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NaNoWriMo!!!

2009-11-02 · John · watch on YouTube · Books & writing · reflection essay

On the first day of NaNoWriMo John says no great book can be written in a month, yet joins the challenge because it teaches discipline and gives writers 'permission to suck', since books are made in revision.

What is said

00:00:00 — First day of NaNoWriMo explained; John's puff has grown into three puffs

  • ★★ John explains NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, as an annual event in which people try to write a 50,000-word novel in a single month. — 00:00:00
  • ★ John says his puff has grown so big that, as Sarah pointed out, it is now three puffs: baby puff, baby puff, mommy puff. (playful) — 00:00:00 · the Puff, Sarah Urist Green

00:00:30 — Since 2007 Nerdfighters asked about NaNoWriMo; comic self-argument that no good book is written in a month (On the Road took seven years)

  • ★★ John holds that no great book can be written in a month, as he told Nerdfighters who asked about NaNoWriMo when Brotherhood 2.0 began in 2007. — 00:00:30 · Brotherhood 2.0, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ In a comic dialogue with himself, John says that contrary to popular legend On the Road was not written in a month but in seven years. (playful) — 00:00:30

00:00:59 — Baby-Sitters Club exception; John will join NaNoWriMo; it teaches discipline, books are made in revision (examples from his three novels, botched metaphors), permission to suck

  • ★ His imagined interlocutor cites Baby-Sitters Club 43, 'Claudia's Sad Goodbye'; John jokingly agrees it is great but the exception that proves the rule. (joke) — 00:00:59
  • ★★★ John says he has always admired the Nerdfighters who take on the NaNoWriMo challenge and this year he will join them. — 00:00:59 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ John's first reason to love NaNoWriMo: writing, for fun or as a job, requires discipline, and writing 50,000 words in 30 days takes a lot of it. — 00:00:59
  • ★★★ John's second point: just as no great book is written in a month, none is written in a first draft however long it takes; books are made in revision. — 00:01:29
  • ★★ John says that for all three of his novels he deleted more than 90% of the first draft, and everything people like in them emerged in later drafts. — 00:01:29
  • ★★ John's examples from revision: Miles' obsession with famous last words in Looking for Alaska, the feral-hog hunt in An Abundance of Katherines, and the cartography in Paper Towns. — 00:01:29 · Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns
  • ★★ John likens drafting to digging clay and revision to building with it, calls that metaphor a first-draft failure, then stalls revising it into a chair metaphor. (playful) — 00:01:58
  • ★★★ John says NaNoWriMo forces discipline and gives writers young and old permission to suck, two things a novelist most needs. — 00:01:58 > «give us permission to suck»

00:02:45 — Snacks; John commits to 50,000 words, daily progress updates on the Ning, Ning group and NaNoWriMo forum; won't share his draft; sign-off

  • ★ John adds that novelists also need an adequate supply of snacks and recommends Cub Scout popcorn. (playful) — 00:02:45
  • ★★★ John tells Hank he is seriously going to try to write 50,000 words of a story over the next month. (hedged) — 00:02:45
  • ★★ John says he will update Hank on his progress every day at the Ning link in the sidebar. — 00:02:45 · Nerdfighter Ning
  • ★★ John points Nerdfighters joining NaNoWriMo to a group on the Ning and an official discussion forum on the NaNoWriMo website. — 00:02:45 · Nerdfighter Ning, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John will not share what he writes in November; if lucky, it will be good enough to spend the next two years revising. — 00:02:45

Humor (significant)

  • John raises the issue on everyone's mind before NaNoWriMo: his puff, which Sarah says is now several puffs. — 00:00:00 > «It's like baby puff, baby puff. Mommy puff.»
  • John keeps cutting off an imagined interlocutor who cited On the Road; the interlocutor insists on finishing his point. — 00:00:59 > «hold on pretentious mc asshat let me finish my point»
  • The interlocutor counters with Baby-Sitters Club 43 as a great book written in a month. — 00:00:59 > «oh that is a great book seriously but it is the exception that proves the rule»
  • After a clumsy clay metaphor, John tries to revise it live into a chair metaphor and stalls mid-sentence. — 00:01:58 > «This is why my books take three years to write.»

Threads in this video

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