Q: Paul, you've made three YouTube videos about NaNoWriMo. What made you decide to vlog about the program? Do you feel more motivated to reach 50K now that you've told the YouTube universe you'll be writing a novel?
A: For some time now, my writers group, The Literary Den, has been discussing our campaign to promote reading and writing, particularly over here in the UK and Ireland. We had spent a lot of time talking on our forum, and very little time actually doing anything, so I took it to YouTube and promoted the biggest global writing event I know of: NaNoWriMo. I had so much fun with it last year that I knew other people would love it too. I've even managed to get a couple of friends involved, one who was afraid she might not finish, the other who wasn't even sure what NaNoWriMo was! Now the three of us are in it together.
In one of the videos I announced that I would "adopt" a novelist, like what Wrimos were doing in the forums. The difference was that only people who had heard of NaNoWriMo could see that. I wanted to make the whole thing a lot more open and to get as many new faces involved as possible. The Den's all about making writing fun; and despite the obvious competition this will create in the manuscript department, it's for the greater good of the cultures we have over here. Writers like James Joyce, WB Yeats, and JM Synge once made Dublin a literary hotspot; now it's like a heritage site to people around the world where they can trace back their families. People are almost afraid to write for fun, to express themselves, and that needs to change.
This is why I've told the YouTube universe that I'm committed to NaNoWriMo for the month. I entered last year blindly, madly even (deciding a week in advance I was going to do it, with no ideas in mind) and without knowing anyone else until it came up in the Den that a few others were involved. And that was it. That was what motivated me to finish. Yes, having a fun novel to write was helpful, but having a public eye on me, knowing I might actually be judged by winners in the group (and people who followed my blog at the time) because I didn't finish like I said I would, that pushed me to the end point. That, added to the fun of the month (and my face quite literally on the Internet, telling people I'm entered to write yet another novel in a month) is sure to make the experience even more fun!
Paul Carroll is a writer, reader, bookseller, and blogger from Dublin, Ireland, studying to become a Religion and English teacher. He runs an online writers group known as the Literary Den and Vlogs from time to time about his life and books that he reads and writes, and has recently begun acting at college. His NaNoWriMo videos can be viewed here.
