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Why I& #39;m asking published authors, agents and editors to be supportive about #NaNoWriMo - a thread
Every year without fail I see something, a tweet, a blog, an article in a national newspaper, the gist of which seems to be & #39;oh no not November again - all of those people thinking they can write. All of those manuscripts flooding agents& #39; offices! Please just don& #39;t!& #39;
Or the tone is a bit more jokey - something like, & #39;yeah sure let& #39;s write a novel! Let& #39;s all splurge 50k words and self publish, or send it to every publisher we can find online! Get your friend/granny/colleague/pet to join in too! The world needs your brain farts!& #39;
Even occasionally a & #39;serious& #39; piece, talking about how poor writing undermines good writing, how the next Booker winner might get lost in the pile because of all the #NaNoWriMo dross that& #39;s been sent in - advice to & #39;proper& #39; authors: don& #39;t send in December! Wait till next year!
Every year. Every year I get upset by it, occasionally really angry (and it takes a LOT to get me angry, normally I& #39;m really a very placid, easy-going sort). This year I think I& #39;m going to get a bit bolshy about it because with everything else that& #39;s going on, I& #39;ve had enough.
So yes, if you think #NaNoWriMo is a bad thing, I& #39;m asking you politely to keep your opinion to yourself for the following reasons:
1. Writing is good for people& #39;s mental health, something widely acknowledged. It gives us a break from the real world, allows us to explore our surroundings and ourselves, allows us to escape, and goodness knows we all need a bit of that right now.
2. Over the past 21 years @NaNoWriMo (not for profit, completely free for all participants) has encouraged creativity, inclusion, acceptance, support, friendship and worldwide communication through writing. How can this possibly be a bad thing?
3. Correct me if wrong, but agents and editors are pretty good at spotting quickly if something they& #39;ve been sent is good. #NaNoWrimo might generate a fair few & #39;thank you, no& #39; letters but in amongst those will be letters saying & #39;your writing is intriguing and I loved it& #39;.
4. If you& #39;re an author who feels that #NaNoWrimo novels are & #39;flooding the market& #39; then I would politely suggest that you wind your neck in. This isn& #39;t a competition. The world needs more novels, more readers, more writers. You want to be heard? Ignore everyone else. Work hard.
5. In any case, #NaNoWriMo is not about publishing. It& #39;s about writing. Most people who participate wouldn& #39;t dream of sending an unedited manuscript to an agent or publisher. There is plenty of support for those who want to edit/submit, but many don& #39;t! It& #39;s for fun!
6. And for those that DO want to edit and submit, they certainly don& #39;t need or deserve this negativity. They deserve praise for completing a novel (how many people want to write, and just don& #39;t?). They deserve our support, enthusiasm, encouragement.
7. Writing is hard enough as it is. Editing (my opinion) is even harder. To anyone that does all that, whether through #NaNoWriMo or on your own (WOW if you did that) then I say WELL DONE YOU BRILLIANT WRITER now edit a bit more and send it off when it& #39;s ready.
In case I didn& #39;t say this already, 7 of my 8 published novels were written during #NaNoWriMo, including an award-winning NYT bestseller, published in 34 countries. I would never have written it if it hadn& #39;t been for @NaNoWriMo.
I probably wouldn& #39;t have written it (or any of them) if I& #39;d read one of those blog posts or tweets saying how #NaNoWriMo raises false hope and encourages rubbish writers to think they& #39;re good enough. Can you imagine how it feels to be a new writer, reading that?
(Here I should add that I have approximately 9 unfinished or unedited novels, some of them REALLY LONG, that I& #39;m never going to bother looking at again because they& #39;re not good enough. I don& #39;t just submit because I wrote something - like most people!)
Can you imagine reading a tweet from someone you like and respect, someone whose books you& #39;ve read, borrowed from a library or paid money for, saying that the market is too crowded and only decent writers should bother to submit?
So to summarise, stop pissing on people& #39;s dreams. Stop spreading negativity. Be kind, be inclusive, be encouraging, write more, try your best, eat your greens.
And if you& #39;re thinking of trying #NaNoWriMo for the first time, or revisiting it, I say to you GO FOR IT and BE BOLD and write for your life, write your life, write someone else& #39;s, share your words, talk to your friends, keep going - you never know what might happen - right?
