Happy Hooker Crap-o'meter

Miss Snark, the literary agent's blog, is hosting the results of one of her infrequent crap-o'meters. This one invited aspiring authors to send in a 250 word (or less) hook for their unpublished novel. The idea is to give her the query that you would send to an agent -- a brief statement of what your book is about. As she writes in one of her critiques, you have about 8 seconds to get the agent's interest, then your letter gets thrown on the crap pile. Very informative for any prospective author. Fun reading for those of you who aren't. After you read enough of these -- and the responses they engender -- you may just find yourself writing for clarity, even in your notes to the paper boy or baby sitter. Oh, and my reading material? I'm starting it tomorrow. With very low expectations. The scariest monsters keep lurking in dark places. Not trotted out as children with all their psychoses plopped on the page.

NaNo haters

Not much new. I seem to have little time for keeping up with my blog. That should change after Christmas. Right now I'm working on my NaNo novel: The Andrews Bride -- trying to get it finished by Jan. 1st. I want to have time to edit it a little. Lulu, a print on demand service, offers a free copy of every NaNo winner's book, but you have to submit it by Jan. 16th. It's always a thrill to see your book actually looking like a book. And Lulu makes a profit since most people probably buy one or two for family and friends.

Of course, some authors can be pretty snobbish about it. I've seen blogs where NaNo is called a waste of time. That it deludes people into believing they're authors. That it encourages people to write crap.

I realize that writing doesn't make you an "author." Or good. But I do think that writing x amounts of words a day to get to a monthly word count encourages discipline. And while it's not possible to learn rules of spelling or grammar just by writing, the sheer amount of writing may lead to better fluency and flow. Maybe even an interest in improving one's grammar.

One of the objections seems to be that most of the NaNo participants will never become published. I can't understand why anyone would care about that. I've been on the forums enough to know that a lot of them have no interest in writing for a living. They're doing it as a one time or yearly thing, just for fun. Or they do write year round, but it's a hobby.

When is the last time you read a blog from a pro golfer bitching about all the people who play golf who have no chance of ever going pro? Or a chef making fun of people who take a culinary course at their local community college? Don't authors understand that writing can be a hobby?

And if someone does have a story that they dream of having published one day? And if they want to begin in November using NaNo to push themselves? Telling yourself that you're going to be writing crap isn't giving yourself permission to be bad. It's just a way of getting started and not being too disappointed when that first draft turns out not to be a finished, polished manuscript.

I think most of us picture our favorite authors sitting down and turning out a perfect book in one draft. Deciding "if what I write doesn't come out perfectly in the first draft I might as well quit" may be one of the biggest delusions that causes people to quit prematurely. If NaNo does nothing else, it frees you from worrying about perfection. Get the words down first. If you have the talent and the discipline and are willing to work hard, you may just turn it into a decent manuscript some day.

If I thought that authors were, as a rule, jealous or fearful of competition, I could understand NaNo put downs. But from what I've seen through blogs and web sites and my limited contact with writers, the majority are very supportive and encouraging with each other and with aspiring authors.

Authors recognize that their profession doesn't have the same sort of cut throat competition of many other careers. Each author is competing more against himself than anyone else. They're competing for readers, but one author's success doesn't signal failure for the others. It's not as if The DaVinci Code killed off that type of book. On the contrary, its success has lead to a run on religious conspiracy action adventure thrillers. Similarly, the success of the Left Behind series showed publishers that there was a market for Christian fiction and opened up greater opportunities for writers who wished to work in that genre.

If I have to guess, I'd say their objections may be because NaNo doesn't fall within their parameters of the Right Way to become an author. An aspiring author should determine if he has the talent for it, and if so, keep writing and rewriting until he learns his craft. Most writers also advise enrolling in a reputable class and joining a writing group for critique and feedback.

Since participating in NaNo doesn't preclude doing any of that, I still don't see the problem some writers have with it.