Hello all,
UPDATE: The results of this year’s NIAD can now be downloaded from the links below:
Epub format: literatureandlatte.com/NIAD/ … 0_epub.zip
Kindle (.mobi) format: literatureandlatte.com/NIAD/ … 0_mobi.zip
PDF format: literatureandlatte.com/NIAD/ … nar520.pdf
Scrivener format: literatureandlatte.com/NIAD/ … _scriv.zip
My sincere thanks (and thanks on behalf of everyone else too) to Pigfender for organising it again, and for coming up with a plot that was fun to write and read.
All the best,
Keith
This time last year we hosted a writing exercsie on the forum to write a novel in a day. It’s not an official Literature & Latte event as such, but since the idea originated on the forum and a number of the moderators are taking part we are happy to continue to provide a space to help organise it.
I’ll hand over to Pigfender with more details… (In fact I’m so lazy that Pigfender wrote this bit, my introduction, too. Except for this parenthetical bit - that would be too meta.)
Date Change Notice: The original date was set for the 13th of October. The date of the event has been changed to the 20th of October.
The original “Novel In A Day” took place on October 15, 2011. The idea came about on this forum when someone made a post moaning about an article on how to write a book in three days.
Our premise was simple: Someone would write a story outline and break it into bite-sized pieces, which would then be emailed out to our participants at midnight on our chosen day.
24 hours and 24 participants later, we had a novel.
Each participant only gets the information they need to write their own section. Character sheets, location sheets (if required) and a brief outline of the plot points they need to cover. From that they need to produce at least 1,500 words. In a day.
(Last time, submissions ranged from 1500 to 4000 words)
You don’t need to be a professional writer to take part, but you do need to be committed and confident.
Committed, because there are no back up writers, and no time to make good on missing sections. If you don’t deliver, you leave a hole.
Confident, because there will be only very limited editing done. Topping and tailing if you overstretch your brief, and really basic formatting / spell checking. You need to be comfortable you are able to produce work in a time-pressured environment you are happy with people reading.
The style guide is simple: Use a third person narrative as the default. You can dip into anyone’s perspective although usual rules of good taste apply about mixing it up in a single chapter. Use double quotes (“ ”) for speech.
The rest is up to you. Write in your own style. This is an exercise, a bit of fun. We won’t be producing a Booker Prize winner, but we will be producing something readable and hopefully “immensely enjoyable”…
We’ll aim for around 25 participants again, although this may flex due to both demand and maintaining a sensible number of breaks in the narrative. As with last time, I’ll be available the whole day of the event via email to answer any questions (should you want more information for your brief, or anything really), and I’m sure a number of us will be on the forum to chat as well.
From a legal point of view, everyone will retain copyright in their own contributions, although will grant others (including L&L) the right to distribute the whole on a free / non-commercial basis. We may also make it available for free download on eBook sites if suitably proud of the output! Everyone contributing will get a credit showing which bit they added (unless they opt out).
When?
Saturday October 20th, 2012 00:01am UK time to 9:00pm UK time to write your sections.
The equivalent times in other areas would therefore be:
Portland, Oregon: 5:01pm, Friday October 19th to 2:00pm, Saturday October 20th
Sydney, Australia: 10:01am, Saturday October 20th to 7:00am, Sunday October 21th,
The finished novel will be compiled in Scrivener and made available in .pdf, .ePub, .mobi and .scriv formats by 23:59pm UK time.
So, once again, if you want to warm your writing arm before NaNoWriMo, or just want the chance to say you’ve writtten a (second) novel with Keith, Sign up below…
I look forward to reading the result on the trip back home, though.