a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  3473 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski, what are you doing with your life?

I'm not sure why you're so angry about NaNo, but... I agree with everything you say about NaNo, I just don't come to the same end result.

I know what writing is, and I know what storytelling is. I read On Writing too, so I'm aware of the telepathy quote.

Being annoyed that I didn't edit enough isn't the same as not wanting to tell the story. I've told that story all over the place, as much as I can, because I love it. I gave it to the person who's judgement I hold above all others (with the exception of mine), and that's all I need. Wishing I'd edited more doesn't mean I don't like the story I told. I didn't write that book during NaNoWriMo because...

If I'm writing about something I care about, I don't need a bunch of shitheads in a cafe to tell me to write x number of words a day. If I love what I'm writing, I bleed it out of my pen until I have no ink left, and I buy ink by the barrel (<- see that? that's why I need to vacuum out). I've never written anything that I'm ashamed of, which is why if you troll around my website's subdomains you'll see pretty much everything I've ever written (samples of bigger projects I do want to sell). if I'm ashamed of an idea, it doesn't leave my head.

I use NaNo as a vacuum. All of the bad ideas and cliches that do get in my head, I pump them out during NaNo so I've got a more focused toolset when it comes to writing the stories that I love. My goal at NaNo is never to have something at the end to publish or be egotistical about, but to cycle out so all of my other writing benefits. If you don't approve of that or if you don't like it, that's fine. It's just what I do.





kleinbl00  ·  3473 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    I'm not sure why you're so angry about NaNo,

Because it's everything that's wrong with the amateur literature industry.

Because I've had to read some of that shit and it's execrable.

Because people who can't work on something for more than a month shouldn't work on it for a month.

Because it discourages discipline and denigrates hard work.

    If I'm writing about something I care about, I don't need a bunch of shitheads in a cafe to tell me to write x number of words a day. If I love what I'm writing, I bleed it out of my pen until I have no ink left, and I buy ink by the barrel.

And when none of the above are true, you play NaNoWriMo.

narbanmari  ·  3447 days ago  ·  link  ·  
This comment has been deleted.
narbanmari  ·  3447 days ago  ·  link  ·  
This comment has been deleted.
oslemmonseste  ·  3447 days ago  ·  link  ·  
This comment has been deleted.
oslemmonseste  ·  3447 days ago  ·  link  ·  
This comment has been deleted.
user-inactivated  ·  3473 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    I use NaNo as a vacuum. All of the bad ideas and cliches that do get in my head, I pump them out during NaNo so I've got a more focused toolset when it comes to writing the stories that I love. My goal at NaNo is never to have something at the end to publish or be egotistical about, but to cycle out so all of my other writing benefits. If you don't approve of that or if you don't like it, that's fine. It's just what I do.
kleinbl00  ·  3473 days ago  ·  link  ·  

That's fine. But we started here:

    I did some world building and outlining for my NaNoWriMo project - something incredibly generic that'll probably never be finished because I never finish NaNo projects.

And I'm just not sure why you'd waste the effort on something that you hate.

user-inactivated  ·  3473 days ago  ·  link  ·  

You hate it, I see it as a tool. That's the difference.

kleinbl00  ·  3473 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It's a tool the way lawn darts are a toy. Do you see the distinction?

user-inactivated  ·  3473 days ago  ·  link  ·  

You're not hearing why I use it, that's fine. I don't feel the need to debate it further.

kleinbl00  ·  3473 days ago  ·  link  ·  

No, I've heard you all the way. You aren't hearing me when I say that your "tool" is harmful to your writing and your well-being.

And go ahead and mute me - but understand if I didn't give a shit about you and your writing, I wouldn't give a shit about this.

user-inactivated  ·  3473 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I have no plans to mute you. I disagree with you, and that's the end of it.

kleinbl00  ·  3473 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Thanks for unmuting me.

user-inactivated  ·  3473 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I did that a long time ago, but the same to you.