About NaNoWriMo

Pallav: I completed the nanowrimo

People: YAY!!! SEND US SIGNED COPIES!!!!!

:: pause ::

There is not really a frame of reference for this, but I'll give this a shot. Imagine if you were getting strawberry seeds from a market to grow strawberries and your neighbor sees you buying those seeds and the next thing you know he is standing outside your house yelling for a strawberry milkshake. Or something like this.

Completing the nano is always a slightly emotional experience. It's draining in some ways. I mean, doing an act with some sort of focus and determination and dedication is something that is unique and doesn't happen for most of the year. Humans, by nature, shirk from any kind of discomfort. Writing and slamming your head against the keyboard to meet the deadline count for the day, is extremely discomforting.

There are so many other things online that you can do. There is twitter, fb, reddit, and oh god, there is youtube, but then there is this litle tiny voice in your head that says, "100 more words" and then you close other tabs and have your pathetic little word file open and you bleed on the keyboard. It's some kind of madness to be in that frame of mind when all you think about is meeting the word count and all your plans, all your strategies, all your activities are geared towards the sole activity of getting words in the screen. 

What I mean here is that once you decide that you're going to complete the 50,000 words, once you're focused, once you've committed yourself, there is very little that can come in your way. If it is any other way, then fuck it, leave it and do something else with your time.

But now that the 50k words are done, now what?

Now, the editing, which is another exercise in laziness. 

Frankly, any attempt to write 50k in one month is going to be a mess. There can be no other way, unless you're Stephen King cranked up on cocaine. And since there is only one King, there is very less hope for most of us mortals. 

The 50k words of the nano have very little that can be salvaged in form of an actual story. Which is a sad fact, but it's okay too. Nanowrimo is never about writing a novel, it's just about showing you that you can write. That's all. If you get a salvageable story out of it, that's a bonus.

What I Wrote

I wrote about a dude who gets picked up by a strange old man on his way to his office. He is thrust into a world of power, magic, dreams, and books. Lot of books. And he starts to die slowly because the books are too much for him. But the power given to him attracts new friends and old enemies, and he is chosen to save a place called The Dreaming that has been corrupted by those who were tasked to protect it. 

Right, doesn't sound like much, but i am going to edit it once I let it collect some dust in a folder. 

That's pretty much all. I am creatively drained, so gonna go and do some energizing stuff.

What's up with you?