Revisiting what I love and hate about NaNoWriMo (plus a few helpful books for aspiring NaNoWriters)

Got a few emails about a NaNoWriMo post from a couple years ago, so I think it might warrant a reprise--with the addition of some suggested resources for those of you gearing up to take on the challenge. Just click the buy box for info from Amazon.

National Novel Writing Month encourages aspiring authors to set aside their procrastinating ways and blitz out a 50K word manuscript in 30 days. From the NaNoWriMo web site:

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.

Here's what I love about this endeavor:
Writers learn by writing. I truly believe there is no other way to learn how to write a novel. Just do it. Yeah, baby. I applaud that approach in writing and in life. I'm up for just about anything that includes "seat-of-the-pants" in the instruction manual.

Daily ass-to-chair application is the foundation of the writing life. Thirty days of due diligence is probably going to entrench the work ethic -- or at least the habit -- and train family and friends to honor writing space and work hours.

The process is demysticated. Yes, I just made that up. It's a hybrid of "domesticated" and "mysterious...not". I was always a voracious reader, but the daydream that I could write a book and get it published seemed as realistic as travel by tornado to the Emerald City. It's healthy to boil the process down to a doable little pot of potatoes and get it done.

On the other hand...
50K words does not a novel make. I fear a lot of people have connected the dots between "write a novel in a month" and "50K words" to assume that this is standard length for a published novel, and it's a far cry from that. Even a small (sizewise) novel like Michael Cunningham's The Hours (which is another book you should read if you want to learn how to write books) is in the neighborhood of 75K. I'd estimate The Help by Kathryn Stockett to be about 120K, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is probably three times that, so 50K is...well, if Harry Potter is a wedding cake, a 50K novel is a PopTart.

Not "everyone who's thought fleetingly of writing a novel" is a novelist. According to the NaNoWriMo site:

In 2007, we had over 100,000 participants. More than 15,000 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.

Except...erm...no, they didn't.

I have fleeting thoughts of pole dancing. I share on a basic structural level the physical ability and innate sense of rhythm it takes to pole dance. I have the wherewithal to purchase necessary technology and could definitely muster the will to practice daily for 30 days, but thinking that's all it takes is an insult to genuinely talented and dedicated lifelong pole dancers who've made pole dancing their profession. Unless I recognize that pole dancing will never be more than a hobby for me, I can only be a danger to myself and an annoyance to others.

There's a lot to be said for the "painstaking craft" being chucked out the window. I'm on board with the NaNoWriMo "build without tearing down" philosophy, but I don't think "obsessing over quality" is a bad thing. Unless December through April are to be designated NitNoEdPro (Nitpicking Novel Editing Process), the product of the 30-day effort is a rough draft, not a novel. At best, it's a manuscript, and I get crankled when the vast difference between is disrespected. That first draft is a huge step, yes, but only the first of several huge steps. I've produced fifteen full manuscripts; an even dozen have gone through the refining fire to become honest-to-God books. I work incredibly hard to see a draft through that journey. I've sacrificed a lot to make this process my living and livelihood.

As a memoir guru, I get flogged with that "everyone has a book in them" axe. My standard come-back: Everyone has a spleen in them, too, but it takes a particular skill set to get it out, and only in select cases is it a good idea to display it on a shelf.

Bottom line, I love the idea of NaNoWriMo as a writing exercise, and I encourage anyone who's up for it to go for that 50K. I can definitely see it sparking the beginning of a writing career. Participants are bound to discover some things about the creative process. I just hope one of those discoveries is that it takes a hell of a lot more than 30 days to be a novelist.

Buy This Book: The Elements of Style Illustrated

Another nod to back-to-school week. Jerusha and I stopped into a local bookstore on our way up to the university today and grabbed this wonderful illustrated edition of the classic "little book" we all know and love. It's even more knowable and lovable with the whimsically instructive illustrations of artist, author, designer Maira Kalman. You'll recognize the style if you're a regular reader of the New Yorker or an Cheerios-in-your-hair consumer of children's books. Ms. Kalman's include Swami on Rye: Max in India and What Pete Ate from A to Z. She's also designed fabric for Isaac Mizrahi, accessories for Kate Spade, and accessory and gifts items for the Museum of Modern Art.

This is the perfect edition of S&W for Jerusha, who is both hip chick and writerly type, and I'm not the least bit embarrassed that I was a teary eyed nerd mommy handing it to her. I've owned and worn ragged one copy after another since I was in 4th grade, and each one carried a story. It's the -- make that THE -- most important reference book for any writer's bookshelf.

From Strunk's introduction to the original 1918 edition:

It is an old observation that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric. When they do so, however, the reader will usually find in the sentence some compensating merit, attained at the cost of the violation. Unless he is certain of doing as well, he will probably do best to follow the rules. After he has learned, by their guidance, to write plain English adequate for everyday uses, let him look, for the secrets of style, to the study of the masters of literature.

(Far be it from me to point out the unclarified antecedent in that paragraph.)