Last night I was discussing with Sailor Boy possible drawbacks to my participation in NaNoWriMo next month. His main argument is that I have not had adequate preparation time for the book I intend to write. As I have shared before, I am a devoted planner, and though I have worked out the beginning of the plot arc and even have some scenes all played out in my head (like the “movie” that Marley and PBW talk about), I still have some major plot hole issues to work through, and I’m not yet sure what the climax and denouement are going to be.
SB, frankly, thinks the whole endeavor is a Bad Idea, because, as he astutely notes: 1) I don’t ususally write very fast and 2) this book would be a lot better if it wasn’t rushed.
He has a point. Back in the dark days of 2004, before my agent was my agent, my agent and I were having a conversation at a cocktail party at a writing conference and she said that one of the main problems she sees in submissions is writers rushing. I gotta back her up on this one. I have some friends who adhere to the concept of the “$h!tty first draft,” but never actually do the work that turns said draft from $h!tty to $pect@cul@r. (Alternately, I have a friend who has developed such a death grip on her manuscript that lines have been conceived, been launched, and been canceled in the time it takes for her to proofread.) So the “don’t get it right, get it written” approach actually only works if you later spend the time getting it right. Right?
Sailor Boy went on to argue that he fears that if my very promising premise gets bogged down in pages of prose that haven’t been appropriate forethought according to my usual method, I’ll find it tough to backtrack and start over fresh when I finally do have it all worked out in my head. In other words, doing it wrong will sink the possibility of my later doing it right. I never have done that thing yet where you sit down with a blank piece of paper and rewrite the book from scratch (like my friend Susan Kearney did with THE CHALLENGE, her first Tor release that was a complete rewrite of the first book she ever wrote). My process has , for the last five books that I’ve written (yeah, baby! Five books!), developed into the following steps:
1. Think up a story idea. For me, this usually starts with a premise. The characters, which are going to end up being paramount to the plot, come later. ::shrug:: That’s just me.
2. Think about the story idea. A lot. This takes the form of: showers, staring off into space, not paying attention to conversations, and napping. (Ask Sailor Boy about the napping one.) After a while, I start getting a good idea about the characters that would exploit the premise to its fullest dramatic potential (e.g., what kind of girl would really shake things up at a heretofore all-male Ivy League Secret Society?). This is when the “movie” scenes start happening in my head, though they never happen to the extent (i.e., the whole story) that they seem to for Marley.
3. Write a chapter or two to make the characters start talking to me.
4. Write an outline/rough synopsis in which I figure out the plot arc and try to project where the trouble spots might come up, or where the plot holes are going to smack me around like a bitch.
5. Read the opening and the outline again. Write a synopsis.
6. Dive in. Write the first draft very slowly, going back to compare the tone to the “pure” tone in the first chapters on a regular basis.
7. Hit the wall about 2/3 through. Push through.
8. Finish the book at breakneck pace.
9. Put it aside for a while.
10. Rewrite.
Judging by that schedule, I’m only on step 2, whereas I should be a bit farther along (step six maybe?) to be fully prepared for the rigors of NaNoWriMo. Of course, NaNo is not a fan of my “write a few chapters first.”
But more importantly, Sailor Boy’s words keep haunting me, taking on the tones of my agent’s warning: Don’t rush. Don’t rush. Don’t rush. If you rush, it won’t be as good.
And that would be bad. In my more smug moments, I think to myself that I can’t be a one-book-wonder, because, well, my contract is for two. But then I get scared that maybe two will be it, and then I start freaking out a little (“So what else is new, Di?” I hear you all thinking).
So why try a whole new process when the one I’ve got doesn’t seem to be broken? The point of NaNo, is, after all, not necessarily to write a book that is saleable, but to actually write a novel. It’s for people who wouldn’t do it to just… do it. Prove they can.
Well, I’ve proven that I can. Five times. So is a speedwriting excercise really the best option for me at the moment? Especially if it inadvertantly sinks this book? Hmmmm…
Also (and this might be the dealbreaker here, folks), PRETTIES is out on November 1st. UGLIES is the book that turned me on to Scott Westerfeld in the first place, and though I thought maybe I overdosed on him in the Great Scott Westerfeld Lost Weekend of September 2005 (at least, that’s what SB called it, as I plowed through SO YESTERDAY, MIDNIGHTERS #2, and PEEPS) , I apparently haven’t gotten my fill, because I am so excited about this book!
But if I do NaNo, I won’t be able to read it until December. And I don’t know if I want to live in a world like that. 
Addendum: Ricocheting off the subject of SW, fantasy writer Justine Larbalestier mentioned my work-overload-Star-Wars blog on her blog. I think the whole subject of writerly “whingeing” as she so Aussiely puts it might devolve into a large case of “cry me a river.” However, to be fair to poor Justine (I don’t know her either, but thus it is with reading blogs, and besides, Ms. Larbalestier-Westerfeld takes an AWFUL long time to type) one peep at that phenomenal pomegranate rice concoction she was fed daily while on her writing sojourn in Mexico makes me feel bad that she’s back in New York as well. Maybe not to the extent of “Why oh why did I let Sailor Boy convince me to move to this godforsaken frozen swampland of D.C.” bad, but in more of, “Yes things do look better in your red-sunseted, hummingbird-flecked Mexican writing bower” way.
October 27th, 2005 at 10:30 am
I have to say, dear, that Sailor Boy has a point. Or several points, in this case. And you said it very clearly…why fix what’s not broken. NaNo is a challenge, yes. Sometimes we take on challenges just for the sake of proving we can do it. But if proving your capability of being up to a particular challenge that doesn’t really MEAN anything to you, what’s the point? Let someone else take the challenge and be proud of it. Just because we don’t “prove” to anyone we can crank out 50,000 words in a month, doesn’t mean we haven’t proven ourselves in many other ways.
Instead, how about challenging yourself in the month of November to just do whatever you can to write the best damn next book ever?!
Shannon
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October 27th, 2005 at 10:56 am
I too have been hmming and hawing over Nano.
I think you clearly spell out in your blog what you already now. That this is NOT your process. You have one that works for you. Why do you need to prove that you can do something (write fast) when it is clearly not the method of writing that you embrace. Or that SELLS books for you (!)
I went to a workshop about protecting your own process. Figuring our what works for you and then being faithful to that. In spite of the thousands of other writers who have a different method that works for them, the writer needs to stick to what works best. Massaging and improving process is definitely a good thing but so is trusting your instincts.
What I see in this blog is Diana instincts screaming, “I don’t think this is how I’m supposed to write.”
Just my two pennies.
Janet G
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October 27th, 2005 at 2:02 pm
Good point, Janet. I think I maybe had to write it out to understand my fears completely? On the flip side, the point of the challenge would be the camaraderie. Since leaving Florida, I haven’t really found myself a community of DC writers. I miss that, and NaNoWriMo has all these “write in” events. Maybe I’ll be a NaNo sneak.
Or like Shannon said, challenge myself to do as much as possible. I do want to get this proposal together!
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October 27th, 2005 at 2:04 pm
Well SailorBoy has a point…but, how will you know if that is the only way that works unless you try this too? The way I would approach it is that it’s just one month, which will go by in the blink of an eye. Dive in and see what you can create, no holds barred, just let it go. If you feel yourself getting stuck or feeling pressured, use the time to work out more of your plot, as in a long outline…all words count for NaNoWriMo. At the end of the month, take stock of what you have, and you might be surprised at what you find….
Or, you might learn that SailorBoy had it right, and you’ll know that you tried it, and it’s not your cup of tea, and you only ‘lost’ a month.
But what if it is? What if you find it really freeing, and you come up with some great stuff?
How cool would that be?
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October 27th, 2005 at 2:50 pm
For me, it is usually:
1) Flash! A story idea. Sometimes it is fully cooked, sometimes, half-baked. Stuff the half-baked back into brain-oven, get excited about the fully cooked one (means, the primary style has been rooted in my mind, the main conflict is clearly outlined, so I can describe it in one or two sentences.)
2) Wait for inspiration. Visuals come uncalled. Inspiration strikes, and I can write a one or two page synopsis outlining the same old main conflict, only in a more detailed way, perhaps adding some key scenes. Usually it looks like “X is the heroine. Got a Problem. X happens… then Y… then Z… then X discovers Z is really Q, and things are worse than she’d thought. No surprise here, girlfriend. For me, that is. (Insert Author’s evil laugh.) X wins (or loses, if it’s a drama) because of Factor F.”
By this time, I can visualize pretty much everything, but I don’t, because, although I can see the movie in my head like PBW, if I go for it (I could totally relate to her comment about rolling it back and forth too)… unlike PBW, I cannot first watch the whole movie ten times until I have smoothed it all out, then calmly go write. Once I watched the whole movie a couple times, my brain asks me to go rent another DVD. I get bored. So I keep to my lifeline (conflict & plot) and visualize as I go, a few scenes/chapters in advance.
I also have a mental trailer up first. It is exactly what it sounds like — a mishmash of the most exciting visual moments, complete with a commentary. It gives me a sort of a nucleus. Actually, that’s often how ideas and premises come to me — as a flash of pictures and stories, very much like an actual movie trailer, just a bit more cohesive
3) Battle the urge to start submitting (because you know, by the time some of them reply, 22nd century will knock on my door).
4) Write. Agonizing over style and prose and whether it’s clever/witty/atmospheric enough/does justice to my amazing plot (hehe). I think this is the main reason of why I’m such a slow writer. I think too much about How I write while I write. I also go back and edit and revise and etc. Once I finish, it is practically the final product.
Usually, once I have a decent idea of the plot plus the mental trailer, I’m good to go. I joined NaNo because I think it will do me lots of good to write faster. I noticed the longer the writing period becomes, the more disjointed voice and style might become, and sometimes it’s harder to get back in after a period of avoiding the project. S. King once said an unfinished book dies and starts to rot after six months…. and I know I write better when the project is not dragging for a long time. Having a deadline spurs me into action.
Being totally immersed in one sounds good… and the idea of posting word count awakens my competitive instinct
re: one book wonder. But what about your other books–the written ones. I mean–can you see a tendency to improve, or does it come in waves? Is each subsequent book better than the previous one? If yes, then no matter how you write the next one, there is a 80% chance it’s going to be better.
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October 27th, 2005 at 4:06 pm
See, the thing is, Pam, whenever i try to write a book withour knowing where I’m going, I don’t go. I know this. I have enough unfinished and aborted books where I had a good idea but no plan to know that this is how it works for me. So I need to KNOW before I can GO. So the questions is, do I know enough about this book to go forward Novemeber 1st?
Daria, I think in general I have improved with every book, but I haven’t written so many. I htink the first book sucked. I think the second book was pretty good, and after rewriting it this year, I think it’s publishable. I thinkt eh third book is amazing. I think the fourth book is very good, too. I think the fifth book — well, currently I think it sucks lollipops, but I’m at that stage in revisions. ::vbg::
I know what you mean about being more excited about the fully formed ones, but sometimes I et excited about those hard to reach seedlings that I just *know* are going to be sweet if I can catch them and break them open right.
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October 27th, 2005 at 5:46 pm
Boy, Diana, I’m just like you. I must know what I’m going to write before I write. If I don’t, I find a million reasons not to write and then feel guilty. But what I’m actually doing is figuring out what’s wrong. I think that’s why I do end up writing so fast in the end. I’ve spent so much time figuring things out before then, that when I have it, it flies. So I’m not doing the NaNoWriMo thing. I’m just gonna go along on my oh-so-imperfect path and make sure my ass is in the chair. PS – Sailor Boy seems like a very smart cookie.
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October 27th, 2005 at 5:55 pm
Seems to me that right now NaNoWriMo will cause you more stress than good. Especially as you’re not a figure-it-out-as-you-go-along kind of a writer. I just wrote 50 thousand words in three weeks under absolutely ideal conditions of the sunset-hummingbirds-pomegranate-housekeeper-Mexico variety and it near killed me. I was knackered! I can’t imagine doing it with a full-time job. Or even a part-time one. Or, you know, without a housekeeper . . .
And really you’d be much happier reading Pretties.
How about as a compromise you do NaDruWriNi?
I hope you don’t think I was mocking you in that post you refer to. I was very amused by your whinge about your workload and made ashamed of my own much-less-justified whingeing. I was mocking me!
(Please do call me Justine, by the way. The surname’s Larbalestier only, which as you say, is enough syllables all on its own. Scott has his surname and I have mine and never the twain shall meet.)
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October 27th, 2005 at 6:50 pm
Hi, Justine! I hope you don’t think I was mocking *you*. I get very nostaligic about all things Aussie and so felt I must draw attention to any post using the word “whinge.” Besides I do sympathize with anyone who is not in hummingbird paradise. Like, um, everyone posting here. (Also kidding about the Mrs. L-W — literary license for the sake of the joke. I’m with you on not combining the names.)
NaDruWriNi is *totally* up my alley!
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October 27th, 2005 at 7:57 pm
See, Jo, I knew we were soul sisters.
You’re right. ass-in-the-chair is the most important thing.
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October 27th, 2005 at 10:21 pm
Not even a tiny bit!
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October 28th, 2005 at 12:59 am
Part of the NaNo thing, for most writers, is that forcing yourself to write with little or no planning will access parts of your brain that your favored heavy duty planning thing doesn’t ever reach. I’m a fast writer, so, it works for me. I can’t say it will work for everyone, but going into it thinking “this won’t work for me” or “I can’t do this” or whatever other negative thing someone tells you, will pretty much ensure that you CAN’T do it.
When I started on my first book, all I had was a scene from a dream of mine where a woman is telling a friend about her own weird dream. When I woke up, I thought, that would make a great beginning for a book. I made a cup of tea and sat down to write that scene, and the scenes just kept on coming. I wrote roughly 80k in under 6 weeks. And according to all my readers (from editors to friends to CPs) it’s the best plotted book I’ve ever done.
I didn’t question whether I could do it, whether I’d finish it, I just kept writing as long as the ideas were there, hours a day. It was kind of zen, I guess. For example, I knew I was coming to a place where things were going to bog down because I didn’t know what came next, yet I typed, “The phone rang as she was on her way down the stairs.” In my conscious mind I’m wondering who the heck is calling, because I surely have not planned this, but I let that zen factor take over, and my fingers typed the right thing, and the book swung into its final act.
So, long story summed up, if you let yourself write that way, if you don’t defeat yourself, that story is going to be perking away in the back of your mind, and, when you need the next act, it will be there. You know the beginning and the basic structure. If you let your subconscious do the work, it will fill in the blanks for you.
You’ve just got to know you can do this. Even if you go into it with doubts, you can still do your 50k, but you may get what you expect because you expect it, i.e., crap. If NaNo ain’t right for you, then backing out is no shame. Actually, no one but you would know whether you finished or not unless you mentioned it. Right?
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October 28th, 2005 at 7:33 am
“forcing yourself to write with little or no planning will access parts of your brain that your favored heavy duty planning thing doesn’t ever reach”
See, this part sounds really intriguing to me. One of my favorite parts of writing is when I’m sailing around my jigsawed manuscript and suddenly it comes to me that there was this piece missing *right here* that just makes the whole thing so much better. I don’t mind diving in when I know there are a few plot holes left, because I’ll find a reason for them in the course of the writing.
However, I think the potential for a certain manuscript to work out that way is very much dependent on the nature of the manuscript. Is your manuscript based more on character interactions or outside forces which needs to conform to certain rules — like the laws of physics? I don’t think Michael Crichton could just sit down and say, okay, so there’s this island with dinosaurs on it. How did they get there? I’m sure I’ll find out if I just keep writing. Because he had to have a good understanding of the science to be able to make it happen (or actually, maybe he didn’t, because the amber-DNA science is LAUGHABLE).
And maybe that’s what I’m scared of. If I do the write-through approach, maybe I’ll get somewhere in the middle of the book and realize, oops, amber-DNA is laughable, but crap, I built my whole book around the idea that it was there. And then I think, oh well, so I piss off some paleontologists and paleogeochemists. Everyone else will just LOVE it.
Yeah… see, since I studied paleogeochemistry, I don’t think I can get behind that plan. Because Jurassic Park bugged the shit out of me.
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October 28th, 2005 at 9:15 am
And logical plotholes? Do they bug you? The kind where, say, the protagonist is kicked into a corner, and there just accidentally he finds the kick-assest weapon of them all, its origins unknown, as well as why on God’s green earth it sits in that particular corner? Or when you suddenly realize that if only X did an easy and reasonable thing back in chapter four, the whole book would have ended in chapter six? Or like in one book I’ve recently read, otherwise a pretty nice book, where an investigator receives a clue, which is an unusual name that can have several spellings. The investigator checks the most obvious spelling and one more. Both dead ends. And stops. Like, hello, it can be spelled sixteen ways to Sunday, is that really difficult to spend ten more minutes plugged into the database?
I find those things bug me the most. Not the funny science, or Paris is the capital of Germany kind of oops
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October 28th, 2005 at 9:37 am
“accidentally he finds the kick-assest weapon of them all, its origins unknown, as well as why on God’s green earth it sits in that particular corner?”
This is why I never did like Harry Potter #2.
But I think that all depends on how it’s handled. Like The Hobbit. The whole point of Lord of the Rings is that it’s a complete accident that Bilbo stumbles on the ring, and that he’s probably the last person in the world who could put it to any use. So yeah, I think you can do a “great things come by accident” thing (like, um, velcro, post its, and powerful evil world-ending Rings) but then you need to spend some time in the plot actually figuring out what the darn thing does or how it works or covering how this accident is in fact the thing that sets the plot in motion. IMO.
Regarding the “if she just did this easy thing” I think that’s something that you’ve got to motivate it in order to avoid. Like maybe the easy thing would be just call the police (I spend a lot of time yelling that at all these romantic suspense/amateur detectives books) but for some reason that doesn’t work. So you give it a reason: her phone line has been cut. The policeman they send is in cahoots with the bad guys. The police don’t believe her. She lives in an anarchist state and there are no police. Whatever. Because yeah, that one bugs me a lot.
Also the “if they just had this one conversation…” plot. The problem isn’t keeping secrets, the problem is keeping secrets that can be fixed with a conversation. If the simple act of telling the secret doesn’t solve the problem, then it’s a good secret. Like in Chinatown. Nothing was made better when Jack Nicholson knew what was going on. Clearer maybe, but not better. It only complicated matters further. Now there’s when a secret works in a plot.
I think wacky science is like wacky history. Not everyone knows and even if you do, you can suspend some disbelief depending on how much you like the story. Even with JP, once I got past the creation scene and into the scene where the T-Rex is making holes in the Land Cruiser, I kind of forgot about the science.
So maybe the problem isn’t what they do so much as why they do it? Maybe she plugs two names into the machine, and then there’s a power outtage. Or maybe she plugs two names in and the server is overloaded and slow, so she hands it to a blockhead assistant and says, “finish this search” and the asst. is a moron who can’t spell. I think you can probably make just about any plot element work if you think of a good reason for it long enough. What do you think?
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October 28th, 2005 at 9:58 am
Hi, Diana,
We’re sort of step-cps. *waves*
As the slowest and most inconsistent contributing member of the Naughty Writers Fund, I can very much relate to your process, and have to admit, I had this eureka moment reading your post. Slower, with much angst and staring, works for me. I can question myself though in the midst of such power writers as M & J. *if case you’re reading this – YOU GUYS ROCK!!* *g*
Here’s how I do NaNoWriMo and survive. I bend the rules like nothing. You being a Secret Society Girl and all, I feel I can say this in the greatest confidence.
I join. I post page counts. BUT I do work ahead, reams of chapters even, if I want. I make goals, but will step back and *gasp* edit or plot. WHO CARES??? Are they going to like come gunning for me? These people are so bleary-eyed and hopped up on caffeine that they don’t have time to worry about whether I’m following all the rules. I exploit the forum for the camaraderie, so sue me. Honestly, if you start and it’s not fun, then scarp it and do something else. But if you like participating on some level, then don’t feel guilty about it. You’ve already proven you can write a novel. That’s not the point any more.
Make it work for you.
Okay, that’s my two cents.
Char
PS I’ve written 7 books, and still wonder if I’m a “one-book” wonder. *g* I mean, what if #7 was the LAST??? LOL
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October 28th, 2005 at 1:36 pm
Charlene, you’re such a rebel. I like that.
Right, what will they do if I go to their Mayorga Mondays and work on something else? Kick me out of a public coffee shop?
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October 28th, 2005 at 2:19 pm
I’m working on my current WiP and using it as an excuse to get to know some other writers in the area. And also because I know half the Internet will be asking me what my current wordcount is and if I think I’m going to make my goal. And, for me, accountability is always a good thing.
That’s my version of NaNoWriMo.
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October 28th, 2005 at 2:34 pm
yes, yes, and yes
There has to be a reason. Even if the reader doesn’t agree with the character’s reasoning, it still must be there and must resonate with the character as he or she has been established. Like “she doesn’t call the police because she is an adrenaline addict.” But if she later sees a mouse and screams for help…
Otherwise, it turns out to be something known as “she did it because my synopsis says so”
I think the funny science and/or research errors don’t bug me because I’m not looking for realism in fiction. But plot logic is something else
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October 28th, 2005 at 2:43 pm
I have debated about participating in the NaNo because I need to get a proposal together. (I’m not worried about finishing the book.) I have several story ideas that I could work on, but like you, I’m not sure where they’re going yet. (I need to know the beginning and the end of a book before I can write.) So far, I only have the beginnings of these projects and lots of possibilities. I’m afraid I’d stall out before I even got started. :-/
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October 29th, 2005 at 12:22 am
The thing about NaNoWriMo is that you have to accept the idea of possibly going back and completley rewriting that first 50k words. IMO, it sounds like you have a process that works (really well, from what I’ve seen as your career is unfolding
), so maybe you’re being a little type A in doing the challenge, just to say you can (and I mean that in a most flattering fellow Type A person kind of way). Like SB said, you know you can write a novel, and more importantly, you can sell it, so why stress yourself out?
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October 29th, 2005 at 8:50 pm
your really funnny
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October 31st, 2005 at 12:54 pm
So, here’s my thought(s). It sounds like you have a couple of goals that aren’t necessarily dependent with your desire to do NaNoWriMo.
1) Meeting people in your area. I think that’s a great idea, and this seems like a good way to do it. You can go to the events and meet up with people and find out about them without committing yourself to talking to them forever if it turns out you don’t mesh. Even if you don’t actually plan on finishing.
2) Trying out a new creative approach to writing. I think it sounds like a great idea. But, maybe one of the problems you’re having is trying to work on a project that you really want to spend time on as a rush job? Would it make more sense to try out something that you aren’t as attached to? Or would that mean that you wouldn’t be as motivated to write it?
So, what it looks like to me is that you might want to think about which project you want to use this technique for. Instead of trying to write something specifically to sell, write something that you want to be experimental with? Dunno.
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