Victory!

Plot Problems

Is it OK that for my NaNoWriMo novel, "The Writing Class," I'm making my favorite library the site, and the time last fall, as election day nears, my main character an Obama supporter and campaign volunteer? The "real" writing class took place thirty years ago at a different North side library, and today there's actually a writing organization, Neighborhood Writers Alliance--wouldn't some of my writers belong to that group, not the imaginary one I'm creating? Why would there even be a class at this library when that other organization exists? Am I being lazy with my research? But there's different schools of thought on that--most agree that yes, you have to do research---but not during the first draft, now is the time to let your imagination fly. Besides--although publication is always a goal and dream, that's not what NaNo is about. NaNo is a time to stretch my wings and enjoy writing a massive amount of pages, letting my characters take over and letting reality and real-life considerations disappear, forgetting my pile of rejection letters and the well-thumbed Writer's Market and my other neglected drafts of novels. Maybe my 2009 NaNo work with be salvageable, adding to NaNoWriMo's official list of published works--or maybe only fit for the blue recycling bin out back. Either way, I have fun, grow as a writer, meet a challenge, enjoy reading forums from other eccentric writers, even go to a write-in or two. I will write as the muse directs and forget reality!

Week 1 NaNoWriMo

Shh! Don't tell anybody what I'm writing about for NaNoWriMo because I haven't told anybody yet, afraid that I'll unpop the cork too soon releasing all the fizz. But I feel the need to vent about my noveling experience--and why not vent in the blog I devised for just this purpose?

I'm not sure if I picked the best plot--and I'm not even sure I have a plot! OK, Chris Baty, I know you said no plot no problem--I just hope you're right!

I've always wanted to write about the dynamics of a writing group--the kind of characters it attracts (aren't all writers a tad bit eccentric?), the relationships that form, the secrets that get revealed. In what other kind of class do you discover who is gay and who is straight, who survived an abusive childhood, who still mourns a baby who didn't survive the maternity ward, who was betrayed by a spouse, who survived domestic violence...The list goes on. Sounds more like a group therapy session than a writing class, but there you have it--that's what makes writing groups so volatile. Once I was in a class with two people who had what might euphemistically be called a personality conflict--the guy actually wrote a story where the woman went bananas and commited suicide in an exceedingly gory fashion. OK, that's a little extreme, too strange for fiction, but you get the idea.

I also recall the nurturing environment of a class I took at a library years ago that ended when the grant ran out.

So, this is my fuel. What do I have? A cast of characters, each with his or her own stories bursting to get out, each wanting to be the next Shakespeare. I'm getting to know these people and their stories, stealing shamelessly from myself and (shh!) the people I know. But I have no idea where this NaNoWriMo novel is going!