Every November in recent years, writers around the world have sat down to pen novels – 50,000 words – in four weeks, as part of National Novel Writing Month.
“Hmmn…books. New fangled rubbish. They’ll never replace scrolls, you know”.
It’s a challenge, particularly as writing is about content.
It’s also fun – and important. There is a conceit that speed and quality are exclusive. In some circles – especially academic – the term ‘prolific’ is used as a put-down. Actually, many writers can write both quickly and well. Think Asimov. Or Kerouac, who splurged out On The Road in three super-heated weeks. All without compromising quality.
That doesn’t happen out of the blue. It’s a learned skill, like everything else. And that’s where NaNoWriMo comes in.
To help you, over the next few weeks I’m going to share some of the tips, techniques and methods I’ve deployed to write 50 books, mostly published by Penguin and Random House, over the last 25 years.
I’ll be covering all the bases – planning, structure, scale, short tip-lists. And I’ve got some longer posts lined up. Especially watch for ‘Writing Inspirations’, on Sundays, New Zealand time.
Watch this space.
Copyright © Matthew Wright 2012
“In some circles – especially academic – the term ‘prolific’ is used as a put-down. ”
NaNoWriMo is a great experience – you meet other writers, challenge your speed, skill and quality, and in the end, you feel like you’ve achieved something, even if you don’t make it to 50K words. Looking forward to your tips!
Thank you! First post on 1 October (NZ time).
Really looking forward to it… it’s my first and I’m pretty excited. Will definitely keep checking in.
Thank you. First tips post is tomorrow, Monday, NZ time.