A way to get you to write?
I should have mentioned this earlier on, but we’re only on November 4th, so there’s still enough time to go if you happen to be a fast typer and can put your imagination in motion quickly enough.
As every year, November means NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, which is fact much more international than its name suggests). NaNoWriMo’s aim is to push people to write a 50,000 words novel in 30 days, whatever its genre, theme or actual number of chapters–you can even go further than 50,000 words if you wish. There is nothing to win, save for the satisfaction of having written a novel–no prize, no money, not even a chance at getting directly published. However, in my opinion and personal experience, NaNoWriMo has an advantage that can turn out to be a very strong asset: it makes you write, and write a lot.
More than one person, if asked the question, would likely say “yes, sure, someday, I too would like to write a novel and have it published, it would be nice”. But that novel, nobody ever gets to write it. We are busy. Our lives are full. We haven’t enough experience in writing yet. Our writing is too young, too awkward. We have to wait until we’re wiser, have grown up, have more time… And so it goes. And we still don’t start writing that novel, or if we do, we proof-read and polish every sentence so often that three years later, we’re haven’t even reached the half of the story.
With NaNoWriMo, nothing of this is valid. You have 30 days to write, and to reach your goal, it means you have to write a minimum of 1,667 words a day. You won’t have time to edit. You won’t have time to think too much. All you can do is stifle your ‘inner editor’, and write, write, write. When it’s all done and over, then only will it be time to let it out again, and turn your text into something really worth it (or push it in a drawer and never look at it again).
Is this a good method? Would such a novel be a good read, or at least have the potential of becoming a good read? It depends. For some writers, it doesn’t work. For others, it’s an excellent way of start-jumping their production. I’m in the latter case. I also know people who definitely aren’t. Indeed, you probably have to try it once to know if NaNoWriMo is for you, or will prove to be just another catastrophe on an otherwise good journey to writing.
Nevertheless, remember: the first step on the road of publishing is to actually write something. So if it has a chance of helping you, even a slight one, why not jump on this opportunity, and start wielding that pen or keyboard of yours?
Who knows, you may end up with a nice plot, albeit an improvised one, and have fun along the way on top of it.