"I don't use a typewriter, I write longhand, with a pencil. Essentially I'm a horizontal; writer. I think better when I'm lying down." -- Truman Capote

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2006 PARACLETE FICTION AWARD

Paraclete Press is now accepting submissions for the 2006 Paraclete Fiction Award, to be announced in April, 2006 at the Calvin Festival of Faith and Writing. The 2006 Paraclete Fiction Award will be given to the author of a previously unpublished literary novel with Christian themes or interfaith dialog. Winner will receive $2000 and publication by Paraclete Press.

Download contest guidelines and entry form here.

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A NOVEL IN A MONTH

Tomorrow, Nov. 1, sees the launch of this year's National Novel Writing Month -- or, as insiders call it, "NaNoWriMo." As described on the official site, the deal is to begin writing November 1, and write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

"Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly."

In 2004, NaNoWriMo had more than 42,000 participants. Nearly 6000 of them crossed the 50k finish line by the midnight deadline. "They started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists."

As a help to those of us crazy enough to try this for ourselves, we have called upon a few friends who went through this last year, J. Mark Bertrand (who blogs at www.jmarkbertrand.com), Chris Mikesell (who blogs at mikesell.blogspot.com) and Kevin Hendricks (who has several blogs at www.MonkeyOuttaNowhere.com/ ).

We'll be dispensing their advice over the next three days.

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PT. 1 -- J. MARK BERTRAND

1) What was the result of your participation in NaNoWriMo 2004? JMB: The first result was a nervous breakdown. Calling me a reluctant participant would be an understatement. I entered after a friend issued a challenge that pretty much impugned my manhood if I declined, so I registered in a sort of half-hearted way. After writing about fifty pages in two days, I had a meltdown. But then I took the weekend to recover and ended up writing about 52,000 words for the month.

- 2) Did you meet your expectations?

I did. What I'd hoped to do was write a chunk of a novel I'd put off for a long time, one of those projects that grows and grows in your mind until it is all but unwritable and you become convinced that your only hope is to hire a real writer to do it. Writing 50,000 words in a month wasn't as much of a big deal as overcoming that self-imposed mental barrier.

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3) Are you going to take the challenge again this year?

Not only am I doing it, but I'm trying to lure in as many unsuspecting friends as possible. A challenge like this is a good way of discovering if you really have it in you to be a writer. There are a lot of folks who think they'd like being writers, and would certainly enjoy being published, but don't like writing. An irrational, arbitrary deadline like this -- though, to be honest, writing 50k in a month is probably a necessary skill for today's book-a-year writers -- forces you to be alone with your work. NaNoWriMo is like a boar hunt, only you have to supply your own boar and you don't have to drink its blood or anything when you're finished.

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4) Based on your experiences last year, what one piece of advice would you say every writer MUST do to succeed this year?

Write something you care about. Don't commit to NaNoWriMo as a stunt. If you're not working on something that has an afterlife, something that will live after November 30, then you're probably wasting your time.

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5) What one thing did you learn from experienced that every writer must NOT do this year?

Don't listen to what the NaNoWriMo people say about cranking out a shoddy draft just to get your word count up and then revising it afterward. The only drafts worth revising are good drafts. Your pet monkey can write a bad draft in a month. Your pet monkey's dimwit cousin can pad a manuscript with song lyrics and verbal clutter.

The real challenge -- the thing that separates us from the beasts, if you will -- is writing a decent draft. Some folks approach NaNoWriMo like it's their own personal Heart of Darkness, a journey into the self that might end up anywhere (particularly rehab or a mental institution).

Instead, think of it as a problem of craft. Imagine someone asked you to make a chair in a month, or some fitted bookcases.

BONUS: Any other bits of advice for those doing NaNoWriMo for the first time this year?

Instead of dividing 50,000 words evenly across thirty days to arrive at a daily word count goal, set the bar higher early on. If you're going to run into trouble, it's better to hit it early, work through it, and keep going. Push yourself the first week of November so that coming out of that cauldron you have a plan and a pace to follow.

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Chris Well is the author of the suspense thriller Forgiving Solomon Long (Harvest House). Find him online at StudioWell.