November is National Novel Writing Month
In novels, everything happens for a reason. Thus the coexistence of Thanksgiving and National Novel Writing Month in November can be no coincidence.
Our national holiday is a cornucopia of potential plots.
Food, for example. Since Like Water for Chocolate, novels linking food and life stories have seized the popular imagination and risen to the top of the charts, spilling over into movie adaptations. Imitate Laura Esquivel and write a story tracing a life in food. You might even start at the Thanksgiving table. Perhaps your own.
Speaking of the Thanksgiving table, what better place to look for the conflict that novels thrive on? Comedy, murder mystery, nostalgia, romance, redemption, young adult and children’s: Novels of all sorts can evolve out of that table setting. Take my word for it. Even Louisa May Alcott wrote an Old Fashioned Thanksgiving.
The challenge of National Novel Writing Month is writing in 30 days 50,000 original words for the first draft of a novel.
Are you up for the challenge?
Novelists typically work in solitude, but this month you have options.
“Anne Arundel County Public Library has always been a great space for writers to work,” says library head Hampton ‘Skip’ Auld. For the challenge month, libraries throughout the county are offering workshops and tips to help writers create their own masterpieces. Events include:
Thursday, Nov. 2: Tips From Author Meg Eden, 3:30pm, Severn Library.
Thursday Nov. 2, 9 and 16: Weekly Write-in meet up, 5-9pm, Deale Library.
Monday November 6, 13, 20 and 27: Weekly Write-in meet up, 6pm, Severna Park Library.
Tuesday, Nov. 7: Tips from Author Mary K. Tilghman, 6:30pm, Linthicum Library and Write-in meet up, 6:30pm, Brooklyn Park Library.
Wednesday, Nov. 8: Write-in meet up, 6:30pm, Riviera Beach Library.
Thursday, Nov. 9: Teen Writers Workshop, 2:30pm, Broadneck Library.
Sunday, Nov. 12: Murder on their Minds: Sisters in Crime, 2 pm, Crofton Library.
More at https://nanowrimo.org.
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