Why I'm Not Doing NaNo
Monday, November 4th, 2013 11:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizvogelI'm not doing NaNoWriMo this year. I considered it; not necessarily starting a whole new project from scratch -- I only just got back into the WIP, I don't want to drop it again -- but perhaps some modified multi-K push to get the current WIP closer to finished. I decided against it for a number of reasons, not least that a book where I'm constantly running up against plot-walls is perhaps not a good choice for NaNo-ing.
But the thing that clinched it for me, that put the full-stop on my decision not to play this year, was NaNo's own pep talks and supposedly-motivational postings, specifically this. And specifically one line: Slow writers find they can write about 800 words of novel per hour. So a "slow" writer might hit a productivity rate that's so wildly in excess of my output levels on even a good day that I'd be dancing in the freakin' aisles to achieve "slow"? Thanks so much, Chris Baty. Screw that and the horse it galloped past on.
That casual assumption and line-drawing encapsulates a lot of what I dislike about NaNo. I get that my process is unusual; I'm fine with my approach not being held up or talked about a lot on how-to-write forums. But I get damned tired of being told that writers like me don't exist. And NaNo, for all its supposed inclusiveness, is pretty much a month-long exercise in being told I don't exist. (And on the rare occasions that I am acknowledged as existing, it's only to be told I shouldn't.)
This, I do not need. So, no NaNo for me this year.
But the thing that clinched it for me, that put the full-stop on my decision not to play this year, was NaNo's own pep talks and supposedly-motivational postings, specifically this. And specifically one line: Slow writers find they can write about 800 words of novel per hour. So a "slow" writer might hit a productivity rate that's so wildly in excess of my output levels on even a good day that I'd be dancing in the freakin' aisles to achieve "slow"? Thanks so much, Chris Baty. Screw that and the horse it galloped past on.
That casual assumption and line-drawing encapsulates a lot of what I dislike about NaNo. I get that my process is unusual; I'm fine with my approach not being held up or talked about a lot on how-to-write forums. But I get damned tired of being told that writers like me don't exist. And NaNo, for all its supposed inclusiveness, is pretty much a month-long exercise in being told I don't exist. (And on the rare occasions that I am acknowledged as existing, it's only to be told I shouldn't.)
This, I do not need. So, no NaNo for me this year.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-Nov-09, Saturday 08:04 pm (UTC)...and even I have been side-eyeing their rah-rah promotion lately and going "No, seriously, back off, I know how I work, stop 'encouraging' me like this."
So I offer the general fistbump of affirmation about boundary enforcement and staying the hell away from big group activity things that don't happen to work for you.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-Nov-12, Tuesday 03:09 pm (UTC)As far as I'm concerned, the only valid test for process is "Are you producing work in a quality and quantity you're happy with?" If binge writing is getting you where you want to be, then that's the right process for you.
I did NaNo last year, and all else aside, it was a useful experiment. I may even do it again some time, with suitable armoring in place. But it is Not For Everyone, and their attitude that it is does make me rather want to lay about with the clue-by-four.