NaNoWriMo: Ten things I’ve learned in Week One

I just thought I’d let you all know how things are going after the first completed week of National Novel Writing Month.  For those of you just tuning in, that’s NaNoWriMo- I’ve pledged for the month of November to write at least 1,667 words a day in hopes of having a 50,000 word manuscript by the end of the month.  There are no publishing prizes or anything like that, (although if I finish, I will get 5 paperback copies of my book from a website called CreateSpace. And that’s pretty cool) its just a way for writers to challenge themselves and connect with other writers around the world, all while trying to achieve what some would consider to be a ridiculous goal.

The process so far has been illuminating for me.  If I finish, this will be my first novel (although, not my first attempt at a novel).  I’m learning a lot about the creative process, and the writing process, and the slow-descent-in-madness process. Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned in week one:

1. Weather can affect your writing.  We had a couple of days of storms and rain, my happy-go-lucky Bavarian love story turned into an turbulent gothic-esque Sturm und Drang piece.    The rest of the week is forecasted to be sunny and beautiful so I’m guessing my characters will be getting a break from their emotional upheaval pretty soon.
2. Coffee is helpful, but should be used sparingly.  I learned this handy lesson after an unplanned 20 hour, 8,000 word writing spree that coincided with the aforementioned Sturm und Drang period of my storyline, after which, I collapsed for nearly 16 hours.    The adrenaline rush of a good storyline and the caffeine content in a pot of coffee do not make good bedfellows.
3. Sometimes the person you think is the main character is in fact, not.  This epiphany came after Ludwig van Beethoven decided not to show up in my book until the 5th chapter and I realized that while he is one of my main characters, he is not the main character.  It happens.
4. This is not a one month project. Sure, its called “National Novel Writing Month,” but I started my research back in September (or January if you count all the different Beethoven biographies I’ve been reading this year).  Also, if I stay at an average of 1,667 words per day and reach my goal of 50,000 words, that is a very short novel.  More of a novelette, actually.  To give you a perspective,  the average novel is 80,000-120,000 words.  Given that at 20,000 words, I’ve barely made a dent in my outline, I have a feeling that I’m going to writing pretty deep into December and maybe later, hopefully keeping up the same pace.  After that comes the editing and rewriting process, which is probably the most important part.  Its during that time that you take what is basically several hundred words of “literary vomit” and turn it into a polished and readable manuscript.  So this is looking a lot more like National Novel Writing Year.  Just about the time you’ll be finishing the progress, it will start all over again.
5. Historical Fiction is not an easy genre to make your debut with.  To be fair, I was warned about this going in.  But every single day of writing this week, it has been repeatedly hammered into my stubborn brain.  I can barely get through five sentences without having to consult google or one of my books on some little detail, whether that’s “What was the standard of measurement in the electorate of Cologne in 1783?” or “What is the average inseam of a 13 year old boy?” or “How many pedals did pianofortes have in 1783?”  or the question which was the bane of my existence this week, “When were music boxes invented?”  (as it turns out, 1796, who knew?)
6. Sometimes, you’ve gotta deviate from your outline a bit.  Some of my best scenes so far have been when I just let the story go where it needed to go, before gently leading it back to the outline.   In reality, the outline is more like a path than a highway, you can run alongside the path, you can run around the path, you can stop and rest in the meadow for a while. Just don’t lose sight of the path because you’re going to need it when the terrain gets rocky.
7. Writers are weird, wonderful people.  Just hanging out in the NaNo forums has been an eye-opening experience about the world of writers.  Where else would find it perfectly acceptable to post topics like How do You Kill Someone with a Frozen Cabbage? Or the ever popular I’m in Love with My Main Character helpline,  What’s it Like to Be Burned Alive? and of course, who couldn’t love I am Writing the Worst Novel Ever?  And that brings me to:
8. Having a community of writers is essential.   Writing is something you do in isolation and a good deal of writers are solitary people, but I could never have guessed how instrumental the Nanowrimo community would be for keeping me motivated and focused.  Having several thousand people that are all working towards the same goal as you can be inspiring and at the same time, terrifying.  But sometimes you’ve got problems that non-writers just aren’t going to be able to relate to, and you need to hear from someone who’s been there, done that.  And for that purpose, the community is wonderful.  No matter what problem you come across on the journey, its almost guaranteed that some other writer has been there first and wants to help you through it.
9. 1,667 word a day is completely doable.   In fact, its quite a bit easier than I thought it would be to sit down and pound out a couple thousand words in an hour or two.  The hard part is making yourself sit down, day after day, and write, whether you feel like doing it or not.  Finding the time, finding the energy, finding the motivation to write when the elusive writing muse seems to be taking a holiday in Sweden…if you can conquer that, then you might have what it takes to be a writer.    I believe that this is what derails so many would-be writers.  Everyone can write when they feel like it.  But a writer has to write when they don’t feel like it.
10. “There’s nothing to writing.  Just sit down at a typewriter and open a vein,” -Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith.  That quote pretty much sums up the whole experience for me so far.  It has been wild and personal, and its taken me places that I never dreamed it would.  The more I get to know my characters, the more I appreciate and can relate to their struggles, and thats an odd feeling.  In a lot of ways, my characters and my story don’t feel like objects of my own creation, but more like results.  The results of the sum of my experiences, my own nature, and my perception of the world.  That’s not to say that my characters are exactly like me, or do things the way that I would do them, but they are a product of my own worldview, in a way that I almost feel powerless to control.  It literally just sort of bleeds out of me.  And that was not at all what I expected.

So there you have it.  The lessons of one week immersed in writing.  I feel like I’ve grown a lot in just one week, as a writer, but also as a person.   I can’t wait to see where Week Two takes me.  I will keep you posted.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment to keep with a novel that has yet to be written.

(And if you’re curious, this blog post was exactly 1,319 words long)

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