Melange Rehab
Okay. I know I'll get a lot of hate for voicing my opinion, but here goes.
Uhhm...no. You might get plenty of people who disagree and there will be the odd troll. Such is the internet. You won't get 'lots of hate' since disagreement does not equal hate.
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First off, I have no problem with people who decide to write 50,000 words in a month. Do what you want. It's better than nothing.
Hmm....I wonder why you bothered to make this thread then.
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Personally, I dislike NaNoWriMo. I tried it, this year was my second, and while I enjoy typing away on my laptop every other month of the year, I find myself hating it when November comes around. Why? I suppose I’m not competitive. I suppose I don’t like filling up my story with fluff to get to the word count as it is the ultimate goal. I suppose I dislike the nonstop talk about it on Twitter, and blogs, and other social forums. It's not my method, and that's fine, NaNo isn't for everyone. It's good for some, not all.
If you dislike it, you dislike it. As you said, it's a matter of personal taste. The ultimate goal is to have a first draft. That's it.
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When I talk to real writers and show them my work, they tell me how I need to improve and how my writing sucks – we don’t discuss trivial, unimportant things like how many words we have on paper or how far ahead of schedule we are. They’re brutal, they rip my work apart, they give me the terrible reality of the world of writing – they don’t pat me on the back and give me empty congratulations and good-for-yous like NaNoWriMo participants do for each other. Usually, NaNo isn’t meaningful writing, it’s Writing Lite®, a feel-good placebo for the procrastinator who knows that deep down, they’ll never be the writer they daydream of becoming.
I think you're behaving a tad snobbishly here. Real writers? Come on, writer means 'someone who writes'. That's it. I'm glad you managed to shush your inner critic enough to get the job done. Some of us haven't mastered that and need that extra push. That's nanowrimo, for many.
The subject matter under discussion would be what it is because you are showing a completed draft to your 'real writer' friends. Nanowrimoers are
making that first draft. You gotta walk before you can run. You don't yell at someone who's just managed 'dada' to use antidisestablishmentarianism in a sentence.
What if it is just a placebo? Writing a finished novel, crappy as it may be, is something a lot of people don't achieve.
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A few of my friends who claim to be writers love NaNoWriMo. A few have won. They'll obsess over it all month and I admit, they do work hard. But when I ask them about their writing projects any other day of the year, they pause and stutter and say "they're working on it" and avoid the subject. I ask to see their work and they never have anything. After NaNoWriMo, after meeting the word count, they never bring up their projects again. I asked all four of them last year and
none of them bothered to edit and re-write their stories. They were done, finished. They didn't try any more. They gave up, and they still keep pretending that they're serious writers.
Glad to see you admit that they do work hard, once a year at least. Maybe the nanowrimo thing is the only one they feel comfortable talking about. None of them bothered to edit their stories? Hmm...maybe, maybe not. But...think about it...are you always completely honest with everyone? White lies still count as y'know
lies.
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I dislike being surrounded by people who call themselves writers when they only take the initiative to REALLY write one month a year. I dislike being surrounded by people who, after meeting this word count just ONCE, declare themselves novelists.
1. a person engaged in writing books, articles, stories, etc., esp. as an occupation or profession; an author or journalist.
2.
a clerk, scribe, or the like.
3.
a person who commits his or her thoughts, ideas, etc., to writing: an expert letter writer.
4.
(in a piece of writing) the author (used as a circumlocution for “I,” “me,” “my,” etc.): The writer wishes to state….
5.
a person who writes or is able to write: a writer in script.
A novelist is defined as 'a person who writes novels'.
So...given that nanowrimo people come a hell of a lot closer than most of society who can be considered writers, I don't think it's fair to object to them calling themselves writers.
By all means, object to them calling themselves novelists, just shush if they do nanowrimo twice.
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Now don’t froth at the mouth and attack me just yet. I’m not a writer, no, not by far. I write at least four times a week, an hour or so those days, and that’s not enough. I’m not a novelist either; nothing of mine has ever been published. Only when I have reached that bitter self-loathing state where I write consistently every day (or make a career of writing) will I find myself deserving of the title of ‘writer’. Only when I open that first letter and find, to my amazement, that I am not being rejected, will I feel comfortable declaring myself a ‘novelist’.
Yes, you are a writer. Very few people are not in the developed countries. I thought you didn't discuss word count? If you have finished two novels, you are a novelist. Whether you're published or not, while it might be a glittering marker of success, is not how you define a writer or novelist.
It's a shame that you feel you have to hate yourself before you call yourself something you have been since before you reached double digits.
What publishers think has nothing to do with writers or novelists. Authors, sure. Writers, novelists, no.
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I'm sure there are people out there who write, or make a strong effort to write every day of the year and not just in November. To those people, I say good job, keep it up. This rant isn't directed towards you.
Ehh...you're a worthy opponent for verbal fencing anyway.
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If you participate in NaNo and you DO edit in December and keep working on your story afterwards, again, good job.
I see.
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Now, if people are not interested in writing as a career or serious pursuit, and they are just trying it out with their friends, that's okay, too. A hobby is one thing. But be realistic – there are a lot of people who want to be writers, want to be great, and then only put forth the effort during this popular month-long internet event.
Yeh, definitely in the hobby camp. There a lot of people who want to be great authors. There are a lot of writers in the world, even if they're not a very big group compared to the whole world.
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This is only directed towards the people who claim to be serious about writing and only write every day when it's the month of November. A great deal of NaNoWriMo participants can fit into this category, but not all.
What is your criteria for claiming to be a serious writer?
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It shouldn’t have to be a popular thing with lots of other people participating in order for anyone to take the initiative. That initiative should already be there. It shouldn't be only one month a year - more people should be passionate about writing
all year. If this sort of passion was year-round, I would be ecstatic, happy, encouraged - but it's only this one month a year that a great number of people seem to try and write.
Just like the holiday spirit. Being grateful for what you do have shouldn't just be for a season. Such is life. There will always be people that seem to need that jolt. Again, you don't go into specialist marathon training before someone can walk steadily. Who knows? 1 month could become 2 could become 3 and so on...up until 12.
It's also the one month a year that people talk about their writing.
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It isn't so much the event of NaNo that I dislike, it's the utter disinterest of writing afterwards. The popularity is gone, the internet buzz is gone, and so with it goes the feigned motivation.
Just because people stop talking about it doesn't mean that they forget it.
Not my problem. Stop comparing yourself to others. There are only two forks on that road, neither of which are pretty: Vanity or Bitterness.
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I do hope you guys prove me wrong and keep working, writing, re-writing, editing, etc. but when it comes to most of you, I won't be counting on it. Sorry.
Please don't count on me to edit and such. Do not walk behind me for I may not lead. Do not walk in front of me for I may not follow. Please don't walk by my side either.
I'm a stranger on the internet. I really really really really would rather you not depend on me for your happiness.
Night, all.
