Hello, writers. Knock me over with a feather-- just found out this a.m. that Jinx was named a Best Book of 2013 by amazon.
I hope that is encouraging to those doughty writers undertaking NaNoWriMo, because Jinx was a NaNoWriMo product.
In a sense. I wrote 50,000 words of the draft during NaNoWriMo of 2009. After that, of course, came over a year of rewrites before I had something that appealed to an agent, for whom I also rewrote it, and was acquired by an editor, for whom I rewrote it a couple more times.
As I may've mentioned, it's really all about the rewrites. However, without a draft, you have nothing to rewrite. So draft, draft, draft!
These are the dkos writers who have stated their intentions of going for the gold this month, and may be too busy typing away to check in with us:
terrypinder
archer070 (100k goal)
WiseFerret
Emmet (goal of 15k, plus rewrite & query 20 agents)
Diana in NoVa
Orinoco
True North (20k goal)
SouthernLiberalinMD
NaNoWriMo-ers, if you would like to give us your current word count I'll post it in next week's diary.
By the way, whenever I've been drafting in pursuit of a wordcount, my words have included a lot of
What are they doing here, anyway? Are you sure you want to write this scene? You're only going to end up deleting it. That's okay, write it anyway. It might be useful. Come on, just write it. Write it write it write it write it.
(45 words)
This is not against the rules! The rules are what you make them.
Someone asked if nonfiction is allowed when you're doing NaNoWriMo. Of course it is. Nonfiction is allowed. Haiku is allowed. Long digressions are allowed.
In the draft, you can do whatever you want. In the final version, as teh Guru says, you can do whatever you can get away with. If you're writing a nonfiction book, then nonfiction is something you can get away with.
There is no formula for writing a book. Well, all right, there are many, but you don't have to follow them. When you're writing a book, you're making up the rules. You know all the rules, of course. You know 'em backwards, forwards, and twisted into a kleinbottle. And you bring 'em in and use 'em when they're helpful.
But ultimately, you're up there on the tightrope dancing your own dance... one misstep can bring you crashing down, but meanwhile you're free, and nobody can really tell you where to put your feet.
Because nobody really knows.
Of course, when experienced ringmasters make suggestions, you'll listen. Nine times out of ten, you'll take their advice because the alternative is an unsightly splat.
But it's your dance.
Tonight's challenge was suggested by mettle fatigue.
Write the jacket blurb for a book. The title of the book is Lemon and Salt.
Write the opening paragraph..
Write On! will be a regular weekly diary (Thurs 8 pm ET) until it isn't.
Before signing a contract with any agent or publisher, please be sure to check them out on Preditors and Editors, Absolute Write and/or Writer Beware.