- Upbeat and funny, Chris Baty's guide gets you motivated for NaNoWriMo.
- Baty provides the basic instruction necessary for writing the first draft of a novel.
- His emphasis on the power of deadlines strikes home.
- Did I already mention that it's funny?
- Some sections, like those on preparing for NaNoWriMo, are a bit thin.
- NaNoWriMo's founder, Chris Baty, offers a funny, exuberant novel-writing boot camp in this guide to the event.
- Anyone looking for a pep talk before launching their novel would do well to read the introduction and first chapter.
- The book argues that doesn't matter whether the novel's good or bad: the experience is the important thing.
- See pictures from NaNoWriMo events in New York and Austin.
Best of all, Baty's style is exuberant and funny, perfectly reflecting the spirit of the event. To Hemingway's oft-quoted remark, "The first draft of anything is shit," Baty responds, "It's not just shit, though. It's wonderful shit." Having written and revised several novels since NaNoWriMo's inception, Baty knows what he's talking about. "Novels are simply too long and complex to nail on the first go-round. Anyone who tells you differently is a superhuman literary cyborg." The idea of NaNoWriMo is to get the thing written -- to overcome perfectionist tendencies and fear and get words on paper. "Don't worry about quality," he urges again and again, "go for quantity."
By prizing the experience of writing a novel over the end result, Baty democratizes the act of writing a novel. If you've been looking for a reason to do NaNoWriMo, Baty's little book will deliver.
