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Left to right: Hugh Howey, Elizabeth Haynes, Ally Kennen and Julia Crouch
NOVEL APPROACH
This November aspiring writers across the world will attempt to write a 50,000-word book in a month. David Pollock speaks to former participants about the challenge
‘W hy should people aspire to write novels?’ ponders British author Ally Kennen. ‘There are much more useful things to be doing, like reading or knitting a jumper. Knitting’s just as laborious, but at least it’ll end up keeping you warm. But if you love writing, you’ll make the time. Writing novels is good because it means it’s impossible to do too much housework, and too much housework will curdle your dreams.’
There are two kinds of aspiring authors: the bystanders who quite like the idea, and those who understand the huge physical and mental effort involved. For both, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a support group, route map and endurance test combined. A non-proi t organisation based in America, it has a website that allows you to track your progress in writing a 50,000 word novel and engage with fellow writers doing exactly the same thing. Those who can keep up an average of 1667 words a day ‘win’ the challenge, and although the tagline ‘the world needs your novel’ may not be entirely true, your commitment level for the month will tell you how much you really need to write that book. For many participants, it’s worked out very well. Kennen’s work has twice been on the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize longlist (including her NaNoWriMo-written Sparks in
2010), and the Wool series by self-published US author Hugh Howey, another past NaNoWriMo participant, has been hugely successful. ‘For many readers, writing a single novel in their lifetime is a major goal,’ he says. ‘NaNoWriMo gives support and encouragement for reaching this goal, and once you know you can do it, you’ll write another, and another, and you’ll start to surprise yourself. My i rst NaNoWriMo routine was to get up early and write without glancing at email or the internet. I wrote until I went to work, on my lunch break, and at night. On the weekends, I really went after it. I didn’t allow myself to waste time editing what I’d written; it was all about forging ahead. I hit the 50,000 mark by the 15th, and by the end of the month, I had already done a full revision. But not all NaNos have gone this way for me.’ For most NaNoWriMo writers, the key phrases seem to be ‘quantity not quality’ and ‘whatever works’. ‘Starting is great,’ says British crime writer Julia Crouch. ‘You discover characters and plots unfold. The doldrums hit around 20–30,000 words, when you wonder if you’re not barking up the wrong tree and wonder what on earth possessed you – although I’ve found this happens with every novel I write. But it’s a great exercise in discipline, determination and imagination, and a process that constantly surprises you. It’s incredibly liberating, because
it’s doubt and self-criticism that stand in the way of most writers, whatever stage they’re at.’ Kent-based crime writer Elizabeth Haynes says a hard drive failure that lost her 20,000 words was her low point, but otherwise ‘every completed NaNo novel for me is mostly dire, with some infrequent good bits’. Even when she makes the 50,000 words, she goes on to double that total before the onerous editing process. ‘I very rarely feel optimistic about anything I write, but I’m almost superstitious that this is a good thing. I feel that if I ever start to think, “Hey, this is good stuff,” I will have turned pompous overnight and everyone will hate the book as a result. There are a few delicious moments when I get excited about a plot line or when my characters start to take over and make the story their own.’
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to separate The whole point of taking on the challenge, it seems, the head-in-the- clouds notion of writing from the hard reality. ‘NaNoWriMo is deliciously unpretentious,’ says Kennen. ‘It allows the writer to be playful and take walloping risks. It enabled me to make a quick i rst draft, so I had something to work with. Then the real writing began.’
Find out more about National Novel Writing Month, including local meet-ups for participants, at nanowrimo.org 14 Nov–12 Dec 2013 THE LIST 27