NaNoWriMo: Advice From The Fastest Writers Ever

From Flavorwire

Yesterday marked the kickoff of National Novel-Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo), the online project that challenges participants to write a 50,000-word book in the 30 days of November. To those scribbling hurriedly to meet its deadline, we wish you a book deal by December. And to cheer you on, we’ve rounded up a treasure trove of advice and encouragement from the great writers who best embody, in their own work, NaNoWriMo’s goals of writing much and writing fast. Below the jump, read through our favorite words from the wise, speedy, and prolific.

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Comments

[JiminyPan]

09:07 AM on 11/14/2011

I'm quite uncomfortable when I read Kerouac and NaNoWriMo in the same sentence.

It is true that he jotted down "On the Road" in a mere three weeks. But what people evantually forget is that "On the road" was the result of "a long and arduous creative process. Kerouac carried small notebooks, in which much of the text was written as the eventful span of road trips unfurled. He started working on the first of several versions of the novel as early as 1948, based on experiences during his first long road trip in 1947."
Which means Kerouac actually jotted down "On the Road" in a mere three years !

In other words, Kerouac + NaNoWriMo makes no sense…

When he first heard of the "myth", Truman Capote said "that's not writing, it's typing.", a "death-sentence he withdrew once he learnt the 3-week process was a legend…

[irvoneil]

03:27 PM on 11/12/2011

I always thought Simenon wrote his novels in eight days. Maybe I got that wrong somewhere.

I like what King says about reading everything. Because even in bad books, there are sometimes real gems to be mined. Not everybody can be a great writer; but even bad writers can have great sentences or moments in their work, and they are worth gleaning.

[kbrigan]

07:54 PM on 11/11/2011

Ohhhh, so NoNoNotNovel really is supposed to be about "writing" -- even though particpants tap dance all over the place when you call them out on the inherent contradiciton in not caring about quality while presuming to call yourself a "novelist" at the same time? Give me an ever loving break. You'd do better to showcase the "All work and no play..." scene from "The Shining" over and over and over. NoNo fake-writers are doing exactly the same, worthless, pointless, self-deluding thing.

[realitytrumpsbull]

02:44 AM on 11/10/2011

But...what if the creative 'spark' just isn't an on-demand kind of thing? I mean, look at the situation more from a mechanic's point of view, point gap set incorrectly, weak coil, fouled plug, bad ground?   I think that to be effective at writing, much as anything else in life, you need to be 'hitting on all 8' mentally, and the people that are, that can really perform that way, are the ones that people go back and buy the NEXT book that the person publishes, and they're also the ones that get published to begin with, at least more than once. Anyone can sit down at a keyboard and give themselves carpal tunnel, heck, I could probably have my own hard drive rack at HuffPo, by now if they expanded the size of this comment box, but writing something that someone else is going to want to plunk down $10 for, that's where it comes down to having developed some talent.   

I think that for good writers, how we recognize them, is that they SPEAK to us. For them, written communication is just as natural as uttering the spoken word, and just as fluid.

Before it was 'cool', texting was known as 'writing', and people did it with pen and paper, well, stone tablet back in the day, and a little chisel, but then came the writing machine, the typewriter. Then came the...Word Processor. Today your PDA can have a detachable keyboard, and they're working on the projection laser keyboard.  Or, you can hurt yourself with the multifunction keys on your cellphone...but millions do that, every day too.  Next, it's speech-to-type, you talk, the computer types. Text-to-speech, too, if you want that.  But, WHAT are we communicating, why all this conversing, and writing, and talking? Because that's how we share ideas, and information.  And ultimately, that's what a book is, stored information, something you can read and reference and underline and cherish or use for a furniture prop or have autographed or forget in the back seat of the old car when you sell it.  And we'll buy 20 million more of them, next year.

[kauthon]

10:10 AM on 11/08/2011

I completely agree with Stephen King. Sometimes I read a good book and say how can i compete. Then I go read some trash fiction and wonder how the guy/girl got published.

[3fingerbrown]

07:14 AM on 11/08/2011

William Saroyan was notorious for writing quickly -- he could bang out a full-length play in a week. He chalked it up to his "impatient Armenian nature." Here's his oft-quoted advice to writers:
“Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.”

[AnaM]

08:31 PM on 11/07/2011

John Updike calls it as he sees it, and he isn't wrong. It's annoying to listen to people who say they are writers, who ignore basic techniques or ignore standard features of literature, because of their laziness. The most recent example: an acquaintance telling me that 'setting' [geographical or otherwise] doesn't matter. The most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

[adonismarrero]

07:45 PM on 11/07/2011

John Updike's advice was the best...