s what I know best and b) it seems to be a disproportionate number of NaNoWriMo users – ya- is there a better term for this? – are SFF concentrated). Typically, your epic fantasy novels are over 120,000 words, and it’s not uncommon to receive manuscripts that clear 170,000 words. It’s 2-3 time the length of NaNoWriMo.

Also, a novel is not just an amalgamation of a number of words. It takes time, effort and sophistication to arrive at a publishable state. A month of writing nearly 2,000 words a day just doesn’t leave you time to revise, proofread, or pay close attention to detail.

But, frankly, that’s not what it’s about. Miller is right about one thing: “it is clear that NaNoWriMo winners frequently ignore official advice on the importance of review; publishers and agents are already hesitating in anticipation of the botched manuscripts they will soon receive. It is true that there is an increase in unsuitable submissions in the months following NaNoWriMo because the participants are not writing novels, they are writing drafts of novels – they may one day become great books, but they will not be on December 1st. But, to reverse one of Miller’s last points, I’m convinced that without NaNoWriMo, there will still be plenty of poorly-designed, under-edited, and inappropriate submissions hitting my desk.

She goes on to point out that “NaNoWriMo is an event entirely for writers, which means it’s largely pointless.” Which means, I guess, real writers are driven by a deep-rooted muse who endlessly pours beautiful language and brilliant plot into their brains, unasked and consumed by an all-consuming need to commune with their personal genius. Working day in and day out with authors, I can say this is a steaming pile of… (hmm, wait a sec, this is the official Orbit blog. Sigh. Self-censorship is a drag .) Writing is difficult. It takes dedication, willpower and perseverance to accomplish something as difficult as a third or tenth novel. For most, a first novel seems overwhelming, and you come across more authors than not whose “first novel” is really the third they put to paper.

Of course, some people can’t help themselves. Once, I received a call from an agent who informed me that an author had written an entire novel in December, then had delivered his book under contract three months earlier. Others compulsively describe new projects every day. But that’s not the norm, even among published and successful authors.

Writers are made, not born sui generis. And only the budding writer can pull it off — mostly by pulling up in front of a laptop, notebook, or cocktail napkin and putting words on a page.

So even Galleycat’s “tips” (and, to be honest, I can’t argue too much with the individual items on this list, except to say that I’ve seen nearly every one of them done, and done well)* are somehow contrary to the spirit of the event.

The publishing world is difficult and people often forget that publishing a book is often the first step on a long road. But even before that, there’s that moment every writer has to watch and think about how best to turn a dream into reality. NaNoWriMo is not about writing good books. It’s not even about writing a book. It’s about becoming a writer – a process that Laura Miller apparently considers irrelevant and beneath her.

There is a time for criticism – it’s often a long and brutal process before and after publication, but NaNoWriMo is not that. Taking them to task is like walking into a kindergarten and scolding the kids for not solving special relativity yet. It’s unnecessary and petty and just confusing.

The honest truth is that most novels started under NaNoWriMo will never be published. But, some of these newly minted writers will go on to successful careers. While Laura Miller might think there’s “no shortage of good novels,” I have a long-term view and would like to think that when I’m old and even grumpier than I already am , there will always be great novels because we’ve encouraged the next generation of writers to make their dreams come true.

That said, these are future books. Don’t send me anything written for this year’s NaNoWriMo until the end of next year. As soon as possible.

* This, however, was new to me and fascinating.

source: gameplaytrick.com -

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