Review: No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty

[ljwrites]

No Plot? No Problem! was recommended on write_away's writing advice book rec thread. It's by National Novel-Writing Month founder Chris Baty, and purports to be a road map to the process of writing a 50,000-word draft of a novel in one calendar month.

The book did at least one thing right for me as a reader: It got me excited about the idea of drafting a novel in a month and I decided to dive in with my own long-dreamed-of novel. I also decided to put off the review of the book until after I had tried the challenge so that I would have a handle on the subject matter. That chance came when I entered the July Novel Writing Month and Camp NaNoWriMo challenges. The following is my recounting of my NaNo experience along with the review of No Plot? No Problem! week-by-week, following the organization of the book.

( An emotional rollercoaster in five weeks )

I believe the true meaning of No Plot, and of timed writing challenges, comes down to this: Discipline, determination, and dedication are how we fight the clinging mud of our doubts and reach for our dreams. That is how we do our true work and make contributions that only we can make. If writing 50,000 words in a month is the way to do that, awesome. If writing every day at a more sedate pace is how to make it happen, awesome. The victory is not against a rival or a deadline or a word count, but against the resistance to creation--which, when you look long and hard at it, is in truth yourself.