In Warren's Words

The Novel Marathon

I grew up believing that to become a working novelist was to realize a dream of noble and mythic proportions. In the world that I inhabited as a young man, my heroes were mainly novelists, not because of the way they lived their lives, although that was of great interest, but because they had created stories providing me with enjoyment, insights and wisdom. They introduced me to people and events that could play in my imagination, giving me a greater understanding of the human condition and a window into the lives and thoughts of others.

I reveled in the drama and suspense of finding out how other people lived their lives, reacted with one another and how they turned out in the end.

Writing a novel is not a marathon. It is an act of creation that cannot be measured by a stop watch.

Reading these stories, the very act of reading itself and the way they impacted on the landscape of my imagination was, to me then and now, the greatest gift that could ever be bestowed on a person. Indeed, the creators of such wonders were at the very peak of the pecking order of achievement. They were my role models and my heroes.

That said, I was astonished to read in The New York Times about NaNoWriMo, the contest created to dramatize National Novel Writing Month, which is November. The goal of the contest was to create a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days, verified by a computer word count. It was strictly voluntary, worked on the honor system, and had nothing to do with the quality of the work. Writers who achieved this goal received a certificate acknowledging their achievement. It is not known whether any of the offerings were ever read.

My first reaction, after a loud guffaw, was to put the idea down with snobbish disdain. Really! Writing a novel is not a marathon. It is an act of creation that cannot be measured by a stop watch. Then I investigated their website and discovered a veritable, universal truth: there is an army-a giant army-out there, fiercely determined to become professional novelists. Believe me, I understand the ambition and their hopes and dreams. I had them and still do. They have both my admiration and my sympathy. The site lists almost sixty thousand writers who joined the attempt in 2005 from all over the world. That many? I am astounded.

What the website does is establish a community of like-minded, novel-writing hopefuls who help each other in myriad of ways, from research to the garden variety how-tos, like getting published, getting publicized and recognized and, of course getting read. The website seems to have created a passionate community of creative people who not only want to be novelists, but who want to be helpful in many ways to other members.

The website speaks to the idea that "You are not alone," that there are others out there with the same passions and burning ambitions to write novels. I imagine there are thousands, literally thousands or more websites out there with similar scope and intent. On my website, I've held myself open to offer advice to budding writers based on the hard lessons of my own career and have answered thousands of questions on the hazards and glories of the writing life.

My hat is off to everyone who gambles the future on his dream.

Of course, my goal is as self-serving as those who browse the web searching for like-minded people of similar aspirations. We writers of fiction all want to create stories that other people will read for pleasure, insight and hopefully improve their lives in some way. My goal has always been to keep my authorial name alive and get others to read my books. It is obviously the same goal as every novelist, past and present. After all, a novel is a one-on-one communication system and, as the saying goes, it takes two to tango.

While I want people to read my books and provide ways to purchase them as paper books, e-books, hardcover and trade editions, I have recognized that my own experiences throughout a long career can be helpful to people climbing that career ladder. Indeed, I have discovered that others view me as a trove of information on the ups and downs of the novelist's profession, and I do my best to turn my "been there, done that" experience into helpful advice. Writing novels is a maddeningly difficult process offering much pain, great joy and, for a very small percentage of writers, financial fulfillment, but like all the arts, it is difficult to find an audience and a satisfactory paycheck.

But far be it for me to discourage anyone from entering the fray. Learning craft and marketing skills is merely one aspect of novel writing. One can learn the rudiments of these elements. Talent, on the other hand, can't be taught, but it can be nourished and enhanced and while one enlists in the enterprise with a belief that he or she has been anointed by talent, the judgment is always vague and undefined, especially by oneself.

Nevertheless, my hat is off to everyone who gambles the future on his dream and I stand ready to offer humble advice and counsel based on my own attempted climb up the greasy pole of personal fulfillment and the perception of success.

As for the writers who labored to write 50,000 words in 30 days, I say a thousand huzzahs, since the first rule for a writer is discipline and gluing one's tush to a chair. Churning out 50,000 words is no small feat.

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