National Novel Writing Month, 1st-30th November. My mind is raising to have that story idea written within one month to reach 50,000 words, unedited. It's crazy to put myself in this kind of challenge. I don't have to but, hey, why not? I know much about the story idea that's been brewing in my head for years. I've an idea what to write and how to start it. But, what if I got stuck in the middle or give up after a week or two? I think I need to plan the events and disasters I'll be putting my protagonist to have to go through. And save her for the last draw of her near-death danger. I'll keep my hero hanging on for dear life with courage--with no one in the Third Reich to blame. Not even Hitler. No imagined victimized delusions for the main character, for sure. That should keep the story going until it reaches 50,000 words by the end of NaNoWriMo 2015. She'll make it to the end. She'll be a survivor. * (A tribute to my 87-year old elderly friend who is alive, witty, full of wisdom and my inspiration!).
In my usual spirit of perversity, I might treat November as a novel non-writing month. I've got one due out in January, so at least I feel a bit ahead of the game on that front. The novel I'm working on now was something that I conceived a mere twelve years ago. I started it, scrapped it, restarted it, abandoned it, resurrected one part of it for a short story and decided I could build something around that particular story. Now I have roughly the same number of words (about 12,000) that I had in 2003, though most of them are different words. Henry James would be proud of that (and this is where the resemblance ends).
Good luck and I hope you win! It's not easy to write, yet something drives you to write till "the end". You have the right drive to make it to the finish. Life gives us inspiration to write the things we do. Sometimes the event can open doors that will be great for your future. Good luck again!
I wish you success as you get your novels finished and published very soon. In what genre do you find most engaging for you in writing your novels?
The publisher has labelled my novel as "humour" and that is a relief, because it's meant to be. The one I'm working on now is more in the field of historical fiction. Most of it is set in Ireland during the period of the War of Independence and specifically during 1919 to 1921. One of the reasons I'm finding it slow going (apart from my being naturally lazy) is that you have to do quite a lot of research to make sure you're getting events and people in the right places. One or two real people mix in with my own fictional characters.
I know several people who have tried over the years and usually they run out of time and get to the end of the month before they have finished writing it, but then they have an almost complete first draft to work on, which otherwise they probably would not have managed to get round to writing. I think it is a good challenge to have a go and you might achieve it. Many people have been successful by focusing on writing for a whole month and I believe the NaNoWriMo community is very supportive. Go for it!
I'm motivated, but life gets in the way so much of the time with my writing and reaching to the finish line. I'm reading Menachem Begin's "White Nights"A story of a prisoner in Russia. I love his natural wit and humour in which he wrote his story. Chaim Potok so inspires me, as well. I wish to write in their style with Thomas Friedman and Alan Dershowitz in into the creative mix. I know it's kind of ambitious undertaking. But isn't this the reason why many of our well-known best authors became to be?
This sounds very intense and well beyond what I managed in my novel. I always found that one of the drawbacks of reading classic literature was the realisation that I could never, ever, possibly write anything as good as Dostoevsky, Dickens, Sterne, Eliot, Austen, Gogol, Zola, not to mention several thousand others. Even when it came to comic stuff, how could one ever hope to get near somebody like Flann O'Brien. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that there was no point in trying. All I could do was be myself and see where that took me. The fellow who runs the publishing house I'm using read my novel and his view was that it wasn't "great literature." Ouch. Mind you, he also conceded that it wasn't trying to be and that it was meant to be a bit of fun that could make people laugh. On that basis, if I can make a few people laugh and say, "Oh, yeah, I know someone just like that," then I'll be reasonably happy.