Preparing for NaNoWriMo 2020
It’s the most wonderful time of the year - no, I’m not talking about Halloween or Thanksgiving or Christmas. Instead I am looking forward to a much more exciting time: National Novel Writing Month!
For anyone not familiar with National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo for short), it is an online personal challenge in which participants aim to write 50,000 words of a novel within the month of November. Sounds pretty daunting, right? But NaNoWriMo is more fun than you could possibly imagine.
This will be my fourth year participating in NaNoWriMo, and I cannot wait. It can be a pretty grueling challenge, trying to push out 1666 words per day to hit that final goal, whilst simultaneously navigating work or school or other commitments - but it really gets your brain racing. By forcing yourself to be creative every day for a month (there’s no time to linger with writer’s block here!), you are left with a strong feeling of achievement at the end. Those cold November nights might seem lonely and tiring, but NaNoWriMo can be a beacon of light to warm up your mind.
I believe that NaNoWriMo is even more important this year than ever before. It runs online, with participants writing their own individual novels and updating their word counts on their accounts and the organization encourages you to form connections with other writers around the globe. On the website, there are many ways to find solidarity with other NaNoWriMo comrades: you can join in on discussions in forums to get writing advice; you can participate in virtual “write-ins” to up your word count; and you can even set up writing groups with your friends. At a time when Coronavirus means that a lot of us are still isolating and in lockdown, having this way to connect with other writers globally is an incredible gift.
But how should you go about approaching this writing challenge?
NaNoWriMo has come up with 3 labels for how different writers will prepare for November:
A Planner: someone who creates a meticulous plan and intends to follow it.
A Pantser: someone who writes their novel without a detailed plan (i.e. writing by the “seat of their noveling pants”).
A Plantser: someone who creates an outline, and uses it to guide their writing but is willing to adapt as they go.
So there really is no specific method of the best way to prepare for NaNoWriMo. You could make some bullet points about a character or a scene and then base your whole novel off of that, or you could have pages upon pages of notes to refer to. Finding the method that works best for you is important, so feel free to start making a plan and then abandon it! That’s the whole aim of NaNoWriMo, in my opinion: to challenge you to find a new way of writing that can completely refresh your outlook.
I would definitely recommend following the National Novel Writing Month social media accounts (@NaNoWriMo), because in the lead up to November 1st, as everyone is gearing up to begin, they tend to post a lot of content aimed to inspire you and get you thinking about your novel. They are also a great resource for when you get stuck during the month.
Let’s face it, you’re probably going to hit some bumps in this process. I always set out too ambitious, trying to write 3000 words per day in order to hit 50k early - which ultimately ends up with me burning out about halfway the month through each year. And I never seem to learn! So my main advice to you would be to not put too much pressure on yourself.
Don’t neglect your actual wellbeing by writing through the night, or not taking rest breaks. We’re all human, and if you find a section of your writing particularly challenging then you can always leave it and come back to it. Sometimes when I’m getting frustrated with something, I like to move away from it for a moment, and instead focus on whatever scene excited me when I was first coming up with my novel idea. This makes me inspired to write again, and reminds me why I set out on this challenge in the first place.
At the end of the day, the mere fact that you are thinking of starting NaNoWriMo is impressive, and you should be proud of yourself and your writing no matter what.
This challenge can honestly change the entire way you look at your writing process, and so don’t be afraid to let yourself enjoy it!
