Slow Down -- and Speed Up!

Is there a way to balance productivity and quality? When I read what I've written so far, it has a hurried quality to it. (Like all my blog posts.) I have a lot to do. I must hurry. Faster, faster, faster.

While that is all true (and I feel like a first draft is good enough for a blog post because that's all I have time for), I'm making a mistake with my novel. I may not have time right this minute while I'm working on my novel to churn out a chapter, I do have time to truly get into the scene and the character. Walter Wetherell (W. D. Wetherell) once told me to spend more time in my scenes and not hurry on so much. That's exactly what I'm not doing.

It's harder to add in things later. It's easier to cut than to add. I need to slow down. Not spend less time, not produce fewer pages. I need to slow down while I'm writing. I might be in a hurry because time is so precious, but the words are even more so. If it takes me several months longer to get my first draft completed, that's okay.

So, having decided that I need to slow down, what have I done? Why, signed up for Nanowrimo, which starts Thursday.

I feel like I've decided to slow down -- and speed up. That makes no sense. So how I'm trying to use it is to slow down because I'm going to spend more time working, which will coincidentally result in 50,000 words by November 30. If I feel I am killing myself or my novel, I am allowed to jump ship but not allowed to stop writing.  Anybody else done it or going to do it?

Comments

[Misti]

What? Me? Participate in NaNoWriMo officially? Not while in school full-time and part-time work, sorry.

That's an interesting comment, about it being easier to cut then to add. As someone perpetually stuck with having to ADD content to things I write after the first draft (unless I'm trying to write something serious while I have sugar or caffeine in my system), I can heartily agree. Having to figure out what needs to be added to turn a 20k-word skeleton into a full-length novel is a pain.

And I agree that not killing yourself in the process would be good.

[Rebecca Laffar-Smith]

I completed Nano in 2005 but the resulting novel was nothing at all like I had wanted to write. It's still sitting on a shelf and will stay there.

It can be a tough challenge and part of the 'rules' of Nano is that you write a 50,000 word completed novel. They expect your final two words to be, 'The End'. So in a way, Nano encourages writing novels that will need to be bulked up in the edit rather than sliced and diced.

Nano is great for motivation and for giving you a challenging but achievable daily goal. Good luck!

[Anne]

They can expect "The End" but it will probably be "The End of the Middle." I have never been one to follow the rules too closely.

Honestly, I don't know what I've gotten myself into.

[Terry Heath]

Thanks for the reminder about slowing down. I'm doing NaNo this year and one thing I've noticed is when I write in first person it's easier to include characters' thoughts and fill out the narration. I can, and probably will, change to another viewpoint in a subsequent draft, but in the meantime I'm including important "first thoughts" which might be important in a rewrite.

[Misti]

Hi, again. How'd NaNoWriMo go for you?

I ended up accidentally stuck with a story idea that kept going and got 15k words written on it in November. (Probably could've done more, but . . . 6 tests plus 4 hours on a final project in one day is not fun, okay?)

Have a good Thanksgiving?

At any rate, enjoy Christmas!