Let’s get something straight here.
The first fifty thousand words to fall out of your head do not constitute a novel any more than dumping the contents of every jar in your cupboard onto the kitchen floor would constitute a meal.
There’s more to Simon’s post, and you should click through and read it. However, I fundamentally disagree.
It’s not random words being put down on the page (or rather, whacked into the word processor.) Sure, most likely those of us participating aren’t using the best words we could, but we’re still creating a story. We’re being purposeful. We’re not just letting words fall out of our head. Not by any measure.
I’m taking part in NaNoWriMo because I have terrible self-discipline, and because I forget how much I enjoy writing. Unless I have something forcing me to sit down every day and write, I put it off. Indefinitely. For evidence of that, just take a look at the various side projects that I haven’t so much as glanced at in months.
I’m not going to be ashamed to call what I’m writing a “novel.” Because to me, it is. And I’m sorry if it doesn’t meet someone else’s standards for high art, but I’m writing for me, and I couldn’t care less what other people think.
Very well put, Avery.
I’m doing NaNoWriMo for a few reasons.
- I don’t have anything else to write on my various other projects.
- I’m experimenting with the lack of parameters by writing something new in terms of structure.
- I feel good about participating in something like this.
Neven Mrgan also made a great rebuttal to cleversimon. You can find it here.
