Hey fellow Nanoers
I'm Tree and I've Nanoed sporadically over the past few years. I've even popped up at the odd BBQ and drinkies night in years gone by (odd being the best descriptor!)
It's day two and I haven't even made a final decision about what I'm going to write about, and I need your help.
I'd love to write about family events that happened in August this year. Some stuff happened that was so unbelievable and astonishing and shocking and funny, that I think it would make a corker of a book. My concern is twofold: I'm not sure I have enough distance from this to be able to make it funny. I've told a couple of people stories about what happened, and they end up crying laughing, but I am left feeling a little bit weird and icky about it. Which segues nicely into my second issue. The fact that I feel weird and icky about it suggests that I might be not representing the people involved in a way that would make me comfortable taking the story anywhere beyond the hard drive of my 'puter.
I have a crappy fantasy thing lurking about in the back of my brain that I can use instead.
Have you ever written from real life? What sort of distance did you need from the events to get the right tone? How do you think the people involved might respond to it if they read it?
Do I make this my 2010 attempt and go with the fantasy thing this year? Or is this an issue that can be solved through Nanoedmo?
Help me Nanowrimoers, you're my only hope!
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60,200 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 18 49
Hi Tree,
I think you might be overlooking the point of NaNo - it's writing for yourself. If you want to write from real life, then do it. It doesn't have to be good, it doesn't have to be funny. Maybe you'll write it and find it's the best thing ever, maybe you'll find out that you haven't got enough distance from it all - either way, you'll have accomplished something just by finding out and writing.
No one else has to read your NaNo if it turns out that you don't want them to - you're not writing for any audience other than you unless you choose to.
So I'd suggest going ahead and writing if you think you're up to writing about it. The quality of the writing doesn't really matter. You could even treat is as an exercise to find out what it is you really think about what happened in August.
Either way, do what you think is best for you.
K
50,001 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 19 27
One thing I learned in comedy class is - it's okay to joke about something when there's some distance from the event. (Time and emotion both).
For example, you wouldn't joke about something straight after it happened - I was writing this morning about fighting with my sister when we were young and laughing my head off. But at the time, I assure you we were NOT laughing.
Maybe the time isn't right..only you can know that.
I'm writing about my life and the time feels right..it's virtually writing itself. I'm going through all the highs and lows all over again.
Good luck.
28,723 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 01 41
Hey tree...
The good thing is that it is only a first draft... If you write about it now, you will capture the way you were feeling more accurately when all this went down, and then when you come to re-write, if you have had enough distance, you can edit it for that... I find that it preserves memories the closer to the even that you write it...
But then again, you might want to take a break from it, and have a go at the fantasy novel and chill for a bit...
By the sounds of it, though, you want to write this series of events down, so I say go for it... That's the great thing about first drafts, they're allowed to be BAD, but it's nothing you can't fix with edits!
----------NaNo07: A Ghostly Belonging - WON!
NaNo08: Muntaer - WON!
NaNo09: Growing Up Robot / We Have Your Voices
37,517 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 21 04
Not that I'm any expert on this (I've not written anything other than for academic purposes for nigh on 6 years), but I would probably suggest making sure that (if you're intending on publishing this in the near future) all of your in-jokes are explained well enough that someone who has no idea about your family dynamic can understand and laugh too.
Having said that, like what everyone has been writing here, this month's novel-writing period is meant to be for you, so as long as you hit 50,000 words by the end, there are no limits to what you can and should write about. If there is something you are bursting to write about, do it! Don't assume that the rest of us will be judging you at the end. :)
30,181 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 22 45
I think that you should write about this now.I sense that you need to. I have used aspects of real life in all my Nanos but have not always felt able to go back to them and review/edit later. Put it all down now, If you do want to use what you write this month l you can decide later how heavily you want to edit / change it. After you upload it successfully for your word count verification you can delete it if you feel uncomfortable about what you have written.
----------serendipity