It’s NaNoWriMo! Has your novel taken off?

If you’re like me, you still, nearly halfway through November, haven’t announced your new novel project to NaNoWriMo. (Don't judge me – I haven't even eaten all the leftover Halloween candy yet!) If you're not like me, you're a gazillion words into that new novel project. Either that or you're wondering what the heck NaNoWriMo is.  

To get the easy part out of the way, NaNoWriMo is the catchy acronym for "National Novel Writing Month" – otherwise known as "November." It’s a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization formed to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds — on and off the page.

The project has grown far beyond the “national” part of its name since its inception in 1999. It yearly draws hundreds of thousands of writers from around the world who challenge themselves to pound out its goal of 50,000 words of fiction. Gimmicky though it sounds, NaNoWriMo gives a lot of us the incentive to get busy with that book we’ve always meant to write. Or the next one, or the one after the next one. 

We can write alone or in company with digital pals, obsessively posting and tracking our word goals. And local NaNoWriMo groups, like the DFW Rhinos of my North Texas locale, hold get-togethers where groups can tippy-tap-tap those keyboards in total silence for hours (between scarfing down snacks) without feeling like dweebs. (OK, we are dweebs, but we're a pack of dweebs! Hear us roar!)

image: pixabay

The point of NaNoWriMo is to turn off your inner editor. Right that inner voice saying you must correct all the misspellings, the lapses in logic, the bad grammar and punctuation -- before you can move forward. The NaNoWriMo attitude is, just let go and write. Editing's what the other eleven months of the year are for.

Still haven't clicked over to the NaNoWriMo page? Do it now, check out some of the pep talks from super writers, find yourself a local group, and announce your project. Hey, I did, right in the middle of typing this! And found a super picture for a cover, from one of my favorite copyright-free sites, Pixabay.

Now, not to put the brakes on, but let me point out that even 50,000 passionate words do not a novel make. They're a first draft – a very rough draft because remember, you're not polishing them. Yet. There's no time for polish in November.

That’s for January and February, what NaNoWriMo calls the “what now?” months. Luckily, as the NaNo project has grown, so have its resources. There will be webinars, discussions, writing camps, all free. (Not that NaNo doesn’t love support – drop a donation or check out the merchandise options.) And pat yourself on the back, because you're a writer!

The end of NaNoWriMo and a new beginning

NaNoWriMo is over for 2017. Or is it?

For the benefit of readers who may be looking at this post and wondering if I’ve taken a too-early dip into the eggnog, NaNoWriMo is the acronym for “National Novel Writing Month” – a November-long writing marathon in which otherwise sane people commit to a goal of putting 50,000 words of a fictional opus on page or screen.

Why 50,000? That’s the number of words generally considered the minimum to form a complete novel. And although acceptable word counts can vary according to literary genre (epic fantasies, for instance, ran run to twice that length or more), 50,000 is at the very least, a respectable core for any work.

But wait – did I forget to turn the calendar page and notice that we’re now in December?

Just as the “National” part of NaNoWriMo has long since morphed into a worldwide event since its inception in San Francisco long, long ago, NaNoWriMo now sponsors literary activities spanning 11 months of each year. 

Earlier this year, I raved online – and in person to writing partners – about all the wonderful free stuff I had access to as a NaNoWriMo participant. Free because although participants are “free” to make contributions (potentially tax-deductible to U.S. participants under NaNoWriMo’s IRC 501(c) status) its hordes of participants also attract hordes of sponsors.

Free webinars on editing? Check. Writing contests and pitch critiques? Check and check. Craft discussions, pep talks, free or reduced-price merchandise? Check, check, and double check.

image: NaNoWriMo

Oh, and did I forget to mention the free cover illustration program that benefited 30 NaNoWriMo writers (with 20 percent of the nominated entries coming from participants in NaNo’s Young Writers Program)? Check the “forum” link on the site for the complete list. I even loved the graphics at the site that visually illustrate the literary genres represented. 

Among nominations for cover illustrations, at least, that most-popular genre of Fantasy represented 27.7 percent, followed by Young Adult with 17 percent and Science Fiction with 10.7 percent.

Sorry, 50 Shades fans, but Erotica was the least represented genre, with 0.2 percent. Perhaps the world has been over-shared recently with sexual peccadillos.

And although NaNoWriMo is on hiatus during December, January and February are its “what next?” months, when writers begin the process of revising all those words. Or start to plan our 2018 project. Or start a new, pre-November project, via month-long NaNoWriMo Camps this spring.

Curious to know whether a newcomer could sign up for this bounty today, I tried, only to be stopped because I’ve already used all my email addresses. I’ll check with the volunteer liaisons here in my own Dallas-Fort Worth (Texas) NaNoWriMo region as soon as they’ve had time to recover from their work. In the meantime, for readers new to the program, please let me know if you’re able to sign up at the NaNoWriMo site.

I was too busy writing last month to even glance at the sponsor offers on the site. Get some sleep, maybe a shower, and take a look at offers that include personalized editorial feedback, or even a publishing contract for shortlisted manuscripts from Kindle Scout; a chance for YA novel publication by Macmillan via SwoonReads.com; a free book upload with IngramSpark; and many, many more free or discounted merchandise offers.

Personally, I will be checking out the revision advice offered by the joint Coursera-Wesleyan College classes NaNoWriMo wrangled for participants earlier this year. And polishing my first 10 pages for the Writers League of Texas manuscript contest, with its January 30, 2018, deadline.

Happy writing to all, and to all, a good December!

Wordcraft -- On the president's Secret Service

It’s the second week of November and every writer knows what that means – we’re a quarter of the way through NaNoWriMo! That’s National (although now international) Novel Writing Month.

Oh, you thought I meant the election. . . Well, there’s nothing more we can do for that except stand in the rain waiting to vote if we were as foolish as I am and waited until the last day. No, today I want to write about something we can do something about – writing. And while we’ve got presidents on our mind how about the men and women who protect presidents (and presidential candidates) – the U.S. Secret Service? How about someone like ex-Secret Service agent turned Texas writer, Larry Enmon?

Larry Enmon at Mystery Writers

Enmon’s career in law enforcement has ranged from work as a patrol officer with the Houston, Texas, police department, to special agent with the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation, to the U.S. Secret Service, where he also worked as liaison agent to the FBI and on counterterrorism investigations. Now also a member of the DFW Writers Workshop, he boiled down his five favorite tips for writing crime stories like an insider for the recent meeting of the Dallas chapter of Mystery Writers of America. 

It was a dark night in a still-untenanted Houston development. The call: body in the street. Confessing that he may have driving a tad fast on the unlit streets, Enmon suddenly saw the body in headlights, too late to stop. And ran over it. Already horrified, he glanced in his side mirror. The victim’s head was now severed from the body! Gamely, perhaps shakily, he stepped out of the cruiser to examine the body with his flashlight and found it was – a mannequin – illustrating his first point for authentic crime stories:

1.      The “oh-sh*t” moment.

“Things don’t always go as expected,” he said. “As writers, if you don’t have one of those moments, you’re not doing it right. It’s not a plot twist – it just happens and it takes everybody by complete surprise.”

Of course, every insider has some bone to pick with the way their profession is portrayed in books, movies, television. Enmon’s isn’t just the wildly improbable, it’s also the portrayal of members of his profession as dour.

“Police are a lot more humorous and funny than people give them credit for. And it’s all emergency responders, including medical personnel. They got to have a sense of humor to survive. And yeah, sometimes it’s dark humor. They just can’t show it to the public. Leading to his second point:

2.      Give them a sense of humor. Or at least some quirkiness.

Another of Enmon’s stories: during one of President Ronald Reagan’s motorcades, startled officers in the hovering “huntsman” – code name for the motorcade’s accompanying helicopter – reported that “Rawhide” – the code name for Reagan – was out on the street. Furthermore, the two motorcycle officers leading the motorcade had suddenly fallen from their motorcycles and were lying stunned, possibly dead or wounded, in the street. As horrifying possibilities flashed through the minds of all onlookers, Reagan approached the fallen cops and asked whether they were OK. And they admitted sheepishly that they had misjudged the distance between their cycles and crashed into each other. 

Not that there isn’t plenty of darkness in the lives of people who routinely have to worry about being killed. Or of killing someone else. And taking it home with them. “There’s a lot of alcoholism, a lot of depression, a lot of suicides among cops,” Enmon noted. “And the tension is felt by the family too.” His third point:

3.      Everybody has an outside life beyond the job. And sometimes it’s not a happy one.

Leading immediately to point number four:

4.      Police have emotions like everyone else. They just can’t show them.

“It’s like being in combat too long,” Enmon said. “Sometimes you talk it out with each other.”

Or perhaps you can get them to buy you a drink. Flying to Paris on an assignment, Enmon and his partner only learned as they boarded their plane that they would need visas for the trip. They called the Secret Service’s headquarters. No problem, HQ said. Our man in Paris (yes, there are liaisons for most U.S. law enforcement agencies at embassies) will have them waiting for you. Except that he didn’t. And French immigrations officials were not amused, locking up the Americans until the courier showed up with the missing visas. His penalty – buying the drinks that night on the Champs-Élysées. Which leads to Enmon’s final point:

5.      Don’t make things too easy.

An apt reminder for writers in any genre.

For more about Enmon, his career and his work and whether he’s willing to tell you that your crime story scene (no manuscripts, please) is totally off the rails, see his site or contact him at larry@larry-enmon.com. 

Wordcraft – NaNoWriMo is nigh: Ready, set, write!

Well, I did it, registered my pledge to write a novel (or at least 50,000 words of one) through NaNoWriMo starting November 1. The acronym is short for National Novel Writing Month, the annual, now international Internet-based writing event that takes place each November.

The goal is to foster creativity by turning off our inner editors and pounding out the words. Last year, 325,142 participants worldwide started the month as housewives, students, mechanics and actors and ended as – novelists. More 250 NaNoWriMo novels have been traditionally published, including Water for Elephants, The Night Circus, Wool, Fangirl and more. But this isn’t the time to worry about publication, not even about how well you write or whether you think you can write at all. It’s about putting words down. Nothing else can happen until the words are out of our heads and on the page.

This year’s NaNoWriMo page lets you decide whether you’re a “plotter” – the person who starts the month with outlines and character sketches – or a “pantser” (as in flying by the seat of yours) who starts with nada. I’m probably cheating by starting with a few thousand words from a short story that participants at this year’s FenCon Dallas-area writing workshop said didn’t tell them as much as they wanted to know. So here comes the rest of the story!

NaNoWriMo participants in North Texas (aka DFW Rhinos) are already preparing, with more than 60 public write-ins on their calendars for November, including the upcoming midnight write-in from 8 p.m. October 31 – 4 a.m. November 1.

Not in Texas? Check the NaNoWriMo site for activities in your part of the world, including a virtual write-in, live stream event tomorrow, October 28, beginning at 3 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. Let me know how you’re doing. I won’t even hate you if you write way more than 50,000 words!

***

Maybe you think pounding out 50,000 words in November won’t leave you with time for anything else. But like saving room for a slice of pumpkin pie after Thanksgiving turkey, save a little time for some other literary events in North Texas. You never know when inspiration will strike.

October 27: Monthly scene readings sponsored by Dallas Screenwriters Association, Half Price Books, 5803 E. Northwest Highway, Dallas. Only DSA members may have work read, but the readings are free to the public. Pages must be submitted by 6 p.m., casting follows immediately, with readings usually started by 7 p.m.

Now through November 16: The Writers’ Guild of Texas first annual flash fiction contest. A thousand words maximum. Cash prizes. Submissions are limited to WGT members, but at only $25 for an annual membership, consider joining.

November 7: Texas Writes program on memoir writing, sponsored by the Writers’ League of Texas. Starting 1 p.m. at the Pottsboro Area Library, 104 North Main, Pottsboro, Texas (about 90 minutes north of Dallas on I-75). Free, but pre-registration suggested. Call (903)78607264.

November 14: The Writers’ Guild of Texas  also sponsors a fall workshop, 9 a.m. – noon, in the Richardson Civic Center, 411 W. Arapaho Road, Richardson, Texas. Bestselling author Taylor Stevens is this year’s instructor. Cost: $25 for members, $35 for nonmembers.

November 16: Pandora’s Box Poetry Showcase Dallas hosts readings by local and nationally-known poets. Margo Jones Theater in Dallas Fair Park, beginning at 8 p.m. Free.

November 20: First Annual 24-Minute Script Contest and Festival, sponsored by the Dallas Screenwriters Association. At Brown Lane Studios, 1499 Regal Row, Suite 505, Dallas, starting 8 p.m. The event is free to attend, but only DSA members may compete.

Wordcraft -- In the know with NaNoWriMo

I officially joined the 2014 NaNoWriMo challenge¾ writing 50,000 words of a new novel in the month of November¾ yesterday, November 2. On that day I wrote 1,275 words of a new historical mystery novel I’d been thinking about for, well, way too long.

Yes, I know that to meet the 50,000 goal, I’d have to write about 1,667 words daily. The official site, http://nanowrimo.org/, gleefully informed me that I was already more than 2,000 words behind and at this rate I wouldn’t finish November until mid-January. Instead of buckling down and chugging out more words, I did what the tough do. No, it’s not get going. It’s playing on the internet, of course.

I scanned the site for average word counts so far by genre. I entered mine as “historical” rather than “mystery”, but if I thought that would give me an edge over fellow writers, I was disappointed. Average number of words for each of those genres (as of yesterday) is about 1,900 words. The genre netting the highest average number of words, so far, is erotica, with just over 3,000.

The wordiest region, again so far, is Germany, where writers are averaging more than 3,000 words each. (Please tell me you’re not all writing erotica!)

These and other statistics are available in “word count helpers” under the “Inspiration” button on the NaNoWriMo site. On the practical side, see “NaNo prep” under Inspiration for help with characters, world building and plotting. Or check out “forums” under the “Conversation” button, which includes helpful stuff like a reference desk, plot doctoring, help by age group and more. My favorite? The “Appellation Station,” advertising itself as “your home for all your naming needs.” It includes help with titles, which I’m dying to check out because thinking up titles ranks right up there with extensive dental work on my list of favorite activities.

The conversation button also lists local forums, which is term list group write-in dates and locations. ML’s (municipal liaisons) Robin and Trelk in my Dallas-Fort Worth region of the United States are amazing. They’ve scheduled write-in across the area for every day in November except Thanksgiving Day, sacred in the U.S. and especially in Texas to the shrines of food and football.

By now I was thinking, yeah, we put a lot of words out there in cyberspace, but what good really comes of it all? Another quick internet search turned up, plenty of good. The site
http://mentalfloss.com lists more than a dozen books with NaNoWriMo roots that have made it onto bookshelves. They include most famously New York Times bestsellers Water for Elephants and The Night Circus, among others.

Not that writing 50,000 words in a month is a guarantee of bestseller status, or even publication, but as they say, you can’t win if you don’t enter.

(By the way, I initially had trouble inputting my word count at “my novels” under the “MyNaNoWriMo” button at the mothership site. Even though I pasted in an excerpt of my novel, the site listed my word count as zero until I entered the number of words separately. I mentioning this because I saw other writers on the NaNoWriMo Facebook page who seemed to be having a similar problem. But enough. Stop reading this now. Seriously. Go write.)

Wordcraft -- Year end writing contests

Just when we’re revving up for National Novel Writing Month craziness (November 1-30), I’ve found a way to make things even crazier: totally unrelated writing contests.

I first thought somebody was joking when a couple of contest blurbs showed up in my email recently. Contests? This late in the year? Which started me on a hunt to see how many more I could find. The answer was¾ a surprisingly large number, which I’m listing in order of urgency. Contests, NaNoWriMo¾ do try to get a little sleep and maybe a meal or two somewhere in between it all.

October 31, 2014: The Red Line magazine’s deadline for its current bimonthly short story on the theme, “Sex.” No reading fee. For details see http://overtheredline.com/.

October 31, 2014: Glimmer Train’s Very Short Fiction Award. (Although the magazine’s site, www.glimmertrain.com/, notes that there’s always a one-week grace period for submissions.) Reading fee is $15 in this contest for stories up to 3,000 words. Upcoming deadlines for other Glimmer Train contests are November 30, 2014; January 2, 2015; January 31, 2015; and March 15, 2015. See the site for rules and reading fees for each.

November 1, 2014: The First Line Literary Magazine’s winter contest using the first line, “We went as far as the car would take us.” No fees. See http://thefirstline.com/submission.htm/ for details.

November 15, 2014: Narrative 30 Below Contest. Open to writers, poets, and other artists between 18 and 30 years of age. $22 reading entry fee. See www.narrativemagazine.com/30-below-2014 for details.

December 20, 2014: ConDFW XIV short story contest. Open to amateur writers only. No fee for attendees at this Dallas science fiction/fantasy convention, $5 for non-attendees. See www.condfw.org/about-the-convention/short-story-contest/ for details.

January 31, 2015: The Writers League of Texas manuscript contest. You don’t have to
live in Texas to enter. You don’t even need a completed manuscript, only the first ten pages of your novel and a synopsis. It could be from those NaNoWriMo manuscripts we’re poised to start, or from nonfiction or memoir manuscripts. Fee is $55 for WLOT members, $65 for nonmembers. Submit using the online entry form, available November 1, at
www.writersleague.org/109/Manuscript-Contest/.

January 31, 2015: Historical Novel Society Indie Award. Any genre of historical novels (pre-1965 setting) from all formats of self-publishing. No entry fee. See http://historicalnovelsociety.org “Awards” for more information. (Details of additional contests for historical short stories and unpublished novels still to come at the HNS site.)

Want more contests? Check out listings at these additional sites: www.freelancewriting.com/, www.be-a-better-writer.com/, and www.writersviews.com/.

A late addition hit my inbox: Houston Writers House contests for novels, creative nonfiction manuscripts, short stories and poetry. Novel submissions are $10 per entry, and require only the first 10 pages of the manuscript. Deadline is November 30 (so maybe if we finish NaNoWriMo early?) See www.americansocietyfreelancers.com/contests for details.

Wordcraft -- Prepare to get our WriMo on

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve accepted the challenge to join the National Novel Writing in a Month challenge¾ to tap out 50,000 words, basically a first draft¾ of a novel in the month of November. But I found an old idea, aka plot bunny, in my files and thought, why not put it to use? So NaNoWriMo, count me in again!

The point of NaNoWriMo, as its devotees name this event, is to turn off your inner editor for a month and let the words flow. Don’t stop to correct spelling, punctuation, grammar. Save that kind of revision for the next eleven months. Words have to be written before they can be revised. Instead, believe that by 11:59 p.m. on November 30, in whatever time zone we live in, we can hope to have the raw material on the page, on our screens, to do the revision that will make our dreams a real full-length story.

Oh, and that word “national” in the name? Don’t worry, fellow writers of the Earth. Since its start in San Francisco in 1999, NaNoWriMo has become a nonprofit organization with more than 300,000 participants from around the world.

So you’re thinking, today’s only October 20. We’ve still got twelve days until the first of November. Why are we talking about NaNoWriMo now? Well, because I’ve found that, although the dream of free-flowing words is a great one, those words come more freely if I have some idea where they’re going.

Those of us in in the Dallas-Fort Worth area can start those ideas flowing at the kick-off party for the DFW Rhinos group this coming Saturday, October 25, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the HalfPrice Books Flagship Store 5803 E. Northwest Hwy. in Dallas, Texas. We’ll be in HalfPrice’s community room in the back of the store. Feel free to bring light snacks or drinks (nothing messy and no dark-colored or red drinks, please.).

More information about the party and other NaNoWriMo events in North Texas, see the DFW Rhinos Facebook page.

Don’t forget to register at the mother organization, http://nanowrimo.org/ for inspiration, prep tips, and information on how to upload your novel for the official word count.

So am I going to spend the next six weeks blathering about nothing but NaNoWriMo? Of course not! There’s way too much else going on in the local world, things like author readings, conferences, workshops, and more. I’ll use the heraldic emblem that illustrates this post for NaNoWriMo posts to give readers fair warning of the content.

Despite all the hoopla, I don’t intend to consider anyone, least of all myself, a failure if we fall short of the magic 50,000. But if 50,000 seems overwhelming, break it down. After all, that it’s only 1,667 words a day or 1,725 if you take time off for Thanksgiving, or¾ but we’re doing the math already, right? Every word is a victory!

Wordcraft -- Bones of a novel, part III

With one week left in this November’s NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month), I’m hearing cries of anguish as even writers who have kept pace with goal of writing fifty thousand words in thirty days feel the strain. The main reason, I think, is starting the race without a map.

Okay, I’m crazy about structure. But I got crazy by learning the hard way how tough it is run a race without knowing where the track is. A reminder came earlier this fall at Pyr editor Lou Anders’ writing workshop.

I’m writing a contemporary novel, but, desperate to enter the science fiction/fantasy workshop, I pulled out the first chapter of a nearly decade old fantasy novel to enter. Despite some qualms, Anders liked the premise and characters, but when he asked for a pitch-length synopsis, I was stuck. The remainder of the novel sprawled too hopelessly even to summarize.

It’s coming together now, thanks to help from Anders’ one-day novel writing workshop.

I posted about the three-act format of screenwriter Dan Decker (author of Anatomy of a Screenplay) last month. But with only a week of NaNoWriMo to go, how about fantasy author Michael Moorcock’s suggestions for writing a novel in three days? Yes, THREE DAYS!

First step -- have a lot of people after the same thing. And make it something concrete. (Sorry, world peace isn’t achieved in three days.)

At first glance, this sounds like every fantasy quest plot. But the more I thought, the more it seemed to apply to a multitude of genres -- a search for a ring of power or a wedding ring. For Princess Leia or Rapunzel. For the evidence to convict a suspect or to clear a family’s honor.

Second step -- have a protagonist ready to walk out on the whole thing when something else comes along. Notice, you don’t need to open with the heroine’s birth. Just her moment of decision, her fateful choice, her call to adventure -- whatever term appeals to you. He gets an offer he can’t refuse. The doorbell rings and an old love appears. (Just don’t make it the alarm clock sounding. It’s been done too often. Trust me.)

Third step -- the end. (Wiping the sweat from your brow!) But don’t ignore the end. According to Anders, for the ending, Moorcock suggests looking back to the beginning and picking a character from the past.

I love having the end mirror the beginning. I’ve heard suggestions elsewhere to have the final scene echo the opening one, but with a difference. Bilbo returns to his hobbit hole, only to find all his possessions being sold at auction. Or, to look forward to Friday’s adventure classic, A Wrinkle in Time, the opening sentence, “It was a dark and stormy wind,” is permuted into the final one, “But they never learned what it was that Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which had to do, for there was a gust of wind and they were gone.”

I’ll write more later about structure, and suggest you take a look at what author and former editor Kristen Lamb has to say at www.warriorwriters.wordpress.com/ But for now, watch out for the bones, and a happy ending to all!

NaNoWriMo and me

It's November -- how's  your novel coming along?  If the answer is, you don't have a novel, you don't plan to have a novel, or what's a novel? that's good.  Your sanity may still be intact.  If the answer is, only 49,999 words to go, hope your health insurance covers psychiatric care for deranged and delusional writers.  Because for those of you who missed it, on November 1, in the hullabaloo between Halloween, the World Series and elections, National Novel Writing Month began.  And this year I'm there.

NaNoWriMo to its enthusiasts (pronounced "neh-noh-rye-moh"), an acronym strangely similar to the "nah-noo nah-noo" greeting from a 1970's era comedy, is a project intended to prompt otherwise normal people to write a novel within a single thiry-day period, the month of November.  Despite the name, the point is not exactly to write a whole novel.  It's just to write a 50,000-word first draft of a novel.  To force those of you who insist you could write a novel but you just don't have the time, to put up or shut up.  Because, while you may not have the months or years it takes to write a completed, many times revised novel, surely, brother, you can spare thirty days.  Except the organizers of NaNoWriMo, cunning as they are,  know that once you've written 50,000 words or a novel, once you've written an entire first draft with a beginning, middle and end, it becomes a beast almost impossible not to take further.  I know.  I'm currently revising a novel, just not one begun during NaNoWriMo.  And I'm taking a break from it to push through another novel.  Maybe I'll come back to the old one with fresh eyes.  Maybe I'll be able to get into revision mode on the new one.  Maybe I'll just be able to say, I did NaNoWriMo.

If you think you're up to some November insanity, see http://www.nanowrimo.org/ for more particulars.  It's not to late.  But please excuse me now.  I've still got 48,090 words to go.  Signing off -- nah-noo nah-noo.