NaNoFailMo
About a month ago, I mentioned that I was participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I was supposed to write a 50,000 word novel during the Month of November. Well, here we are at the end of November, and I’m sorry to say I didn’t make it. I was about 49,500 words short. But the month wasn’t a total loss. I learned a valuable lesson: I am not a writer.
It’s not the writing that hangs me up so much as the lack of ideas. There’s no point in writing if you don’t have anything to write about. I went through three different novel premises, but I couldn’t make any of them gel. They just weren’t enough to base a book on. It turns out that I’m just not a very creative person.
“But wait,” you say, “you write this comic, which is a true work of art, and gives my life meaning.” First of all, thank you for saying so; that really means a lot. But secondly, the concept for this comic is not mine alone. Al created at least half of the characters, and the story is a collaboration. I am proud of my contributions, but I think they represent the pinnacle of my ability.
This probably sounds really sad, but it’s not. If anything, it’s a relief. I used to aspire to be writer, and regretted that I didn’t major in creative writing in college. For years I’ve been renewing my subscription to a writing magazine, for fear that letting it lapse would mean that I’ve finally given up on my old dream. But I can’t remember the last time I’ve read an issue. I was kidding myself.
I’ve heard that if something is important to you, you make time for it. Otherwise, you make excuses. If I really had the urge to write, I would have. Instead, I just kept putting it off and feeling guilty about it. Now I can let that guilt go. It’s just a matter of accepting my limitations. Sure, it stings a bit, but it will be better in the long run. And I’ll save about $30 a year on magazines!
I signed up for NaNoWriMo this year, which I’ve never done before, despite knowing I would be busy most of the month. I needed to actually take the step. Your word count outpaces mine by 490. :>
Maybe you’re not a writer. Or maybe you’re a writer but not a novelist. You don’t have to be a novelist to be a writer, you know. Coming up wtih an idea that will sustain both your own interest and a reader’s for 50,000 words is a subset of creativity, not the whole measure of it. So saying “I’m not creative” is not the same as saying “I can’t come up with a subject that inspires me to write 50,000 words about it.” I’m a poet, and a writer of both fiction and prose, but I’ve never produced a novel. Someday I hope to do so, but I’m a writer whether I ever do or not. You might be, too.
I do not think that because you failed to write 50.000 words on 30 days you cannot be a writer. I do not think that because you don’t feel the incesant urge to write you cannot be a writer. And I do not think that you aren’t a writer. You write, and you do it quite good. Sure, Al may have contributed, in story and characters, and that’s an important thing. But a writer isn’t always the one who creates. I believe that a writer can be just the artist that… maybe doesn’t create the ideas, but must give them a shape. More than shape, a writer gives words life. And this comic proves that you can do that.
Personally, I cannot make an opinion on the creating part, as I don’t know what’s your share on the characters and story. But you’re a writer. Now go back to writing and give us the great super hero story we’re reading!
I’ve never tried NaNoWriMo. Not sure why. That said, I’ve never managed to get appreciably far at a novel until recently. Basically, deadlines alone have never worked for me. I think I need people’s feedback.
I’ve managed to write for classes, and workshops, but never managed to continue with no one waiting for it.
Right now, I’m writing a novel and posting it online with each finished segment (around 800 words each). People are reading it, and telling me what they think, and for whatever reason, that works pretty well. I’m currently working on my third book length section (coming soon to Kindle and nook).
I don’t know that you could say that you’re not a writer from not finishing NaNoWriMo, but I think you can definitely say that NaNoWriMo doesn’t work for you.
I suspect it wouldn’t work for me either.