Article by Lori Nevole
Aspiring novelists emerged from their nests of books and half-finished word documents this November to unite and accomplish the ultimate feat: writing a novel.
National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short, is when hundreds of thousands of novelists sit down at their computers and write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Sophomore Kathryn Baginski is one of them.
“I heard about it online,” Baginski said. “I did it last year, too.”
She has “won” both last year and this year by reaching the 50,000 word mark. “I really like to write, and I don’t usually finish the things I write, so I thought it would be a good idea to finish something,” she said. “[I gave] myself a deadline. And it worked.”
Baginski is one of the proud few. Only about 12 percent finished in 2012 out of 341,375 participants. The numbers dropped a little in 2013 to 310,040 participants, with roughly 42,000 winners (14 percent).
Writers must write an average of 1,667 words per day in order to finish, which is a little over three pages if the novel is in 12 pt single-spaced Times New Roman font.
“It was a relief to win this year because it was very stressful and I was glad that I got it finished. I actually went around and high-fived my family because I was so excited,” she said.
Baginski stays on track each year by sticking to a strict schedule. “There are points in the day where I just don’t want to do anything, so I get distracted,” she said. “But I usually get stuff done by the end of the day, even if it means staying up ‘til midnight. I usually give myself a time frame…and then I try and finish it in that time frame.”
The Office of Letters and Light, the nonprofit that runs NaNoWriMo, provides all sorts of motivation for participants. They enlist published authors such as James Patterson and Rainbow Rowell (who wrote the first draft of her newest novel, Fangirl, during NaNoWriMo) to write pep talks. The organization also has forums where participants can exchange plot ideas or chat about characters, and writers can “buddy” each other and compare word counts.
Baginski is proof that personal motivation is the strongest kind. She didn’t have any writing buddies to bug her about her word count. “I almost got one of my friends to do it this year, but she’s in [the musical] so she was busy.” Baginski usually stays off the forums until the last couple of weeks when she’s trying to make it to the end.
Some believe the only thing NaNoWriMo achieves is convincing amateur writers that one month’s worth of work can produce a publishable manuscript. These people don’t see the point of stressing out for a month over a novel that will most likely never see the light of day, let alone pass across a publisher’s desk.
“It would just be annoying to write like 5,000 words a night when you could be doing something else that actually matters, like homework,” senior Sarah Frodyma said.
NaNoWriMo is a test of endurance, and those that make it to the end have far from a finished product. The Office of Letters and Light makes it clear that quantity is valued over quality–for the first draft, anyway. Participants are urged to do anything they can to silence their “inner editor” until December.
“I think that I do write sloppier, but I get the idea down and that’s a really good thing,” Baginski said. “I think it’s better almost not to write really well because you’re not thinking, ‘I have to write really well.’ You’re just thinking, ‘I have to finish this’ so you just…write.”
For many authors, feeling pushed by the deadline is what pushed them into their careers. Erin Morgenstern wrote The Night Circus through a series of NaNoWriMo attempts. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen began as a NaNo novel as well.
One day, maybe one of our own Marian Wrimos will publish her work and join the ranks of these successful writers.
The Network '14 