To me, NaNoWriMo seems completely pointless.

[hanoo_chan]

Mumblers

Practice is practice, yo.

This.

[hanoo_chan]

Spell Card

Mumblers

Practice is practice, yo.

Not exactly. If you're practicing something WRONG, it will get you nowhere.

Tell me, who are you to judge whether or not that this event (used as a form of practice or not) is wrong.

You came and asked why we do this. You have gotten many answers. But really, it all boils down to this: because we want to. We want to write. We want to practice writing. We want to write so much by a certain deadline. Whatever it is we want specifically, we participate in NaNo because we want to.

And as for writing. There is no such thing as practicing wrong. To be a writer, you must be able to write under many different kinds of conditions. If you are, as you so proudly state, accomplished in this field, you should understand that.

[Eliza Rain]

I wrote a novel, and it just took me about... five years to end it (it includes too many rewrites, and accidents), also, I have too many stories unfinished, just accumulating dust somewhere. But with this, I'm forcing myself to end at least one of my stories.

Maybe I never will be a great writer, and you never remember my name, but at least I'll get the satisfaction to say "Hey, I'm an economist, but also I've wrote too many stories!".

Also, as many people says: it's practice. You cannot be a good writer without doing two things: read, and write a lot. If you start with this, you can practice, at least, and get motivated by other people.

If you can't see it in that way, well, you should leave the forum, and do something else. Just saying.

[Shiarka Jonless]

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Shiarka Jonless

That's like asking someone why they try running a marathon if they know the'yre probably not going to make it to the end, let alone infront.

You challenge yourself to do it because others are doing it. Because you want to write and what better excuse than what ammounts to a writing marathon.

It's the same for artists who challenge themselves to the 24-hour comic. The result of that often turns into some sort of distrubed mess, but I love those things.

It's all for the sake of doing it and building the habit of doing the damned thing.

That's like a little child who just started playing an instrument trying out for the DSO. Of course they won't make it in. So why bother auditioning?

The little kid should go for the little stuff first. Practice, and THEN try to write your novel.

NaNoWriMo IS practice, though.

[Morigale]

ShinHaeMoon

I totally get what the OP is saying. I mean, realistically, none of you will get a published novel, and the ones that you only spend one month collecting your thoughts, regurgitating them on paper and rushed, sloppy editing really cannot be a good read.

This month is just the writing bit, though. Some people spend months beforehand working out their outline and characters, and the editing starts after November.

And, realistically, there are at least two novels out there that started out during NaNo. Water For Elephants and The Night Circus.

Spell Card

That's like a little child who just started playing an instrument trying out for the DSO. Of course they won't make it in. So why bother auditioning?

The little kid should go for the little stuff first. Practice, and THEN try to write your novel.

How do you practice writing a novel without writing a novel? (Well, short stories... but those wouldn't really train you for long plotlines. And it's still writing.) You can't learn to play the piano without playing the piano. You can't learn to draw without drawing. (Believe me, I've tried that one. Doesn't work.)

It's not like 'trying out for the DSO' -- that would be actually submitting the novel to a publisher. It's like sitting there practicing the instrument. You may sound horrible, but nobody has to hear it.

[geeyaa2011]

Mumblers

Practice is practice, yo.

true, dat.
bro.

[ShinHaeMoon]

Morigale

This month is just the writing bit, though. Some people spend months beforehand working out their outline and characters, and the editing starts after November.

And, realistically, there are at least two novels out there that started out during NaNo. Water For Elephants and The Night Circus.

But seriously, you said that these two novels started during NaNo. Not were completed. It's one thing to try and bounce around your idea and try to write something, but you are not going to create (unless you are of a lucky caliber, which I also mentioned in my OP---2 out of like thousands or how many of you are doing this isn't a very high amount of people) something worthy of publishing in one month. That is all I was saying.

Still, I stand by what I said earlier. I hope all of you doing this "get" something out of it and that it's not a waste of your time, and also that the stress levels you endure don't cause you any harm in the future.

[Kikinumi]

If might help you improve, if you stick with it. Really, it depends on you, as some would say.

Truthfully, I've never understood the point of NaNoWriMo, and when I get the oppertunity to read some of the novels out there- I've never really liked most of them.. :[ Really, I just want to edit everything.....

[Katsuya Jyonouchi]

ShinHaeMoon

Morigale

This month is just the writing bit, though. Some people spend months beforehand working out their outline and characters, and the editing starts after November.

And, realistically, there are at least two novels out there that started out during NaNo. Water For Elephants and The Night Circus.

But seriously, you said that these two novels started during NaNo. Not were completed. It's one thing to try and bounce around your idea and try to write something, but you are not going to create (unless you are of a lucky caliber, which I also mentioned in my OP---2 out of like thousands or how many of you are doing this isn't a very high amount of people) something worthy of publishing in one month. That is all I was saying.

Still, I stand by what I said earlier. I hope all of you doing this "get" something out of it and that it's not a waste of your time, and also that the stress levels you endure don't cause you any harm in the future.

Nobody expects to actually finish it during this month. Just write something novel length. And there are more than just two published works that came out of NaNo. There are two people in my region who said that their novels were published. Of course this is after they took the time and effort to edit and revise them for a couple years. But most people dont even get to the end of their first draft.
All NaNo does is get you to write down that shitty first draft to start it all. After that is out of the way, then you can worry about the small stuff.