We’re coming to the close of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and I’ve given up on my goal. The goal I set was as follows:
- Write 50,000 words across any of the four books in my sci-fi series, specifically Books 2, 3, and 4.
- As of November 2, Book 2 was 44,252 words. Book 1 was 62,323. Book 3 was 2,435.
I’m not disappointed that my goal wasn’t reached, as I found that there were several issues with it.
First of all, the numbers are an inaccurate representation of all the writing I’ve actually done. Book 1 has already been revised several times in minor ways and is on its second iteration. The initial draft had more words than the second draft, which I’m still in the process of completing. I started to draft Book 2 at the beginning of the pandemic, and it has since been altered dramatically because the second part of Book 1 is being rewritten. All this is to say that, by using the current numbers, I have potentially defeated myself with the illusion that not as much work has been done. They say the numbers don’t lie. Well, it depends on how the numbers are represented.
Secondly, there’s the issue of constraining myself to specific books. According to my goal, the focus was to be on Books 2, 3, and 4. What really happened was that I focused a lot on the prequel and Book 3. The other books received some attention as well. I’ve discovered that, when it comes to creative writing, my work style is to bounce around. Like Tigger in Winnie the Pooh, my ideas are bouncy little springs coming at me in no particular order. I started drafting Book 1 in the middle of the book. While drafting Book 1, I was already formulating ideas for subsequent books, including the prequel. I would write down these ideas as notes, then return to a scene or chapter I was trying to work through.
This doesn’t work for me. I’ve realized that I get stuck when I try to write linearly. And no, I will not be creating outlines for each of the books before I write them, as some advise. I’ve tried this, and while I might go back after a draft or two and create an outline, if you ask me to write an outline before I start the novel or short story, it’s doubtful that anything will get written. I take a wisp of an idea and run with it, not try to collect all the wisps before we set off on our adventure. (All that preparation seems kind of boring to me the more I think about it.)
By bouncing around, I get myself unstuck from the sandpit of the scene or chapter I was trying to trudge through. By looking ahead, by envisioning what happens after I escape the sandpit, I can figure out how to get out of the sandpit. The future knows, and sometimes we have to imagine the future now in order to get there. I recognize that this is incredibly difficult to do in “real life” and it might not be the correct approach for that. But that’s a topic for another day.
Thirdly, my first NaNoWriMo in 2018 served its purpose and seems to not need repeating, at least not this year. The 2018 NaNoWriMo was what motivated me to write the first draft of Book 1. I needed that launch to get me into the air and the creative fuel pumping. Two years later, I’m still on a regular writing schedule. I’ve at least doubled those 50,000 words, probably tripled. I’m on the second draft of Book 1 and have sketched and begun developing a several other novels, some of them in addition to this sci-fi series. I’m transitioning to a career as a full-time writer.
So how much do the numbers and goals really matter? It depends. It depends on your motivation, on whether or not a shove off the cliff is needed. Sometimes we need pushed to the edge to make us fly. Sometimes we’ve forgotten that we’re already flying.
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