My five years of NaNoWriMo
failure have taught me that the secret to completing a 50,000 word novel in one month’s time is clearly to know enough about what you’re going to write. But not too much.
The first three years I entered the project with no clear idea of a plot, and the result was boredom for the author. Not knowing where I was going, I ran around in circles trying to come up with ideas as I wrote, and the result was a lot of plodding dialogue and exposition that led to a great big nothing. The worst was 2004 when I started what promised to be an interesting murder mystery without having any clearly designed structure or characters, making my task of crafting a complex story quite impossible. Basking in the failure of that season, I didn’t even attempt NaNo the following year.
Last year, for the first time, I was ready. My idea was so good that I was able to plot out the entire novel several weeks in advance of the November 1 starting date, and my characters were real and rich. The starting gun sounded and I exploded into my work, drafting almost 20,000 words in just a week’s time. All I had to do was follow my map.
Or so I thought. As I entered the meat of my work I found that the detailed outline I scripted was less a map than a bossy GPS telling me exactly where to turn, and slowly and surely it directed me closer and closer to driving my car into a f*cking lake. I became convinced that my novel needed a more logical introduction and a far more interesting middle portion, but I didn’t want to deviate from my pre-November planning. So, disappointed, I stopped writing in the second week, allowing an idea that I still believe has promise to fester and rot in its uncompletedness [sic].
This year my idea pales in potential to last year’s, but I think that will help. I don’t have any exaggerated attachment to the story and subsequent desire to make it turn out perfect, meaning if the story goes south I can just improvise and get to my goal. At the same time, my goal is more than just 50,000 words: I have a clear arc and conclusion to the story allowing my motivation to finish, with enough filler space built in to allow my imagination room to roam and not get sagged down under the weight of the story’s (few) pre-planned necessities.
After five years, I think I finally have the right formula for me. I think this is the year I do it.