I know what you’re thinking. Novelists are supposed to be those glamorous nobodies that come out of nowhere with their flashy ideas that are made into movies and marketed across the country. We picture them on talk shows, smiling as they explain the characters “just came to them” and that the story pretty much “wrote itself”.
Let me tell you the truth: The characters will fight you. The story won’t write itself. And half of the things you write won’t ever get close to being published.
So, you ask, why would anyone in their right mind even attempt to write a novel?
The answer? They wouldn’t.
Disregarding the fact that the left side of the mind controls creativity, my point is that no one who was perfectly sane would attempt such a venture. Writers think on a different frequency than the rest of the world: We might see the little things in life that make it worth living, or we might just see the flaws in our world that need to be addressed. And what better way than through writing?
30-days of madness, creativity, and chaos, NaNoWriMo gives all of us lazy would-be writers the chance to leave behind the “One day…” Novelist signs we’ve taped to our backs. When those friends and relatives asked what ever happened to that writing-knack you used to have, you can finally say you wrote that novel – And the best part? You wrote that freaking thing in only 30 days.
The National Novel Writing Month was started by Christ Baty, a writer from California. Thankfully, he decided he would put an end to the “One day, I’ll write that novel” thoughts and invented a way to give us lazy writers a kick in the… back.
Whether your thoughts are consumed by the story of a time-traveling lawyer or penguins taking over the Manhattan area, you can finally put them down on paper (or your favorite word-processor) in the mad dash for the 50,000 word mark.
You’ve got thirty days. And 86 to plan for them.
Get going!
For more information, visit the NaNoWriMo website!
