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Write a book next month
November designated for writing novels
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Photo by Courtesy of David Casey
Sarah Ford, left, and daughter and mother novelists Katherine Brown and Alane Brown work on their novels in 2008. All three completed 50,000-word novels as part of National Novel Writing Month, which takes place in November.
To learn more
Two meetings will be held in preparation for National Novel Writing Month at the Durango Public Library. A “Plan your Novel” workshop will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday and a kick-off meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 28. Other meetings will be scheduled throughout November. For more information, visit www.nanowrimo.org, or for local activities call Alane at 769-0985 or e-mail alane@frontier.net.
It could be argued that the greatest obstacle facing a would-be novelist is not plotline or character development, or even finding a publisher willing to print the book. Because before any of those factors are taken into account, the writer must overcome procrastination and simply write.
That’s the prevailing theme behind National Novel Writing Month, which began as the brainchild of freelance writer Chris Baty “and 20 other over-caffeinated yahoos” in 1999. Now entering its 11th year, the event drew nearly 120,000 participants last year, including 31 hopefuls from the greater Durango area.
Among the locals is Alane Brown, a Fort Lewis College psychology professor who acts as the regional coordinator for the event on a volunteer basis.
To successfully participate in the month-long write-a-thon, writers must crank out at least 50,000 words of fiction, which Brown said is a good starting point for a novel on the shorter side. (Leo Tolstoy’s epic War and Peace, by comparison, numbers 560,000 words in its English translation.) She now has about 72,000 words on her 2007 entry.
“I’m trying to find a publisher, and spending hours and hours every week to make it publishable. At the end of (the month), you have a book, but it takes a few more months of effort to get it in front of the public eye,” she said.
The organizers of National Novel Writing Month are not judges, but rather keep track of writers’ progress and acknowledge the accomplishment at month’s end.
From there, it’s up to the individual writer to find an outlet for his or her tome, but what the event lacks in professional assistance it more than makes up for in inspiration.
“Having only 30 days to write 50,000 words was very freeing to me, not a burden or stressful at all,” said local writer Chris Brussat, who also works as a bookseller at Maria’s Bookshop.
“I knew I couldn’t edit my words, so didn’t edit my thoughts either,” he said. “I let it flow as it came and found that my story went in some amazing, unplanned directions. The result was deeper and more satisfying story.”
Brown said of last year’s regional entrants, 14 hit the 50,000 word benchmark. She said the most popular genre was fantasy, then adventure, science fiction, literary fiction and “chick lit,” a tongue-in-cheek description of modern literature targeted at women readers.
At 45 percent, the local completion rate is much higher than the national average of 18 percent. Brown said the results shouldn’t be surprising in a town where so many participate for the sake of participation.
“In the same way that most people who play recreational baseball never intend to become professional baseball players, most authors participate simply for the love of fiction,” she said. “There are no prizes and no judges – just an adventure in writing.”
ted@durangoherald.com
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