"The Power of Writing with Abandon" by Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
Grant presented this material to the Sacramento branch of the California Writers Club on September 20, 2014.
4. Lessons: NaNoWriMo 1999
1. The biggest thing separating people from their artistic
dreams isn’t a lack of talent, it’s the lack of a deadline.
2. Writing for quantity instead of quality brings about
both.
3. Enlightenment is overrated: it’s not worth waiting
around for.
5. Lessons (continued)
4. Being busy is good for your writing.
5. Plot happens: “Your intuition knows what it wants to
write, so get out of the way.” -- Ray Bradbury.
6. Writing for its own sake has rewards.
6. An unbeatable way to write a
novel
350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
Number of NaNo Participants
7. What is “writing with
abandon”?
Writing with freedom …
Writing with verve …
Writing without fear …
Writing outlandishly …
Writing quickly …
Writing recklessly …
Breaking boundaries.
8. Literary history of writing with
abandon
Stephen King writes 2,000 words a day every day of
the year.
William Faulkner wrote 3,000 a day during his most
fertile period and sometimes wrote 10,000 words.
Anthony Trollope wrote 2,500 words a day.
Kerouac wrote On the Road in three weeks.
9. Benefits of writing with
abandon
“The faster I write the better my output. If I’m going
slow I’m in trouble. It means I’m pushing the words
instead of being pulled by them.”—Raymond
Chandler
“I definitely think that if you can make peace with the
fact that you will likely have to throw out 90 percent
of your first draft, then you can relax and even almost
enjoy ‘writing badly.’”—Karen Russell
10. Getting more ideas—faster–
is good
“The real measure of success is the number of
experiments that can be crowded into twenty-four
hours.”
– Thomas Edison
“If you want a good idea, start with a lot of ideas.”
– Linus Pauling
11. Your brain on improv
“In the shift to improvisation, a region of the brain
associated with careful planning and self-censorship
became dormant, while parts of the brain connected to
the senses—hearing, seeing, feeling—became
especially lively.”
“A brain area linked to autobiographical storytelling also
showed increased activity. When jazz musicians
improvise, their brains turn off areas linked to self-censoring
and inhibition—and turn on those that let
self-expression flow.”
—Charles Limb, Neuroscientist
12. Exercise: Automatic Writing
Keep your hand moving.
Don’t cross out.
Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar.
Lose control.
Don’t think. Don’t get logical.
Go for the jugular. Don’t be polite.
13. Sharing Questions
What did that feel like? How does it compare to the way
you usually write?
Did you discover anything surprising or different?
How might you apply this to your writing process?
15. Pep Talk from Kate DiCamillo
An example of the encouragement that NaNoWriMo
writers get during our events
A way to expand the idea of an “editor”—not just
someone who literally wields the red pen, but who
figuratively stops you in your creative tracks
Read aloud
16. Writing Prompt
Who is/was your Bob?
Your editor can be internal or external, real or
imagined—anything that discourages you from writing.
Describe your editor and how you’ve faced him, her, or
it.
5 minutes
18. Sharing Questions
What is the common thread between all these
“editors”?
If you have an editor that’s stopping you from being
creative, how can you defeat him/her/it?
19. Does this all lead to
publication—or just a lot of
messy writing?
23. Hugh Howey
“Through NaNoWriMo, I learned two invaluable lessons: The first is the
importance of writing every single day. Gentle pressure applied constantly is
an incredible force. If you work on your writing every single day, you can
accomplish great things. It’s like climbing a mountain one step at a time; the
key is never to stop. Never doubt. Never look back. Go onward.
The second lesson is that I write my best work when I write a lot. Piecing a
novel together over a year or more, one paragraph at a time, with days and
weeks off in-between, does not produce the same quality for me as writing
full-bore. I want to write as breathlessly as readers consume the work. I want
to live in my book and not leave until it’s done. This is the essence of
NaNoWriMo.
24. Marissa Meyer
“I now treat every novel as if it's a NaNo novel. I always start by
making an outline and, when I feel that it's as strong as I can make
it, I crank out a fast first draft. Of course it's most fun to be drafting
during November, because then you get the rush of being in a
community, and of being part of something bigger than just you and
your novel, but sometimes the timing with publication and deadlines
doesn't work out. So whenever I am writing that first draft, I aim to
have it done in 30 days or less. I set word count goals and
milestones for myself, just like NaNo does, knowing that at the end
of those 30 days I'll have something that I can work with. That
"something" might be a haphazard plot and clichéd characters, but
that's still better than a blank page, and it gives me a jumping off
point for revisions and editing—which, for me, is where the real
magic happens.
25. Gennifer Albin
“NaNo taught me what I needed to go from wannabe writer to
novelist. Before I signed up I didn't know how to gain momentum
with my writing because I was always falling victim to my inner
editor. I didn't know how to follow through on a project to the end.
Facing a 50k word count goal forced me to put butt in chair and
write every day. And to my surprise each day became easier. I now
employ that model nearly every month. Some months I still only get
a measly 10k written, but in my most successful month, I drafted
two novels, clocking a whopping 140k on the projects. NaNo for me
is all about setting achievable writing goals and accountability, the
two things I needed to learn most. And since my first NaNo novel in
2010? I've written 5 and a half novels.”
27. Write with Abandon in 2014
Go to www.nanowrimo.org
Set up a profile
Define your novel
Discuss writing in online forums
Go to local write-ins
Write 50,000 words!
Validate your novel
