Friday, 31 October 2008
NaNoWriMo - good luck everyone!
Great article written by Mary Nease reproduced below but first appearing here: http://www.elon.edu/pendulum/Story.aspx?id=1148
National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, takes place over the course of November and presents writers with a challenge. During the month, participants aim to write a novel of at least 50,000 words.It all began with a man named Chris Baty, a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, who decided with 20 friends to write a novel over the course of July in 1999. The next year, they decided to move this event to November, and upon creating a Web site, www.nanowrimo.org, had 140 people noveling.
This year is NaNoWriMo’s 10th anniversary, and the Web site has already registered close to 60,000 authors worldwide. The event is open to people outside the United States, but InNoWriMo, International Novel Writing Month, doesn’t offer the same alliteration.
One might wonder why people would want to give up so much of their time to write so much for nothing.
“It seems like the perfect motivation for me to finally produce something for the sheer pleasure of it, and not for a class or a grade or for anyone else,” junior Paul Mirek said. He will be participating in NaNoWriMo for the first time this year, after learning about it from his roommate.
His reason seems to be why most people participate in NaNoWriMo. Whether writing something for the fun of it or to get something written, motivation is key.
“NaNoWriMo is all about the magical power of deadlines,” Baty said on the Web site. “Give someone a goal and a goal-minded community and miracles are bound to happen. Pies will be eaten at amazing rates. Alfalfa will be harvested like never before. And novels will be written in a month.”
The Web site has a huge forum, filled with authors worldwide helping each other out with everything from story research, plot development or simply a virtual shoulder to cry on when you realize that 50,000 words is a lot more than you thought. Whatever your reason for visiting the NaNoWriMo forums, you’ll find the motivation you need from the huge community of writers out there, all trying to reach the same goal.
To sign up to participate, visit www.nanowrimo.org and click on the sign up button at the top of the screen. Fill out a few blanks, and you’re on your way to writing a novel, frying your brain or both.
