NaNoWriMo 2010

NaNoWriMo is approaching. For those not in the know, this stands for National Novel Writing Month. Although, as Martin pointed out, it would probably be more accurate to call it International Novel Writing Month, since people participate from all over the globe.

The idea is simple: it’s a collective push by writers to commit 50,000 words to paper/hard drive during the 30 days of November. That’s about 3/4 of the words necessary for a standard novel – well, depending on the genre.

NaNoWriMo is about writing a fast first draft without over-analysing the quality. This is a system that works well since a lot of the fine work occurs in the subsequent drafts of novels.

But, you can’t avoid the initial hard graft of laying a bedrock of words to build upon.

The project I’m starting is a novel that’s been gestating since August. I’ve been actively prepping it for the last 6 weeks. I’ve a clear concept, characters, plotline and I think I know how it’s going to end – I’m expecting some changes to occur during the writing process, as that’s what usually happens to me. Theoretically I have all the elements needed to write it.

Now, there’s just the simple task of writing it (sarcastic emphasis), so NaNoWriMo is happening at a fortuitous time for me.

It kicks off on November 1st, and I’m eager to start.

All going well I hope to exceed the 50K mark.

I understand this might not be fascinating for those on the periphery, so I’ll restrict myself to posting the occasional word count and update, and not foist writerly angst upon you over-much.

The working title for my novel is Wellspring.