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NaNoWriMo
This group is dedicated to those slightly nuts enough to attempt to write a novel in 30 days!!!
Moderated By: Jake
Members: 7
Created On: Oct 19, 2007
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Welcome veterans and newcomers alike. This group is dedicated to those proud few people who, in the month of November, dedicate themselves to writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Now you may be thinking: "Who am I supposed to write a half-decent novel on 30 days?!" Well the answer is... you can't, and that is the beauty of NaNoWriMo, Your novel doesn't have to be half-decent. It just has to be finished. However there are rules to participating.
1. You can not write a single word 50,000 times.
2. You have to do it in November. No matter how much you have going on. If your going to do it, do it in November
3. You have to start in November. That is you can't bring a half finished work in and try making it work that almost guarantees a miserable month. You will care to much about your characters and your story to mess it up.
4.However you can use outlines and note in fact, we encourage it. Previously written prose, though, is punishable by death.
5.People who take their writing (and themselves) very seriously should probably go elsewhere. Everyone else, though, is warmly welcomed.
6.All ages are very welcome. In fact, in 2005 we launched NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program, which created a mini site and self-contained site for participants 12 and under, as well as those participating as part of a K-12 classroom group.
7. If your thinking: "I'm just writing 50,000 words of crap, why bother? Why not just write a real novel later, when I have more time?"
There are three reasons.
1) If you don't do it now, you probably never will. Novel writing is mostly a "one day" event. As in "One day, I'd like to write a novel." Here's the truth: 99% of us, if left to our own devices, would never make the time to write a novel. It's just so far outside our normal lives that it constantly slips down to the bottom of our to-do lists. The structure of NaNoWriMo forces you to put away all those self-defeating worries and START. Once you have the first five chapters under your belt, the rest will come easily. Or painfully. But it will come. And you'll have friends to help you see it through to 50k.
2) Aiming low is the best way to succeed. With entry-level novel writing, shooting for the moon is the surest way to get nowhere. With high expectations, everything you write will sound cheesy and awkward. Once you start evaluating your story in terms of word count, you take that pressure off yourself. And you'll start surprising yourself with a great bit of dialogue here and a ingenious plot twist there. Characters will start doing things you never expected, taking the story places you'd never imagined. There will be much execrable prose, yes. But amidst the crap, there will be beauty. A lot of it.
3) Art for art's sake does wonderful things to you. It makes you laugh. It makes you cry. It makes you want to take naps and go places wearing funny pants. Doing something just for the heck of it is a wonderful antidote to all the chores and "must-dos" of daily life. Writing a novel in a month is both exhilarating and stupid, and we would all do well to invite a little more spontaneous stupidity into our lives.
That's about it. If you have any questions then please visit
http://www.nanowrimo.org/ for more details.
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