Whether you're a NaNo veteran or are new to the challenge, these tips are here to help you reach your goal!
What is NaNoWriMo?
Before I get into my tips for NaNo, I want to put a brief description of what NaNoWriMo actually is for those who are unaware. From their website, NaNoWriMo says this:
"National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people around the world begin to write, determined to end the month with 50,000 words of a brand new novel."
I tried participating in NaNo a few times. The first several, I only did their camps, which are hosted in April and July. Unlike NaNoWriMo, Camp NaNo allows you to set your own writing goals. I thought this to be a less daunting challenge, so I attempted it. But each time, I failed. I was unable to maintain a steady system to keep my creative juices flowing. It wasn't until last November that I found a system that worked for me and, much to my pride and delight, I won NaNoWriMo. And by that I mean I successfully wrote 50,000 words in a month.
So. How did I do it? I used the following tips/techniques to help me.
Break Down the Goal:
Last November, I was a full-time university student trying to juggle a mixture of online and in-person classes and balance my mental and physical health. So, yeah, the idea of writing 50,000 words in a month was extremely daunting.
But, what helped me tackle this challenge was to not focus on the grand total of 50,000 words but rather look at it in terms of daily goals. 50,000 words divided by 30 days is 1666.66... words a day. Or, about 1,667 words. That, I thought to myself, I can do.
I of course still had the overall goal in the back of my mind, but by focusing on how many words I had to write each day, I was able to stress less and write more. I was less worried about how the heck I was supposed to write 50,000 words and more worried about what came next in my story.
Plan Out Your Story:
For the longest time, I was always a "pantser" when it came to writing. That is to say that I just rolled with the story and made stuff up as I went along. I never thoroughly planned a story until I decided that I was going to try to win NaNoWriMo. I decided I would try actually planning out my story and making bullet points of how I wanted each chapter to go. I always found plans and outlines to be stifling for my creativity; they didn't allow me to just go with the flow. But, as I discovered, I can still let the characters have a mind of their own while also restricting them to the world I created.
So, in the beginning days of NaNo, I outlined my story chapter by chapter so that I could better write the story I wanted to tell. By having a plan, I was better able to look at the chapter or part of a chapter I was working on and just know what I needed to write. It required less time spent brainstorming and more time writing. This also helped beat writer's block because I already had the foundations of the story; I just had to fill in the blanks.
Write Every Day:
Yes, the age-old advice of just writing every single day. I've scoffed at it in the past, too, and for ages, I wasn't writing every day. Spoiler alert, when I wasn't writing every day, I was writing much less and what I was writing was of lesser quality. Writing is a muscle; you need to work on it frequently in order to keep it strong and healthy.
Writing every day is much easier said than done, especially when you have other commitments. But, scheduling time into your day to just sit down and write is highly beneficial to both your writing skills and your confidence as a writer. Even if you write garbage, or only add half of your daily word goal, you are still writing and you are still making progress.
This also ties into my first tip of setting daily word counts. If you write every day and focus solely on that aspect, the task of writing a whole novel feels less daunting and is broken up into smaller, easier-to-do parts.
Read What You Write:
One thing that helps me keep my creative juices flowing and my inspiration coming is reading in the genre I am writing. If I'm working on an epic fantasy novel, that is what I'll read. If I'm working on polishing off a poetry collection, I'll look through some of the ones I own. Whatever I'm working on, I make sure to be well-read in the genre and look to my favourite authors for inspiration.
Not only does reading in the genre you're writing in help with inspiration, but it can also help you figure out what does and doesn't work in that particular genre. For high fantasy, for example, world-building is crucial. For romance, interpersonal relationships fuel the storyline. Whatever genre you're writing, I highly recommend reading at least one novel in that genre during this month (and the months to follow).
If possible, it's also a good idea to look for books about writing for the genre! Books specifically designed to help you write a mystery novel or a collection of science fiction short stories. There are tons of resources out there to help you with genre writing, so utilize them! If you can't afford to purchase the books, look at your local library or see if there's a cheaper e-book version you could get. There are also resources online that could help you. Don't shy away from using resources and seeking advice; it doesn't make you any less of a writer.
Don't Be Too Hard On Yourself:
My final point applies to writing in general, but especially when tasked with a goal like writing an entire novel in a month. Give yourself a break every once and a while. Remember that you're only human. Things happen. Writer's block is a b*tch. It's okay if some days you aren't able to meet your daily goal or write at all. At the end of the day, NaNoWriMo is supposed to be fun! It's supposed to encourage and inspire writers and help guide them through the incredibly difficult task of writing a novel.
Your novel also does not have to be perfect. It's only a first draft. Remember, it can always be edited and polished off later. Don't focus on making your novel perfect this month, just focus on making your novel exist. Focus on getting the bare bones of it down. You can't edit and perfect a novel that isn't written, so just write the thing, dammit.
I always have had a nasty habit of wanting/needing my writing to be perfect the first time around and this has significantly reduced my motivation and inspiration to write. But the more I remind myself that it doesn't need to be perfect and that I am more than allowed to write garbage, the more I write. Writing should be fun; it should be something you enjoy and something you're passionate about. So, try not to let perfectionism or the fear or feeling of failure stop you from writing.
Just write when and what you can, and have fun with it!
I wish all my fellow NaNo writers luck with their novels this month, and in all months to follow! You got this.
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