Why are they cheating?
This is my first year completing the NaNoWriMo challenge. I am enjoying the contest, but I have to wonder how the other contestants manage their time. There is direction by the NaNoWriMo website to team up with others, socialize, and encourage one another.
How do they find time to socialize with one another and get their writing done?
I spotted a few writers in scanning the website writing 9,000 words a day, cramming tons of words into small packets of time, and seeming to accomplish much. If these writers can really get their writing completed in these short bursts of time, my hat is off to them. For me, I found the only way is plodding along each day, marking off my word count each day to keep my pace.
However, I am confused by the emails sent from the website for what they call ‘word count tricks’. It is suggested by them, you can reach your word count goals by having your characters recite song lyrics, like ‘American Pie’ or read a telephone book.
Hmmm… I hope the true writers of the contest are not subjecting their writing to such tricks. Would there be integrity in such tactics? Are these tricks just really a method of cheating?
If the goal of the contest is to get procrastinating writers, such as yours truly, to get out of their slumps and start writing, how is copying the telephone book achieving that goal?
I am not out to judge these writers. I am hoping to encourage them to be true to their writing. Copying the telephone book is doing just that, copying the telephone book – it is not writing. While having a character recite the lyrics from ‘American Pie’ or any other song may add words to your story, do you think a reader will read through each line of the lyrics for the song? Why would you write something no one will read?
If we accomplish the goals of this contest, we win nothing other than the knowledge we accomplished the goal. If we cheat, whom are we cheating?
Ourselves.
I encourage you, if you are writing for the NaNoWriMo contest or just writing, be true to yourself and your writing.
- Glenn
