For some years now, November is popular among writers due to the National Novel Writing Month. “Do you feel that the NANOWRIMO has influenced the thriller genre? How?” This week, join ITW Members Kay Thomas and J. H. Bográn as they discuss NANOWRIMO and the thriller genre.
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Kay Thomas didn’t grow up burning to be a writer. She wasn’t even much of a reader until fourth grade. That’s when her sister read THE BLACK STALLION aloud to her. For hours Kay was enthralled—shipwrecked and riding an untamed horse across desert sand. Then tragedy struck, her sister lost her voice. Kay couldn’t wait to hear what happened in the story—so she picked up that book, finished reading it herself and went in search of more adventures at the local library. Today Kay lives in Dallas with her husband, two children and a shockingly spoiled Boston terrier. Her award-winning novels have been published internationally.
J. H. Bográn, born and raised in Honduras, is the son of a journalist. He ironically prefers to write fiction rather than fact. José’s genre of choice is thrillers, but he likes to throw in a twist of romance into the mix. His works include novels and short stories in both English and Spanish. He’s a member of the Short Fiction Writers Guild and the International Thriller Writers where he also serves as the Thriller Roundtable Coordinator and contributor editor their official e-zine THE BIG THRILL.
Posted on behalf of author Kay Thomas:
I believe that NANOWRIMO has affected all genres. Several authors I know started their writing careers by taking the NANOWRIMO challenge. I try each year to set a goal for myself in November with my writing. It won’t necessarily a 50,000 word challenge, but the push to write when I know so many others are writing at the same time always gives my creativity a boost.
Currently, I’m working on the second book in my new ELITE OPS series that originally began as a NANOWRIMO project. At the time I was finishing some revisions on another contracted book and this NANO project was intended to simply turn off my “internal” editor after intensive and tedious edit work. I didn’t finish the entire NANO story I started that November and many things have changed from the original draft, but I developed some characters that wouldn’t leave me alone. That’s how the ELITE OPS series was born.
I agree with you, Kay.
Point in fact, my recent release, Firefall, began its journey as a Nanowrimo project itself. Back in 2010.
If I can make the link work, here’s the direct link for the participant’s badge.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/72401_1606851284715_7831260_n.jpg
The fun part is, I miserably failed to achieve the goal. Cracking 1600+ per day, every day, steadily, for 30 days, is a skill I have yet to master.
So far, the best I’ve accomplished is in the neighborhood of 25-30k in one month, at the end of which, I had to work hard reclaiming speaking terms with the family. 🙂
As far as the impact that the event has generated in the thriller genre, I believe it does. In Facebook I’ve befriended many writers (who hasn’t, right?), and my feed for the past couple of weeks testify how many of them are gearing up for it. I’d go as far as claim some authors plan their yearly writing schedule to allot the month of November solely for writing.
And since there are plenty of readers, the more books, the merrier, right?