Am I the only person who *dislikes* NaNoWriMo?

[Legato of the Night]

I never bothered with the competition. I understand that I may need to follow deadlines if I am to write for publication in the future, but when I can help it I would rather follow my own pace.

[suzzixnobody]

I've never participated in it, but I plan to.
I don't see a reason to really dislike it.

[VenusRain]

Pipe Private

SanityPhobia

Pipe Private

It's a bit gimmicky at the end, too... you win a t-shirt--that you have to purchase for $20.00... What?????
:

Just wanted to add, a self publishing company is offering one free paperback professional bound proof copy of winning books to their respectful authors. That's my motivation right tharr biggrin

A proof. neutral They are full of mistakes and errors... Unless you really take the time to proofread your work before it's sent to the printer... Otherwise it's like "FUUUUU, comma, comma, semi-colon; UGH why did I write that? D': "

Weird thing: I'd actually like a proof because I tend to catch errors better when I have a physical book in front of me.

On topic: NaNo is really more of a beginning if you know anything about how writing a consistant world works. It's not intended to give you a super shiny sparkley finished product; it's essentially word vomit that you need to pick through to find the things that don't make you sick. :I

[Rose Patterned Twil]

You're right, Nano is WritingLite, but I don't think people actually take it as seriously as you're implying. It's like saying that if someone yelled 'Race you to the Car!' and you won, you can win a track meet. It's a fun timesink. Yes, it's pointless and stupid, but it's fun, and a good way to meet other writers and talk.

[The Simple C]

The reason I like NaNoWriMo is because it gets people to write (revisions are for after you write, anyway), and it helps socially awkward people like me connect with other people. >___>'

My work for NaNoWriMo is pretty... Low in quality (nice way of putting it), yes, but that's what editing and revising are for. Although I have participated in the past, this will be the first year I have ever taken it seriously as a project. I don't think NaNoWriMo is a step towards being a published writer, but it looks excellent on college and job applications.

However, it isn't for everyone, and that's cool too. Everyone writes at their own pace in their own circumstance. 3nodding

[Dr. Koji Kotobuki]

I don't really like the idea. I'm not a writer though--I'm more of a comic artist which is a whole other beast entirely.

It just... seems shallow to me, I guess. Several of my friends participate and they just get burned out. The other ones just write horrid fanfiction. 8|

[PsychtcPyro7]

Sir Icehawk

Once you've written a novel, you're a novelist. So they can call themselves that. You don't have to edit it for it to be a novel.

I don't really want to start an argument on this but I thought I might share some input that a professor once told me. You can wrote all you want, but if you're not saying anything, you're not producing anything. I think he meant that if you're not getting readers, because the work is crap, then you're not a writer, but the point I sort of wanted to make was that just because they finish a novel length piece does not in fact make them novelists. I've read the rules for Nano a few years back and they actually say that it's perfectly acceptable to repeat the same word over and over to fill the word quota. I don't think anyone would agree that that is a novel. So why is it that a page of more words, put together badly and with little to no concept of sentence structure and story weaving is considered a novel just because it's long enough? I'm pretty sure there has to be other parameters. Most writing professors won't tell you those parameters, mostly cause they don't know themselves, but because the more you think about what it means to write a novel, the better you will write one. I'm pretty sure Nano's promotion that anyone can be a novelist so long as you write every day in a month time and get this many words, is not what it means to be a novelist.

Now the good side of my rant. I can see how Nano could be used well. The fact that most people don't use it for its highest possibilities doesn't mean that it can't be a very good tool. A tool is never the be all end all, as many people have been saying, you need to use other tools such as revision and a basic knowledge of what a story actually entails. The closest thing I can think of is Fanfics. I've seen fanfiction that is long enough to be novel length but there are very few fanfic writers who are proficient writers. Mostly because they don't fix their mistakes. But as a recently graduated Creative Writing major I Know two things. People have trouble getting started and ending. That seems to be the general issues for most people that want to write. The fear of the blank page and the procrastination, or the unknown ending. Nano forces you to start, no matter what you start writing just to start it, because you don't have a ton of time to play around, and it demands that you finish within a deadline. Its sort of like a school project in that, you have a given amount of time and so you are forced to just do it.

Also I want to point out that there is National Novel writing month but if you use that in connection with nation novel finishing month, which is the editing we're all harping on, then you end up with something a little less sloppy and uncaring.

[une petite fleur]

I like NaNoWriMo because it gives motivation to writers who are huge procrastinators and/or huge self-critics. I don't like NaNoWriMo because I really am not a fan of writing. I'd rather tell stories with my mouth and body than with written words that may not be read the way I want them to be.

[The Simple C]

PsychtcPyro7

...It's not acceptable to write one word 50,000 times. Nor has it ever been in the three years I've participated.

[i_am_recyclable]

I am a huge self-critic. For 5 years I've just edited and edited. I have boxes of pre-production work done, but only 30k worth of something worth reading. And this is to be a trilogy ; A;.

I'm trying out NaNoWriMo so I can have writing buddies, my bf, and friends yell at me when my inner-editor tells me, 'What are you doing!? That's crap!' and tell me: "It's just a first draft." (2nd but still)

I guess NaNo means something different for everybody. And I admit it's not for everyone. But the idea of turning your self-critic off and get some progress done, really excites me. And I think that's what NaNo means mostly for me.

(Oh and since I do have 30k typed out I have to get to 80k this year. classified_fu ) This'll be an experience lol.

[Sir Icehawk]

PsychtcPyro7

Sir Icehawk

Once you've written a novel, you're a novelist. So they can call themselves that. You don't have to edit it for it to be a novel.

I don't really want to start an argument on this but I thought I might share some input that a professor once told me. You can wrote all you want, but if you're not saying anything, you're not producing anything. I think he meant that if you're not getting readers, because the work is crap, then you're not a writer, but the point I sort of wanted to make was that just because they finish a novel length piece does not in fact make them novelists. I've read the rules for Nano a few years back and they actually say that it's perfectly acceptable to repeat the same word over and over to fill the word quota. I don't think anyone would agree that that is a novel. So why is it that a page of more words, put together badly and with little to no concept of sentence structure and story weaving is considered a novel just because it's long enough? I'm pretty sure there has to be other parameters. Most writing professors won't tell you those parameters, mostly cause they don't know themselves, but because the more you think about what it means to write a novel, the better you will write one. I'm pretty sure Nano's promotion that anyone can be a novelist so long as you write every day in a month time and get this many words, is not what it means to be a novelist.

Dictionary:
Novelist (noun)
a person who writes novels.

Novel (noun)
a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying characters and usually presenting a sequential organization of action and scenes.

Thus if you have written a novel or are writing one, you are a novelist. Reread the rest of my post from a year or so ago, and you'll get why I'm said what I said.

Next someone will tell me that you're not a writer if you don't edit or if you don't seek publication. A writer is someone who writes. A novelist is someone who has written novels. Quality has no bearing here. What is done with it when it was finish has nothing to do with it as well. Cool beans if they try to make it better. Sometimes you just have to let a piece die and move on to the next.

Does this water down what it means to be a novelist and a writer? That's debatable. I think its clear where I stand. There gets to be a point where people start to split hairs. This seems like one of them. A writer is someone who writes. A novelist is someone who writes novels. You wrote a novel for Nano? You're a novelist. Congrats. End of story as far as I am concerned. No need to rain on their parade.

[Basket of Kittens]

Honestly NaNo isn't competing with other people. It's just a challenge for yourself. If you don't like challenging yourself don't do it. You don't have to put fluff either. If you want a good thought out 50,000 word novel then do it. And NaNo is a spring board, it's where you start. You get what you can out in the month, it pushes you. Then you can go back and edit it, change what you want. If you want to edit it at all. You don't get anything but a print out certificate for NaNo, so it's not like you really are getting anything. Sometimes they give out a coupon for a free copy of your book that normally would cost about $5. Big woop. It really is a personal thing. If you don't want to challenge yourself to write and create something in the one month don't do it.

[Morigale]

Melange Rehab

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.

Look. I know I'm trash, ok? I KNOW I'll never do anything worth... doing anything with. I don't need someone to spit in my face and prove it. I'm terrified of critique because, well, I know I'm worthless.

As much as I daydream of being able to produce something, I'm aware that no matter how much I edit and improve I'm never good enough.

But for one month a year I get to feel like maybe I'm not a failure. I'm sorry if you hate it, but it keeps me afloat.

[Discomfiture]

Not everyone who does NaNo is intent on being a serious writer. It's just for the experience.
If someone is serious about their writing then good for them, I admire them for it.
NaNo is just a way for people who may feel intimidated by the task to take the chance and try, even if it is 50k words of fluff and nothing-ness.

[Mockary]

When I just looked at this and read that you are to start fresh and not use anything you already have my brain went blank. I'm always tinkering with an array of characters so to be told that I should start from scratch is like okay? Urr....I also don't like deadlines and word counts. I story can be brilliant and not be long. In fact trying to make a good story longer can ruin it and add unnecessary details.