Last week we announced our intention of diving head first into the shallow end of the literary pool by joining the National Novel Writing Month challenge of completing a new work of fiction – 50,000 words or 175 pages – by the toll of midnight on November 30. The rules, as set forth on the NaNoWriMo site, are simple: sign up, start writing on November 1, and make sure you are finished up by the end of the month.
Remember, bad writing is expected. The project is a way of working out the cobwebs, throwing out qualitative hang-ups, and just writing. Think of it as that 20 mile run a few weeks before the marathon: it burns, it hurts, it doesn’t feel very good when it’s over, and it still isn’t the real deal. But without it, 26.2 ain’t happening.
So sign up here to join our NaNoWriMo support group, and we’ll stay in contact throughout the month, blogging about the experience. We have 12 brave souls who have jumped in already. When all is said and scribbled, we hope to have a reading with the participants at the D Magazine offices in December.
And to kick this off, a question to our participants: do you know what you will be writing about yet, and if so, what? Leave your answers in the comments. And to you literary voyeurs: any character, situation, or topic requests?
Photo: James Baldwin, William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Dorothy Parker, Heinrich Böll, and Franz Kafka.
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11 comments
I’m writing a young adult mystery set in small town Texas. It’s my first stab at mystery, so… yeah. That’s sure to be a challenge.
I’ve been messing around with this idea for months. Boy meets girl, in the Sixties. Boy is an over-the-counter securities trader. Girl works in the trust department of a major Dallas bank. The action begins at the Dallas Country Club, but most of it takes place in The Office, a bar located off Main Street, in a basement under the Sanger Harris building. A lot of dialogue.
@Mike: Nice – a historical novel set in Dallas. I’m leaning towards a real estate developer getting shot, shooting, or both in a low rent Oak Cliff apartment complex slated for demolition. Set in present day. Mystery. But I like the idea of Dallas in the 1960s. Perhaps it will need a flashback.
Not sure If i’ll be able to actually do it…mine is more of a 1/2 novel, 1/2 non-fiction
My plan is a steampunk fantasy novel set in the dark woods beneath the light of the moon. There’s a lot more to it, of course, but I’m putting the finishing touches on the planning as we speak!
Mine is set in a Texas nail salon in the 90s. I can’t believe I’m actually doing this!
Shanna – HELL YES. I will read that.
Nonfiction, historical, food related. I ditto Lauren, I can’t believe I’m actually doing this.
Sorry to be so late to the game! Mine will be a young-adult urban fantasy set in Dallas in the year 2100 (flashforward, @Mike!) that involves a major cyber conspiracy, deja vu, reincarnation, the personification of Money vs. Time, and of course, a love triangle :) Will likely be the first in a series of 3 or 5.
Undecided. Planning to panic about midnight on Oct. 31. And every day after that until 11:59 Nov. 30.
OK, so I’ve changed my mind. A romance novel a la Rosemary Rogers and set in a fictional Dallas restaurant.