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The November Novel

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan, Transcend Art and Peace
Created: November 1, 2001
Latest Update: November 1, 2001
jeannecurran@habermas.org

The November Writing Project

Copyright: Jeanne Curran, Susan Takata, and Olivier Urbain. November 2001.
"Fair use" encouraged.

I should have known. As soon as a fun exercise starts in one class, the other classes want to play, too. I'm sorry I didn't think to include all of you from the start. Remember, I'm making this stuff up as I go, so I can't always plan ahead.

The writing project wasn't my idea. I read about it in the L.A. Times, saw their website, and knew we had to try it. The website: National Novel Writing Month. It's designed for people who always wanted to write a novel "one day," but keep putting it off. That's probably because writing a novel, like writing a dissertation, a thesis, a term paper is an intimidating task that can't be accomplished at one, or even a dozen sittings. To get a novel written, you have to be disciplined enough to write consistently.

I liked the rules of the website: you don't have to show your novel to anyone, not even them. All you have to do is write it and store it on your computer. And count the words until you have 50,000. The novel doesn't have to be good; it just has to be written. And you have to start on Nov.1 and finish by Nov. 30.

What a great teaching idea! What you're really doing is practicing the discipline of writing. I never realized that you can do that without too much concern for what you're writing.

Process is different from substantive content. We always teach them together. Write the term paper. That's a process: getting it written. And substantive content: the paper itself on which you receive a grade. We've just left you alone to learn the process all by yourself. Not good.

Process is best learned by following a model. You know, like follow the leader. So, I figured that since I know you should write, that it would be more fun if we all wrote together. I know you should write because one of the most frequent comments by alumni is "I wish you'd made us write more." I don't think they mean essay tests and term papers, but I don't think they know exactly what they mean, and neither did I. But this project finally gave me an idea.

My graduate students, all of them, need the experience of putting together a thesis project, so if they ever need to organize a project, they'll have that experience to fall back on. My undergraduates need experience in writing brief essays on conceptual linking, so that conceptual linking and critical thinking become a process that's nearly automatic for them. All of us need to practice sharing and thoughts and listening in good faith to the thoughts of others.

Now, I figure that the 2000 words a day I'll need to write might be a little too much to ask of you. But I'll write everyday and put up whatever I've managed to write. You're welcome to edit, make suggestions, urge me to take another path with the story, etc.

And you choose one of the following on which to write a paragraph a day:

• Thesis project
• Term paper project
• Conceptual linking paragraphs
• Summary of readings in your own words
• Letters to your child(ren)
• Letters to your spouse
• Letters to your mother-in-law
• Letters to a friend
• Favorite quotations and what they mean to you
• A journal of your learning
• A journal of anything that matters to you
• Your own project

Lots of students have already figured out that they want to put some of this in their handmade books. Good idea!

What you write is for you! I will never collect it. You can keep it on bits of paper, in a notebook, in your computer, on disk, or you can throw it away. The learning that counts is the discipline of writing it. But I think you should keep what you write and bind it together somehow, because by the end of the month, you'll have a tangible product to show for your disciplined effort. Then, every time you think you can't, you can pull out that writing and remind yourself that you can!

DO NOT SEND ALL your writing to me! This is your project, for you practice and your benefit.

More soon . . . .jeanne