Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25299
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25299
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Not necessarily, no. In fact, probably not. NaNoWriMo puts an emphasis on words, and on getting words down on paper. But words are merely a vehicle. What we call "writing" is actually about storytelling, not grammar and vocabulary. The relationship between words and story seems to be different for different writers. If the discipline of producing words has the effect of pulling story out of you, then NaNoWriMo may have some merit for you. But it is equally possible that the demand to produce words may cause your mind to disengage the story engine and simply start churning words. In that case, it is a waste of time.

Stories seem to flow out of some people as easily as breathing. They may lack nothing but the discipline and craft to write them down. For others, words may come naturally, but crafting story is a hard slog. Some seem to benefit from putting writing aside and building story as an outline or plan. Others can only capture story through words, but need to wait for story to come to them before they can write. Still others (the greatest number alas) have neither story nor art in them and can only spew words. Personally I can see NaNoWriMo being effective only for the first and last groups.

Story is the point, though, and if NaNoWriMo is not pulling story out of you, I would say stop and wait until you have a story before you write.

Original score: 2