Obligatory NaNoWriMo Post!

For those of you whose RSS feeds haven't been inundated with the news: November is National Novel Writing Month. For the sake of those of you who've already read a dozen articles on the thing, I'll just leave the newbies with the link to learn more.

Be careful not to stress yourself out by romanticizing the
writing process (via Joel Montes de Oca).

I was a bit reluctant to sign into my NaNoWrimo account for the first time in eleven months. I haven't won since 2006, but each year I update my information and hammer through at least a few pages. Since I moved to northern Virginia, I haven't felt as motivated to attempt NaNo, mostly because I don't have people to write with up here.

Having friends living nearby in a small town meant that I could offer 24/7 writing space. If I was awake, I had an open door, a crockpot full of cider, and a carafe of fresh coffee. Only a few friends took me up on it consistently, but I enjoyed being able to host impromptu writing sessions. If nothing else, I usually knew a dozen people with whom I could commiserate as the deadline loomed.

This is why the new NaNoWriMo site is wonderful. Before, the social aspects of the site were pretty useless. Although I'm still having trouble adding friends... so I'm starting to think it might be a problem with me rather than the site. Regardless, when I logged in, I was immediately asked to update my location and directed to the site for DC. The local page includes a mailing list, calendar of events, and discussion forum. Hopefully, I can stop by an event for encouragement and meet new friends.

I try to remind myself that novel notes don't have to resemble
some priceless work of art and design (via Todd Dailey).

Perhaps it's the masochism talking, but I enjoy doing NaNo. It's not because I think I'm going to write the Next Great Geeky Novel™ but because I love the chance to practice storytelling. I'm sure any tabletop gamer can relate. Even beyond the classic RPGs, I like games like Once Upon a Time and The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Münchausen (which I'm surprised required a rules book). In the past, feedback from other writers has made November into a month-long game of Münchausen.

Using the Electo-plasmic Hydrocephalic Genre-Fiction Generator 2000 from Wondermark, I have created the skeleton of my novel. In a post-apocalyptic Antarctica, a young techno-obsessed geek stumbles across an encrypted data feed, which spurs him into conflict with a government conspiracy, with the help of a bookish female scholar with mousy brown hair and her facility with magic (or possibly her closet full of assault rifles), culminating in a false victory with the promise of future danger. My working title is Meta War. I have a sneaking suspicion that the resulting work will receive cease and desist letters from either Neal Stephenson or the creators of Fallout.

The trouble I have with NaNo is that I tend to create stories in segments. I see the direction of the plot through a series of vignettes. Trying to force myself to write chronologically makes me really impatient and frustrated. Although, after reading Witches Abroad, I'm tempted to try and let the story run off its own energy and trope-filled, fatalistic momentum. At the very least, if I'm unsure what happens next, I will not have two men walk in with guns. Instead, a small old woman will burst in and announce "Blessings be on this house."

This year, I'm trying to test a new method of writing. I'm going to flesh out each of the vignettes, and separate them with section breaks and headings. After I'm out of ideas, I can put the sections into chronological order by having Word create a table of contents. I should be able to spend the last week wringing every possible word out of the missing transitional scenes.

This is more my speed. Note the multiple
coffee drinks ♥ (via Justin See).

Finally, here are a few links for those of you attempting NaNo:

• There are articles about the benefits of writing.
• Lifehacker has a great list of distraction-free writing tools (I use WriteRoom and love it, but I picked it up free off MacHeist).
• NaNo has an official how-to manual called No Plot, No Problem.
• Goodreads has helpful quotes like "The first draft of anything is shit." 
• Both iOS and Android have useful writing tools.
• TV Tropes and a MacGuffin generator are great for random ideas.
• Last but not least, anyone who hits 50k gets 50% off Scrivener.

But enough distraction! Grab some coffee and get back to those word counts (or back to those jobs, depending on when and where you read this).