Just so you know, I am going to write a novel.
My friend Brad told me about this site last year, which promotes November as a National Novel Writing Month. Check it out. The guidelines are easy: In the month of November, you have to write a novel. Sounds good. I always wanted to be able to say that I’ve written a novel, so hopefully by November 30th, I’ll be able to say that.
Now, there are a few catches. First of all, I suck at writing fiction. Second of all, I don’t have a topic. But that doesn’t matter, since the site is geared more towards quantity than quality (and it explicitly states that). Aside from the satisfaction of being able to say you wrote a novel, there are no prizes, but if you complete the challenge, you can say that you “won.” To “win,” your novel needs to have at least 50,000 words, which apparently works out to the equivalent of 175 pages or so. Especially since I don’t have a topic, that number kind of concerned me, until I saw that my Nicaragua story had about 8,000 words (and I wrote that in one long evening). I know that there’s definitely a difference between writing non-fiction (easy) and fiction (hard), but I still have a feeling I’ll be able to pass that 50,000 word mark.
So, wish me luck. If you’re interested, you can also join and try to write your own novel. We can take part in some long-distance, coffee-based commiseration and egg each other on to the finish line. In the meantime, I’ll try to keep some sort of word count tally on either this blog or www.ryansitzman.com, although I’ll still have the same internet connection issues that I usually have. And who knows, if any part of what I write turns out to be worth a damn, then maybe I’ll put some of it up here or on my website.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to start writing an outline.
My friend Brad told me about this site last year, which promotes November as a National Novel Writing Month. Check it out. The guidelines are easy: In the month of November, you have to write a novel. Sounds good. I always wanted to be able to say that I’ve written a novel, so hopefully by November 30th, I’ll be able to say that.
Now, there are a few catches. First of all, I suck at writing fiction. Second of all, I don’t have a topic. But that doesn’t matter, since the site is geared more towards quantity than quality (and it explicitly states that). Aside from the satisfaction of being able to say you wrote a novel, there are no prizes, but if you complete the challenge, you can say that you “won.” To “win,” your novel needs to have at least 50,000 words, which apparently works out to the equivalent of 175 pages or so. Especially since I don’t have a topic, that number kind of concerned me, until I saw that my Nicaragua story had about 8,000 words (and I wrote that in one long evening). I know that there’s definitely a difference between writing non-fiction (easy) and fiction (hard), but I still have a feeling I’ll be able to pass that 50,000 word mark.
So, wish me luck. If you’re interested, you can also join and try to write your own novel. We can take part in some long-distance, coffee-based commiseration and egg each other on to the finish line. In the meantime, I’ll try to keep some sort of word count tally on either this blog or www.ryansitzman.com, although I’ll still have the same internet connection issues that I usually have. And who knows, if any part of what I write turns out to be worth a damn, then maybe I’ll put some of it up here or on my website.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to start writing an outline.
365: Picture a Day Project 365 Leftovers All My Pictures Sitzbook
3 comments:
Hi Ryan,
I know you are going to get the
Nobel price for literature one day.
I will be so proud and will tell
everybody I know this man. Don't let me wait to long. I am getting on you know.
Maj
Maj,
Thanks for the encouragement! Once the novel finishes, we can finally move on to chronicling Maria's dating life at the beginning of the 21st century. You'll just have to keep feeding me stories and gossip!
Ryan
I getting excited - NOV is a coming. Shani says I don't have time to write a 50,000 word novel and there are other things that need my attention more..
I think I don't have time to NOT write a 50,000 word novel. So Im going to write mine in secret. SHHHHHH. I think I have a nice storyline in my head, now if I can convert that to words Im golden. Even got my title: Reset.
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