Writing Blog

20231026 Upsetting NaNo-ers pt2

October 26, 2023, 8:30am

ADDENDUM!

So, still on the Discord channel. I just called the work I finished my "warm-up novella" to get ready for NaNo, like a doing a warm-up tennis event before a Grand Slam...

Hooboy! You'd've thought I'd sworn for twenty minutes straight!

The idea of writing a long work before writing a long work was anathema to them, and... well, I have a feeling I don't fit in with my local NaNoWriMo people.

Apparently there is only one way to write, and churning out a quick-fire 49k words before tackling a quick 80k words is wrong. That's not even considering the 100k word book I finished at the end of September. And, yes, I do cop that sort of gatekeeping at times here at WdC, though not as often.

We all write differently, and have different ways our brains work. Why must people insist their way is the only way? I am a pantser and that works for me, but I think I've done okay at mentoring the plotters and planners in Preptober here at WdC. We're all different; let's celebrate that difference and we'll all be fine.

And if anybody asks me for writing advice, I have 3 bits:
1) Read. A lot. And read some more.
2) Write. A lot. And write some more.
3) Get your technical stuff down - grammar, punctuation, etc. - so your meaning will be clear. And you can't break this rule until you understand the rule you are breaking.

Two posts in an hour. Discord is fun today...