A Novel Idea: Create time for writing

[dropcap]N[/dropcap]ovember might be the season of gales and damp fireworks, but it also gives people across the world a chance to finally write that novel they’ve been dreaming of. For those of you who don’t already know, November is the month of NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month, an American writing competition that has since gone global. The goal is to write fifty thousand words – the length of a short novel – in thirty days, beginning on November 1st and ending on November 30th.

NaNoWriMo is a perfect opportunity to write a novel. It provides structure and turns writing into a regular habit, and what’s more, you’ll be writing it at the same time as people from all over the world. But you don’t need to stick to the rules of the competition in order to produce your literary masterpiece – the best time to write a novel is at university, November or not!

Here’s why you should write your novel at university:

• You are always surrounded by new ideas

University is a time when the perceptions you formed as a teenager will be constantly challenged. New people, new places, even new activities will all give you a fresh new outlook on life. Before you’ve been here a month your mind will be teeming with ideas, so hurry up and write them down!

• It’s very easy to get support.

Writing a novel can be very difficult. Writers’ block, essay deadlines, and even just insecurities about the quality of your work can all stop you from writing that creative masterpiece you’ve been dreaming of. But at university, there are a number of writing societies that have been set up to give you feedback, allow you to try new techniques and to soldier on beside you all the way through NaNoWriMo. Writers’ circles in the real world can be horrendously expensive – take advantage of their advice now, when there’s only a small membership fee to pay!

• Creative writing will improve your grades

Like any other art, the more you practice, the better you get. The same is completely true for writing. If you are writing on a regular basis, the overall quality of your work will get better. Creative writing helps you improve the way you express yourself and forces you to consider things from new perspectives – all traits that will seep into your coursework.

• You have the time

It’s very easy to make the time to write if you do a little each day. Unless you’re one of the lucky few who will retire to a private yacht at the age of thirty, the reality is that university is probably going to give you the most free time you will ever have. If you want to stay up until 5am, fuelling your dark and troubled masterpiece with cheap whiskey, then you can do exactly that. Use your time wisely and write that novel!

• It’s a break from stress

I typically end up writing a novel in exam season. I set aside an hour each day where I can write to my heart’s content, and I am all the saner for it. If I institute a writing break, I will know for a fact that I will get to spend at least an hour a day not working on my essay. When I wake up in the morning and know that my entire day is not going to be consumed with essay-related misery, I feel so much better for it.

University might not seem like the ideal time to write a novel. We all have commitments, and deadlines, and intimidating tutors demanding to know why we haven’t done the seminar reading. It would be so much easier to set the novel aside and do your work – and in some cases, that’s pr obably wise. But the fact of the matter is that if you want to write a novel and you keep putting it off, that novel will never be written. You will always be busy, and you will always have more important things to do, and waiting until you graduate, or until you get a job, or until you have the time will mean that you will never end up putting pen to paper. Put down your textbooks. Pick up a pen. ‘tis the season for writing until your fingers bleed –

So what’s holding you back?