I decided to focus this blog on my writing, Indie Publishing journey and the resources I find useful. Hopefully you will find them of use as well. Just think of me as your pilot fish.
If Wabi-sabi (see first post) is an elegant antidote to perfectionism, participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a messier third cousin. For those unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo, it involves writing a 50,000 word “shitty first draft,” of a novel in November. There is much honor in completing a shitty first draft. If you’ve ever told anyone that you would like to write, or are working on a novel, you know how many people respond that they have a great idea for a novel or plan to write one when retired. The truth is that few people ever get started, or beyond a few pages or chapters. It is a great accomplishment to finish a first draft, however awful the prose. Julia Cameron, who wrote The Artist’s Way, used to show her ex-husband Martin Scorsese’s early films to her students to show his humble film-making beginnings. Early drafts of great novels exhibit the same lack of promise or genius. A lousy first draft is an essential step to a great novel. If we put too much pressure on ourselves for every word, or phrase to be a gem, we will never get past the first chapter.
NaNoWriMo is an inspired way to finish an entire draft quickly. The method obliterates both procrastination, and perfectionism, my two bete-noir. Since I am working on eradicating the paralysis caused by both, I jumped in for the first time this year, despite having a big deadline looming for another project. The other project was emotionally fraught, so I decided to have fun with NaNoWriMo, and work on a historical cozy mystery.
A cozy is a crime novel where sex and violence are minimal and the emphasis is on relationships and interesting every day lives in a small community. Think Miss Marple, Poirot or modern ones set in coffee shops. One of the beauties of writing a cozy is that they only need to be 50-70-,000 words. If I stayed organized, I could really have a complete first draft, rather than one that needed quite a bit of expansion.
To that end, in October, I read writing guru K.M. Weiland’s NaNoWriMo prep post. I skipped around a bit, but completed what I deemed the most important steps. For those of you unfamiliar with Weiland, you’ll find information about her amazing Podcast: Helping Writers Become Authors, below. Thanks to Weiland, I had character sketches, a chapter outline, major plot points, and a list of approximately half of the necessary scenes. The original idea for NaNoWriMo was that not a word of the manuscript be written prior to beginning, but 20 years down the line, people use NaNoWriMo however it works for them. I had drafts of approximately the first three chapters, but didn’t count them toward my 50,000 word goal. I sound organized, right? Not necessarily. Plunging into NaNoWriMo was much like finger painting as an adult. I had my table covered with paper, my paints, and brushes all neatly lined up, and a smock…and all began well. I drafted about a scene a day in the order I had arranged for the first week or so, only to realize that I didn’t know enough about my protagonist’s personality. Was she funny? Cynical? Sarcastic? What did she think about the big issues of her day?
Part of the problem was that I hadn’t done enough research about Southern Italian American women in Greenwich Village in 1911. I was taking Michelina (Mick) out of her community, into close contact with a wealthy, albeit socially conscious, society woman. Part of that woman’s outlook would rankle someone with relatives who worked in factories. I also needed to get Mick’s experiences right. She had an unusually good education, which was available, but would she have been to museums, or posh department stores? Taken the subway, trolleys or both? Have ridden in an automobile?
When I ran out of my list of planned scenes, I scrambled to figure out the rest. At the same time, I began writing out of sequence, which left a messy manuscript. Nonetheless, I hit my word count, exceeding it most days since I had to finish before I traveled for Thanksgiving. I wrote 50,000 words, and think I have all but a few of the scenes I need written. Somewhere right after the halfway mark, my characters gelled, and began telling me what to do. I felt like Dr. Frankenstein. They’re alive!
I won’t deny that it was a slog, but I was amazed at how much I accomplished in less than a month. About half way in, I consistently began to kick out 2,000 words in two hours or so a day. I always jotted down ideas for the next day’s scene (approximately 2,200 words to a scene) before stopping for the night.
What kept me going? First, my accountability partner, CJ in England. I think she gave me the idea to do NaNoWriMo and it was more fun to do it with her than alone. We didn’t have much time to talk, or email, but checked each other’s progress on the site, and cheered each other on when we had the chance. At some point a writer from my in-person critique group joined as a buddy as well. All three of us finished.
CJ also sent me a link to a great motivator that did not involve food (I have myself on a treat system) which was greatly appreciated. It’s a November calendar with what your word count should be by the end of each day to keep on track, and 50 books lining the bottom. I tacked it to my bulletin board, and enjoyed using my colored pencils to fill in one book for every thousand words I wrote. It was a good way to pause, and savor my victory each night, something I’m trying to do more often. It was also great to see my progress in colored books.
Here’s a link:
https://www.hillarydepiano.com/2019/10/nanowrimo-2019-bullet-journal-style-word-count-coloring-calendar/#.XfFx4OtOnBI
NaNoWriMo is a non-profit, with writers participating from all over the world. The site has plenty of good resources to prepare for NaNoWriMo, keep you going through November, and even advice for revising afterward. They have bootcamps leading up to the annual challenge, pep talks from well- known writers, and interesting, active forums. You can check them all out here: https://nanowrimo.org/.
It’s also a good way to meet new writer friends. In the forums I found other historical fiction people who asked questions I would, such as “What is your time period?” And “I need a source for a map of a neighborhood in 1790s Amsterdam” or “How many undergarments did a woman wear in 1910 New York, and in what order did she dress?” For the last one, I found an old short film!
Since I worked on a cozy mystery for NaNoWriMo, I checked into that forum and found kindred spirits there as well. People who requested ideas for fresh profession for their protagonist. Knitters and bakers have been done to death, no pun intended. Unfortunately, I was so busy with another writing project and writing approximately 1667 words a day for NaNoWriMo, that I didn’t have time to interact more.
They also have a young writers program for those under 18. Others have created NaNoWriMo variations for different genres, including picture book writers. https://napibowriwee.com/about/
Resources:
K.M. Weiland is an amazing writing guru and treasure. Her podcast, Helping Writers Become Authors, is an unparalleled free resource for great storytelling. Each episode is about 20 minutes long and contains clear, concise, short primers about all aspects of writing: characterization, plot, structure, scenes, beads. You name it. She’s an amazing teacher and breaks it all down, providing examples from books and movies most have read or seen.
https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/podcasts/
I used her NaNoWriMo Prep: https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/preparing-for-nanowrimo/
and Her Novel Template for Scrivener:
https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/resources/scrivener–template-for-outlining-and-structuring-your-novel/
and both served me well.
Have any of you done NaNoWriMo? What did you think? Anyone thinking of trying it next year?
My next post will cover beginning of the year organizing and getting revved up to revise. If you are interested in going with my on this journey, I plan to continue to write about my experiences and resources right through Indie Publishing this cozy mystery,
Until then, happy writing and other creating!