Comments on: Poll: The One-Month Novel

By: Here to Create » The Right to Write

Here to Create » The Right to Write — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:53:30 +0000

[...] also criticizes NaNoWriMo pretty severely. Like many people who disparage NaNo, I think he’s trying too hard. Yes, judging by the NaNo forums, some participants think they will have a complete novel, ready to [...]

By: Maggie Stiefvater

Maggie Stiefvater — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:32:18 +0000

Yeah. I have a phrase I use for novels written in 30 days . . . “the rough draft.” And I have a definition for the term “writer”: Someone who regards every month as novel writing month.

Someone asked me if I was participating in National Novel Writing Month, since I had edits to do for my novel under contract already. I said “Yeah, I have been for the last 10 month as well.”

By: JBM

JBM — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:11:24 +0000

It’s not bad, though Papercuts is buried deep in the site so only purusers of the Books Section will see it. Since the only people who read the Books section are aspiring writers, I think you’re in pretty much the same place you started off from.

By: Sean Lindsay

Sean Lindsay — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 05:45:06 +0000

JBM, I saw it. It’s nice, I suppose. They spelled my name correctly.

Getting coverage in the New York Times Online Edition is meant to be good, right? I mean, I live in Australia, so I’m not exactly sure where New York is.

By: JBM

JBM — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:46:31 +0000

You saw the NY Times Papercuts blog about your site, right?

http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/feel-your-inner-muse-wither-to-nothing/

By: Jefferson Whitney

Jefferson Whitney — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:09:56 +0000

Oh God, don’t even get me started on how much I hate stream-of-consciousness style writing. College freshmen read Keroauc and then think stringing together a few thousand ‘cool sounding’ phrases makes a legitimate novel. Because ‘you know it captures how life really issss man’ or some other marijuana induced rambling.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:19:43 +0000

With regard to “the usual fare”… I’ve always been taught that it was “fare.” Are you suggesting “fair,” “fares,” or something else? I’m a little confused.

Paul: “Considering that English degrees are not real degrees but licenses to starve to death with the blessings of society, we should encourage English graduates to contribute further to society.”

Amen. (And I’m an English major.) As for Borders, I’ve always made it my goal to avoid that particular hell. Hopefully I’ll be working for Random House come late spring (I interned there last summer). Which means, of course, that I’ve read a couple of crappy novels from the slush pile.

By: Joe Koch

Joe Koch — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:24:52 +0000

Close to thirty days and one of the greatest American novels written, Faulkner claimed to have written As I Lay Dying in 6 weeks without changing a word. Then again, Faulkner was a prolific liar.

By: Lance

Lance — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:11:47 +0000

I think I remember from university days that Jack Kerouac wrote the first draft of The Subterraneans in a three-day-long, amphetamine-driven session. It’s not his best work, but it’s not bad either.

By: Paul Riddell

Paul Riddell — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:07:56 +0000

Eric, I feel your pain (having been married to an English major in the past who thought she was a poet), but look at the bright side. Considering that English degrees are not real degrees but licenses to starve to death with the blessings of society, we should encourage English graduates to contribute further to society. After all, nobody else is dumb enough to work at Borders for ten or fifteen years because they “want to stay in the publishing business”.