Day Thirty Three: NaNoWriMo

There is not one big cosmic meaning for all, there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.--Anais Nin

Writing a story or a novel is one way of discovering sequence in experience, of stumbling upon cause and effect in the happenings of a writer's own life--Eudora Welty

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are--W. Somerset Maugham

 



 A friend of mine mentioned NaNoWriMo a month ago and tonight I talked to a couple of new writer friends who are doing it. I decided to do it too. 
What is it?
Here is the entire description found on the What is NaNoWriMo? Link
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing on November 1. The goal is to write a 50,000 word, (approximately 175 page) novel by 11:59:59, November 30.
Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.
Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. This approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.
Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.
As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.
In 2010, we had over 200,000 participants. More than 30,000 of them crossed the 50K finish line by the midnight deadline, entering into the annals of NaNoWriMo superstardom forever. They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists.
So, to recap:
What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.
Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.
Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.
When: You can sign up anytime to add your name to the roster and browse the forums. Writing begins 12:00:01 November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at 11:59:59. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.
 Here is a fabulous Pep Talk link if you want to explore the idea further.

Exercise: If  you are planning to join NaNoWriMo, this exercise will help you in creating characters to use in your novel. There is a theory I'm planning to try on the start date and that is this: If you have a clear picture of each character, set them free on the page and let them show you what they'd do. In other words, let them write the story.
If you are not planning to join NaNoWriMo, this exercise will help you either discover a completely new character, or discover something new about a character you've already created.
Since I found the exercise purely by chance on the NaNoWriMo website (Seriously! I googled 'character creation exercise and it popped up!) I'll just post the link here:
Character Creation Exercise

Are you excited at all? I am! I'll post my sketch tomorrow!

Later

The music suggested did not really work for me other than the classical piece by Ludovico Einaudi - A Fuoco. Dreamy and haunting. For me, rather than an immediate sense of a character, the music evoked  an image of a woman on a boat, looking out to sea. There was a sense of longing.
To get clarity I asked myself questions about the woman.
What is she longing for?
Who is she with?
Where is she going?
What is her passion?
What are her flaws?
What makes her laugh?
What does she look like?
etc.

It was a really cool exercise. I plan to experiment more with different types of music. What kind of character will rise up from Jazz, or something blusey or heavy metal?

Her parents named her Chloe, because her mom thought it was the classiest name around. Way classier than Jennifer, or Linda or Jackie. Being classy was important to her mother.Still is.
"It's what sets people apart," she's always said. Which to her is a good thing.
Her mother is what set Chloe apart from other kids. The kids in Mountain View, California her mother deemed sophisticated enough to play with her daughter, steered clear.  She has one friend, Charlie, who's unbearably awkward and spends his time creating detailed drawings of fantastical animals. As a result of being alone most of her young life, Cassy is a dreamer. Her interior life is rich and full of texture. She dreams of escaping and exotic men with foreign accents. When she finds one who takes her away, she dreams of Charlie. She's always dreaming of something other.
Chloe has skin that burns easily, auburn hair and green eyes. None of her features are especially remarkable or beautiful, but they come together in a pleasant way.
She has yet to find her voice. In fact, she has yet to find a strong opinion. She's never completely sure about anything, least of all about what she believes.

Later Still

Thus far I find this character a little blase, but that's OK. I'm going to give her time to come into focus and she may or may not make the final cut. In the meantime there are more characters to create.