By Lukas Myers
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD – What do the “Great Gatsby,” “Brave New World” and the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” all have in common, besides being great novels? The word counts for each of these books come incredibly close to the number 50,000.
And that number, 50,000, is what the committee determining the standards for National Novel Writing Month has decided an adequate number for a “winner.” National Novel Writing Month is a competition, but not in the traditional sense.
In this competition the only thing that a contestant has to beat is his own will to write, and a pesky 30-day time limit. Anyone who gets to the full 50,000 words is considered a winner and is sent five paperback copies of their book as a prize, though it does not have to end there.
Several National Novel Writing Month, affectionately called NaNoWriNo (na-noh-ry-moh) by many contestants, novels have made it onto higher tier publishing, such as “Water for Elephants,” which was made into a motion picture.
As the story goes, the month was created as a way to make use of the time that passes during what is described as the “miserable month” of November, and the original competition only had 21 participants compared to the thousands today from every walk of life.
Even here on the campus of Lincoln Land Community College, there are some students who want to make their mark by winning the competition.
Matejka Robinson has entered the competition three times. She said the month is one of the most stressful things she has attempted to do.
“Last year I made it to 15,000 words,” she said.
Each year, she does the challenge she gets more and more added to her final total, and this year, she wants to go for it yet again. This year, she plans to work on a fantasy piece.
She worries about not reaching her goal but, ultimately, says. “You have to write for what you are writing, the story, or else what is it even?”
Stating that while the goal is ever present, she said the necessary thing is truly to complete the story where the story completes, not where some word count says.
Contestants are allowed the ability to outline, research and take notes before the month of November, but to do any actual writing goes against the convention of the entire competition. The point is for the competitor to beat himself.
Among the other competitors on the LLCC campus is Professor Deborah Brothers, who is a two-time contestant and a zero-time finalist herself.
“Basically, you just need to write about five pages a day,” Brothers said.
The competition is renowned for its quantity over quality approach to the writing process and urges people to “just write” and to keep writing. The website that supports the competition has many forums and programs designed specifically to help combat the evils of writer’s block and procrastination.
“I think all of us have interesting stories to tell. Do I think you can write a great book in a month? Probably not if you aren’t an experienced writer, and probably not without a lot of editing, even if you are an experienced writer,” Brothers said. “But the act of writing and writing every day is inspiring and liberating and good experience and discipline. The point is to just do it. Just start. One word after the next. You can worry about the editing later.”
Lukas Myers can be reached at [email protected].