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01/19/2008
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of 3 Day Novel
Last year, I did the 3-Day Novel challenge, which was to write a novel in the space of 3 days, i.e., the Labour Day weekend. It was an interesting experience - a lot of writing, a lot of Breton crackers, and not much common sense. There were plot holes though which a Mack truck could drive; there were cardboard characters and contrived situations, worse dialogue, and once it was all over, it was a rough manuscript. However, it was *a* manuscript, and I actually made it from the beginning to the end of the plot! In other words, the whole skeleton of a novel was there, and can now be worked on, if I so choose. Of course, I didn't win, but since I didn't expect to, it's all good.
2008 is set up to be very different from 2007. I'm trying to follow my New Year's resolutions, and trying to get rid of things that don't do much for me, that I don't need, or that stand in the way to where I want to go in my life. Thinking about contests like 3-Day Novel, I figured it was fun, and I'm glad I did it last year, but that I'd rather take 2008 to work on writing I already had, rather than to spend 3 days (and $50) trying to pull a plot out of nowhere into a shabby manuscript I don't really need at the moment. It all made sense. It was a simple decision. No 3-Day Novel for 2008.
It's amazing what final decisions will do to your brain. A short while later that same day, a plot popped into my head, and wouldn't leave. It said to me, "I am the ghost of your 2008 3-Day Novel"... and has been developing ever since! I may just have to do 3-Day Novel this year, just so that the plot doesn't drive me bananas while I ignore it.
The idea is simple: a small gingerbread house in a sea of McMansions owned by yuppies. It's not supposed to be a serious plot, and the more I can make people laugh, the better. (Contrast this to my two NaNoWriMo novels and my last 3-Day Novel, which are part of an epic adventure/fantasy/romance featuring lots of battles and death).
Today I went to the Book Market (a used bookstore) and came back with 84 cents' worth of magazines - a glossy copy of the premiere issue of American Dream Homes, and a copy of Distinguished Home Plans from 2001. Both of these feature some really grand, over-the-top, hotel-lobby-of-the-Waldorf-Astoria type stuff. I find most of the home plans butt ugly, and it's great! 84 cents and I have all sorts of architectural fodder for my novel. Money well-spent, in my opinion! So 3-Day Novel 2008, here I come!!
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