Going Into It

Let me preface this by stating that this is the first year I will actually be able to attempt this without being interrupted by work. As such, take any advice I might dispense with whatever amount of skepticism you see fit, considering it is all coming from a newbie. That said, I shall endeavor to limit my advice to previous experience in writing rather than this particular event. Most of my posts, such as this one, will not be to offer advice, but rather to state some of the challenges I face along the way in this process.

I think that the greatest challenge I am facing at this point in the game is the desire to actually write in the novel I plan on writing next month before the month starts. I think this stems from my having thought out what I want to write so far before I can actually allow myself to commit any of it to type. This is both frustrating and interesting at the same time. Frustrating for all of the obvious reasons, and interesting as this is the first time in my life where I have not been able to immediately transcribe my thoughts upon their occurrence. Whether this will be better for the novel's coherence or not I will not know until I get to the review process on the other end. I do suspect, however, that this forced pause between imagination and composition might actually instigate some measure of ponderance on the subject matter I intend to address. It has certainly given me generous opportunity for research which I rarely do beforehand.

I am unsure if I will be able to complete the goals of the competition as stated, as I really cannot imagine writing without some manner of review along the way, given the nature, tone, and complexity of the subject matter of the novel. If it were of a lighter nature, perhaps in a farcical style, I could imagine not taking it seriously enough to simply flow through fifty thousand words without regard to measure, continuity, and pace. As it is, I am struggling with myself over the concept of creative literary abandon. I realize that that is indeed one of the stated intents, to force authors to simply push themselves to produce quantity at risk of quality, but the snobbish artistic side of me demands that I do both or forsake the quantity if it at all compromises the quality. Obviously, this is a conflict I will be confronting as next month progresses.

Toward the purpose of preserving quality, I have set about pre-plotting the entire story in my head. I know that many, such as Nibo, would suggest an outline, but I have never excelled at writing about what I want to write, or writing about what I have written. While I know that outlines, even extensive ones of thousands of words, might help, I find myself unable to conjure up more than a seventy-one word summary. My issue is, I would much prefer to write a book than write about a book. An issue I have had since high-school book reports. However, I have no problem weaving the scenario of the book in my head, as long as I do not have to commit it to paper in any other form than the final product. I have run into this problem a few times before when trying to compile my extant writings into book form. I could not work up a short summary for the book cover or the inner jacket to save my life, despite having written the stories contained within it.

Another problem I am facing is, while I have written a lot since childhood, the longest completed work I have ever authored was just shy of twenty thousand words. The daunting goal for next month is more than twice that. I have written stories that long, but they have never been completed. I am certain I do not want to start a work with that as an acceptable outcome. As such, I am determined to finish the novel I start next month, somehow.