It's almost that time of the year again! For those of you who don't know, National Novel Writing Month (also known as NaNoWriMo) is an online creative writing challenge every November where people across America come together to try and write a novel. The hard part? All 50,000-70,000 words have to be penned down in 30 days.
Of course, no one expects this piece to be perfection. Most people who take part in the challenge treat it more as a first draft, with December being reserved for editing and getting feedback from friends and family. After all, what better way to spend your break than polishing off a novel for publication?
If you are an aspiring writer, but the idea of writing a whole honking novel in a month seems intimidating, check out the website linked above. The NaNoWriMo organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with resources for everything from creating a writing schedule to general novel writing tips. There is even a young writers section for teens and young adults looking to try their hand at the challenge.
This is my first time attempting this personally. I have wanted to do it since high school, but between board exams, organic chemistry, and biochemistry, I haven't had the time in previous years. But I'm definitely going to do it this time! I've already got a general idea of the high fantasy novel I plan to attempt. Here are some tricks and tips I've been using to help.
First off, use a word counter. If you feel more comfortable writing with a pen and paper, it helps to type it up again at the end of the day or week. As a bonus, typing it up after writing also gives you a chance to edit and revise typos or grammatical errors.
Second, aim for 14,000 words a week. In my experience as a writer and editor, having too few words is a bigger problem than having too many. Usually, once people start editing, they end up cutting out more of their first draft than one would think. Especially redundancies. When you are writing first drafts, redundancies are your worst enemy.
Third, don't reread. Whatever you do, do not go back and read what you have previously written. That is what December is for. In my experience writing fanfic, going back to look at plot points while in the thick of writing ends up bogging you down and can set off a spiral where you worry about word counts, deadlines, and whether you can actually write as well as you wrote before. This is especially a problem if you end up missing a day or two (stuff happens, so this is very likely), and inertia carries you through the rest of the month without writing a single word more.
Lastly, write from the heart. Some of the best pieces I've written are the ones where I essentially vented a stream of words onto a sheet of paper and went back to tidy things up a bit. Passion comes across on the page. There is a good chance other people out there exist who like the same things you do and will enjoy the things you write. Never try to be something you are not or feel that you have to fit yourself into a specific genre. Genre is a social construct.
That's it from me, and I hope to see a few of you on the other side of November. Happy writing!