My Library

I bought No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Chris Baty because I was interested in ideas to jump start my writing, to move a couple of book ideas off the drawingboard and into the pages of a word processor. I did not expect to finish a novel in 30 days, but I was hoping a book with that ambitious a title would help me move past «I have an idea based on a cast of quirky characters» to «I have a solid plot with a delightfully well fleshed out cast of quirky characters» in a month or so and in a year or so I might have «I have a great first draft of a gripping novel with an ambitious, suspenseful plot full of delightfully quirky well fleshed out characters.» Unfortunately, though it's a good book, No Plot? No Problem is not the book to help me (or anyone) do that.

Though I was familiar with the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) concept, where amateur (and a few professional) writers from around the world spend the month of November racing to churn out a 50,000 word novel, I didn't realize that Baty was the founder of the phenomenon. I did not expect to turn out a finished work in 30-days when I made the purchase, but I was hoping for some concrete tips, perhaps some writing exercises to actually get something accomplished. The book is actually a guide to a 30-day writing experience, geared heavily but not exclusively to NaNoWriMo participants, with lots of tips on dealing with naysayers, not procrastinating, when procrastinating is a good thing and how to procrastinate productively. It is, however, very short on actual writing advice. As far as writing goes, the advice of the author is to write it all down in a 50,000 word month-long brainstorming session, throwing nothing away, perhaps marking things you might want to cut, but mostly leaving editing for some unspecified time in the future, perhaps National Novel Editing Month. (Unfortunately, the last NaNoEdMo in 2005 was declared to be the final NaNoEdMO)

The book is funny and may be exactly the sort of thing you need for a tension breaker when writing becomes more work than fun, when you'd rather kill your main character on page 50 than write another paragraph. It's a quick read and does have a few ideas for where to find inspiration, though most of them are so obvious that their more reminders than fresh ideas. For anyone needing that boost to get the creative juices flowing, this book and NaNoWriMo may be a good start. For writing exercises and tips, look elsewhere.

I traded for this book on Bookins.

novel writing,writing,NaNoWriMo,National Novel Writing Month