By Karen Gavis/se news editor
Lady werewolves, time travelers and baby Draculas were some of the characters discussed at the kickoff of National Novel Writing Month Nov. 1 on SE Campus.
During November, a SE library classroom will turn into a haven for experienced and novice novelists at 7 p.m. Tuesdays. This is when local participants of NaNoWriMo, as the month is nicknamed, will meet to listen, discuss and mingle with other writers in the DFW area.
The group will gather for moral support as they strive to reach the goal of writing 50,000 words in 30 days. The group also views the task as 1,671 words per day.
SE library manager Rebekah Mansfield said the project is a challenge.
“There is no grand prize,” she said. “The only grand prize is the satisfaction of knowing you have finished your own book.”
Mansfield said there is no one to catch someone cheating. Someone could write the same word 50,000 times, and no one would ever know.
Mansfield began her paranormal fiction at midnight. She said NaNoWriMo teaches writers to get up early and stay up late. But right now, it’s about getting your words down on paper.
“You can go back and edit when you are done,” she said.
Mansfield told the group if their friends did not understand, they should get new friends.
SE English instructor Yvonne Jocks said, “Screw ’em.”
Jocks said it is satisfying to reach the 50,000-word mark.
“You also get the grand prize of losing your sanity for a month,” she said.
One novelist is writing her father’s family story.
The writer said her father and his seven siblings, including a set of twins, had been separated during childhood.
She is writing each sibling’s story and then putting them back together as a family in her book.
Some participants are writing sequels to last year’s novel.
One participant asked the group if they ever talk to their characters.
“Oh yeah, they are telling me what to do,” another writer said.
Mansfield said the library will not have a support group meeting Nov. 29 because no one is expected to quit the last day of November.
For more information about the program, visit www.nanowrimo.org.
