If you're like me, you probably have a problem not only sitting down to write, but once you're in your space, you also have a problem actually doing some writing.
Dr. Wicked's lab's Write or Die has a cure for that last one.
You can set the parameters, which is kind of cheating, but here's the basics: You set a word/time limit, and give the good doctor a personality of sorts (either forgiving, strict or evil [bwaaaahahahahaha]). Once that's done, you set the Doctor's persuasive method for Gentle, Normal, Kamikaze or Electric Shock.
Gentle mode prompts you if you stop writing. In Normal an unpleasant sound is played. In Kamikaze, well, the program "unwrites" your work, so you better get to it. It doesn't say what consquence Electric Shock mode provides, and I don't care to think about it, frankly. *
You can't save text from this program, forcing you to copy and paste what you've done, but thankfully, the newest version prompts you if you try to wander away, saving you from quickly checking a word's definition at dictionary.com and losing all your work.
The site promotes it as a great way to get to the 1667 words for NaNoWriMo or for writing on lunch breaks.
Which got me thinking. Has any author of any note, or even any published author at all, ever relied on a gimmick like NaNoWriMo? I'm curious about both NaNoWriMo itself, and whether it has ever spawned anything of any actual worth.
I'm just about in a place where I can start a second novel, and I've already shown that I'm better when I have someone else's expectations to meet, so I'm thinking maybe this year I'll take up the challenge of NaNoWriMo.
* CORRECTION: For close readers, it is noted that the site does indicate what occurs in Kamikaze mode: The program increases difficulty by decreasing your actual word count.
I think I've mentioned, several times, that I'm doing Nano this year, and I know at least four of my friends are. I think my main reason for doing it (now that I've finished my first book) is to write a story that I like the concept for but am not passionate about to write out. I keep getting distracted by cute emotional stories while the nano book is going to be deep, philosophical and probably unbearably dry.
ReplyDeleteUm...I can't really comment on the first part, because I've been writing more this past year than I have in a long time and I can't seem to stop. I think the doctor's cute would help you write when you're first getting into the groove (again), but in the end I think you shouldn't need that, because then it seems like it's becoming more work than fun...and what's the point of that?
Back to nano and if anything good comes of it...I don't know for certain, but I do know lots of authors (big names) encourage people to use it and offer helpful suggestions. So maybe it does create the base of a book. But maybe the story written in that month is not the story that ends up getting published. Stories, after all, are always changing.