National Novel Writing Month http://www.nanowrimo.org/ starts tonight at midnight. For those of us who are about to write, here are some movies that offer some inspiration. Movies! Yes, movies. When a person first hears about the concept of National Novel Writing Month, his or her first reaction is that it sounds nearly impossible or crazy to try to write 50,000 words in one month. More affectionately known as NaNoWriMo, national writing month is not only doable, but the worst part is finding out that it's not as hard as you thought it was going to be. The vision of you writing non-stop for days, going without food and basic necessities like bathing, fades away quickly as you start to amass pages and words. So yes, there will be time for watching movies, so enjoy! But don't tell anyone you've enlisted to bring you hot meals and clean your house. They won't understand.
The following list is in no particular order and was chosen based on diversity of writing types and genres and yes, there will be more lists during this month for writers everywhere.
1. "Almost Famous" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181875/ Cameron Crowe's great take on breaking in to writing for Rolling Stone. Anyone who's dealt with deadlines missed, sources who flake, and editors who don't understand will love this movie.
2. "Adaptation" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268126/ The scene where the writer decides that he needs a muffin in order to really write properly is classic. The things we do to avoid actually doing what we love. And then there's the twin brothers who embody both sides of the writer, the one who wants to write something meaningful, and the one who wants to make money by pandering to the low brow tastes of the crowd.
3. "Little Women" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110367/ The version with Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon, not to mention Christian Bale is all about learning to write about what you know, not what you think the public will buy. Jo March was many a young girl's inspiration for writing.
4 "Factotum" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417658/ If Charles Bukowski's success as a writer while alcoholic and working many different menial jobs doesn't inspire you, what will? With all the drinking and self destructive behavior, he kept submitting his work. He never gave up.
5."Finding Forrester" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181536/ Reclusive author helps budding inner city writer. But who is helping who? Sean Connery is the curmudgeonly mentor.
Check out Boise Writing Examiner's take on NaNoWriMo http://www.examiner.com/x-15416-Boise-Writing-Examiner~y2009m10d22-9-Days-Until-Novelling-Madness-Begins