5 Tips For Writing Your NaNoWriMo Novel
November is NaNoWriMo, here’s what you need to know so your words will flow
This November is the 16th annual National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. It’s a time for would-be novelists to roll up their sleeves and pound out the prose. There have been hundreds of wrimotaurs (what participants from Calgary call themselves) since the event started in 1999, and this November is your chance to join their ranks!
In novel writing, like every artistic endeavor, the planning is more fun than the execution. So, here are five tips from Calgary NaNoWriMo liaison Josiah Ditoro to make sure you keep the chapters coming and reach your 50,000-word goal by December.
Focus on quantity, not quality
“This is the thing I tell people most often; NaNo is all about quantity over quality, for once in your life. When November starts, you take your inner editor and you duct tape him to a wall and just write. If you’re writing for 50,000 words, it’s about 1667 words a day.”
Use the community
“Come out to the in-person events, either the writing ones or the social ones or both. You will be amazed what that will do for your word count. We have a screen grab of one Wrimo’s progress graph, and she averaged 1667 words a day until she discovered the groups, and then her graph goes from a slight incline to shooting straight up.”
Make writing your priority
“One of the best things about NaNo is you have an excuse to make writing your priority no matter what. It doesn’t matter if you’ve eaten take-out six nights out of seven or your friends forget your face, you don’t have time for that! We’re all busy, but everybody knows that I do this, and it’s my priority for the month. That way I get more done.”
Tell everyone you know
“In fact, tell everyone you don’t know too. We call that NaNovangelizing. If you tell your friends and family, not only will they support you while you’re doing it, they hopefully will leave you alone while you try to reach your wordcount.”
Remember that NaNo is a self-challenge
“If you think 50,000 words is too intimidating, then set your own goal. If you only think you can write 10,000 that’s fine. It will be 10,000 more words than you started with. We tell our members that you can’t edit nothing, and it makes for a great starting point for a first draft.”
For more information on National Novel Writing Month, visit nanowrimo.org