Comments on: NaNoWriMo: Your November Demotivator

By: Notes of an Anesthesioboist: It's Coming...Are You Doing It?

Notes of an Anesthesioboist: It's Coming...Are You Doing It? — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 09:26:49 +0000

[...] make it to 50,000 words in the space of a month, and you can consider yourself a NaNoWriMo winner. The bar is set as low as it can go. Quantity is far more important than quality. No nudgy self-editing, censoring, [...]

By: Challenge Word War & Progress Reports [NaNoWriMo2009] - Page 25 - Myth-Weavers

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:57:33 +0000

[...] Get_in_my_Belly vbmenu_register("postmenu_2692008", true); Today 11:42pm Some NaNo Funny (demotivational posters). "Come to [writing] any way but lightly. Let me say it again: [...]

By: Authonomy

Authonomy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:56:38 +0000

[...] http://101reasonstostopwriting.com/2007/11/04/nanowrimo-your-november-demotivator/ Posted: 29/10/2009 04:57:57 report abuse [...]

By: Happenchance » Blog Archive » 10 Lessons Learned from NanoWriMo

Happenchance » Blog Archive » 10 Lessons Learned from NanoWriMo — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:16:32 +0000

[...] has its detractors, and some of their reasons are valid. I remember a publisher blogged about how many terrible novels [...]

By: A Girl Haunted by Characters...

A Girl Haunted by Characters... — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:49:40 +0000

This is great. I am a writer. I love to write. I am not perfect.

I think sites like this one are great. If you discourage just one writer, then you will expedite their path toward what they were truly meant to do. The truth of the matter is, if you can be discouraged enough to the point where you don’t want to write…you are not a writer. It is as simple as that.

I have never been discouraged. I have never had someone say anything bad about my writing. Does this mean that my audience is too nice? It could be. I will just keep working away though.

Life boils down to what you think about first thing in the morning.

I think ‘I have to get writing’

If you think, ‘I want bacon’…maybe you should be a food critic or a cook.
If you think, ‘I have to pee’…maybe you should be a corrections officer.
If you think, ‘I wonder what my lead character would do if I…’ then you are a writer.

Write. Write. Write. Write…and if I tell you your work is crap, write or don’t write.

‘Do or do not, there is no try.’ ~Yoda

Go NaNoWriMo! I love meeting other writers…so fun to write together in silence and drink coffee…I’m being totally serious here…

By: RS

RS — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:06:32 +0000

If other NaNo-ers think it works to send in manuscripts December 1, let me make this clear: NOT my fault. Not all of us think, but some do–I’ve looked at what I wrote in the last two Novembers and here’s the truth: it’s bad. I need to rewrite them both from scratch. It’s like Edison and his light bulb; this material didn’t work, try again. I hope I don’t have to try 500 times to get it right, but I need to try at least once more before I even think of editing.
Here’s the thing, though: I now have two failures to refer to. NaNo07: ditch the subplot, add maybe two major new characters, jack up the plot, change the ending. Who knows; I may have to rewrite again after that. But it’s going to get better and my junk is a good way to say “You can get the words down on the page; now do it better.” NaNo08: new narrator, fiddle with plot, and lots more. Who knows when I’ll get to that…
Besides, you can’t edit something that’s only in your head! NaNoWriMo helped me get my stories down–plus, it helps to have companionship and people to answer your questions–and that’s a good start. They even tell us in the motivational emails that it’ll be junk at first–but it is a start. And judging by how long it’s currently taking me to edit one 2.5K short story, the only way I’ll be submitting anything in December is with a 1-2 year time lapse. Some of us, at least, try to be sensible–don’t blame the whole for the idiocy of some.

By: 101 Reasons to Stop Writing : » NaNoWriMo : Your November Demotivator (x2)

101 Reasons to Stop Writing : » NaNoWriMo : Your November Demotivator (x2) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:16:28 +0000

[...] if that’s not enough to dissuade you, check out last year’s 2 November Demotivators as well. Categories: Demotivator [...]

By: Irène Delse » Un point, c’est tout

Irène Delse » Un point, c’est tout — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:01:35 +0000

[...] par Sean Lindsay. (Photo : Michael Connors, [...]

By: Writer

Writer — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 04:26:22 +0000

I’d believe all this bull crud, but I’m sure its roots are derived from Poe’s Law, and pretty much, it’s like running around and telling each indivdual teenager to not have sex and render their genitalia useless. It’s never going to happen. I’ll tell you what. Your plan will come through only when every single writer on earth has been eradicated. And I’d die for my right to a freedom of speech (which includes writing). So basically, I just stopped your hopes and dreams right there.

I respect your opinion, and I can’t force my beliefs onto. But you seriously need some help.

By: Caitlin (but a different one)

Caitlin (but a different one) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:28:54 +0000

First of, I’m really hating the fact that someone else with my name posted such a nasty comment full of spite and vitriol. Ugh. That isn’t me, I swear – hopefully someone will believe me. Perhaps my lack of spelling errors and better grammar will help? I can only hope.

Aside from that, however, it really depresses me to see people so anti-NaNo. I’ve done NaNo since I was seventeen, and have been an ML since 2005 (though my area is wee and tiny), and I really think NaNo is a good thing. I know it’s helped my writing, I’ve had fun with it, and I’ve made a lot of good friends and learnt a lot every year. There’s something to be said about writing just for the sake of writing, and worrying about plotholes and inconsistencies after you’ve got all your ideas down.

Of course, this approach won’t work for everyone – no one approach does – but I know that it has really helped me personally, and I’ve seen it get kids who were previously totally uninterested in reading and writing very interested. As far as I’m concerned, anything that will help increase children’s literacy is a good thing, whether it’s NaNo or books like Harry Potter which, while it’s a fun story that people can read and enjoy and relate to to a certain extent, isn’t exactly a prime example of great English literature (that’s a place I would reserve for something like Scott’s Ivanhoe, or J.R.R. Tolkien, or any one of a number of other authors).

So maybe you folks here think NaNo is crap and a worthless endeavour, but to many, many people there is something worthwhile to be found there. If I’m lucky, I will be able to spend the rest of my life having the kind of fun in November with NaNo that I have had since 2003, when I first joined up.

Don’t knock it till you try it, and if you try it and don’t like it, well, different strokes for different folks. Not everyone is you. Some people just want to write for fun, while some don’t.