Over these last days I’ve been making more of a push on a new direction for this blog. For the first time I posted a complete original short story – “Farewell” – written just for you, dear readers, in “real time”, as it were. And of course I’ve also been sculpting the “Tea ceremony”, a sort of digital still life in words.
Given this backdrop, imagine my excitement and shock of recognition, upon perusing the weblog of my dear friend Kaelan, to come upon her reference to http://www.nanowrimo.org, a site devoted exclusively to promoting a simple idea – members of the great unwashed public write a complete novel in one month.
In a nutshell, November is novel month – in the form of a contest. Upon entering this contest, you have one month – from 00:00 on November 1 to 23:59 on November 30 – to create a complete 50,000 word novel. It’s ok to have devised plans/outlines/sketches beforehand – as well as any scene ideas conceived while playing with plastic toy dinosaurs or small household pets and kitchen utensils – but the actual prose itself must all be created within this thirty day window. This last requirement would rule out, for example, the “Scenes from the Novel” that have gradually emerged on these pages from time to time.
I’ve been thinking I might devote the month of November this year to taking up this challenge, flinging the gauntlet, taking a hefty bite from Euterpe’s apple, so to speak.
I suppose if I were truly invested in the cutting edge potential of this novel cybermedium, then I would go all the way and Twitter my way to the finish line. I’ve run the math: There are thirty days in the month of November, and just about fifteen words in the average Tweet. For a 50,000 word novel, that comes out to 111 Twitter posts per day, or somewhere between seven and eight Tweets per hour (or about 0.12 t.p.m.), assuming that (a) one sleeps an average of eight hours a day, and (b) one does not actually have a life.
OK, maybe that wouldn’t be such a good idea.
But it might be interesting to take a monthlong detour from our regularly scheduled program in order to write a novel in these pages, and see where it all leads.
You are the readers, and I value your opinion on the subject. So, what do you say? I’d love to hear from you, to see what you think of this idea.
Interesting thought… but, for me, this seems to be more about the process than the actual story… More of digital performance art. Which is fine in and of itself, but, to truly craft a story, us mortals must re-read and revise… Sometimes the beginning of the story doesn’t come to light until the rest of it is written… So be careful not to waste the idea intended for your grand opus on something that cannot be revised. 🙂
But, as for your request for feedback on your intended project… I strongly encourage it. I know, without a doubt, that it will be a good experience for you and that you will get much satisfaction from the process… I, however, will miss our playful banter arguing the correct path to utopia.
I think you should do it