NaNoWriMo is an international event, and we’re taking a Road Trip to NaNo to hear about the stories being written every year in our hundreds of participating regions. Today, Sabrina Zirakzadah, our Municipal Liaison in the Asia :: Japan region explains how breaking the rules can be a good thing:

Weird, wonderful, and full of wa, Japan is a land of contradictions. Sprawling, crowded cities are interspersed with large swaths of open countryside and rice paddies; high-tech businesses still use fax machines; and kids at rock concerts headbang in unison before politely applauding. Sometimes the amount of disconnect in daily life can be perplexing, yet Japan has made it work for centuries. And if an entire culture can make the nonsensical seem normal, why can’t your novel do the same?

Writing seems so simple in theory: just put whatever is in your head onto paper for others to enjoy. Once you start, though, it can be easy to get bogged down in the rules of “good writing.” 

November is coming. To get ready, we’re taking a road trip to NaNoWriMo. On the way, we’ll hear from writers about how their cities can inspire your novel. Today, Japan Municipal Liaison Sabrina asks you to look, feel, listen:

The needle-like silhouette of Tokyo Sky Tree spirals above the glittering skyline. I am standing in front of a convenience store where I just bought a doughnut that has been frosted to look like a tiny cat. Across the street, a group of young women dressed in a mixture of yukata and day-glo 80’s fashion walk out of a traditional restaurant and into a Starbucks. I can see a blonde woman on the TV screen in the café window, talking about laundry detergent that turns pillows into marshmallows, or something like that.

Art is a mirror held up to real life, so why not have real life inform your writing? It’s amazing how much inspiration for settings, situations, and characters you can find just by going outside and seeing what happens. And there is nowhere in the world so filled with strange contradictions as Tokyo.