71 Days
NaNoWriMo is fast approaching. Are you ready? I took the first step by buying a brand new spiral notebook last week and even visited the site for the first time since last year. Not much but it’s a start.
Last year, I was a Nano virgin. Got a little panicky before it began, but I have to say it went pretty smoothly. Yes, there were times I wanted to just give up or not write on some days. Those days when my hand cramped up. However, with all the support from my writing friends, I was able to break through the 50,000 word goal.
I read a short article written by Chris Baty on Writer’s Digest. He was offering a few Nano tips. One stressed the importance of your story having a beginning, middle, and end even if it meant leaving out scenes. I know I’m not a novelist yet but I don’t get the importance of this. Yes, 50,000 words is a short novel but with NaNoFiMo in December, why should you have to omit scenes just to finish? If I did that, I would get lost in my own story.
I’m looking forward to Nano this year. I only have a notebook and pen and no story ideas, but still excited. There are some things I’m going to do different. I winged it last year. That plan didn’t go horribly wrong but I want to be more organized this time around. Maybe plot a little. Do some character charting. Even develop a writing schedule. The one regret I had last year was the number of stories I produced. I was hoping for at least ten. I wrote six. The problem was I hit roadblocks quite a bit and ended up with a couple 10,000+ words instead of 4 or 5. I’m hoping to prevent a repeat.
Are you participating this year? What steps have you taken in preparation so far? What do you plan on doing different? Same? Any advice for newbies?
For my sins, I am again participating, and like you was a NaNo virgin last year.
This year, I’m conducting a poll to see what story I write – I have ideas that are not being worked on, so what better idea than to work on them during NaNo? Currently, the runaway leader is a sequel to last year’s NaNo story!
Advice to newbies? Write. Write even if you don’t feel like it and ESPECIALLY if you don’t feel like it. There is nothing like writing to inspire you further. Last year I had days when I wrote nothing, and I paid for it with a last ditch effort to get across the finish line (I’m glad I booked a few days off work at the end of November!)
You need to get at least 1667 words every day. You’re better off aiming for 2000 to give you that little bit of leeway.
And I don’t envy you doing it longhand again Andrea!
Good advice, Paul!
Okay, I wasn’t that excited about NaNo until I saw the 71 days.
Wow. It’s gong to be here before we know it!
OF COURSE I’m participating. This will be my fourth year. I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to write last year – I have NO CLUE what to write this year. I might go ahead and do a series of short stores. I’d like to write something to submit to a few literary magazines I’ve had my eye on for quite some time.
We’ll see.
Advice for newbies? Don’t go into this writing project with any expectations. It’s an experiment – one that will teach you things about you and your writing style. Have a vague idea, or no idea, just simply allow NaNo to be your license to write freely and without any restrictions. I think newbies will enjoy the experience more if they just ALLOW themselves to write and go with the flow. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to write the next Great American novel – it most likely will not happen. This is an exercise in writing and producing quantity, not quality.
I can’t tell you how MUCH I learned my first year, but suffice it to say, it was a turning point in my writing. I wrote garbage that year (truly), but WOW, I felt so …. FREE afterwards and I haven’t stopped writing since then.
If you haven’t tried it, I can’t recommend it enough. If you’ve been doing it in the past, then you know the benefits of continuing.
And that’s pretty much ALL you’re going to hear about on this blog during October and November. Just saying.
The comment by Chris about having a beginning, middle and end speaks directly to the need for some folks to actually FINISH in November. The theory is that if your 49,999th and 50,000th words are “The” and “End”, you will feel a stronger sense of accomplishment and feel like “it was worth it”. This may very well be geared more towards folks who don’t really write much outside of November. NaNoFiMo is a totally different, un-related event and most/many folks do not actually do it (myself included). I swore last year that I was going to keep writing at my November pace once December hit… I opened up my novel for the first time in March. It still had 58,000 words, still had the basic story… but still had no end.
I’ve worked on it some since then, adding a new beginning to it, working out some of the weird contradictions that cropped up during November, but I simply don’t know when I’ll actually finish it.
So, Chris’s advice is really meant to allow you to have a complete manuscript at the end of November. If you’re diligent and will keep working on it on December 1, then you can safely ignore it and just write away; if you’re likely to put it down for a while, you might find it more satisfying to follow his advice.
Paul – I tend to get that alot. Honestly, minus a few handcramps every now and then, it wasn’t that bad. I have the time to do it and alternating between breaks and writing, not bad at all.
Rob – Thanks for clearing that up for me! Something to think about.
I don’t think I have time for NaNo this year, but usually I can’t resist and throw my lot in anyway, getting off the great start and then bumming out after maybe a week.
Good grief… where has 2008 gone!
I’m actually thinking that since I’m no longer at that job that had me working nine hours a day for three weeks out of the month (including Saturdays), I just might do NaNo this year!
I’m so looking forward to enjoying NaNo and the holidays this year!
I was also a NaNo virgin last year, and ended up using it to get the first (very rough) draft of my novel done. I have spent a lot of time since then reworking it into something that I am about to start querying agents with.
I decided that I am going to do it again this year, because writing under pressure seems to work for me.
My advice would be to not expect to write a proper, polished novel in November, but rather to use it to get the framework down for your novel. Do not spend any time editing or reviewing what you have written – there is simply not enough time. Focus on getting the words out instead.