Thursday, October 27, 2011

The purpose of writing vs NaNoWriMo

October is at an end and November is right in my face, remembering me that it is time for another crazy 30 days to write a new novel.

Writing is a very important moment for me for it is a mean of extracting a story and put it in a form that will be understandable by others. It will be out of my own private garden and pushed into a mean that can be seen by others. Of course, I need to publish the story for the world to read it but it would be at a single click of sending it to the world. It would be possible to pass a whole story to thousands of people. 

It's actually a very great commitment to myself because I agree to express that story. For me, it is as important as sending an email to a client, writing a technical document for a developer, create a presentation on prezi or writing a post-it on the team's board.

So now I will write, what at least 100K words again? This is a lot of email and about 20 000 post-it! That's crazy! How can I bare to to render such a story, even if it is only in a word document? It cannot just stay there and wait for ever? Imagine if I had 20 000 post-it on my desk and just say to people: "Nah, I won't put them on the board. It was just a crazy idea I had for a month."

I could not bare the looks of people, the mental issue I would have to live with such a number of post-it on my desk, not to mention the people responsible to clean the office and my boss asking me why I used 20 000 post-it. I would have to store them away and force myself not to look at them and kick them back in place each time I would trip on a sticky pile of them.

So why would I agree to keep a 100K words novel in a folder somewhere in "My Documents"? I has to have a purpose. I has to be used. If I decided to write it, it means it had a value and than value could be to acheive a personal goal of just writing them but it can't be only that for me. When I write, I do it because other have value in what I write too. Why would I write an email to explain something to a client if it had no value? They would just ditch it away, or worst, tell me they don't want to have these kind of email any more.
am I writing novels for people? 
Well, yes! 

Of course I first write them for me. It gives me a great sens of accomplishment and also helps me to understand my own version of a story. I don't have all the novel in my head at all times. I have flashes, scenes, characters, general events and other bits of information but the whole novel is still a mystery. Even the ones that are already written! I can't remember all the details and it would not surprise me if I was to modify a whole part of it in the process. 

So, writing is for me an expression of my imagination, feelings and knowledge that I cannot just leave there for a future discovery by someone or just lose everything due to a hard drive crash. I am kind of committing myself to publish here. I still don't know when or how but I will. It is a goal, no, a purpose I have when I write. 
And now, back to that crazy month of November where we will create a novel for the world. And the best part is that it will be a fun adventure based on friendship, caffeine, sugar, lack of sleep, back pain, courage and laughing.

Hope to see you soon!

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