Saturday, November 08, 2008

I'm Not a Cheater, I Swear

Warning: NaNoWriMo novelist is in session. Trespassers will be reborn as the inspiration for an ugly and evil race of horrifically disfigured beings and/or the villain.

I have decided to deal, once and for all, with the accusations of cheating that have been leveled against me.

"Even during anything-goes Week One, you'll write a few things that you recognize right away just don't fit in the book... when you write these things, whether they constitute a sentence, a paragraph, or an entire chapter, do not cut them. All words you write on your novel, no matter how misshapen or ill-advised, still represent crucial steps toward the 50,000 word finish line. Rather than deleting these passages, put them in italics." -Chris Baty, No Plot? No Problem! pg. 114-115. (italics mine)

Also, see these two Q&A features from the NaNo website, about two extremely high achievers in the NaNo world.

And I'm not even doing any of these:

"The stutter: Afflict one of your characters with a stutter, and it doubles the girth of their dialogue. Temporary deafness: Everything from loud rock concerts to small deposits of earwax can temporarily render your character deaf, necessitating that everything said to him or her be repeated. The dream sequence: Our dreams might as well come with a sign that says, 'Free words: Help yourself.' The dream sequence... go[es] on for as long as you like and don't have to make any sense whatsoever. It's the motherlode! The citation: If your character can read, you can cite. Give your protagonist a copy of Beowulf and an annoying habit of reading poetry out loud on their long commute to work, and you've suddenly added thousands of words to your count." -Chris Baty, No Plot? No Problem! pg. 127

SO THERE.

3 comments:

Fredjikrang said...

Lol! Well said. :D

Michele said...

: D

Naazju said...

Bob, my roommate has that book and she totally backs you up. And, in case you're scared of stalkers, I'm "Naazju" from that other place. ;) Good luck!