5 Reasons Why This Year's NaNoWriMo Will Never See The Light Of Day

240/365 National Novel Writing Month begins (Photo credit: the girl who owns the world)

 

For many who are participating in the National Novel Writing Month, this is the final days of their attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days.  For some, they have reached, or surpassed, the word limit, got their winner’s badges, and are taking a break before they dive into edits and rewrites.  Some of these people may even take their NaNoWriMo works and seek publication.

 

Then there is me.  I have reached the word limit.  I surpassed it, actually.  But my NaNoWriMo will never see the light of day.

 

 

1) The Ending Sucks

 

Actually, I am being a little unfair about the ending.  It sucks because it doesn’t exist.  At least, the point I’ve reached in the story is close to the ending, but I hate it so much that I don’t want to write the ending knowing where it has to go from where I left off.

 

I think a lot of this stems from guilt.  I feel bad about the ending that will inevitable reach.  I but my characters through a lot.  My main female character (MFC from here in out) has had her life thrown completely in disarray.  My Main Character (MC) had been put through an emotional wringer. He found out his parents are not the ones that gave birth to him.  He also found out that the main villain of the story actually is responsible for his real parents’ deaths.  And now he’s learned that the woman he fell in love with (the MFC) is not betrothed to another man to seal a peace treaty.

 

They deserve better than that.

 

2) The Romance Sucks

 

As I mentioned before in another blog, I can’t write romances.  This stems from the old writing adage, “Write what you know.”  Not knowing romance (and. let’s face it, after 40 plus years of a total lack of romantic success, it ain’t gonna happen), I have a difficult time trying to write two characters in love.  Thus, the romantic moments that should have happened between the MC and the MFC just don’t happen.  And the ones that do feel forced.

 

Once again, my characters deserve better than that.

 

3) It’s a First Draft… That’s All It Is

 

Part of the NaNoWriMo mantra is that what is written during this month of chaos is a first draft and, as such, it pretty much will be crap.  The real work begins after November when writers did on and start to edit and rewrite their projects, working toward a publishable draft.

 

This will not be me.  Most of the time, once I’m done with the story, I never want to see it again.  So, no editing ever gets done because I really hate what I wrote.  The only time I did not hate what I wrote, it was so filled with pop culture references that it would require constant rewriting to keep it up to date.

 

4) The Tone Changed

 

I had started this year’s NaNoWriMo wanting to write something similar to a fairy tale.  And I did manage to start doing that.  But it eventually changed, moving away from the fairy tale tone and into a straight fantasy.  I’m not sure if I could pull it apart, or even if I want to try to.

 

5) It Really Is Just Not That Good

 

The story really is not all that great, and that is to be expected.  I really am not that great of a writer.  It is the main reason why this year’s NaNoWriMo project will never be published, nor will any of the other ones I have written in Novembers past.  It is probably a good thing that I know this now before I put in all the money that would go with trying to shop my stories around,

 

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