Nano Questions

My friend Leah is writing a piece for The Star on Nanowrimo and sent me this questionnaire. Fearless self-advertiser that I am, I filled it in.

Incidentally, am almost at half-way through.

1. Full name, age

Sharon Bakar 49

2. Day job, if any

Writer, teacher-trainer

3. How many times done NaNoWriMo? Finished before?
First time

4. Book title, genre, brief synopsis of idea

Working title = A General Malaise.

Genre - bonkbuster meets "Drama Minggu Ini".

Synopsis -

I began on Day 1 without any idea of what the plot might be. (Outlining seemed a very dull thing to do!) I hired (at great expense) a mob of improbably characters (including a couple of sarong party girls, a group of disgruntled Filipino maids, a distraught Mat Salleh wife and her philandering husband, a corrupt businessman and his ruthless TV executive mistress and the one pure soul who is the heroine of the piece). I plonked them down in a fictional city (Kayhell) in a fictional country (Malaisia), stirred them up and applied a little heat. Then I sat back with a mug of coffee in hand to watch what would happen next. So far there's been an attempted murder, an assault, a snatch theft, a burglary, a kidnapping and a significant amount of adultery. The next problem is how to tie up all these loose ends. I may need to bring in a natural disaster to finish everyone off.

5. What made you decide to do it?

In an e-mail a friend mentioned Nanowrimo and asked if I were going to take part in it this year. Hard as I tried, I couldn't think of a single excuse to hide behind.

6. What are your hopes for your book, besides reaching 50,000 words? What do you hope to get out of doing this for yourself, as a writer?

The most important lesson is that you can keep yourself sticking to the chair and producing in quantity day after day. So what I have already got out of this is practice in self-discipline.

Whatever material is produced this month is bound to be rough around the edges and full of flaws of all kinds. But in the following months I'd like to rewrite it, and push and pummel it into shape for publication. (Or at least so that it loooks better when I bury it in my underwear drawer.)

7. On a scale of 1 to 5, five being highest, what's your confidence level that you will reach 50,000 words?

5, because I have to have faith in myself or I won't get there at all.

If I don't make my target I give the readers of this newspaper full permission to laugh at my writerly pretentions forever (or until the next Nanowrimo at least).

8. What's the best thing about doing Nanowrimo?

The companionship of thousands of other crazy people across the globe. Here in Malaysia meeting lots of aspiring writers (of alla ges and backgrounds) has been very exciting.

Realising that Chris Baty (founder of Nanowrimo) is absolutely right when he says you don't need a writing retreat to turn you into a productive writer, you just need a deadline. I never dreamt I'd write so much in such a short time.

I like the way the Nanowrimo demystifies and democratises novel writing. And I look forward to calling myself a novelist in a couple of weeks time.


9. What's the worst thing, or the hardest part?

Forcing yourself to fill up those damn pages on the days you'd rather be anywhere else but in front of the computer and doing anything else apart from writing.

10. At this point, are you glad you decided to do it, or are you kicking yourself?

Very glad indeed. It's been an invaluable learning experience.

Finally, any tips for other WriMos who find themselves stuck and behind on their word count?

Tell yourself that you can order one of those lovely Nanowrimo t-shirts from the website if you make your target