How To Succeed in National Novel Writing Month

NaNoWriMo: Write A 50,000 Word Novel In Thirty Days!

Nov 7, 2009

The aim of National Novel Writing Month, usually abbreviated as NaNoWriMo, is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month.

Writing 50,000 words in 30 days may seem like an impossible task, but by planning ahead, motivating yourself, and writing in manageable chunks, you can succeed in writing a novel for National Novel Writing Month.

Before November 1st, think about what you want to write about. Are there certain personal experiences you can draw from? What age and gender characters do you think you can best relate to? What sort of conflicts will you use to move along your novel? Where do you want the novel to end?

You can outline the broad patterns of your novel and its characters, make timelines or lists, or just spend some time thinking about where you want your story to go. Writing about material you are familiar with can make it a lot easier.

Motivating Yourself for NaNoWriMo

The fun of NaNoWriMo is frantically writing a novel—alongside thousands of other people across the world! Getting involved on the NaNoWriMo forums or getting together some of your friends to do NaNoWriMo together will make it a lot easier and a lot more fun.

Be sure to reward yourself as you reach certain milestones. Make a checklist before you start, with a box for each thousand words, and mark off each box as you finish it. And tell your family and friends you’re writing a novel, so they’ll check up on it.

Starting Your Novel Strong

Building a lot of momentum at the beginning of the month will help you coast through to the end. Start on midnight of Halloween, and try to write a couple thousand words before going to sleep. Then write another couple thousand when you wake up, and you’re already at 4,000 for one day— over 2,000 words ahead.

Aim for 2,000 words a day, rather than 1,667. It’ll give you some cushioning for the days you don’t have time to write.

Write Constantly

Writing in small chunks will help you meet your daily writing goals. If you can’t set aside a couple hours each day, write for shorter amounts of time; fifteen minutes before you go to work, for example, or a half hour at lunch, or twenty minutes before you go to bed.

Squeezing in these shorter sessions will quickly get you to your daily goal. If you need to, carry around a notebook, or write on your phone.

Don’t Delete

NaNoWriMo is about quantity, not quality. You will inevitably write many things you later—or immediately—realize was poorly phrased, out of character, or not quite how you wanted it. Keep going! You can edit your novel after November, but during NaNoWriMo, focus on writing. When you get to the end of your novel, you may even have a different perspective on that sentence or passage.

The copyright of the article How To Succeed in National Novel Writing Month in Resources for Writers is owned by Rebekah Richards. Permission to republish How To Succeed in National Novel Writing Month in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.