Every one of us starts NaNoWriMo the same, with an idea, a blank page and endless possibilities. It is something that is true of all of us no matter how many times we have attempted to run this race. The endless possibilities of an idea are exciting and one of the things I love the most about writing.
I think everyone has seen images of a drop of ink splashing down into some water (if not then look above this post!). As the ink hits the water it fans out wildly, unpredictably. As the ink drops further into the glass, more and more tendrils of ink flail about wildly in the still water. Eventually the ink will hit the bottom and the water will change from clear and empty to something full of color. This is what writing is like, we have an idea we want to explore but once we drop that idea onto the page it fans out. It goes in unexpected directions and our ideas take on a shape and life of their own.
As writers it is part of our job to try and corral our creativity into something useful. A story has a structure, a way of going about its business. We can plan it out, we can build extensive worlds, we can develop intricate plots, all of which is designed to harness our abilities. Once our ideas hit the paper, all of that planning goes out the window. Nothing is off limits, everything is fair game. Once we see how the characters, world and plot interact with each other we see which parts just don’t work. We see where the story is thin, we see that all of our carefully laid plans simply won’t do. It is in these moments that the author must relinquish their desire to control every little thing and just enjoy the act of creating something. This year for NaNoWriMo my favorite moments from my manuscript have been mostly unplanned. The leap out of a window, the moment my character decides to run away when according to my notes she should have stayed, were all completely from left field. Each moment built from her understanding of the circumstances. Some would see this as maddening, I think it is delightful. It is because of these moments of discovery and joy that I write and tell stories.
The writing process is unexpectedly fast during NaNoWriMo. A continuous, never ending sprint towards towards 50,000 words. To be honest it is an enormous pressure to wake up each day knowing that I will need to write another 1,667 words just to stay on pace. With reckless abandon I will dive into my story each day to bring it forward. Sometimes all it takes is that I simply show up, the scene writes itself. Other times I have to drag my story out onto the page. In either case I am constantly up against the clock. I have to get from point A to point B and there are no shortcuts. Here in these little moments of pressure a persons creativity really shines through. I realize that much of what I am creating right now may not stay in the book after rewrites. I don’t care. These moments are building my story, anchor points for characters and behaviors that will one day become something special.
I like to think of NaNoWriMo as a giant juicer, all month it is working to squeeze every bit of creativity out of me it can. That creativity takes so many delightful and unexpected turns when I write. I may not keep the scene in which my heroine leaps from a window. I may change her reactions to the events happening around her in revisioning. For now each moment is part of the story I am discovering right now and that is what matters.