It's My Novel I Can Do What I Want With It

By: Unknown on 11/06/2012

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(WARNING: Over the course of the next few weeks you will hear me talk a LOT about NaNoWriMo.)

Before I delve into my thoughts I'll give you a little bit of background information about myself. The number one thing which you need to know about me is that I'm something of a perfectionist. Everything needs to be just-so for me to be happy (that's not necessarily true, but I am a happier person when things are all in line). It sorta runs in the family.

With that said- I hate first drafts.

I have this whole story fleshed out in my mind, but getting it from my head to pen to paper is a whole other story. I know where I want things to go, yet I can't seem to go through the process of writing everything down. In other words, I'm bored.

Some of you might call this writer's block, but writer's block is a different animal. What I'm facing is something even more frustrating. For those of you who don't really like to write, think of it this way: you have this great plan for an awesome party (at least you think it's awesome), however it requires a lot of time and effort. And you really don't have very much time to spend on orchestrating this party. So you put it on hold and it never gets done, therefore all your ideas are trapped in your noggin. That's sorta what I'm going through.

So, yeah, I'm a perfectionist. Onto what NaNoWriMo has taught me about this:

1. My perfectionism has got to go. There is no room for that annoying editor that sits on my shoulder. He MUST be gone. And, yeah, I've realized my first draft will be crappy. As in, so-crappy-that-you-wouldn't-be-able-to-distinguish-it-from-manure-if-you-happened-to-look-at-it. I'm perfectly okay with that. That's what December, January, and pretty much the rest of 2013 are for.  Revising. I might hate myself later, but for now all I care about is writing things down.

2. Sometimes writing in order doesn't work. My biggest problem is thinking I have to write from the beginning to the end without skipping around. That might work for some people but not for me. If I'm bored with the particular scene I'm writing it either means a) I've been writing it for too long or b) it's boring and I need to completely revise it. I've started writing the parts of my story that I really want to write. It seems to be helping so far.

3. Don't look back! No matter what! If you forget someone's name who cares? What does it matter if you make some grammatical errors? Just keep writing and pushing out ideas like crazy. Even if things don't make sense keep going. If it really bothers you, make notes to fix it later.

4. It's my novel, I can do what I want with it. For the past couple days, I was trying to make my story something it wasn't. I was trying to restrict it by putting boundaries on where I wanted it to go. For example, I decided to write a dystopian novel and wanted to include something a bit science fiction-ish, but was refraining from doing so, because I wanted to keep it in one genre. Then it hit me. I'm the one writing the book, I should be able to do whatever I want with it. Since I've made that decision I've became so much more at peace with myself.

Okay, I think I've said what I needed to say. All I can think about right know is finishing my first draft. A huge weight will be lifted off my shoulders once I do. Sometimes it seems a little daunting, but when I break it into smaller pieces things are a little more manageable.

Inquiry of the Day:

Have you ever taken on a daunting challenge, but when you finished, were glad you did it?

  
P.S. Happy election day! I'm not allowed to vote, and I won't tell you who I would vote for if I could. I don't want to start any disputes. I think I'll make something with cherries, though, in honor of our first president. ;)