ManicDDaily

All Words And No Play

Did you really think I would leave you?  For a month?  Promptly At The Beginning of that Month?

I did start working on Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month)  this morning, but frankly, all I’ve written so far are words.  Close to 3,000 of them–I was on a fairly long train ride with a computer handy–but they are hardly more interesting than “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

Or Jill.  (Dull girl.)

This is one of the problems of not having the time or emotional energy to plan a novel before beginning.    (Yes, I’m whining already.)

Of course, you can be inspired to write things you have been longing to write about, words you may even have been storing up–but, ideally, a novel should not be a tool for revenge on close family members.   It’s best (if you want to keep your family intact) to suppress some of that energy.  Or at least channel–ahem– disguise–it.

It’s also useful when you sit down to write your novel to keep in mind the types of books you actually like to read.

I look at myself.    If I start with no plan, if I just “let it rip”, I can end up churning something out that is vaguely gut-wrenching; but it also risks being a more violent form of navel gazing.

While the books I most enjoy have stories.

I will include my morning’s words as part of my word count for Nanowrimo purposes, (i) because I’m competitive, and (ii) a bit of a cheater.  And, more importantly,  because I think you do have to work off some dross when you are doing something arbitrary.   And you might as well give yourself some credit for that.

But what I tell myself that I have to remember is that for all the jokes,  I am  trying to write a novel here–not a diary, a rant, a collection of memories.   I am trying to write something that can be read, and not just written.

Enough said.

(PS–No, I’m not posting old novel yet as I’m concerned it will dissipate focus even more.  Agh.)