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NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

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Re: NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

#21

Post by bowsamic »

aoanla wrote: post #7

I'm glad that NaNoWriMo continues to work for people, but I think it's important to note that it doesn't work for everyone - and it's ok if it doesn't work for you. I attempted it twice in consecutive years about a decade and a half ago, and not only failed to complete anything, but was also driven into a worse depression because of it. I had to avoid people talking about it in November for years afterwards or I'd st…

Writing this much seems to take significant mental energy, so if you are already prone to depression you need to be extremely prepared. It's also true depending on your intentions for all creative things, particularly if you have low self confidence. For example you might feel bad about yourself because you don't do enough art so you enter some kind of art competition, but then you immediately feel shitty about yourself and so you can't bring yourself to do it, leading to even worse self confidence about it.

My therapist told me that in Germany there is an idiom that in English translates to "if you want to prove that you will fail you will always succeed". If I did NaNoWriMo, I would have the full expectation that I will fail, even if I try to tell myself that I have hope it would go well, and so I will just naturally make myself fail.

Re: NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

#22

Post by octokatt »

ActionHank wrote: post #10

Do they have a policy on AI, I feel like they are not prepared for the coming flood.

They do: https://nanowrimo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/191758964889...

I remember there being a group out there that had the same competition but trying to tweak a good LLM to write a novel in a month, but I couldn't find it again and it was before the ChatGPT heyday.

Re: NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

#23

Post by bowsamic »

cfr2023 wrote: post #18

NaNoWriMo, though a net positive force in the world, strikes me as a creative exercise for non-creatives. Truly not a bad thing, no offense intended. Trying to create regularly will help you become more creative. However, if you're already someone that is able to maintain a writing schedule and hit daily targets of hundreds of words, and can see your dream works emerge through the simple act of scheduling... I'm gent…

The problem is that most people just fundamentally don't want to make art. NaNoWriMo is in many ways just an excuse to force themselves to do so "because they know they should".

Re: NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

#24

Post by swagempire »

aoanla wrote: post #7

I'm glad that NaNoWriMo continues to work for people, but I think it's important to note that it doesn't work for everyone - and it's ok if it doesn't work for you. I attempted it twice in consecutive years about a decade and a half ago, and not only failed to complete anything, but was also driven into a worse depression because of it. I had to avoid people talking about it in November for years afterwards or I'd st…

While I empathize with your situation-- be careful not to discourage others. The only two fully completed novellas were because of this month and I'm very proud of them.

I'm much more annoyed I haven't been able to replicate this outside of the contest.

Hope you feel better now.

Re: NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

#25

Post by aoanla »

swagempire wrote: post #24
aoanla wrote: post #7

I'm glad that NaNoWriMo continues to work for people, but I think it's important to note that it doesn't work for everyone - and it's ok if it doesn't work for you. I attempted it twice in consecutive years about a decade and a half ago, and not only failed to complete anything, but was also driven into a worse depression because of it. I had to avoid people talking about it in November for years afterwards or I'd st…

While I empathize with your situation-- be careful not to discourage others. The only two fully completed novellas were because of this month and I'm very proud of them. I'm much more annoyed I haven't been able to replicate this outside of the contest. Hope you feel better now.

I want to be clear, I am not trying to discourage others - however, I did try NaNoWriMo because of an aura of "everyone should do this, it's great" from people around me, so I am more just making the gentle point that people shouldn't feel that they "have" to do NaNo, or that there's anything wrong with them if they try and fail.

If it does work for you, that is, of course, great.

Indeed, NaNoWriMo does - by the very nature of its focus on "pushing yourself to succeed" and positivity in challenge - make it hard to talk about not succeeding. (And I am pretty sure that attitude didn't help my own interactions with it.)

Re: NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

#26

Post by crdrost »

aoanla wrote: post #25
swagempire wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I empathize with your situation-- be careful not to discourage others. The only two fully completed novellas were because of this month and I'm very proud of them. I'm much more annoyed I haven't been able to replicate this outside of the contest. Hope you feel better now.

I want to be clear, I am not trying to discourage others - however, I did try NaNoWriMo because of an aura of "everyone should do this, it's great" from people around me, so I am more just making the gentle point that people shouldn't feel that they "have" to do NaNo, or that there's anything wrong with them if they try and fail. If it does work for you, that is, of course, great. Indeed, NaNoWriMo does - by the very…

It's also, you have to make an artistic sacrifice when you're doing it. You're writing a first draft of a novel, but it's not meant to be a good first draft, it can have plotholes and characters who learn nothing and unintentional red herrings and all sorts of other stuff that drives readers up the wall.

My book, I got to the word count but the characters hadn't done a quarter of what they were supposed to over the plot, it was a book with an extended beginning, a little bit of middle, no resolution or ending. So I learned a lot about myself! But if I was trying to actually make a worthwhile narrative, well, I need to consider how much reasonably fits in 50,000 words and how many books do I need to tell the bigger story.

Re: NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

#27

Post by vidarh »

karmakurtisaani wrote: post #14
edent wrote: post #8

I've just completed my first #NaNoWriMo. I decided to do it as a series of short sci-fi stories. You can read them at https://shkspr.mobi/blog/TalesOfTheAlgorithm It was fascinating to me how much like programming it was. So much planning, lots of time trying to figure out what isn't working, and a bunch of spelling bugs! Well worth attempting this if you have the time to exercise your creative muscles. Anyway, if yo…

Did anyone read then? My experience in writing things online is that barely anyone reads them and even fewer comment on them. I might just suck at it, but if didn't someone would probably pay me to do it.

The average published novel hardly sells (couple of hundred copies on average), so if you write for the sake of a big audience, novels are not the thing to write - in that case aim for articles in a well read paper or magazine.

Selling even reasonably well takes a mix of persistency (building an audience over multiple works), talent, hard work promoting it yourself, and luck.

Re: NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

#28

Post by crdrost »

bowsamic wrote: post #23
cfr2023 wrote: post #18

NaNoWriMo, though a net positive force in the world, strikes me as a creative exercise for non-creatives. Truly not a bad thing, no offense intended. Trying to create regularly will help you become more creative. However, if you're already someone that is able to maintain a writing schedule and hit daily targets of hundreds of words, and can see your dream works emerge through the simple act of scheduling... I'm gent…

The problem is that most people just fundamentally don't want to make art. NaNoWriMo is in many ways just an excuse to force themselves to do so "because they know they should".

People do though.

Making art for most people is like exercise. It's good for them and once they get into it they like it, but there is an initial cost and your initial attempts aren't going to be very fulfilling and all that.

Almost everybody feels that surge of excitement in front of the potter's wheel. But, pots collapse, finding a teacher to mentor you is expensive, the people who want to start it have to start by researching clay and how you work it and can I use my oven as a kiln or do I need to buy a dedicated one and do I need glazing materials...

And then the same thing that killed exercise has killed the “artism” that we feel. People stopped going on daily constitutionals because of the TV, we made the TV more addictive and put it in your pocket and called it TikTok

Re: NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

#29

Post by cfr2023 »

bowsamic wrote: post #23
cfr2023 wrote: post #18

NaNoWriMo, though a net positive force in the world, strikes me as a creative exercise for non-creatives. Truly not a bad thing, no offense intended. Trying to create regularly will help you become more creative. However, if you're already someone that is able to maintain a writing schedule and hit daily targets of hundreds of words, and can see your dream works emerge through the simple act of scheduling... I'm gent…

The problem is that most people just fundamentally don't want to make art. NaNoWriMo is in many ways just an excuse to force themselves to do so "because they know they should".

It could be that type of target. It can also be a low commitment way for people who are on the fence to scratch a particular itch they are feeling. For some, the only "output" it produces may be, "I do not enjoy this."

That happens to be valuable info in its own way.

Re: NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

#30

Post by cfr2023 »

crdrost wrote: post #28
bowsamic wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that most people just fundamentally don't want to make art. NaNoWriMo is in many ways just an excuse to force themselves to do so "because they know they should".

People do though. Making art for most people is like exercise. It's good for them and once they get into it they like it, but there is an initial cost and your initial attempts aren't going to be very fulfilling and all that. Almost everybody feels that surge of excitement in front of the potter's wheel. But, pots collapse, finding a teacher to mentor you is expensive, the people who want to start it have to start by…

I've seen people that normally wouldn't align with any sort of creative identity suddenly light up when placed in the role. Even more when their contributions are meaningfully acknowledged and dignified as valid creations.

Reminds me of the difference between learning piano from someone that's scolding you and smacking your hands, and someone that is encouraging you, starting from where you are, leveraging your innate interests, opening your eyes to patterns... when the gates are down, it's much easier to get in.

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