I've always been very tempted to do this, but November is one of my busiest months. Not that I'm making the time to write novels in other months. My point is, it's everyone's fault but mine that I don't write much any more.

@1, not a lot of people here write in a way that suggests novel-length could be anything but pure torture for the reader (good morning, Paul), but you kinda do.

@2 - Thank you, but now I'm tempted to write a novel about KittenKoder and Will in Seattle. It'll be a love story about a girl who needs an unnamed surgery to be happy, and the man who knows the guy who invented that surgery and can tell you everything about it.

And then you'll have to read it!

I concur with the recommendation to participate, not because you'll write something good (you won't) but because I think writing a whole novel makes you a better reader. Even writing garbage makes you think about characters and plot in a really nuts and bolts way.

Also, it's not true that you get nothing when you finish. You get a PDF certificate. Mine is laminated and taped to my fridge.

@3 I will gladly write you a grant to help get that sucker off the ground. Be sure to cc Fnarf when you email it to UBS.

@3, I am strongly in support of all Slog-comment-based writing projects! An epistolary novel would be a scream, and would practically write itself. Is that cheating?

Here is a Slog comment poem I just wrote, based on this thread, to encourage you. It took under a minute:

I've always been very tempted
it's everyone's fault but mine
pure torture
the guy
can tell you everything about it
you get nothing when you finish
get that sucker off the ground

@6 - I would certainly fictionalize most of the comments. It's only cheating if I copy and paste 50,000 words worth of Slog and call it my novel.

And now I have the format for this thing. Each chapter starts with a post written by the staff. What follows is comments, wherein the romance plays out. It'll be like Abelard and Eloise if they were barely literate.

It's a valid exercise in self-discipline via an outwardly-imposed source with bragging rights the customary prize, but are entrants into this particular contest really going to follow the rules that (I believe) state there be NO editing or polishing. It's all write-write-write and adhere to the word count. As it might have been once upon a time, written in longhand on a pad of paper.

I did this a few years back and it was an amazing exercise in pushing your creative limits. The book hasn't been published--I'm actually converting it into a graphic novel, which is its own challenge, what with the narrative vs. dialogue formats--but it was absolutely totally worthwhile.

I still remember the drink I poured myself when I hit the 50,000 word mark at some god aweful hour in the morning. Cheers!