November is National Novel Writing Month, the month in which a large group of masochistic writers try to bleed 50,000 words of utter rubbish from their over-caffeinated minds. I’m considering participating.

I’d completely forgotten about NaNoWriMo until Struggling Writer mentioned it in his last post. In the past I’ve thought about taking part, but it always seemed like a waste of effort to me. The final product, should the writer actually finish, is not likely to be salvageable. I couldn’t justify wasting that much time writing something I probably wouldn’t ever be able to use, when I could be writing something with the hopes of it being publishable.

And here I am, six years after first hearing about NaNoWriMo, with nothing written. My plan was obviously flawed.

Most writing books or courses will tell you that, in order to get any amount of writing done on a first draft, the writer must first silence his inner editor. I have a terrible time with this. My inner editor is a large, sweaty beast of a man with a voice amplifier in one hand and a dripping red pen in the other, screaming at me through cigar-clenching teeth. He’s arrogant and nearly impossible to ignore. If nothing else, this might be a good way to exorcise him.

While there is a good chance the outcome will be awful, there’s always a chance the final product will be decent enough to continue to a full length book after some editing. I think it will be interesting to see where this takes me, to see what tiny glimpses of literary brilliance I catch. The few times I really let myself go while writing, there were small moments that really surprised me.

I think a deadline, even an arbitrary one, will help motivate me to actually sit down and type. I’ll decide in the next week or so whether to attempt this.

Absolute Vanilla tagged me for this meme, so she’s entirely to blame for this.

Make a list of five strengths that you possess as a writer/artist. It’s not really bragging, it’s an honest assessment (forced upon you by this darn meme). Please resist the urge to enumerate your weaknesses, or even mention them in contrast to each strong point you list. Tag four other writers or artists whom you’d like to see share their strengths.

Humour
In most of what I write, humour plays some part. Whenever I daydream about publishing a novel, I can’t imagine writing a straight drama. I’m no Dave Barry, but it’s in my nature to joke around, and that leaks into any dialogue I write.

Drama
If I’m not writing something humourous, I’m probably writing something soul-smotheringly dramatic. I’m not a heavy person in life, but my flare for the dramatic tends to come out when I write. I really enjoy writing intense, mildly over-the-top scenes. It makes the prose feel poetic in a way that doesn’t really work in regularly-paced scenes.

Metaphors
I love expressing ideas or feelings, using seemingly unrelated comparisons, in ways that actually add to the reader’s understanding. I think in a fairly non-linear fashion at times, and that really helps with this. It’s incredibly satisfying to come up with a well-crafted metaphor that adds to the work.

Spelling/Grammar
I wasn’t going to include this one, but five strengths are hard to find. If you pick through my posts, you’ll see a few errors, but I’m typically quite careful. I have, on occasion, been referred to as a Grammar Nazi, but I’m okay with that. Writing is a creative process, but having a clear understanding of the supporting structure is essential. Even if you’re planning on breaking some of the rules, it’s important to understand what rules you’re breaking and why you’re breaking them.

Imagination
This is the main ingredient of every story, and it happens to be something of which I have a surplus. I’ve always had a vivid imagination. Throughout the day, I’ll have a dozen stories flash through my mind. It doesn’t take much to set it off: a pedestrian walking down the street, a headline on a newspaper, a piece of trash being blown across the road. Of course, transferring those stories from mind to computer is a different matter, but the sparks are certainly there.

I don’t really think of myself as a writer. I read books about writing, and I enjoy discussing writing, but I’m not really a part of that group. I’m no more a writer than a tourist with a video camera is a filmmaker. I just don’t write nearly enough. That’s not to say I won’t ever be a writer, but right now I’m just an admirer of the art.