Sunday, October 23, 2011

Be a Bold Writer

QOTD: Are you participating in National Novel Writing Month?

Before I get on with today's topic, I'd just like to point out that NaNoWriMo will be here ONE WEEK! For those of you who have no clue what this amazing event is, it's a month-long challenge to write 50,000 words' worth of a novel in the course of November. It's fun, it's crazy, it's illuminating, it's life-changing. And that's not an exaggeration either. 

I've been tweeting like mad and following accounts like FigmentFiction and WriMos FTW! just to get myself hyped up about NaNo. (Seriously guys, unless you've been keeping up with my blog since last November, you have no idea how intense I get around this time of the year!) I've become obsessed with looking up literary blogs, and I have an entire folder in my Bookmarks dedicated to online NaNoWriMo articles that I've collected from the Internet. 

Seriously! Come. Join. I guarantee that if you stick with it, in the end you won't regret having done it. Well-l-l maybe you might, but it'll definitely be an experience you'll never forget. :) 

~~~

I'll be focusing a lot on writing this month and the next (not surprisingly), and today I've thought a lot about why it's important to be a bold writer. What do I mean by being a bold writer? 

Bold writers...
  • aren't afraid to take chances
  • create characters, make them come alive and then put them in situations that take them out of their comfort zone
Bold writers...
  • take those characters to places that they normally wouldn't think of going in their worlds, and then take a step back to see what happens
  • don't use cliches--they make their own. 
Bold writers are able to make their stories become so alive and full of truth that it's impossible for a reader to forget. 

As writers, we have all the tools we need to do what we do. We use a collection of our thoughts and feelings, our experiences and our imagination. We use our mind. This is both luxuriating and terrifying, because if we are the controllers of our own minds, surely we can create anything we want?

Bold writers aren't afraid to take advantage of all the tools they need to create something. They scoop all of these tools up and chisel away until they're raw and dull and in need of a good sharpening again--use them with full force and maybe shoot them out one after another like bullets emitting out of a gun or all at once like a great big cannonball. They don't know what they might end up with when it's all said and done and, quite frankly, they don't give a damsel-in-distress about staying sophisticated or rational. They dive into their work. 

This coming November, let's all be bold writers. Let's step out of our normal boundaries and create characters that in the real world would have never crossed each other's pathways--and let's make them cross those paths. Let's see what happens when we toss all cares aside and do whatever the heck we want with the tools we have. Let's find out what we can create when rationality is crumpled up, stomped on and tossed over our shoulders. 

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5 comments:

Oh to Be a Muse said...

i definitely agree with you on what you mean by being a bold writer. creating characters and not cliches--taking chances--all makes sense to me.

i'm not participating in national novel writing month but i know you are--hope you're having a great time writing!

Unknown said...

Sometimes, a writer will sit down to write a blog post, and will spill words that have been marinating in their mind for some time - and once the words are out in the blogosphere, the writer fails to realize just how poignant these words are.

This is one such post!

Seriously - I love the thoughts you laid out on what bold writers are, and what bold writers do. This post will help anyone who sees it!

Lydia Kang said...

Well said! I'm not doing Nano, but I agree with being bold!

Hey, thanks also for the congrats!

I V Y said...

BE BOLD!

xo zebra and meerkat

Wendy Luane Barber said...

I am doing NaNo next month and still prepping for it. It will be here soon and I'm very excited this year. I am confident I will reach my 50,000 words. Cheers to you and good luck!

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