Aspiring writers have novel play on words with lighthearted group support

He's a blind, suspicious, obsessive-compulsive aikido master who drives a tractor and wears tutus.

He loves cats, pies and Skittles and is pursuing his lifelong dream of acting, despite his freakishly large feet and pesky allergy to goats.

His name begins with a P.

This oddball character is featured in Jenny Franks' latest novel. He can also be found in works-in-progress by Carolyn Stein, Cylithria Dubois and a dozen other local aspiring novelists.

They're participating in National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo, a nonprofit literary endeavor encouraging would-be novelists to write a 50,000-word novel in any genre in a month. Like other regional groups around the country, many Memphis-area participants meet often during November to support one another's efforts.

"Writing is such a solitary thing, so making it a group activity and getting encouragement from people also doing it is a lot of fun," said Franks, 26, a NaNoWriMo municipal liaison taking part for the seventh time. The UPS employee scheduled several get-togethers this month for local participants to meet, discuss their stories and put pens to paper or fingers to keyboard. Writers also keep in

touch via regional forums on the national organization's Web site, nanowrimo.org.

Though writing a novel in 30 days is difficult enough, the Memphis group often creates additional challenges, such as inclusion of a "communal character," which this year is the tutu-wearing, wannabe actor. At the local kick-off meeting in late October, attendees each named one characteristic, giving birth to the man now affectionately known as Mr. P.

Local participants are encouraged to fit this character into their manuscripts -- an easy task for one local author's novel set in a circus, but a bit more difficult for fantasy sagas set centuries ago.

NaNoWriMo began in 1999 as the brainchild of freelance writer Chris Baty, who emphasizes quantity over quality for people who would like to write a novel but can't devote the time and effort usually required. The initial contest drew 21 participants, while last year's NaNoWriMo attracted more than 100,000 writers from 80 countries.

More than 15,000 writers "won" by hitting the magical 50,000-word mark -- verified by the Web site's robo-word-counter -- by midnight on Nov. 30. Their rewards for winning are a certificate, Web badge and pride -- and no one need ever read the manuscript.

During write-ins, participants meet at restaurants and other venues with laptops in tow, while frequent breaks allow them to discuss characters, plots and progress. Cheers erupt when someone hits a word-count milestone, and a bout of writer's block might send someone to the "dare jar" for a prompt -- for example, inventing a character who "thinks they're in a cheesy novel."

Writers are encouraged to don funny hats at one write-in, while Dubois will be wearing her blue suede shoes all month. A municipal liaison taking part in her ninth NaNoWriMo, Dubois drew inspiration for her story this year -- a romance set in Memphis -- from a $2 pair of blue suede shoes she bought at a clearance sale several years ago.

Dubois, who moved to Memphis from Michigan in January, has won NaNoWriMo each year, though 2007 was a close call. She broke her hand in late November, but thanks to the help of some friends was able to hit the word count about 10 minutes before the midnight deadline, she said.

While encouragement from fellow writers is important, Franks said, the support of family members and significant others is a necessity for those participating in NaNoWriMo, which usually entails a monthlong sacrifice in leisure time.

Stein, 47, said her husband is very supportive of her first-time participation in NaNoWriMo, including thinking ahead on meals for the month.

"The entire garage and kitchen are filled with instant foods," said Stein, a computer programmer with FedEx who heard about NaNoWriMo during a podcast about writing.

For Franks, NaNoWriMo is primarily about fun, friendly competition and the chance to socialize with other writers. At the first local write-in this year -- which began at midnight Nov. 1 after a New Year's Eve-type countdown -- the 15 attendees split into three teams of five to compete in a "Word War," a timed contest to see which group could write the most words.

About 20 people participated in the "First Day Dash" on the afternoon of Nov. 1, and a few raced in a "5K," a goal of writing 5,000 words on Day 1 to get off to a good start. The Memphis writers will have a "Thank Goodness It's Over" party the first weekend in December to read excerpts from their novels and celebrate a month of "frantic noveling."

Franks said most of her NaNoWriMo stories are strictly for fun, and her 2006 novel is the only one "coherent enough" to revise, edit and possibly submit for publication.

This year, her story centers around "a scientist/male stripper who is framed for the murder of one of his clients, who happens to be a vampire," she said.

"You get a pass during NaNo to write about ridiculous things that no one will want to read about."

Jenny Franks focuses on writing her story while sitting
across from another writer who's working on his own novel.

Sitting around tables at McAlister's Deli in Germantown,
a group of writers kick off National Novel Writing Month
with a write-in, including (clockwise starting with the woman
in blue) Karen Mathis, Jenny Franks, Eric Guenther and Sam Franklin.

Diana Smith and other writers work on novels together.
Each writer can tell his or her own story, but in this group,
they must include certain characters and elements into the stories.
This write-in kicked off National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.

PHOTOS BY KYLE KURLICK/SPECIAL TO THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL
[Lisa Kelly Eason / Memphis Commercial Appeal]

War of words under way between Maryland and Texas

The grueling war between Marylanders and Texans rages on.

About 200 Marylanders are trying to write more prose than Texans in 30 days. In its third year, the mentally taxing competition occurs during National Novel Writing Month, when novice and published writers in pockets across the country write 1,700 words a day from Nov. 1 through Nov. 30. That’s 50,000 words or 175 manuscript pages per person by the end of this month.

“This year, we are the amazing underdog as our super-secret weapon John Caeraerie, who wrote over 500,000 words last year, moved to Texas. He’s now on the other team,” said Carol Remsburg, who heads Maryland’s team, called the Blue Crabs versus the Texans’ Lushguins.

About 30 novels written during previous National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) are published or under-contract, according to the NaNoWriMo Web site. The most successful story is Sara Gruen’s “Water for Elephants.” The novel hit the New York Times Best-sellers List in 2007.

Lee Budar-Danoff, a Columbia mom of a toddler and 6-year-old twins, said she amazed herself when she completed her first NaNoWriMo four years ago. “I’m a procrastinator, so to be able to sit down and bang out a couple thousand words at a time is exhilarating.

“To go from saying ‘One day, I’ll write a novel’ and actually becoming a novelist is what I support,” she continued. “People choose to take their novels as far as they like. Some do it for fun, some for practice, and for some, they eventually want to be published. My goal is to be published.”

For Rosalia Scalia, a lifelong Little Italy resident who has published a collection of short stories, the real challenge of NaNoWriMo is “shutting up the editor in my head who is always thinking ‘How can I say this better?’ So I tell myself, ‘In December, I’ll revise. For now, write.’ ”

WRITE ON

It’s not too late to begin your novel during National Novel Writing Month. To register, visit nanowrimo.org.

[Kelly Carson / The Baltimore Examiner]

Scenes from the Austin "Rocky" NaNoWriMo Write-In

Austin, Texas, wrimos proved they can go the distance with a mid-month NaNoWriMo write-in at Mt. Bonnell, the city's highest point. At the time of the write-in, the Austin group was the 18th highest grossing city in the nation with just over 300 writers posting word counts. A few of these stalwart wrimos took up writer and photographer Deanna Roy's personal challenge to run up Mt. Bonnell to the theme from the original Rocky and then have a write-in at the top.

In addition to adding to the city's collective word count, the write-in resulted in these striking photographs. Read her essay "Our Fingers Are Gonna Fly Now" for a full account of the invigorating morning, or see her work from last year's Nature Write-In.

Up the steps to Mt. Bonnell for a NaNoWriMo write-in.

[Ginny Wiehardt / About.com]

Austin NaNoWriMo Nature Write-In

Deanna Roy, a photographer and writer in Austin, Texas, and National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) participant, sent in these amazing photos and the commentary that follows from a nature write-in she organized for this year's National Novel Writing Month. These writers are among 300 or so Austinites who are posting word counts with headquarters. At the time of this 2007 write-in, Austin was ranked 17th in the world.

Down the short hiking path to the hidden waterfall, the breeze picked up a chill from the water, reminding us that despite recent 80-degree days, we were indeed noveling in November. A few writers shivered, but most of us pulled on our hoodies, exhilarated just to be outdoors with our books-in-progress.

Two of us were writing scenes that took place out in nature, so we eagerly listened to the calls of birds and the errant splash of a frog among the rocks in the shallow parts of Bull Creek. We captured every tiny detail to shamelessly pad our word counts, as is necessary when writing 1,667 words per day to make the goal.

LazyM in Her Hidden Spot

After an hour, we all walked around and talked a bit, complaining of numb body parts from sitting among boulders and tree roots. LazyM, the Austin municipal liaison, walked down from her hidden spot a distance away to chat with the others. Everyone agreed that the lack of internet access and the inspiration of nature were significantly impacting their word counts.

Silver at Her Bull Creek Desk

Silver (we call each other by the handles we use on the NaNoWriMo forums) set up a desk in the middle of Bull Creek. Her stuffed penguin took a tumble in the stream, but this made for another story to add to the mythology surrounding the Austinites' NaNoWriMo mascot.

We wrote on laptops, on Alphasmarts, and even by hand. Writing outdoors was a little painful, a bit out of the way, but definitely productive and a refreshing change from dark coffee shops and going it alone long into the hours of the night -- by Deanna Roy

A parting shot of NaNoWriMo participant Quasky, writing by hand.

[Ginny Wiehardt / About.com]