Thoughts on “winning” my 11th National Novel Writing Contest and thoughts on Twitter and internet culture.
I spent November of 2018 participating in the madcap adventure that is the National Novel Writing Month, where writers of all backgrounds each work to pound out their own original 50 thousand word novel in 30 days.
I have done this 11 times now, and I have finished every time (referred to as “winning”). While the novelty may have dimmed a little, I can’t say the joyous feeling of creation has ever left.
My novel is called “The Times of Clouds and Sun,” and it is about a guy who falls in love with a woman while working at a troll factory, as envisioned in the future when people are no longer able to access social media they way they are able to now. The two share an awkward slow moving relationship that involves watching bad TV together but only on Saturday night. (The rest of the time, she has to pretend to not know him.)
Together, they discover a secret that could affect the end of humanity.
In my recent books, I have tried to focus on something that I really liked, to frame a story around it. One year it was beer, one year it was coffee, last year it was naps (which unfortunately didn’t turn out so well.) This year I did something on “Twitter riffing” on Super Sci Fi Saturday Night, which is what I and a bunch of new Twitter friends do every weekend. It is both a tribute and an examination of the phenomenon of making friends on the internet and what would happen if the internet as we know it were to go away.
The thing is…the difference between the people I’ve met in real life and the people that I know from online has actually gotten way smaller than it ever used to be. With the exception of people that I work with and a few others, I pretty much only “see” most people I know these days, in this part of my life online.
I’m not sure that The Times of Clouds and Sun makes a lot of new points, but as far as a thirty day novel goes, I think I’ve come up with something I can work with.
This year I planned ahead. I took notes for the whole year, I printed out the notes and referenced them throughout the writing process. I assembled fake quotes for chapter headings which I made up myself (whereas in the past I would take them from public domain or from the Bible) I came up with plot points, and while I did not know where it would all end up, I had at least part of the road map to get me somewhere.
I think it is a pretty decent effort….And I have no idea when you might be able to read it, but if I can use my 2016 Nano novel “Pain Center” as a blueprint, I could theoretically get it done in 4 months, assuming it isn’t a complete piece of crap. (I haven’t read it back, yet.)
Ok. Here’s hoping my revising efforts also prove fruitful. Watch this space for updates!
My Nano effort from 2016 is available thru here! http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
I have done this 11 times now, and I have finished every time (referred to as “winning”). While the novelty may have dimmed a little, I can’t say the joyous feeling of creation has ever left.
My novel is called “The Times of Clouds and Sun,” and it is about a guy who falls in love with a woman while working at a troll factory, as envisioned in the future when people are no longer able to access social media they way they are able to now. The two share an awkward slow moving relationship that involves watching bad TV together but only on Saturday night. (The rest of the time, she has to pretend to not know him.)
Together, they discover a secret that could affect the end of humanity.
In my recent books, I have tried to focus on something that I really liked, to frame a story around it. One year it was beer, one year it was coffee, last year it was naps (which unfortunately didn’t turn out so well.) This year I did something on “Twitter riffing” on Super Sci Fi Saturday Night, which is what I and a bunch of new Twitter friends do every weekend. It is both a tribute and an examination of the phenomenon of making friends on the internet and what would happen if the internet as we know it were to go away.
The thing is…the difference between the people I’ve met in real life and the people that I know from online has actually gotten way smaller than it ever used to be. With the exception of people that I work with and a few others, I pretty much only “see” most people I know these days, in this part of my life online.
I’m not sure that The Times of Clouds and Sun makes a lot of new points, but as far as a thirty day novel goes, I think I’ve come up with something I can work with.
This year I planned ahead. I took notes for the whole year, I printed out the notes and referenced them throughout the writing process. I assembled fake quotes for chapter headings which I made up myself (whereas in the past I would take them from public domain or from the Bible) I came up with plot points, and while I did not know where it would all end up, I had at least part of the road map to get me somewhere.
I think it is a pretty decent effort….And I have no idea when you might be able to read it, but if I can use my 2016 Nano novel “Pain Center” as a blueprint, I could theoretically get it done in 4 months, assuming it isn’t a complete piece of crap. (I haven’t read it back, yet.)
Ok. Here’s hoping my revising efforts also prove fruitful. Watch this space for updates!
My Nano effort from 2016 is available thru here! http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
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