Quote:
Originally Posted by Suzerain of Sheol
Speaking generally as a writer (I'm much better at talking about writing than actually doing it) I really don't see much promise in the exercise of writing a novel in one month (not that 50k words is really a novel...) There's really not much of a chance of anything good coming out of it, and working at that pace will leave a nightmare of editing behind. I understand the sentiment of getting in the mode of writing every day, and I do think that's a good thing, but I also think it's a waste of writing time in most cases since the finished product has a very low chance of being satisfying to anyone, least of all the writer.
(In case it isn't obvious, I do not at all support the "just write" mentality. Writing is a craft, one that talent is only one aspect of. And like any craft, time and care are rewarded. Rushing isn't a good idea. But, I suppose NaNoWriMo has always been about quantity over quality, anyway.)
And I can babble endlessly about this (English major/Creative Writing minor). Going to stop myself now. :p
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I think you're sort of under the impression that people write these books and think they're perfect and try to send them off to publication, but they don't. The point of NaNoWriMo is to finish something; "ready for publication" isn't really a factor and everyone who participates in NaNoWriMo is well aware that what they've written isn't ready for outsiders to see. No matter what an author does, he or she is
going to need editing - full, every page with a fine-toothed-comb editing. There's little difference, really, between changing one or two misplaced commas on a page and changing an entire sentence. You (or your editor) will be looking at that page anyway, so why not?
This month isn't actually any different from any other time during which a writer attempts to write a novel. The only real difference is that the success rate of completing something is up significantly, even if that something is only the first step in a long, long process.
In my experience, the first draft will
always be crap, regardless of whether it's taken thirty days or thirty years. That's what first drafts are for. Even if someone edits as he or she goes, it's still probably going to need
more editing in the end.
More than anything, I think that NaNoWriMo helps considerably for those who have never written a book in their lives. It lets them figure out how they should start things, how they should pace things, and how to tie everything up in the end. Yes, they could probably, eventually, some time in the future, complete a novel and figure it all out then, or they could spend a NaNo month writing what will ultimately be a "test novel" and figure it out a whole lot sooner.