NaNoWriMo: Got Balls? (Event has ended!)

[xObserveRx]

Ballpoint pens that is. Actually, you'd be using your computer (most likely), so scratch that thought completely, all it did was make for an interesting thread title.

Anyway, the actual topic at hand is NaNoWriMo. So wtf is that you ask? Let's take a look-see...

http://www.nanowrimo.org/modules/cja...index.php?id=2

oh, wait. Some of you are too lazy to click a link and read. So I'll save y'all the trouble of doing that and post a quick summary here. (Well, sort of quick.)

What is NaNoWriMo?


National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and -- when the thing is done -- the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.

In 2004, we had over 42,000 participants. Nearly 6000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.

So, to recap:

What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.

Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from your novel at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: Sign-ups begin October 1, 2005. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

So there you have it. Sounds like a boatload of fun to me. Anyone who feels up to the challenge should join up and give it a go. Aside from the forums on that site, we could have a thread here where you could let fellow FFR NaNoWriMo contestants read your work. (If nothing, that'll be good for a laugh.)

I've honestly wrote more than two things that were 50,000 words over the past year, and it really isn't that difficult. I think there's at least a handful of us here who'd really benefit from doing something like this. I just hope we're all up to the challenge.