The Writer 11.2019

18 | The Writer • November 2019

More than 300,000 people sign up for NaNoWriMo

for the first time.

“You could be writing the

book that changes your life.

You could have already

submitted it or self-published

it. The spark could be starting

a fire for you as well. You don’t

know, and you can’t know.

That is the thrill of being an

artist, of working for yourself,

and of telling the stories you

want to tell.”

—Brandon Sanderson,

2014 NaNoWriMo pep talk

NaNoWriMo appears as a

clue in The New York Times

crossword puzzle.

Afterworlds by

Scott Westerfeld

is published. The

novel within the

novel in After-

worlds was writ-

ten by main

character Darcy

Patel during a writing event

that challenged writers to

write a novel in 30 days. It’s

the first known published

NaNoWriMo novel by a fic-

tional character.

“When you write a novel,

you’re not just working on

the novel itself. You’re also

working on the novel-building

factory: your life. You have to

create a life that is conducive

to writing. That means sched-

uling regular time to write.

Weekly is OK, daily is better.

Writing must become a

habit. If something gets in

the way of your writing habit,

seriously consider cutting it

out of your life. You have to

write even when you don’t

feel like it simply because it’s

what the factory does.”

—Gene Luen Yang,

NaNoWriMo pep talk

Do you know which character may be

responsible for the most individual fic-

tional deaths in the history of the

world? It’s known as the “Traveling

Shovel of Death.” After Al Stegall used

a shovel to kill a

character in his

2005 NaNoWriMo

novel, he posted

about it in the

NaNoWriMo

forums, and the

shovel went viral,

traveling from

novel to novel

around the globe.

The Traveling

Shovel of Death

has brought death

to countless millions – entire universes,

even – across time and dimensions,

says Al.

“What makes a writer a writer? Writing.

A lot of people would say ‘talent’, but

talent is really just the ability to do

something well that most people have

to work hard at. If you don’t think you

have ‘talent’, just work hard instead –

the talent often comes with a cost, any-

way: a lack of good work habits. The

talented ones often never had to learn

to work hard; so many of them don’t fin-

ish their work because they never had

to – it was enough to be talented, to

offer people a glimpse of what you

could be. So don’t be that person – don’t

be the person that everyone believes

could have done something. Be the per-

son who tried.” —Alexander Chee, 2016

NaNoWriMo pep talk

2014

2015

2016