crackerjackjoe (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} crackerjackjoe) wrote,@ 2005-02-14 09:59:00 |
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Writing Contract
To help further the hyperlegalization of US society, here is my out of season NaNo Contract with modifications--
Modified Month-Long Novelist Contract (Ripped off from Jeff Baty, now go buy the book. My modifications in bold)
For consideration of one chocolate bar in favor of the writer upon completion.
Having sworn that I have completed an outline of 40 scenes,
The parties to the agreement:
Matthew Martin (the writer, hereafter referred to as 'I')
Matthew Martin (the client, hereafter referred to as that 'Rat bastard who wanted to write a book' or 'me')
Do so agree,
That I will write a 50,000-word novel in one month's time. By invoking an absurd, month-long deadline on such an enormous undertaking, I understand that notions of "craft," "brilliance," and "competency" are to be chucked right out the window, where they will remain, ignored, until they are retrieved for the editing process. I understand that I am a talented person, capable of heroic acts of creativity, and I will give myself enough time over the course of the next month to allow my innate gifts to come to the surface, unmolested by self-doubt, self-criticism, and other acts of self-bullying.
During the month ahead, I realize I will produce clunky dialogue, cliched characters, and deeply flawed plots. I agree that all of these things will be left in my rough draft, to be corrected and/or excised at a later point. I understand my right to withhold my manuscript from all readers until I deem it completed. I also acknowledge my right as author to substantially inflate both the quality of the rough draft and the rigors of the writing process should such inflation prove useful in garnering me respect and attention, or freedom from participation in onerous household chores.
I acknowledge that the month-long 50,000-word deadline I set for myself is absolute and unchangeable, and that any failure to meet the deadline, or any effort on my part to move the deadline once the adventure has begun, will invite well-deserved mockery from friends and family. I also acknowledge that, upon successful completion of the stated noveling objective, I am entitled to a period of gleeful celebration and revelry, the duration and intensity of which may preclude me from participating fully in household activities for days, if not weeks, afterward.
I also hereby acknowledge that I will stick to the current outline and I will put all great ideas for irrelevant scenes into a notebook for the next novel.
Signed: Matthew Martin
Date: February 12, 2005
Novel Start Date: 8AM Valentines Day, February 14, 2005
Novel Deadline: 12 Midnight, March 14th, 2005
To help further the hyperlegalization of US society, here is my out of season NaNo Contract with modifications--
Modified Month-Long Novelist Contract (Ripped off from Jeff Baty, now go buy the book. My modifications in bold)
For consideration of one chocolate bar in favor of the writer upon completion.
Having sworn that I have completed an outline of 40 scenes,
The parties to the agreement:
Matthew Martin (the writer, hereafter referred to as 'I')
Matthew Martin (the client, hereafter referred to as that 'Rat bastard who wanted to write a book' or 'me')
Do so agree,
That I will write a 50,000-word novel in one month's time. By invoking an absurd, month-long deadline on such an enormous undertaking, I understand that notions of "craft," "brilliance," and "competency" are to be chucked right out the window, where they will remain, ignored, until they are retrieved for the editing process. I understand that I am a talented person, capable of heroic acts of creativity, and I will give myself enough time over the course of the next month to allow my innate gifts to come to the surface, unmolested by self-doubt, self-criticism, and other acts of self-bullying.
During the month ahead, I realize I will produce clunky dialogue, cliched characters, and deeply flawed plots. I agree that all of these things will be left in my rough draft, to be corrected and/or excised at a later point. I understand my right to withhold my manuscript from all readers until I deem it completed. I also acknowledge my right as author to substantially inflate both the quality of the rough draft and the rigors of the writing process should such inflation prove useful in garnering me respect and attention, or freedom from participation in onerous household chores.
I acknowledge that the month-long 50,000-word deadline I set for myself is absolute and unchangeable, and that any failure to meet the deadline, or any effort on my part to move the deadline once the adventure has begun, will invite well-deserved mockery from friends and family. I also acknowledge that, upon successful completion of the stated noveling objective, I am entitled to a period of gleeful celebration and revelry, the duration and intensity of which may preclude me from participating fully in household activities for days, if not weeks, afterward.
I also hereby acknowledge that I will stick to the current outline and I will put all great ideas for irrelevant scenes into a notebook for the next novel.
Signed: Matthew Martin
Date: February 12, 2005
Novel Start Date: 8AM Valentines Day, February 14, 2005
Novel Deadline: 12 Midnight, March 14th, 2005
