NaNoWriMo: I Did It! 50K+ Words in a Month!
Okay, so you may have been following me (@DWongster) on Twitter and seen my updates about my progress on National Novel Writing Month, or maybe you read my earlier posts, but here I am, at the other end of November, and I can say proudly that yes, I wrote my 50,000 word “novel”. I did it!
That said, the novel is still no where near finished, not even close.
But it doesn’t matter, because you know why?
At the beginning of November, I had zero words — well, actually a handful, just some plot ideas written down with a friend a long time ago. If I had not participated, I would still have that handful of words, black toner on aging letter sized paper.
Instead, now I have 50,239 words. And counting.
How much of that will be thrown away? I don’t know, maybe half.
So how does it feel?
It feels GREAT!
Lessons Learned from NaNoWriMo
I can take away from my experience writing for 29 consecutive days:
- It takes discipline to write a novel – just like any activity you deem worthwhile, enjoyable, or want to get good at or achieve — whether it’s taking great photos, getting good at golf, drawing/painting, dancing, or writing — you gotta be doing it regularly. The ultimate discipline is the daily practice. I found that with the daily requirement of 1667 words, I had to push through even during those times when I felt like I’d rather be doing something else. Seriously, there were times when I had only written 200 words over the span of 7-8 hours, and I’d still be sitting in front of the computer after the kids have all been put to bed, wondering what now? What happens next? Then maybe I’d go take a shower then, and then it hits me mid-lather! So after the shower, I’d bang out 1200 words. The writing comes in spurts, sometimes fast and furious, sometimes just a trickle.
- It takes inspiration to write a novel – while I’m on the subject of pushing through, what really helped me was reading about writing tips by authors Justine Larbalestier and Scott Westerfield. I also enjoyed tremendously the pep talks that were emailed at strategic times by NaNoWriMo.org, talks that came from authors who knew all the trials and tribulations one experiences in the journey to novelhood.
- It takes being prepared to write a novel – one thing about writing a story is that I can be out on errands and plot ideas would come. The trick is to have a little notebook (paper, iPhone, or whatever) that I can jot down these ideas before I forget them.
- It takes time to write a novel – you and I both know that. Okay, so there’s something called work that pays the bills, there’s the daily kid duties, house duties, oh, and things that just come up, and something else…oh, right, sleep? Ha! Ha! Well, I think being a freelancer does help a bit, and really the biggest sacrifice I made was to stop surfing the web so much, and give up an hour or two of sleep a night.
Top Tips & Tricks that Helped me Win NaNoWriMo
So you probably already knows what it takes to write a novel, and what I just said is preaching to the choir. Heck, even I knew that before I ventured forth.
But why didn’t I write it until now?
I was always just…scared.
Scared of what? I DON’T KNOW!
Of the amount of work it would take, the time, and the effort, I suppose. I had my established daily routine, and starting a novel seemed as difficult as trying to change the course of a massive cruise ship. With a dingy.
Anyway, if you’re still interested in ever writing your own novel, here are the tricks and tips that helped me to win NaNoWriMo:
- Do some Pre-planning – for me, having a story that’s been stewing for 16+ years may have helped, although admittedly, I changed the story drastically once I got started. However, pre-planning did mean that I had a cast of characters with names and short description (anything helps, really — height, weight, skills, etc., more on this later)
- Setting a target Word Count – for NaNoWriMo, 50,000 words in 30 days works out to be approximately 1667 words a day. What I found was if I missed a significant portion one particular day, the next day is soooo much harder. So, set a realistic word count goal and stick to it. In fact, I knew I wanted to finish at least a day early — what if there was a power outage and I couldn’t upload the novel on the final day — horror! So what I did about halfway through was up my daily word count goal to 1800. That really helped to create a cushion. This kind of discipline is similar to investing in your IRA or 401K using an automatic monthly debit from your bank account. You just get used to it, and things happen! So, setting maybe 500 or 1000 words a day might be the realistic option.
- Getting Unstuck Tip #1: Write Dialogue – writer’s block is inevitable, so one technique that I used quite a few times was to start a scene having the characters talk to one another. Before I knew it, I’d bang out 800 words.
- Getting Unstuck Tip #2: Do an Interview – I have about three or four mock interviews that I did with each character, and I would write it all down. For instance, have your characters answer questions (that you write down as well), such as, “What was your childhood like? I hear you want to take over the world, could you tell us about that? You seem to hang out with so-and-so a lot, is there something going on between the two of you?” It was a lot of fun, and these interviews easily took 800-1000 words apiece.
- Getting Unstuck Tip #3: Do a Cribs video – like the TV show, write a description of how the venue’s occupant would show and describe his or her “crib” — similar to the Interview, this gets you going on the descriptions of places: furniture, details, colors, smells, etc.
- Tell People About It – in line with the NaNoWriMo philosophy that a writer may write alone, but he or she doesn’t have to be lonely. Get some friends to join you in writing — if you’ve got some so inclined. Also, announce your goal on Facebook, Twitter or your blog (I did all three). Most people were surprised at what I was doing, but all the comments I received were positive (Keep going! Way to go! Awesome!, etc.). Part of you gets inspired to continue, and part of you don’t want to “fail”.
- There is No Fail - I was pretty darn sure I would make the 50,000, but even if I hadn’t it would have been okay, too. The point was to use NaNoWriMo as the kick in the ass to get going on something that I’ve often thought about. You know, something along the lines of, “Some day, I’m going to <fill in your dream project/goal>”
- This is my Zero-eth Draft – I was also of the mindset that whatever I write will not even be my first draft — it would be my zero-eth draft. Having that philosophy also took off the pressure that everything must be first draft-worthy, whatever that meant.
Pep Talks from Real Writers
Oh, and last but not least, I thoroughly enjoyed the Pep Talks from NaNoWriMo – which, during the month of NaNoWriMo, strategically sends out oh-so-delectably-timely pep talk posts by actual writers. I also did my share of keeping tabs on Twitter the #NaNoWriMo tag and from there I found a bunch of great blog posts from writers, whose tips I also incorporated when appropriate or needed. Here are a few faves:
- Maureen Johnson’s This Book is Your B%^#h
- Justine Larbalestier’s Square Bracket tactic
- Scott Westerfeld’s Write Your Way Out
And on the NaNoWriMo site, they even archive previous years’ Pep Talks, including:
What’s Next for Me?
Well, one thing is I still need to finish this zero-eth draft. And the other major thing would be to start editing it, and make it to first draft land! I’m certainly not going to go the breakneck speed that was NaNoWriMo, AND I’m going to take a much needed break.
The most important thing, though, is that I have some momentum going now, knowing that within the vast landscape of wordage I created in the last month is a novel — hopefully a good one — and I’m quite a few steps closer to it than I was back on November 1.
You Can Do It!
Hopefully, you’ll find some of the above helpful in your writing projects. But the thing is, take out the word “write a novel” and replace it with whatever your dream project/goal is, and make a go of it! You can do it!
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