November 29, 2011
The month of November is often synonymous
with Remembrance Day and, increasingly, the Movember phenomenon [http://ca.movember.com]. But, imagine sitting
down in front of your computer every day and cranking out three to four pages
of text. Multiply that by the 30 days in November and you’ve written a novel.
That’s what National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, is all about: writing
the great, or not so great, novel.
And it’s exactly what Montrealer Greg
Stroll is trying to do. He hopes to finish his fantasy novel, Trinity Divided (www.trinitydivided.com), in the next
two days.
“It’s a trans-reality story where the main
character in the first book is a fallen angel,” Stroll says. “Over the three
books, she’s the same person but in three different lives, so that’s where the
name Trinity Divided comes from.”
This year 1,709 Montrealers accepted the challenge to write young adult, science fiction and
mainstream fiction novels. Over the past month, NaNoWriMo members have gathered
in groups of up to 25 people to write at cafes, bookstores and libraries, such
as Java U in Monkland, Chapters bookstore in the West Island and the BANQ (Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec).
The first National Novel Writing Month
began in California in 1999. Freelance writer Chris Baty and 20 of his friends
decided to challenge themselves by writing the quick novel. The rules are few
and simple. Write as fast as you can, write as much as you can and don’t even
think about editing.
Members sign up with their local chapter,
create a profile and post their word count online on a daily basis. Of the
200,500 world-wide participants last year, 37,500 people reached their goal.
NaNoWriMo is a unique way of writing. With
over 500 chapters located across the globe, people challenge themselves to
write 50,000 words (or 200 pages) in just one month, the length of your average
paperback book. It is a feat many would consider nearly impossible, but
thousands partake in it every year.
The key, according to NaNoWriMo, is
quantity not quality. So, why would someone bother doing such a thing?
“It was a challenge to see if I could do it
and I was able to,” says Stroll.
Stroll began the NaNoWriMo challenge in
2009 and hasn’t looked back since. Diagnosed with schizophrenia and on
disability leave, Stroll hopes to publish his books and build a life for
himself.
“Stress can trigger my symptoms, but it’s
not the worst thing for a schizophrenic,” he says. “Becoming a professional
writer would change the tone of my life, my confidence, the way I perceive
myself.”
Rebecca J. Blain is a NaNoWriMo member who
doubles as a volunteer municipal liaison for the Montreal chapter.
“Every day I do writing challenges for the
region,” she says. “I try to make sure there are multiple write-ins organized
for everybody. This year we had a write-in on every single day except Mondays.
It’s a big commitment.”
Blain joined the challenge in 2009. A
professional freelance writer [http://www.rebeccablain.com],
she uses NaNoWriMo as a platform for writing high epic fantasies on a full-time
basis. This year, she’s attempting an urban fantasy about werewolves, called Winter Wolf.
“I had a crazy dream and decided I liked it, and turned it into a book,” she says. “I want to write as
fast as I can and at the highest quality I can. I want to become a professional
novelist so I treat NaNo as a break from the normal
sit-down-you-write-every-day sort of thing.”
Olivier Breleux is pursuing a PhD in
Computer Science at Université de Montreal. He joined NaNoWriMo last year.
“A lot of people want to be writers but
they never do it and at some point you just have to jump in and do something,”
says Breleux. “Quality is achieved by having some quantity in the first place.”
Breleux hopes to publish his dystopian science
fiction/philosophical novel, Le Cube,
someday soon (http://breuleux.net/blog/le-cube).
“The website assumes good faith,” says
Breleux. “They don’t verify that it’s an actual novel. You could easily cheat but
it’s pointless, there are no prizes. You would basically be cheating yourself.”
Regardless of the commitment and the stress
associated with the month of November for these NaNoWriMo members, they would
all do it again next year.
“I strongly recommend any person who likes
to write, give it a try at least once,” says Blain. “It isn’t for everybody. But if you are one
of those people who enjoys challenge and you can turn your internal editor off,
you can really have some fun with it.”
To find out more about NaNoWriMo, visit the
website at: http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/regions/canada-quebec-montreal.
