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Once upon a time, some very crazy people had a very crazy idea - a whole month dedicated to writing a novel. The challenge created was christened 'NaNoWriMo', short for 'National Novel Writing Month'. Needless to say, it's an American idea and started on the west coast somewhere. Anyway, since its creation it's become an international phenomenon spanning a very wide selection of countries and attracting several hundred thousand crazy writers, myself included.
The challenge? Write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November, and the month of November only. Last year, I decided that the Tree of Insanity that spreads its invasive roots throughout my very being could be nurtured with a big lump of NaNoWriMo. I'll probably talk about my getting involved with the madness at some point, but today is not that day. Maybe.
Now, after the apparent success of NaNo, somebody decided that a sister project should be run. Instead of writing a novel of 50K words though, the aim would be to draft 100 pages of original scripted material for anything that may require a script, and it was made to run in April instead of November. Named 'Script Frenzy' (or 'Screnzy' for short), it too has been notably successful in recent years.
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Now you know what NaNo and Screnzy are, I shall now talk of my own involvement in the projects.
The first time I took part in NaNoWriMo was last year (2011, for those of you who forget and can't count). I took part in NaNo (as it's called by us lazy crazies) and, surprisingly enough, won. Not bad for a newbie. (And don't even ask about what I win - I'll explain some other time.) Admittedly, it was a by-the-skin-of-my-teeth victory, but it was a victory nonetheless.
That's not to say that there wasn't a cost. There was no fee as such, but it caused me some grief trying to explain it to everyone I told about it, plus I went several nights near sleepless. Then there was the fact that you have to get on with the rest of your life in the meantime, which is somewhat hassling. I should probably inform you that, assuming you don't miss out any days at all throughout the 31 day period of November, that means you must write at least 1,667 words per day if one wishes to succeed at NaNo. With other commitments, that proves tough. I've already agreed to take part in the 2012 NaNo. That's one whole month set aside for writing. And now I've gone and doubled that time.
Two words: Script Frenzy. After recently learning of its somewhat mythical and untouchable existence, I had a moment of inspiration mixed with a larger-than-usual dose of madness that conspired to make me sign up to Screnzy. This means that I have effectively consigned myself to death by typewriter. I haven't the foggiest idea as to what I should do with Screnzy. I have an idea, all right, but only for a somewhat-shaky plot. That's all. I have no prior experience in writing scripts, nor do I have the proper software to write them with. What this means for me is that either I'll a) spend the next forty days or so reading the How-To guides with frantic franticness and download some sort of scriptwriting software or (and this is the more likely of the two options) b) I'll be shot down in a blaze of glory brought on by ludicrous inexperience, scripting dreams going down with me. Frankly, I hoped for better.
If some evil scientist were to plonk me at the start of April at this very instant, I would most likely die. I rate my chances of succeeding with my current knowledge as 32%. However, I have 43 days to learn. Let's hope I get the chance to put those 43 days to good use. If not, then Lord help me...
Making preparations for the oncoming April storm,
An Insane Author
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