Novel writing

I once had a couple of goes (if that even makes sense) at writing a novel.

Actually I've tried more than that. The first attempt I can remember was about 20ish years ago (I can count my life in decades now, how scary is that?) I was quite into 'choose your own adventure books' which those of a similar age may remember were very popular in the ?late 80s or so. You know, do you choose to fight the dragon (turn to page 84) or run away (turn to page 6). Brave brave Sir Robin indeed. Anyway, I don't know if that survives - might be in my mum's loft or even my own loft...

I also had an attempt at a novel, based on a short story written at school that won a prize, I think, around my last year at school. This one was highly derivative sci-fi, and when I realised I was writing something that was a cross between Anne McCaffrey and Star Trek: TNG, I stopped. (Not that either of those are bad - that was the point, I liked them so much, I unconsciously drew heavily on them). Bits of that one survive but I think the most complete version of what I had done - only a chapter or so - suffered some sort of disc problem.

But what I thought was the most promising attempt was my involvement in NaNoWriMo [National Novel Writing Month], a few years ago. I was somewhat unemployed, to start with, and thought that this was a far better use of time than jobseeking (still do to be honest - why can't governments come up with a better solution than the soul-destroying JobCentres?) As I recall, it was an article on a Radio Scotland programme that clued me in on it, the idea being that people plan to write a novel 'one day' but don't, or start but worry about the quality (see above) but that if you join in a group who say they will write 50000 words in a month without thinking about quality (i.e. just do 1700 words a day on average) then you have a deadline (it takes place in November) and once you have something down, I believe there are some who organise a NaNoEdMo in about March. "Winners" are those who achieve 50K words (they verify the word count but don't read it). My first year of participation was fun, but I got a job after about a week and I had already fallen behind on word count so that was a shame. My idea was a good one, I think, but the rules state you must start with a clean slate (although you can plan characters, plot etc beforehand but not come with a half-written manuscript). The second year I did it, I got even less far, just a couple of thousand words if that - again with what I thought was a good idea. These two openings to novels may still survive on a 3.5" floppy or a disused PC hard disk somewhere...

The point is, I obviously want to write a novel. Can I do it? 'If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything' - George McFly, Back to the Future. I'd love to do Nano again this year, having both been away from it for a couple of years, and now knowing that I can write a couple of thousand words in a day if I have to. But it's one thing to do that once, and another to do it for 30 days on the trot. Still, not worrying about quality is a bonus. The biggest downside is that it will be getting close to the end of a busy term, including 'Paul's Gospel and Mission' and 'Christ and the Christian Faith' (Christology) and a placement to do as well. A possible downside would also be not going back to a previous good idea (though I don't think I'll revisit the choose your own adventure...).

Idea - maybe I could do it as a blog - I'm probably writing loads of words per day already, so why not make them a novel. Then people can interact too... Not sure if that would be in the rules but hey, it's pretty flexible anyway.

Right, I'm off to create a new, connected blog, and to try and come up with some character and plot thoughts.