OK, I had some time on the train ride home to think about what I've gotten myself into and plan for this task. Some working notes:
- 50,000 words. Let's divide that into twenty-five 2000 word chapters. This a) seems about right (I'm really not sure what a 50kw (kiloword) novel looks like), b) makes the math easy, c) at a chapter a day, this allows for either finishing early (yeah, right) or taking a day off from writing here and there. Taking days off is dangerous (I know myself too well) but I have a wedding, Thanksgiving, and at least one out-of-town improv show this month, so it's going to be inevitable.
- So, 2000 word chapters. I have the vague number of 50-words-a-minute in my memory from some long-ago temp job test (and it, too, makes the math easy) so if I can think as fast as I can type, it should take 40 minutes a day to write a really bad chapter.
- I'm not going to fool myself - this is going to be a bad novel. That doesn't mean I'm not going to give it my best, but it also means I'm not going to worry about the quality as I go - this will be as much endurance test as artistic endevour. (I create fiction all the time, but I'm an improvisor - I never write it down. I haven't written fiction since an Intro to Creative Writing Class many years ago.)
- Editing is bad. The right choice in editting is usually "fewer words," so I won't edit.
- I am an improvisor. So, I'm not going to plan this out ahead of time (i.e., I'm turning laziness into an artistic choice). I'll see what happens on paper starting November 1.
- I noticed on the NaNoWriMo website that a number of people from Chicago doing the nano are improvisors also. It'd be fun to do a Kick-Off or Ending party.
