The Curious Case of NaNoWriMo and Two Very Different Writers

This image of this writerly couple is © Susan Bruce 2020.

It’s that time of the year again where writers all over the world hit their writing desks on November 1 and start pounding those keys in a frenzied attempt to write 50,000 words in a month. Yep, it’s NaNoWriMo time – National Novel Writing Month – and we’re all invited. All we have to do is to head over to the NaNoWriMo site, enter a project and start creating. 

 

Simples?

 

Image by Hazi54 from Pixabay 

Well it depends. If you are like my husband, the inimitable Marc Z Jeffrey, you will thrive during ‘Nano’ as it is affectionately called. If you are like me, then maybe not. 

 

Marc amazes me. He can pick a story and run with it. He rarely gets bogged down but seems to able to ride the waves of writer’s block like a world championship surfer on Boomer Beach. If he can’t write one day, he makes up the word count the next. He types about a third faster than me too. There I am, plodding away, and his fingers are racing over the keys. NaNoWriMo is his element.

 

Marc has ‘won’ Nano five times (he thinks – he’s lost count!). That means that despite working long hours he’s managed to get 50,000 words on paper in 30 days. And that’s not typing the indefinite article 50,000 times!

 

I asked Marc why he liked Nano and he gave me the following answers:

1.    November is a good time to write because there’s no sport to watch on free-to-air TV. It’s also before Christmas ramps up. December is too hard with parties and finding time to buy great presents for his wife (okay, I added that bit).

2.    It’s a social thing because people here and around the world are writing at the same time. You can join ‘write-ins’ with other authors (in person and online) and feed off their energy in a frenzied Sharknado of writing (okay – I added that last bit too).

3.    Nano gives us a good excuse to write. I mean, we know we don’t need an excuse to be creative, but the rest of the world hasn’t always got that memo. Because Nano is a focus for one month only, Marc finds he faces less judgement from non-writerly people. I must note that no one in this household has that attitude other than our dog (and sometimes the bird who wants to whistle football songs… endlessly). The cat loves it when Marc writes because she gets to sleep on the fleecy blanket in his study. Our dog thinks we should be playing with her all the time and that this writing stuff is a huge waste of time. Some might say she’s a dog, not a person - and so doesn't count as 'people' - but she has a huge personality, so she has to qualify. Let's call her a non-human person (NHP).

4.    It allows him to neglect household chores ­(which in our house means the ‘dishwasher’ breaks down – a LOT!) 

5.    If he succeeds in writing 50000 words he has the best part of a novel written – albeit very roughly.

 

Image of this non-human person is © Susan Bruce 2020.

When I asked Marc what the disadvantage of Nano was – he said: you have to edit the novel you write! Marc loves editing other people’s manuscripts. He can spot an errant apostrophe at a thousand paces and grab a past participle by the scruff and drag it kicking-and-screaming into the present. But he never seems to get around to editing his own work. The good thing is that there is work ready to polish – but the bad is that you need to actually polish it. 

 

Harsh, but fair?

 

But what about me? What is it about Nano that works/ doesn’t work for me?

 

1.    I don’t care about television sport as much as Marc does. I probably prefer writing in winter because it's cold and wet outside; but November is an okay time as we can set up our computers on the patio on a warm night and have a romantic evening, typing. Yes. I know... 😎😆😂

2.    I love the social aspect of Nano. I’ve made great friends from attending write-ins at cafes. I might not have got much writing done on those days, but I’ve made friends who continue to inspire me in my writing journey.

3.    I don’t need an excuse to write – I can neglect housework anytime! The above mentioned canine NHP sees it as a challenge to disrupt me whenever I sit down to work.

4.    It’s an opportunity to try new things. If you write outback romance but have yearned for years to write a tentacled shape-shifter urban fantasy detective mystery (Christmas themed) then you might be able to use Nano to get this story out of your system. Or maybe it could spawn a whole new direction for your career. Hmm spawn...

 

Image by M W from Pixabay

The main problems I’ve experienced in Nano are:

1.    A lack of preparation. I never seem to hit NaNoWriMo when I have a story ready to write. On the occasions when I’ve ‘won’ Nano I’ve ended up with a tale with faulty foundations that needs rewriting, rewriting, rewriting. NaNoWriMo seems to suit ‘pantsers’ – those who write by the seat of their pants. These daring souls – like my afore mentioned spouse – have no fear of the unknown (on paper anyway) and can boldly go where they’ve never gone before. Me? I'm not a total plotter - and I try not to lose the plot 😁 - but I like to have a roadmap. If I know where I’m heading, I’m happy to improvise along the way.

2.    I like to edit as I go. Nano also works well for those who like to write and edit later – or not – as the case may be. The NaNoWriMo website encourages you not to edit as you go. However, I like to spiral edit – editing the section I wrote the day before, before writing new stuff. This slows me down but I don’t seem to be able to work any other way.

 

I’ve decided not to do NaNoWriMo this year (no typing Sharknado for me). I may still sign up and harness some of the collective creative energy Nano generates, but I’m not going to try for 50K words. 

 

But please, tell me what you are doing. Have you signed up this year? Have you ever tried NaNoWriMo? Did it work for you? Why/why not?

 

Susan J Bruce, aka Sue Jeffrey, spent her childhood reading, drawing, and collecting stray animals. Now she’s grown up, she does the same kinds of things. Susan has worked for many years as a veterinarian, and writes stories filled with themes of suspense, adventure, romance and overcoming. Susan also loves to paint animals. Susan won the ‘Short’ section of the inaugural Stories of Life writing competition and won the 'Unpublished Manuscript' section of the 2018 Caleb prize. Susan is the editor of'If They Could Talk: Bible Stories Told By the Animals' (Morning Star Publishing) and her stories and poems have appeared in multiple anthologies. Her e-book, 'Ruthless The Killer: A Short Story' is available on Amazon.com. You can check out some of Susan’s art work on her website https://www.susanjbruce.com.

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Reference:

 IMDB 2013, ‘Sharknado’, viewed 28 October 2020, <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2724064/>. I’ve never actually seen Sharknado but from the preview I really, really want to. It looks hilarious. They made six movies in all.

Whatever could go wrong? A pantster tale by Jo Wanmer

It was a great idea. Whatever could go wrong?

‘I’ll make your wedding cake. Would you like a two-tiered cheesecake decorated with fresh flowers.’ It was my idea. The bride loves my cheese cake so jumped at the offer. At least we had one thing organised for the wedding that was bearing down on us. A wedding organised by a pantster! 

She had a general idea of what they wanted. Casual, and held in their back garden. A grazing table. She was confident it would all come together, but we agreed we really needed a plotter – someone with a plan. Somehow it never happened.

Are you a plotter or pantster? I suspect our writing styles follow our personality types. Are you a carefully organised list-maker? I’m guessing your writing would happen the same way.

Or are you an impulsive, last minute, throw-a-function-together sort of person? I am and I write that way. Of course there are many different personality types and many writers who mix styles very successfully.

But back to our two tier wedding cake. I could see it, covered with cream, smooth sides, soft flowers flowing down from the top to the cake board. It would be so pretty. When I was mixing the beautiful, rich, fluffy concoction, I began to think the model through. Can one cheese cake hold up another? The answer was obvious. No. But there is always a solution. I’d leave the lop layer on the base of the spring form pan and support it with shortened skewers. I walked around the garden and checked for flowers a couple of days before. Yes, I felt organised and so I ignored my daughter’s pleading to make a trial one.

In the middle of the night before the big day, I wondered if soft cheese cake would hold the skewers upright.  Would the biscuit-crumb sides cave in under pressure? I dreamt I should wrap it in sandpaper and smooth cream over the rough side of the paper. In other words, I suffered a pantster panic!

Undaunted, I whipped the cream, having researched how to stabalise it. I washed flowers and leaves, packed everything ready to be assembled on site. Ever cautious (haha) I decorated the top tier, covered the bottom tier with cream, and carried them separately to the table to finish the work of art. Yes, it worked. The bottom cake held up the top tier. The flowers flowed. It was beautiful. 

But…The groom wasn’t quite ready to cut the cake. Then he wanted it moved to another table. Eeeekk. But he was the groom. So with much trepidation I moved it. More minutes passed. This was when I realised making a gelatine based cake wasn’t the smartest idea. It needed a refrigerator. I held my breath. Finally, the bride and groom stood behind the cake and I  began to breathe. But no, they launched into speeches! Others clapped. I prayed.

At last. The words I was waiting for. ‘We will now cut the cake.’

Just then a guest  yelled, ‘It’s falling!’

I ran and caught it on the slide. I held the top tier while they cut the bottom one – the one that had disintegrated on one side, the side away from the crowd.  It caused a lot of merriment and the guests ate every last bit – even creeping into the kitchen to clean the board with spoons.

As I think about this disaster, or near disaster, I am reminded of my writing, of my book in progress. It’s been stalled for a long time. I had a plan for it – a one line plan. From there I’ve written by the seat of my pants. As I’ve progressed, the story has taken on a life of its own, as books do. Dan has run into many adventures I had never imagined. The only planned event was Dan’s encounter with God. Not just learning about Him but having a life changing experience of the living God. 

And now Dan is ready, the plot is ready but this pantster is clueless of how to proceed.

In a previous book, my protagonist found herself locked in a remote hut. When I returned to my manuscript the next morning I realised the whole story was locked up with her. She told the story. Hers was the only point of view. I spent four days wandering around muttering to anyone who would listen, ‘Milly is stuck in a hut and I don’t know what to do.’  Just as the whole plot was about to slide (read hit delete button) the penny dropped. There was a reason for her being there. A great reason. A plot solving reason. My fingers once again flew over the keys.

So now I’m circling this current work in the same way I watched the cake. God encounters are usually orchestrated by God himself. I’m out of my pantster depth. I’m hoping the Spirit gives me revelation soon or maybe this bit of creativity may slip away as well.

Have you had any pantster disasters or are you all calm controlled plotters? Please share your adventures.

Jo Wanmer has decided to give up organising weddings and return to her computer. She is thankful for editors who catch most disasters before publication. She lives with her husband of 48 years on the northern outskirts of Brisbane. Her book, Though the Bud be Bruised, was published 7 years ago. Three other manuscripts are currently recovering from pantster writing and being edited by her plotter brain.