I have a concept for a young adult fiction series called ‘Robot Farts’ that I’ve been working on for some time. I’ve written out synopses, spelled out characters, and even written a handful of chapters. I can’t wait to write it. I think it has potential, and I really want it to be good.
So for the next month, I’m going to write something completely different.
I have a theory that the first major project somebody undertakes, be it a film, screenplay, album, whatever, is going to be terrible. Now, there are a million instances out there where that is 100% false. People make brilliant first things all the time. However, I don’t. My first movie was terrible, my first feature screenplay was a mess, etc, etc, etc. I’m not being hard on myself either, this is just part of my process. I have to fail first to know how to do something right.
NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, has existed for some time now. In November, brave chaps from all over the world spend a month pounding out a novel, plot or quality be damned. It’s an inspiring and wonderful program, and although I’ve never participated, I’ve always thought about joining.
But I don’t have time to wait until November. I want to write Robot Farts now. Which means I need to get my first novel out of the way so Robot Farts doesn’t have to suffer the pain and agony of being my first attempt at trying to conjure up a novel. Sure, I’ve written plenty of short stories, but adding length to anything exponentially complicates things. It took me years to work up from short scripts to full length screenplays.
So I’m holding my own little personal NaNoWriMo. By February 28th, I will have written 50,000 words of what will most likely be an atrocity of narrative fiction. But I will have written it. This post is one of the ways I’m holding myself responsible. After putting it out here for all the world to see, it would be far too shameful for me to fail at my dumb, dumb task.
This is going to be fun right? I’ll keep you kids updated on my progress as I quickly learn this will be way harder than I’ve convinced myself it will be.
Wish me luck!