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NaNoWriMo!!!

2009-11-01 · letter vlog · John · 3:18 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, community lore, civic or action cta

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

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

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 (2009) 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 (novel), 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, link in the sidebar
  • ★★ 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

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: National Novel Writing Month

Also: People: Sarah Urist Green

Projects: Brotherhood 2.0 · Nerdfighter Ning

Works: An Abundance of Katherines · Claudia and the Sad Good-bye · Looking for Alaska (novel) · On the Road · Paper Towns

Organizations: YouTube

Terms: the Puff

Characters: Miles Halter

Products: Cub Scout popcorn

Also centred on National Novel Writing Month: NaFaDoYBIMSCoM

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