So November is right around the corner and this post should have been up before the weekend instead of right after, but what can I say. Life’s hectic and there’s still time, so here’s my two-cent contribution.
Why should you join?
It creates a routine.
If all you ever want to write is the story of your life, you have all the time and this is probably not very important. But if you want to make writing your living, or your side-job, or even your semi-professional hobby, you need to get into a routine. You need to make time for writing and get used to do it, muses or not, through rains and storms and whatever may come. NaNoWriMo gives you a hard deadline and a doable task, so it’s perfect to instil some writerly discipline.
It tells the story.
I’ve won NaNo three years now, this being my fourth attempt, and I’ve never have to edit out of my first draft. I usually have to smooth transitions, plug some plot holes that were clear in my head but had forgotten to actually write and tweak the flow here and there. I never delete. What does this mean? It means that if you attempt NaNo, you’ll force yourself to write the dreaded words, “The End”. Many writers start projects and let them go unfinished, be it for lack of dedication or lack of story or fear or whatever. Nano will make you write those words, and remember: the first step towards a good book is a complete awful draft.
It finds the zone.
This is tricky, but true. When you have a daily quota, steal every possible writing moment and basically live and breathe your story, you’ll find that some parts are easy as heck to write. That’s not the muse, that’s just you hitting “the zone”: a state of mind where your book lives, for lack of a better definition. It sounds a bit crazy and you might not understand if you have never experienced it, but NaNo’s gruelling pace will help you kill the inner editor, the bad plot choices, the silly ideas, and in turn it’ll help you write your story. Trust me and give this a try.
What should you do?
Start thinking about it now.
Decide what you’ll write. If you’re a planner, plan. If you’re a pantser, get to know your characters at the very least. In both cases, research what you think you might need, because come November research is strictly forbidden. Get worked up about the idea of your novel. Get to that point where you just need to start writing—and then wait, wait for November the 1st before you start. All that hype will pile up and help you during your first week and, with luck, the momentum will take you right through to the last stage.
Add your friends.
Find people to go through NaNo with. Find writers in your genre, with your goal, your speed, your methods. Who cares? Just find people who love writing as much as you do and add them as your NaNo buddies. They’ll support you when you want to throw your unwritten book against the wall. Their word count will spur yours to new heights. The plans you all made together will make you blanch at the thought of giving up. And when November’s done and over with, they’ll help you tackle Revision Month. You can do this, but it’ll be much better if you don’t do it alone.
Jump to the scenes you want to write.
Some people can’t write out of order. That’s fine. What I mean to say is, if you find yourself stuck, chances are the scene is wrong to begin with. Do not despair. Do not cry. Put a stop to that half-written sentence, insert a note for yourself and move on to the next thing that you know needs to happen in your book. When revision comes, you’ll most likely know right away where the problem was and will be able to fix it in no time. Even if the scene is still difficult to write, after November you have better reason to vanquish the task: it’s the only foe standing between you and noveling success, so I guarantee those rebel points where you get stuck during NaNo will be ironed out by the end of December.
What should you NOT do?
Do not research.
I mean it. Researching need can be like an itch, you think you can’t go on without checking or referencing something. But you must, or else you’ll be caught in a spiral of procrastination and perfectionism and your writing time will just vanish. If you need to know something, just insert a note and come back to flesh it out later, during revisions. The story must go on and those 50K words must be written, so Wikipedia is for the weak.
Do not figure out the new software.
I’ve begun to use Scrivener as a writing software and I love it. I don’t think I could go back to writing without it. But November 1st is not the time to learn how to use it, or any other writing software. There’s no time for learning curves, no matter how gentle the slope. Figure everything you’ll need to by October 31st and then all bets are off.
Do not write for numbers’ sake.
Fast drafting is one thing. Writing with enough typos to make your own text illegible is another (and an entirely possible thing, I might add). Adding scenes you know you don’t like, don’t need, won’t fit, just because they’re words is not the way to go. It’s a way of hitting 50K, sure, but at the end of the month you won’t have the draft of that perfect, unique novel only you can write: you’ll only have a nightmare that requires to be rewritten rather than edited, and those monsters tend to end up in the bottom of virtual drawers. So write as much as you can, yes, shoot for those 50K words because you can make it, yes, but write true. It’s better to end with 40K good words than with 60K useless ones.
Those are the stakes. Those are the traps ahead. Those are your weapons for this challenge. Now, I ask you: will you accept it?
If you do, and if you would like to, do add me as a writing buddy over in the nanowrimo site. My name over there is RonCN and I would love to struggle through to the finish line together.