Maybe I CAN Write This Novel
By: Elan Cassandra
Tags: Writing, Updates, Writers On Writing, Novel Writing, NaNoWriMo

Maybe I CAN Write This Novel

An update that I think suggests you could do it too.

Photo by Colton Sturgeon on Unsplash

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about National Novel Writing Month and my impending face-off with a lifelong goal. That is, to write a novel.

I also promised that I’d share an update, and so here we are, a week into the great experiment.

As a quick reminder, the goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words toward a novel within the month of November. To stay on track requires an average of 1,667 words written each day. And guess what…

I haven’t messed it up yet!

Each day, I’ve written at least the equivalent of 1,667 multiplied by the number of days in. It seems to take me between an hour and an hour and forty-five minutes (depending on whether I need fewer than 1,667 or happen to get wrapped up in it and end up doing more).

At the end of the day, it’s not a huge time commitment, which is great news for me and, I think, should be encouraging to anyone else who’s thinking of taking the leap and finally writing that novel.

I didn’t have a lot planned out in advance. I had my basic premise, an idea of what the first couple of scenes might be, some potential craziness for the late second or early third act, and a way that it might end. That’s really not much.

It’s been a very different experience from my other long-form projects. When writing a screenplay, for example, I’ve had every major beat planned in advance of a first draft (although, yes, many did end up changing, at least in rewrites).

I also consider myself to be a very character-driven writer. I usually know far more about my characters and their histories than I do about my story, right up until the very end. On this project, however, I kept putting off my prep work until finally, November 1st came and there was no choice but to begin with those first words on page one.

I’m going to have to learn a lot about who my characters are as I discover the details of the journey they’re taking themselves on. I know that for some writers this is the norm, but for me, it’s a crazy experience.

I come to the page each day usually without a plan for what happens next, and certainly without a plan for what follows the next few hundred words.

But I believe that my last few months on Medium have really helped me in this process. I’ve become very used to writing my personal essays here without a plan and finding the heart of them in revision.

This is what I understand will have to happen as I write my novel. I don’t know what it is yet, and I’m not quite sure when I’ll find out. Regardless, I’m content with hitting my word goal being my primary goal for the next month and saving the sculpting for the future.

My one point of uncertainty right now is whether or not this is really a 50,000-word novel. I don’t know the shape of the story yet, so how would I know how many words it will want to be?

While the official goal is “50,000 words toward the first draft of a novel,” my goal, as obsessive as I am, is to finish the first draft of a novel. This means that as I start to get a sense of what percentage of my story is left, I’ll likely need to adjust my daily word goals to match it. The goal may have to go up to 1,900 words a day or 2,200 words a day if this is a novel that wants to be longer. We’ll have to see.

Now, I believe the reason this great experiment is working for me — and sure, I’m only a week in, so maybe I shouldn’t count my chickens before they hatch — is that the goal is very clear and it demands daily attention. This is easy for my slightly obsessive brain to latch onto.

That fact has also gotten me into the mindset that a monthly goal broken into small daily pieces may be a really good way for me to approach similar things.

Lastly, let me admit that as of the current time — 5:30 pm EST — I have not yet written my required words for the day. And sure, there’s a bit of procrastination in that, but what it really means is that while I put it off, I’m getting a whole lot of other work done.

Because this NaNoWriMo goal — this first draft of a novel — is my primary goal. It is my highest priority this month. So if it’s 7 pm, 8 pm, 9 pm, and I haven’t yet done it, I know that I still will.

It. Must. Get. Done.