What's the Point of NaNoWriMo?

This is an article I wrote for Friday Flash and they have kindly allowed me to re-blog it on my own blog. If you're interested in more articles about writing, flash fiction, or would like to connect with some fellow writers, please go to their website. 

Thank you to Friday Flash for hosting me! 

What’s the Point of NaNoWriMo?

January 16, 2014 in Guest post, NaNoWriMo, Thursday Writing, Writers by Laura Besley

To win NaNoWriMo all you need to do is write 1,666 words per day, every day for the 30 days in November. That doesn’t sound too hard, does it?

Stephen King writes ten pages per day, which amounts to roughly 2,000 words (Stephen King,On Writing, p.176) every day, averaging 60,000 words per month. Keeping up that momentum, you could quite easily write a first draft in two to three months. But is that pace realistic, especially for writers who don’t write full-time? Does the NaNoWriMo challenge make you a better writer, or is it just an exercise of willpower?

I understand – reading between the lines of forums and emails – that I had a fairly typical NaNo experience: good first week, dreadful second week, slightly better third week and bumper fourth week. I even finished with a couple of days to spare and by the end was writing 4,000-5,000 words per day. But did I keep the momentum going? Nope. This is almost the first thing I’ve written since, and it’s almost mid-December (at the time of submitting this article). I find myself wondering whether it’s worth having a mega month if it’s going to be followed by an appalling one.

Many people have asked me what I have done with my “book”. Well…nothing, so far. My frantically typed 50,095 words are nowhere near up to scratch and will need heavy editing. Della Galton writes in her blog post NaNoWriMo So Far that she also finds time in November to edit, polish and submit her work. By December 3rd she had already sold her second NaNoWriMo story. This level of achievement is but a mere dream for the average NaNo writer. I will be reopening my document with a fair amount of trepidation in the hope that some of it is usable.

But has doing the NaNoWriMo challenge made me a better writer? I don’t think so. I usually write my first draft by hand, and when I type it up a week or so later, I edit it into a second draft. I definitely didn’t have time to do that with NaNo. Many writers, especially ones starting out, have full-time jobs, maybe families, to whom even squeezing in an hour a day can seem impossible.

The main lesson I learned was something I already knew: to be a writer takes time and dedication.

NaNoWriMo_2013 #6 I'm a Winner

As some of you may be aware, I did NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year. The aim of the game is to write 50,000 words (an average novel is 100,000 words) in the month of November with the idea being that you would be well and truly on your way to having at least half of a novel. You can, of course, write more if you want to and your fingers haven't fallen off from typing.

I decided to write short stories as I didn't feel like I had an idea big enough for an entire novel. You can take a look at my previous posts here to find out how I got on week by week, but in a nutshell I had a good first week, bad second week (mainly to being ill for five days), week three picked up a lot and week four was a bumper week. I actually finished on Wednesday 27th with three days to spare. 

People have asked me what happens now. Hopefully more than what I've done with my 2011 NaNoWriMo, which is nothing. I know, I know. I really should revisit it, or rewrite it, or something. This year, I'm going to leave the stories until the Christmas holidays, or January, and then I'm going to start editing them. They'll need a good amount of editing, I'm sure, as they're all first draft material. Once they've been edited and critiqued, well then we'll see. 

I hope everyone else who started this process finished, or is happy with what they have achieved. I truly believe that writing 20,000 good words, is better than 50,000 not-so-good words, so well done to those who have also achieved their own writing goals. 

Friday Flash Fiction - A Fateful Trip

A Fateful Trip

Oliver, Olly to his friends, had been driving for three months and two days when he got behind the wheel of a car for the last time. His parents had and Audi A4, but that wasn’t the car he drove. Not on your Nelly, his father had said. Do you know how much we paid for that car? No, his parents had bought him a banger, a 1986 Mini. Not one of the cool new ones. An old one. And it was a dull red colour. 

The eldest in his school year, Olly had started learning to drive first. His father stuck the bright red L plates to the front and rear of the Mini and they went out two or three times a week to practice. First in an abandoned car park, then on quiet roads and finally on the busy town roads. Olly passed his theory test first time and the date for his driving test came through for January 6th, his mum’s birthday. They took it as a lucky omen and it turned out to be so as he passed with flying colours. 

Four days ago, on April 8th, Olly and his girlfriend decided at the last minute to go to the cinema. It seemed pointless sitting in on a Saturday night when they could be out having fun. There was a new Johnny Depp film showing that they both wanted to see. It was cold for April and Olly had put the heat on full blast for the first few minutes. He was getting hot, his hands sweaty and he reached over to turn the heat down. His other hand slipped on the steering wheel and the car careened into the central reservation. His side of the car scraped along, sparks flying and to try and right the car he pulled in the other direction. He pulled too far and smashed into the car on his left. 

Moments later he became conscious of a loud buzzing noise like an angry hornet circling his head. He tried to swat it away, but couldn’t lift his arm, or the other one. 

Mel, he whispered. Mel? He winced as he turned his head to look to his left. She was sitting with her eyes closed, almost natural, apart from the dull red blood seeping from her head and neck. He closed his eyes. No, no, this can’t be happening. He opened one eye again and screamed. He was still screaming when the paramedics arrived seven minutes later. 

Let’s get you home, his mother said the day he was discharged from hospital with three broken ribs and two broken arms. Four days in a hospital is enough, she said. He climbed into the passenger seat of the Audi and his mum started the engine. 


Mel lay in the morgue waiting for her funeral on Friday. 

©2013 Laura Besley

Flash Fiction Diary  

I had the idea for this piece when I was on holiday in New Zealand last summer, but only wrote it this week. 

I've decided to take part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) again this year. The aim is to write 50,000 words towards a novel, or in my case towards a collection of short stories, within the month of November. 

We're in week four now. I had a major dip in week two, but week three was a bumper week. Hopefully week four will continue in the same way as I've only got until Saturday to finish. Fingers crossed and I'll keep you posted! 

NaNoWriMo_2013 #5 The Final Stretch

As some of you may be aware, I did NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) once before in 2011. The aim of the game is to write 50,000 words (an average novel is 100,000 words) in the month of November with the idea being that you would be well and truly on your way to having at least half of a novel. You can, of course, write more if you want to and your fingers haven't fallen off from typing.

Week 3 ended much better than it started. I had a good week last week and had three bumper writing days on Monday, Tuesday and Friday when I wrote more than 3,000 words on each of those days. At the moment my total word count is 35,870. This week, if I'm going to stand a chance of finishing, I need to write 3,500-4,000 words on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Fingers crossed...

Good luck to everyone else taking part. 

NaNoWriMo_2013 #4 Lagging Behind

As some of you may be aware, I did NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) once before in 2011. The aim of the game is to write 50,000 words (an average novel is 100,000 words) in the month of November with the idea being that you would be well and truly on your way to having at least half of a novel. You can, of course, write more if you want to and your fingers haven't fallen off from typing.

Week 3 started on Friday and since Thursday I haven't written a word because I've been sick. By Friday 15th - the halfway mark - I should have got to 25,000 and by today I should be at about 28,000. Currently I'm at 21,351. So I'm behind. Seriously behind. However, the way I see it is: I'll either catch up, or I won't. Either way, nothing too serious is going to happen. I'm just going to keep writing. 

Good luck to everyone else who is taking part! 

NaNoWriMo_2013 #3 Plodding On

As some of you may be aware, I did NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) once before in 2011. The aim of the game is to write 50,000 words (an average novel is 100,000 words) in the month of November with the idea being that you would be well and truly on your way to having at least half of a novel. You can, of course, write more if you want to and your fingers haven't fallen off from typing.

Week 2 started on Friday and I'm on target to complete the 50,000 words. I'm typing this up on Saturday as I know on Sunday I won't get any writing done. I have a full teaching day and then book club in the evening. At the end of play on Saturday I had 15,253 words. I'm really happy with that (although I was secretly hoping for around 18,000) and hopefully my productivity will continue throughout week 2 and into week 3. I'll keep you posted.  

Good luck to everyone else doing Nanowrimo! 

NaNoWriMo_2013 #2 The First Week

As some of you may be aware, I did NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) once before in 2011. The aim of the game is to write 50,000 words (an average novel is 100,000 words) in the month of November with the idea being that you would be well and truly on your way to having at least half of a novel. You can, of course, write more if you want to and your fingers haven't fallen off from typing. 

The first few days of Nanowrimo_2013 have got off to a cracking start! I was very lucky that the start of this project coincided with having a long weekend off work (Saturday/Sunday/Monday/Tuesday), so I was able to write Friday morning (before I went to work), Saturday and Sunday. By the time I uploaded my total word count on Sunday I was at 6,052 words. I'm hoping that this long weekend off will give me a bit of a kick start and I'll be able to keep up the momentum. 

Good luck to everyone else doing Nanowrimo! 

NaNoWriMo_2013 #1 The Warm-Up

As some of you may be aware, I did NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) once before in 2011. The aim of the game is to write 50,000 words (an average novel is 100,000 words) in the month of November with the idea being that you would be well and truly on your way to having at least half of a novel. You can, of course, write more if you want to and your fingers haven't fallen off from typing. 

In 2011 managed to write just over 50,000 words in the given time frame and was very pleased with that. What have I done with it since? Very little. About a year later I showed the first chapter to my critique group and they said very nice things about it, but I'm still not happy with the structure of it. I won't bore you with the details, but it needs A LOT of work, so it's going on the back burner for now. The story is still playing around in my head and hopefully one day I'll sit down and rewrite it properly. 

Last year I was busy with flash fiction, so didn't do NaNoWriMo, but this year I've decided to give it a go again. However, I'm not trying to write a novel. I'm aiming to write 50,000 words of short stories. If each short story is 5,000 words, that's only ten short stories. My short stories aren't usually that long, so I guess I'll have to write a few more! I've been busy in October thinking of potential stories and characters and hopefully in November I'll be set to write, write, write! 

I'll keep you posted...

Nanoremo...now, what's that?

'Nanoremo' kept popping up all over social media and I had no idea what it was. I had previously taken part in Nanowrimo, which is the challenge to write a novel (minimum 50,000 words) in a month, but this was a new one to me. I've since found out that it's: National Novel Reading Month. Here are the rules, courtesy of John Wiswell's Bathroom Monologues:

1. Find a classic novel you've never read, preferably one you've been meaning to read for a long time.

2. "Classic" is up to your definition. If you feel Beloved is a Modern Classic, you read it.

3. Between February 1st and 28th, read the book.

4. Join in on Twitter, blogs and Facebook to discuss your journey through the classic. 

Having read Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald at university, but never The Great Gatsby, that is the book I decided on. Written and set in 1920's America I'm hoping it will depict a bygone era with themes that are still relevant today. I'm also interested in the style of writing and whether that is any different nearly an entire century later. 

Also in 2013 the latest film version is going to be released starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan, which I'd like to see. Director Baz Luhrman (Moulin Rouge, Romeo+Juliette, Strictly Ballroom) also wrote the screenplay and he's bound to give the classic a modern twist. 

I'll keep you posted.