As most of you know, National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo, is almost upon us. At this point in time, most people interested in the act of NaNo'ing are scrambling for plot ideas, working on outlines and character bios, and dreaming storyteller's dreams, all in anticipation of churning out a 50,000 word novel in 30 days or less.
Here's a little about how it works:
1. You write 50,000 original words between 12:00AM November 1, 2009 and 11:59PM November 30, 2009.
2. You don't start writing before, or keep writing after, the deadlines.
3. Writing outlines and character bios before the start date are ok, you just can't actually start writing your novel.
4. As far as the novel goes, anything goes. Whatever you want to write about is fair game.
5. No one will read your work (unless you give it to someone to read). To win, you upload your work to the NaNo site, which counts the words, and that's it.
6. If you reach 50,000 words, you win, even if you it's all nonsense.
7. No cheating! But really, it's all on the honor system. That being said, what would be cooler than being able to say, "Hey, I wrote a 50,000 word novel in 30 days!" and mean it?
I think that this year I will be participating in NaNoWriMo. I haven't decided what I want to write about yet. Probably either a WWII love story (of sorts), or some sort of paranormal urban fantasy thriller type story. Normally, I've never been able to participate due to the craziness that is my day job in the month of November, but my job is currently implementing a "no overtime allowed" policy, so I think this year I might just pull it off.
Now all I have to decide is if I want to share what I'm writing with my friends who are also participating in NaNo. I'll probably have to if I want to read anything they write, and they all tell pretty good stories.
I guess what I'm trying to say at this point is that I'm in. Wish me luck!
