Thursday, October 13, 2016

5 Lessons I Learned from NaNoWriMo by Caroline Starr Rose

It was with a bit of reluctance I decided to join National Novel Writing Month in 2013. For those of you unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo, it's a month-long challenge to produce 50,000 words on a new piece of writing. (Chris Eboch ran an excellent post on NaNo earlier this week.) I'd tried NaNo in 2009 and failed miserably. I never, ever was going to do it again. But that fall things came together in such a way that joining in made sense:
  • My verse novel, Blue Birds, was off with my editor
  • I was at the point with my research for a new novel that I was itching to get started
  • I read this blog post by Darcy Pattison
  • My critique partner, Valerie Geary, promised me peanut butter cookies if I made it through
I didn't sign up officially. Instead I created a contest of one I called Fake-o NaNo*, where I aimed to write 1500 words a day six days a week. I missed one day, had a good number of sessions I didn't hit 1500 (and a couple I wrote more), and felt finished with the draft a few days before Thanksgiving -- the exact day Blue Birds "flew" back to me in a big padded envelope.


Here are five things I learned from the experience:
  1. Slow and steady is my typical writing mantra. But sometimes fast and furious is just as important. Typically, I write verse novels and picture books. It's a sloooow process, especially when I'm initially drafting. But this novel was in prose, something I hadn't tried for seven or eight years. Throwing words on a page was a very liberating, non-committal way to reintroduce myself to this form. With my first NaNo attempt, I got stuck during the first week and decided to stop. This time around was no different. I faced the same impossible rut one week in. But I kept moving, mainly by sticking to the next lesson I learned.
  2. Sometimes you just have to write about the writing. While I'd kept a journal for this book since the previous spring, I still had a lot of exploring to do. Many days I found myself writing about what was working in the story and what wasn't. Things I'd have to look further into, characters I needed to add, relationships I needed to develop. Really, the draft became a running commentary, an in-the-moment chance to reflect on my ideas (or lack of them).
  3. Practice holds the fear at bay. The creative process is a scary thing for me, and beginning (and finishing) a first draft is my biggest challenge. By holding myself to a daily goal, I was able to break through some of that fear by simply showing up and doing the work.
  4. Embrace the mess. The "draft" I finished with was most definitely the messiest, worst thing I've ever written. But it was such a great experiment in getting words down, feeling out characters, and sometimes learning exactly what I didn't want to write about (by first doing just that). Knowing I could toss it all took me in some directions I might never have discovered if my approach had been more careful.
  5. Did I mention the cookies? Committing out loud to a friend kept me honest. And the cookies were a great pay off!

In February this NaNo novel hits the shelves as Jasper and the Riddle of Riley's Mine. As I think back to that draft I created three Novembers ago, the finished book holds little in common with it. But it was the starting place my story -- and my character -- desperately needed. Without that month of steady work, Jasper wouldn't be the boy he's become. I'm sure of that.

What are your plans for National Novel Writing month?


* I hadn't heard of the so much fancier "Faux NaNo" at the time, which I don't think is an official thing, just another name for a make-your-own version of NaNoWriMo.

5 comments:

  1. I have never been brave enough to tackle NaNo. Between my full time teaching job, coaching job (which is pretty much year round), and three kiddos, just the thought overwhelms me. I do hope to give it a shot one day, though.

    Jasper looks wonderful, Caroline and I can't wait to read it!! Thanks so much for sharing this backstory with us. (P.S. Valerie used to be my critique partner, too--I LOVE HER!!) :)

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    1. YES! I remember that. She's fabulous, isn't she? Sounds like you've got PLENTY keeping you busy. Write at the pace you can, I say.

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  2. I've attempted NaNo before, but it's just never worked for me. I can't always move on in the plot until I've revised the previous chapter (and then go back and revise the other chapters). It's a slow two steps forward, one step back process that I can't seem to shake. It just doesn't work well with NaNo. THAT SAID, I need to get some serious word counts going if I'm going to make any progress with my WIP. I agree, sometimes the messy pile o' words just needs to BE there in order for you to make sense of a story.

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    1. I'm not sure I'll ever do it again, but once it was over, I was so glad I had something to work with...even though a huge part was tossed, and then another huge part was tossed after the next round of writing. That's the way it goes sometimes, yes?

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  3. Thank you for sharing this post! I started writing because of NaNo many years ago. I haven't missed one since, and although this year I might do a combination of drafting a new story/editing an existing manuscript, I love the energy of the whole NaNo experience!
    Congrats on your NaNo book! What an inspiration! My 2012 NaNo is on submission right now *crossing my fingers*

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Thanks for adding to the mayhem!