My Ideas: Writing Done Fast

About five years ago, my writing skill was limited mostly to design documents and RPG adventures. In 2003, though, that changed, because I learned one of the strongest motivations I apparently have; being dared. This brings us to National Novel Writing Month, or Nanowrimo as its fans call it. Which is ironic, since National Novel Writing Month is dedicated to writing as many words as possible. The premise is simple. Take the month of November. Use it to write. Specifically, write 50,000 words in those 30 days. Said project should ideally include the beginning and end of a novel, but the only requirement is that all the words be written during that period. The end result is short, but it isn't nonetheless incomplete. After all, my two favorite novels overall, Brave New World and A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, both are under 50,000 words. It's quite an accomplishment, really. And so, starting in 2003, I tried to succeed. Four out of five times, I succeeded, and that one year, 2005, I deliberately never started, concentrating instead on other writing projects of the time. I have to admit, though, that there were complications that I never expected. For example, I never thought it would be so easy, and that unnerves me. When I started, I tried to be prepared. I started in a setting I used for years (specifically, the same one Dot was from,) and based in on an idea that I had years ago. I created an outline, figured out the names of each chapter, summarized what will happen, and even estimate how many pages and words each chapter would take. Of course, I made the subject extremely simple as an introduction. Honestly, most of the novel takes place in and revolves around people playing a game show. This is not a tough format to work with. I won by a couple hundred words. I was so proud of the work that I decided to do it again next year, but up the ante a bit. I still had an outline and the same setting, but I made the plot more complex and original. I beat it by about 1,000 words. On 2006, I actually used Dot and tried to make it more ambitious in length and concept than the last one, and after getting about 60,000 words, I did alright. But since then, it's been a bit trickier. In 2007, I deliberate flew without my normal safety nets. I used a different setting, had a grand total of one character I ever created before, and used almost no outline. I still finished, but only by about 700 words. Admittedly, life was more difficult and stressful that month than normal Nanowrimos. And I appreciate these challenges. I know that Nanowrimo won't make me the next Steven King. But if they make me a better writer, it's worth the stress. But there's a reason I'm writing about Nanowrimo some 5 months from my last novel. In March, I learned from Nanowrimo's links that there was a similar challenge in April. Dubbed ScriptFrenzy, It's pretty much exactly like it says. Instead of writing 50,000 words, the challenge is to write 100 pages in a screenplay. Since a novel is normally about 200+ pages and contains more words of the oddly formatted and dialogue heavy screenplay, it should be shorter. But it's something new, at least. And if I can't get into video game design, my next greatest hope is to write a pilot for a television show or a screenplay for a movie. Creation is creation, especially if my "narrative and story is bad" fears about the video game industry are ongoing trends. So, if you were wondering, this is the first reason why I couldn't write as many of these blogs any more, but with my other goals to get a new job and move in the next few months, it was possibly inevitable anyway. But I think I can at least write a screenplay as these steps begin. How hard can it be? I mean, I just wrote over 680 words right here!