The best thing about 2013 for me is that it will go down in my personal history as The Year I Wrote Three Novels (and one book of recycled material from this blog). Having gone from four or so years of calling myself a writer with nothing to show for the claim, to completing three novels and getting two freelance writing jobs in one twelve month span is a humbling feeling, and I have high hopes for 2014 because of this (Okay, so I didn't write The Life and Loves of Jet Tea this year so much as finally finish it, but I'm counting it because it makes me feel better).
The Creeping Sewall, my second novel which I am yet to show anybody, bled leisurely out of me throughout the course of four or five months and was an easy, fun and at times chilling process (I wrote the scariest parts at night with the lights out, the window ajar and nothing but a couple of candles and a bottle of whisky to keep me company). I plan to spend the early part of next year refining and redrafting it. But I have National Novel Writing Month to thank for the third novel; something I doubt I would have started if I didn't have that challenge to push me into it.
There Is No Vampire or What Vampire? or The Highgate Vampire or The Vampire That Never Was or The Accursed Non-Vampire (I'm a little undecided on the title right now) is an idea I've had for a few years; ever since I lived around the Highgate area and grew interested in the 1970s media sensation of a vampire that supposedly lived in the cemetery (people believed it, I'm not making this up). I thought it'd be funny to do a farcical comedy about three or four men that drink together and go from interested in the vampire legend to outright obsessed with it. Originally I planned to make a film with an actor friend of mine in the lead role, but lack of motivation, experience and budget put that to bed, so I put it on the back burner for a future novel. However, those of you that know me may be aware that I've been known to procrastinate from time to time; Jet Tea took me three years to write, and my subsequent works are far better. I imagine without the knowledge of this annual event the vampire novel would still be a clatter of disconnected ideas in my brain right now.
That's where NaNoWriMo comes in. Novel writing is such a solitary, lonely endeavour (I know innumerable actors, musicians and graphic designers but only one other novelist); it's easy for the mind to wander and, in this kindle-orientated, film-dominated world of DIY, to forget what the point of it all is. I learned of NaNoWriMo through a friend who'd done it last year (and casually showed me up this year by writing two novels in the one month time slot as opposed to my paltry one) and instantly liked the sound of it - you've got one month, from the 1st of November, to write a novel of a 50,000 word minimum (that's about 250 pages in standard format). Thousands of novelists all in it together, sharing stories, writer's block woes and meeting up where possible to hold 'write-ins'; communal gatherings during which everyone would sit around and type their arses off. There's so much globe-spanning camaraderie, and the folks that run the event are relentlessly encouraging. It got to the point where I felt physically guilty on any day I didn't work on my novel (of which there were few by the end) and having a deadline for the first time since university also gave me a creative sense of urgency; you learn after a time that your brain can subconsciously edit out filler when time is a factor, and I had ideas I'm more proud of than in anything I've previously done.
Needless to say, I made the deadline and the bragging rights I'm sure will make themselves useful in due course. I almost wish that this sort of thing could happen every month (although I wouldn't get anything else done) as I miss being part of something, rather than some lonely little man in his dressing gown, aimlessly bashing keys and idly wondering what the point of it is. I've got a lot to be thankful for, finishing the year with an achievement under my belt the likes of which Past Joe (you'll get that reference soon enough) never thought possible. Roll on November 2014, I can't wait to do it all over again.
