Certifiably Nuts
I can’t believe I’m even considering this…absolutely, positively, certifiably nuts. I’m still recovering from back surgery, and although I’m a quantum leap in health from where I was, there are limitations to what I can do as well as energy levels that are still working their way back up to normal. My job situation is iffy at best, and I’ve a zillion things unattended to do that were orphaned during the last six months of dealing with the back. And if I thought real hard I could probably come up with half-a-dozen other terrific reasons why what I’m contemplating is truly…well, insane.
Yet the draw of the concept, the lure of being part of a greater movement, the desire to see what might happens over the course of 30 days when insanity temporarily (I hope!) takes over the creative engines of an obsessed writer, are hard to ignore. And obsessed is the perfect word, since nothing else would explain why I would even consider dipping my literary toe into the big waters of the NaNoWriMo challenge. But here I am, on the verge of doing something either completely stupid or wonderfully spontaneous while committing in a fit of creative insanity to an unrealistic endeavor.
Yes, I wrote recently that I would wait until next year, but the tug is simply irresistible. Holding no aspirations of producing anything of value in the usual sense, I am drawn to the possibilities of the cathartic value of writing 50,000 words in a month’s time (okay, not a full month since NaNoWriMo officially started on the 1st and I’m still procrastinating about starting). So in “slightly less” than a full month I’ll somehow find a few hours a day to write some incoherent, ego-centric, grammar-error-laden blatherings that by some cheating of the rules would qualify as a 50k novel? Or at least something that could only be called “fiction,” whose substance might be loosely related to out-of-focus photography that is kindly labeled “art?” And besides, I’ve written nearly twice that many words here on inkmusings (okay, not inside of 30 days, but still). If I were counseling a friend on this matter, though, no doubt I’d hesitate but a few seconds then pronounce, “I don’t think so!”
Regardless, it’s a tasty challenge…maybe not so much whether I could pound out 50,000 words without resorting to a “She was very, very, very, very, very, very, very pretty” sort of thing, but more to quench a long-suffering thirst to write fiction. Being the logical, process-oriented creature I am, such attempts were always derailed by lack of a few insignificant details…such as a worthy plot, interesting characters, engrossing setting, etc. Fortunately, writing under the NaNoWriMo challenge pretty much ensures that one can dump such annoyances and blaze new literary trails. Plot? Who cares…and who could keep track of that in such a short time? Characters? Let ‘em live as they die…randomly and inconsistently. Setting? Whatever happens, wherever it happens, will have to do, point-of-view and time sequencing be damned.
Ultimately though, it’s something to do that most people wouldn’t try (largely because most people are sane enough to notice the obvious idiocy of such a task). Whether I decide to jump on the runaway awful-novel train or not, at least it’s whetted my appetite to explore the boundaries of the fiction-beast, affectionately known as the place “where one learns to write well essentially for free.”
Whatever form talking myself into this takes, it’s clear I’d better decide quickly. Each day lost in the month is that many more senseless, silly, and mostly incoherent words per day I’ll have to come up with to make the deadline. While I don’t doubt I can crank out bad prose with the worst of them, I do hope there are limits to how much bad prose I have inside.
2 Responses to “Certifiably Nuts”
Oh, the irony…after today’s wretched attempt to work on “the Beast,” I’m just about reading to shoot myself over NaNoWriMo, so welcome to the Certifiably Nuts crowd!
In my case, I still don’t have *anything* remotely like a main character, no plot, no action, just a lot of ramblings about why I (or one of several aborted attempts at “characters”) can’t write fiction…damn. At least you’re used to thinking in fictional terms: plot, character, dialogue. I’m used to writing about *trees*, and they aren’t exactly great novel-fodder.
So with my skill at writing lots of words that say nothing, and with your skill of coming up with content but not having the time/energy/etc to state that content in words, maybe we could pool our meager resources to write *one* really crappy novel…
Either that or we could look into a group rate on psychotherapy, or a two-fer-one deal on straitjackets, or…well, whatevah.
RE: NaNoWriMo 2004.
OH! I’m absolutely shocked. Now I’ll have to read your other posts to see if you did…or did not.