National Novel Writing Month: Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abandon

NaNoWriMo: What is it?

As some of you may know, November is National Novel Writing Month, sponsored by the Office of Letters and Light. It happens every year, and I've been participating since 2007. Millions of people participate each year, with one goal in mind: get to 50,000 words by midnight on November 30. While this goal it rather simple, it's also rather deceptive. Writing that many words in 30 days is a feat. Novel writing month, after all, is all about quantity, not quality. It's a race to get the first draft down on the page, whether it's the novel you've always wanted to write, or found out about it on November 1 and thought "hey, why not?"

For some perspective, 50,000 words is about 1,666 words a day. 1,666 words is about 2.5 pages per day. We're talking solid pages here--single spaced, with little white space. It takes me about an hour to an hour and a half each day to finish. For you college students, that's a 5 page paper, every day. If you miss more than one day, it is extremely hard to catch up unless you have hours to sit there and write.

Why You Should Try it

So, why do it? First, let's think about this. Do you know what it's like to write that much in one month? To spend that much time writing? You may not be a writer; do you know what writing is like, or what is involved? Many people think they may want to write, and what better opportunity to really find out? The big draw, and the thing you will connect to others who've done is, is the shared experience.

The race to get your word count done in before the train pulls into your station, or that one chapter you just couldn't finish. Maybe you've single handedly boosted the hit counter on wikipedia looking things up (writing involves a lot of research!). Or sometimes it's just the idea that millions of people around the world are also spending a month sitting at their computer, doing exactly what you're doing. Many people organize area write-ins to write together, so you can share the experience with others as much as you like.

The second best reason to write? Writing 50,000 words in one month is a pretty inspiring challenge to a lot of people, not just writers. As someone who won in 2010 and 2011, winning feels pretty darn awesome. There are goodies for winning, though most of them are online (such as the banner to the right). Being able to say you accomplished something so time-crunched and mentally exhausting is quite satisfying.

I need a third reason. Why? Because I was taught in middle school that when you write a paper, you have three main points, and three supporting facts for each. It's hard to break away from that kind of thing, isn't it? So, reason three: it takes discipline. Yes, I know most people will be turned off reading that. But you know what? Like many things in life, writing takes discipline. You have to apply your self to complete this goal.

How I Win

While there are always those people who bang out the required word count in a number of days or maybe two weeks, many people finish by writing X amount of words per day. Many plan out the story, make an outline, and you may also want to set up chapters before hand. Some of us start thinking about novel writing month over the summer. Some people, like me, even plan several stories to work on--I had 5 this year, all based around my Lupa canon. If you're stuck on one thing, you can jump to another.

Each day, I start by calculating that day's word count, regardless of whether I finished the previous day's or not. Most often, I do my writing on the train, which I take every day to work, so if I finish the day's count before the ride's over, I calculate the next day's count and keep going. It is always better to get a bit ahead if you can, but not too much. It's easier to burn out that way. But normally, having enough material, and doing the required word count per day will have you to 50,000 words at the end of the month.

Finally, I am a writer. I write nearly every work day, and sometimes on weekends, as well. Writing 2.5 solid pages isn't what I normally do, but the fact that I already do something every day is definitely helpful, as there's already something there to build on.

What Happened This Year

While I started out okay this year, November is always a very, very busy time at work, and we have also been busy with church and other things. I didn't have as much time every day to write, and by Thanksgiving I was already several days behind. Since I was the chef this year, I just didn't have time over the holiday, and that was it. I haven't touched it since probably November 21.

It's not the first year I've had to stop or give up for some reason; it happened in my first year or two, as well. One year I ended up getting sick, and that significantly set me back. So, no winner goodies for me this year. But I did get some good draft material for the continuation of Miara's* book (3rd year for NaNo for this one), two fairy tales rewritten for Lupa canon, some more copy for Zaira's* childhood, and a little  surprise piece for Eiry and Guyver*. So, not too bad on that count.

*Please note that most of these links are for non-canon versions of these characters, but will give you background on who they are.


Finally, feel free to check out my NaNoWriMo page here: http://nanowrimo.org/en/participants/firefly_1824.