Thursday, October 29, 2009

Full Tilt Folly

Ok, this is my public declaration. I'm throwing down the gauntlet now so that I am less likely to throw in the towel later. Got another metaphor I can mix in there? I'm going to need as many as I can get coz I am doing the NaNoWriMo thing. Oh yes I am.
A novel in 30 days? 50 000 words in 30 days. That's 2000 a day, with a couple of days to breathe in between. Or, more precisely 1666 point 666666 per day. Yikes.

Thing is, I wrote this half formed premature breach story, oh about 14 years ago, when I had to submit a novella as part of a writing course I was doing. The thing itself was shite, but the world that it spawned was compelling, and the characters that poked their heads out of the primal soup still prattle to each other on the pages of my notebooks from time to time. As I wrote two posts back, if you have the urge to write a novel, ignore it. If it doesn't let go and doesn't let go, you have to pay attention. So I'm rewriting the thing from scratch, starting Sunday. That's not cheating, apparently, because you're allowed to do some plot notes and character research, as long as all the words you post start from 1 November.

Craziness? Absolutely. What I need now is some fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants, shoot-from-the-hip rollicking keyboard smashing. Silence the left-brain editor because, as they say on the site, "editing's for December."

Talking of throwing all your cliches in one basket, does anyone else get as much joy from tangled metaphors? A dear fellow I knew once used to mix n match his in the most delightful way. "I went white. White as a sheep."
And my husband and I have collected some fantastic ones from our encounters with corporate consulting. The cliches themselves are spectacular enough, like "pluck the low-hanging fruit", but there are some truly inventive ones too.
"Don't lets saddle up someone else's monkey" has to be my all-time favourite. What are yours?

So, 50 000 words, who's going to join me? Chimera from Holey Vision did this last year and I was awed and inspired by her courage and endurance. I reckon it's worth a try. 50 000 words? I can do that. Getting them in the right order, now that may prove a little bit harder. But if I just collect them all and make sure they're in one place, well then maybe I can unscramble them later?

Come on, sign up, it'll be - um... fun?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quite some task. Brave or mad?
See this space on 30th November!

Angela said...

Saddle your monkey and off you go! I know you can do it!

Miranda said...

"Its going to be a stalker"

This is a very good idea.

I'm in

Val said...

it does sound like fun - altho i have no conception of the reality yet except a vague thunder cloud on the horizon looming. and with some impossible to write days on the cards too it might up the ante - but can only try...

Shiny said...

Ooo, I am SO tempted. Sounds a bit overwhelming... Ah buggerit, I'm in too x

Reya Mellicker said...

I'm slow. I might literally shrivel up and blow away in the wind if I tried this.

But you, my dear one, are NOT slow.

Snap! You go girl!!

karen said...

Good Luck, Tam - you are a brave woman.. let us know how it goes!

macjanet said...

I'm in. Don't judge me. I will have to do all of it at work. Oliver takes up the rest of my time. I started today. Late. On 327 words.

tam said...

Rob, a bit of both I reckon. Keeping watching, tho there might not be much action on this space for a while...
Angela, all saddled up!
Mo, I'm delighted! Waaah!
Janelle, I reckon you'll do it next year!
Val, Shiny, this is SO exciting! Shiny, send me yr userid on facebook and I'll buddy you.
Reya, I AM slow! Sometimes I spend two days just searching for a character's name and all writing stops. Sometimes its years! None of that here tho, I'll just have to keep characters with simple names like Bob.

Karen, thanks.

And JANET? WHOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!! I am so excited, lets go lets go!