the mediocre american novel

I've been strongly considering joining my readers Aimee and Kell in participating in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). After all, I started this blog as a means of getting back into the habit of writing. It seems only fitting to jump into such a bold challenge and see where it leaves it me.

There is one problem, though. I suck at fiction. Poems? Cool. Editorializing? I'm there. Plays/screenplays? All over it. Stories? Now, there is my problem. Its never something I've gotten the hang of. My writing is too dialogue heavy. Too self-consciously unconventional. Too visually oriented. And, there is the added problem that I don't read fiction. I'll be posting my personal library of novels soon, and its just down right amusing. I own two novels that I didn't buy for school. Well, not counting the Hitchhiker's Trilogy, anyway. The closest thing to a favorite writer is Douglas Coupland, and I've only read two of his books. I like reading quick stuff, not long stories. Even the novels I bought for school, I mostly skimmed with a couple notable exceptions. (I love D.H. Thomas' The White Hotel) Who am I to think I can write a novel?

Well, for the most part, I'm playing to those insecurities. For one, I'm not going to sign up for the competition until I'm at least half-way through and with good reason to think I'll be able to finish it. I'm employing a literary gimmick which should give the novel more structure and thus easier for me to write. I'm also writing a broad story without pretense. I'll save my good writing for when I think I'm a good writer. Just doing a silly little story for now.

I'm going radically between feeling unprepared and over-eager to get started. I like the idea of the challenge and I am interested to see where it takes me. Also, I'm debating discussing my ideas here, for fear of jinxing myself by talking about it. We'll see, I suppose.