Post by rielle on Dec 3, 2012 9:32:40 GMT -8
Dec 2, 2012 22:20:24 GMT -8 @apollo said:
Dec 2, 2012 19:14:12 GMT -8 @artiesniecewannabe said:
No fear; no beta reader is going to see what I have right now. Did you really think by 'edit slowly' that I meant someone else would get to see this?? I will edit it first, long before any beta reader sees it!Here is the point of NaNoWriMo. Many many writers -- or, if you prefer, writer wannabes -- are stymied before they can even finish their first chapter because their Internal Editors balk at every point, whether by the choice of a word, or the phrasing of a sentence, or what have you. The point of NaNo is to turn off the Internal Editor in order to get the story poured out onto paper or screen. And then edit afterwards. The editing is very very important, but if one does not actually write the story, there will be nothing to edit. This way, one has built the habit of daily writing, AND one has a story to edit.
But to each his own. If NaNo isn't your cup of tea, so be it. If it is the cup of tea for others, so be that as well.
That's cool, I already understand that, I think Rielle said that earlier in a earlier post and me and my internal editor get along just fine. ;D
I think you totally missed the point that Nemo, Rielle, and I were bringing forward. That's ok one of these days you will understand. ;D
No, Apollo, you actually have missed the point that both Niecie and I have been bringing forward here. And I'm sorry to see that but Niecie and I and you and Nemo will have to agree to disagree here, just as Niecie has suggested.
Nanowrimo and its other yearly events encourages I don't even know how many thousands of people to jump and do the writing they've always wanted to, in a way that gives them nothing close to a finished ready to publish manuscript by any means, but a foundation to build on so they can appreciate the work involved and they can have that feeling of accomplishment that really only comes from challenging oneself.
Writing is most often a very solitary pursuit, and one in which the only real competition comes from oneself and Real Life with all its duties, necessities and other distractions. There's no one involved for months at a time but the writer and a piece of paper or a blank screen. There are no competitors for your novel or play or screenplay or poem or textbook - not at this point of its development and if you work hard to make it good enough, not later, either. Why? Because you're the only person who could write it. Whether or not it becomes a commercial success is not part of the equation when you're trying to begin a writing project, and I'm not sure it should be until you find yourself looking for ways to market it, or someone to market it for you.
And Nano lets thousands of people challenge themselves to get started after in many, many cases years of telling themselves or being told or both that they haven't got it in them, that they can't do what they dream of doing. So, if they turn off their Internal Editors for a month, they get enough to build on... whether its 10,000-40,000, 60,000 or 100K [and some write more, believe it or not]
AND imo that's perfectly well deserving of a badge saying they've accomplished this goal, they've met the challenge. Its not about completing a novel in the sense of being able to send it to the printer, its about pushing oneself to do the basic work of a writer, any writer and that IS getting the words down, to be polished, tweaked, beta'd and otherwise improved once they're down on paper or in pixels.
I've never known a writer or any other creative person who was so satisfied with a first draft or a sketch or a model that they stopped working on it until it became something they wanted to share with readers, viewers, audiences, or whomever. I've never known a writer who didn't have to push past their self doubts and that nagging, bullying, hyper-critical Internal Editor, to get anything done whatsoever.
I have known writers who let that 'IE' drown out all their efforts and all the dreams that go with them, who stop to polish every comma and every syllable out of existence, who doubt themselves so much they put that dream and that work in progress back in the desk drawer, back in the file, back in the attic or worst of all, into the shredder. And Nano helps thousands of people every year fight that
inner perfectionist that won't let anyone share what they so want to express that it drives them to despair and to tremendous heights as well.
One last point for now, I've never known a fanfiction writer who didn't go looking for beta readers - beating the bushes until the bushes began to retreat in dread, sometimes. I've never known a beta reader who didn't understand that they were part of the next step in a work in progress, finding what the writer got too close to see, the stumbling blocks, the grammar glitches, etc etc etc --- But its been a long, long time since I heard anyone who did beta reading tell a struggling writer to 'burn her typewriter' [yes, it was THAT long ago, and no it wasn't me, mostly people like that used to tell me what nice white margins I had set up when I submitted a short story to a writing group, LOL]
I guess I don't understand the thinking here which seems to be saying [and I'm perfectly willing to sit corrected] that seems to be saying if you can't write perfectly, each word, each piece of punctuation, each margin, etc etc etc... then DON'T WRITE. ??
And don't challenge yourself to write a first draft that isn't going to shine like a published work. And don't congratulate yourself when your hard work over a month, two months, six months, a year, five years, whatever brings you a project that you are ready to look for the help all writers need to polish, to tweak, to clarify, to improve...
nope, just don't understand that. Sorry if I was unclear earlier. I'm just a struggling writer after all. Who isn't?