My finishing strategy for my NaNo book!

So, I won NaNoWriMo last month (which, you know, was just a day ago.) And I have a NaNo novel. Only, I really don't, as I have anywhere between 40k and 60k left to write for the novel.

Now, it's easy to lose momentum after writing for all of November, so I'm going to alter my writing for the next month.

Basically, I'm going to revise my first 50k words until I'm caught up again. And then, I'm going to be very, very methodical as I finish the novel. Revise each page as I write. Revise and revise until I'm satisfied and then move on.

I probably won't be done in December, but that's okay. I rather enjoy this book, so I figure the best route here was to write with care, and do the opposite of what I did for NaNoWriMo.

Nothing against literary abandon, but I have a hefty tome on my hands, and I need to exercise some care.

The End of NaNoWriMo 2013

All month, we've had a local group for write ins, helping encourage all involved to cross that 50k mark for NaNoWriMo.

I learned several lessons going to these write ins.

1. I'm not good at writing in public. But I love helping people write.
2. In spite of not being good at writing around people, I still wrote remarkably well in my own time and have really developed a new approach to novel writing.
3. Writing is a powerful tool for unifying people of vastly different personalities.
4. You can't deny the thrill of being able to tell a group of people that you just won.
5. I love writing. I already knew this one, but I'm thrilled that every time I write, it just feels better and better.

I'm going to miss these write ins. But, doubtless, I'll draft many of the folks I've come to know into our various projects, like film and the like.

So, here's to a great month. Sad to see it go. But glad that several new novels will be gracing the world with their existence.

Finishing NaNoWriMo 2013, or "What I've Learned From Last Time"

Last year, this time, I was a touch over a week done with NaNoWriMo. I hit the 50,000 word mark with relative and quick ease, and then quickly and unceremoniously wrote the rest of the book.

I loved the experience of NaNoWriMo and winning for the first time. As for the book, I didn't love it. I didn't even really like it, though I certainly didn't hate it. I let the book just sit there. While I like some of the ideas in it, I'm not sure I wrote a book that I could muster any real passion for. I wrote it partially as a joke, mostly to make fun of Twilight and vampire fiction in general.

But, anymore, that's like kicking a dead horse. And, while many of us still mock Twilight for all of its problems, the relevance of doing so has diminished a lot. That book will probably never see the editor's eye, much less the light of day.

Heading into November, this time, I wanted to approach with a subject that I would stay passionate about. About a week before NaNo began, I completely abandoned that and decided to base the book around a woman I know in real life, who angered me. You see, this woman is into her 40's, but still acts like a high school student. She is manipulative, insecure, says bad things about people behind her back, and butts into business that is not her own.

I created a character that was loosely inspired by this woman. I should have known that it would lead to problems.

The first three days of November also coincided with the National Film Challenge. So, day one, before we got the info we needed to make our short film, I pumped out as many words as I possibly could. It was a decent enough start.

After the film challenge, I put all my focus on the book. Tentatively titled "The Tastemaker", I hit 16,000 words after a week, and felt like I was in cruise control. But then, I hit a wall. Not the dreaded Week 2 wall that so many run into during NaNoWriMo.

This was a wall of apathy, but I ran into it far earlier than I did with the vampire novel. At least with the vampire novel, I could keep writing based on injecting action scenes whenever things slowed down.

But with "Tastemaker", a light-hearted and sweet rom-com type story, I was out of my element. My stories are usually bleak, dark, and filled with bad things happening to already damaged people. "Tastemaker" was about two people trying to find love against the machinations of a nosy shrew. Simple. Not bleak. Was actually kind of sweet.

Not something I generally write.

So, at 16k words in, I had a decision to make. Continue writing a story that was rapidly degenerating into a petty reflection of my feelings towards a real life individual, or cut my losses and try to catch up with a different?

Many people told me to keep the word count from the previous story. Just add it to whatever new novel I started.

I couldn't do that. If I was going to start over, I was going to really start over.

And so, reaching into notes of various characters that I created in the past but have never had a story they could call home, I began writing my new novel. And instead of hitting the ground running and burning through word count and material quickly and viciously, I kept a far steadier pace.

Last year was about power writing. This year was about methodical, even-handed writing where I made consciously important decisions for the book before writing. Through all of that, even with being a week behind, I managed to win NaNoWriMo. What's more, the book has a lot of material still left to cover. All I can say about that is that I'm in love with the book more than I ever could be with Tastemaker or the vampire story.

And I think I'm becoming a writer who prefers method to speed. Even with my slower approach, I was pumping out 2,000 words a day, on average, with many days coming in far more. But every word felt better. Every sentence was far more lovingly crafted than either of the other two books. Yes, I will still need to do revisions on this novel, but everything was so much better and so much more thought out.

I think this will be my new writing style. Even where I found problems in the narrative, I was finding them while writing, as opposed to figuring it out after. I immediately knew, being so in touch with both story and character, what I would fix on my second, third, and fourth passes on the novel. It's helped me with my fear of future drafts.

This NaNoWriMo was far better than last year's. Not only did I still finish when I had to start over, but I also found myself passionate about this project.

Another lesson here; for the sake of the legal system and your sanity, only ever take traits from people in your life when writing. Don't try to model a fictional character after a real person with the intent of writing revenge fiction. It's unsatisfying and ultimately petty. And is a quick way to ruin your story.

To those who hate NaNoWriMo and the people who participate....

I have found that the people who hate NaNoWriMo are petty, little people who are struggling with jealousy in the worst way.

Now, I'm not talking about people who have no interest in NaNoWriMo or don't think it will fit their writing style. Those individuals generally don't insult the people who do like NaNoWriMo. They have simply come to the conclusion that it is not for them. Perfectly fine. Perfectly rational.

But for those who argue the event is a waste of time, or that it's some sort of vanity project, or that it's stupid, the consistent trait among those hateful persons is that they are jealous.

Why be jealous? Is it because you don't think you can do it?

Well, I have an idea. Next year, in November, let me know. And we'll accept you with wide open arms. To do what? To write. Why not try it?

You'll be surprised that you will have something to say in the world of writing. That you will be able to write a novel. And, when the end of the month rolls around, whether you have written 50k words or maybe even less, you'll have found that NaNoWriMo has been something you never expected it to be; an important part of your life.

Kevin Smith talked about how the world was filled with "Why?" and that you need to surround yourself with people who will say, "Why not?"

If you find yourself questioning why someone would do NaNoWriMo, it's time to take a step back and really ask yourself why you're not supporting this or the person. Is it personal bias? Do you really support the arts?

Instead of, "Why are you doing NaNoWriMo? That's stupid." it should be "Why not give it a go?"

I'll be the one asking, "Why not?" at every turn, even if you've called me stupid for my love of National Novel Writing Month.

A bit from my NaNoWriMo book so far, or "Peering into the depth of madness."

Just a small, random segment from the book for NaNoWriMo:


Doing a breath check (You know. That thing that doesn't actually work where you breath quickly into your palm and smell it to determine your breath quality.) and straightening my hair with my other hand, I was hopefully presentable enough. Not for Mrs. Zheng's eye, because she never really seemed to care about my appearance, but because Anya was invariably with her, and... Well, you can probably guess. Anya's only the most beautiful woman in the world. Just saying.

I opened the door to reveal Mrs. Zheng, Anya, and... Her boyfriend. Yeah, I forgot to mention him. Arnold. Jerk. The worst person on the planet. Scum. Satan. Seriously, Anya could do better. Ignore the fact that he's the starting quarterback at his school and will probably play professional football the moment he's out of school. Ignore his good looks and charm. And muscles. Ignore those too. He's just a real jerk. And a jock. I don't understand why she's so in love with him. Well, she's not in love with him. She just likes him a lot. He's cute.

Not that she's superficial. She's not. She's amazing. Intelligent. Beautiful. Cute. Everything. And he's an idiot. Ugh.

Mrs. Zheng got out of the passenger side of the dark red Buick holding a massive pot filled with the chicken soup she'd mentioned. At least, Arnold not withstanding, I would get the world's best chicken soup out of the deal. Anya, amazing, wonderful, beautiful, perfect Anya got out of the driver's side, with stupid, ugly, moronic, insipid Arnold getting out of the back driver's side. It's like he wears shirts that his muscles squeeze out of on purpose.

Not that I'm some horribly scrawny guy. I mean I mostly am. But that's not the point. It doesn't matter how much someone has good looks. It doesn't even matter how much money someone has, though both Arnold's parents and myself have it. It matters what kind of person you are. Arnold is a douchebag.

The three of them, now outside of the vehicle, began walking to my house, which is not a mansion, just so you know. Yes, I have a security gate, but my house is only three stories. That's still big, I get it, but there's only so much room one man can handle.

Mrs. Zheng was always the first through the door to any house she visited, having a distinct dislike of being outdoors at all. She gave me her usual nod she was already inside. And though I tried to take the pot of soup from her, she gave me a look, a quick one, that told me if I so much as touched the pot my hands would be removed from my wrists and she'd use her teeth to do it. Anya followed her and gave me that damn smile.

It's the kind of smile that makes you forget about the world around you. Where even the simplest movements of her mouth make me think she created that very smile for me, and for me alone. It is, without a doubt, the world's most amazing smile. And every time I see her even grin a little, I fall into a near trance of giddiness hoping to never have to come out of it, hoping that if I do come out of it, she'll be there waiting to embrace me and we can run off into the sunset for our wonderfully cliché and cheesy declaration of love.

And nothing punctures that bubble better than the burly form of Arnold walking with his self-righteous strut behind the perfect woman he so thanklessly calls his girlfriend. God. I hate him. And his stupid knowing nod that he always gives me. Which he gave me then. With that grin.

See, look who I'm dating, his eyes silent say to me.

Yeah, she's a catch, my eyes say pathetically in return. But what I'm really thinking is:

Go die in a fire, you ugly jock piece of crap.

NaNoWriMo

So... I'm doing it. I will be, for the first time, participating in National Novel Writing Month.

Last year, around this time, I was suffering from heart break after being jilted by someone I erroneously considered to be the mystical "One", was hating the fact that I wasn't getting to see my kids for the holidays, and floundering in general misery, compounded by a pair of friends who felt that the world was a place where their problems (however minuscule they were in the grand scheme of everything) were of everyone's sole and intense concern. October, going into November last year, was crap.

That said, it wasn't like my problems were grandiose or anything like that. Except for missing my children, I was actually doing okay for myself. Just miserable in a way that really isn't that important.

But this year, things changed. I'm happier, though not perfectly happy. Maybe happy isn't even the right word. I'm driven. By something that resembles insanity. Megalomania. Zeal.

This year, I get my kids for the holidays, a true blessing, and I've found myself in a group of creative people that have the sense of drive I've been having myself for some time. And they want to do things. They don't want to sit around and complain that everyone else is doing something. They want to do. I'm the kind of person who likes to accomplish things. I fit right in to this group.

Of course, this group is a filmmaking group, and I will admit that my first passion is film. The visual medium is the one that has always really appealed to me on so many levels, spiritual, psychological, physical, it doesn't matter. It fulfills everything for me.

But, that said, I'm still a writer. And I love the art of prose. And I feel like I want to do more. That no matter what I do, I'm not doing enough and that I need to keep moving. Keep creating. I shouldn't have to need an event like NaNoWriMo to motivate me, but it's a chance to get into the all important habit of not stopping. Because any moment I'm not writing or creating is a moment someone else is.

I want this to be a positive experience and I feel like I've scratched the surface, this year, of what it's like to achieve. Instead of throwing unfair hate at others for misfortune that wasn't the fault of anyone but myself, instead of wallowing in self pity because I might have been left in the dust of a great idea. In fact, I'm proud of the groups here, be it the Four Corners Filmmakers or the Void Zone crew. We've accomplished. And it's a great feeling.

But NaNoWriMo is a personal accomplishment. I won't base all my happiness on whether or not I successfully finish a novel. But I will put everything I can into it. I think I'll reserve my true happiness for my children. But my personal triumph will be centered around writing, and the continued movement forward, in both projects personal and with groups.

The future has the potential to be bright, and I feel like November has something great in store.