Jun 05 2008
“No Plot? No Problem!” by Chris Baty
No Plot? No Problem: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Chris Baty has more than a heck of a subtitle, it also humor in high doses, which every reader (serious about writing or not) can appreciate. I picked it up on a whim - I saw it at the library (where else?) and thought it looked like an interesting concept. How could you write a book in 30 days, let alone attempt it without an established plot in hand? Does the plot just appear out of nowhere?
Apparently it does. At least it did to Chris. He decided back in 1999 that he would write a book in a month. He had no ideas for the book, he had no background in writing books, or in writing fiction at all for that matter. He did it on a lark, and convinced coworkers to go along for the ride. They named it National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short.
The month was both incredibly fun and incredibly difficult, as they progressed through the “Wow this is fun!” stage in the beginning, to “Can’t I just kill everyone off and finish the book 50 pages in?” stage, to “I’m starting to make progress here - I think I may allow the characters to live after all” and finally to “I did it, I finished!!”at the end of the month. It was a hilarious recounting - I almost snorted milk up my nose at one point, and I actually read a couple of paragraphs outloud to my husband because they made me laugh so hard.
NaNoWriMo became an annual event, and the size of the group grew quickly, especially after they were featured in USA Today and other national newspapers and magazines. The whole point to the exercise is this: Nothing ever gets done without a deadline. Example: When do I clean my house? When my in-laws have called and are coming over. Why am I cleaning? Because I have to, before they come. What if they didn’t come - would I still be cleaning? Not likely! I can always find something better to do than clean my house, trust me! 
NaNoWriMo works with that principle, and makes you finally finish a book, because you have to - you have a deadline! For those Great American Novelists who have been writing and working on a book for the last 10 years, this kind of thing can be liberating, because it frees you from perfection, and lets you - no, forces you! - to let it all hang out. You have to write 50,000 words in 30 days. You don’t have time for perfection!
If you’re interested in more info on the NaNoWriMo concept, make sure to check out the National Novel Writing Month website for lots of fun info and a chance to see Chris’s style of writing in action. If you don’t think the website is funny, then you won’t enjoy the book. I would have to question if you’re alive or not, but that’s besides the point. 
Is this a book to pick up if you want help polishing prose, or figuring out the finer points of characterization? Not hardly. But it is a good book to read to get pumped about writing, and really cranking out a book that just might end up being a decent story in the end. NaNoWriMo is a great concept that apparently a lot of people have participated in - I even found a Today.com writer who has participated in NaNoWriMo: Our Creative Writing blogger. How cool is that?!
I give No Plot? No Problem! 5 out of 5 stars. Any nonfiction book that makes me laugh this hard is worth the stars!
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