Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Art and Writing

NaNoWriMo: A great excuse to bring really awful stories into the world.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 2 comments link this post

National Novel Writing Month is upon us.

Of course, if you didn't sign up, I guess it's not upon you.

Yes, I will be eagerly writing all month, churning out 50,000 words with no hope of anything making sense, aiming not at creating the Great American Novel, but a novel of "Dear God let me just get through this so Corrine doesn't rag on me about not finishing" proportions.

That's a justifiably decent reason, I've no doubt.

What's my plot about?

I don't know.

Characters?

Ha! I'll let you know as soon as I do.

Genre?

It will fall from the sky, I know it.

In browsing the official NaNo web site, I've been a bit horrified by the comments in the many forums in which participants discuss their copious notes, plot outlines, character sketches and other "writerly" preparation.

Me?

I don't know. There'll probably be a cat in the story somewhere. Maybe some candy bars.

I thought about writing about the shredded pair of hunting pants one of the hunters left behind that I am now wearing, and how I dragged myself into town wearing these too-large pants and a tank-top and a pair of white socks with my flip-flops, but really. I have a hard time finding a plot device there.

"Oh my gosh! The pants! The pants!"

Who plans these things?! And why must we plan?! I truly believe that my crappy novel will be no more and no less craptastic than any of those who have planned their stories out to a perfect T.

"But Julie, we want to hear that you have some specifics planned, and that you aren't going to have yet another creative train wreck!"

Hmm. Well, I can promise you some verbs and nouns. Probably a few adverbs, though I want to go light on the "-ly." Prepositions, definitely.

I must sign off for now, crank up my word processing software, and begin second-guessing myself into a nightmare ordeal. Should be fun.

::You can follow my progress, including word counts and writing excerpts, here.::

::UPDATE | How's it going? Hmm.::