Some of you may be aware of the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), the free online challenge that encourages you to make some progress on your current writing project or begin a whole new one. Well, the time has come, once again, for this lovely little writing challenge and I thought it would be nice to share my plans, and some tips, with you all. I have already successfully completed NaNoWriMo three times when I was younger, before responsibilities got their claws into me, but I’m hoping this year I’ll make my comeback and complete it once again.
What is NaNoWriMo?
NaNoWriMo is a non-profit that aims to encourage people’s creativity, particularly in the form of writing. As part of this, they set up a yearly writing challenge called NaNoWriMo that takes place in November. Now, you’re probably thinking I have completely lost all sense of time as next month is July… which is on the opposite side of the year. Well, this challenge has proved to be so successful that they now run it three times each and every year: one in November (the original), and then two Camp NaNoWriMo events in April and July.
Originally, everyone had the same goal, write 50,000 words of a novel in a month. A large challenge, especially when juggling other things such as school or work. More recently, they have enabled people to set their own goals for writing, allowing you to create a word count that takes into consideration your particular circumstance and aspirations.
Additionally, NaNoWriMo is not a traditional competition. The prize is that you make progress on a writing project and nobody aside from yourself needs to read your story. It is never published on the site and nobody needs to read it to verify that you’ve done the task. It is purely motivational, and I find that so encouraging as I’m not concerned over the quality of my work (I can leave that for the editing process) and instead focus on getting those words down in the first place.
If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, have a look at www.nanowrimo.org !
My Project
So, what’s the project I’m planning on beginning? Heavily inspired by a gothic literature module I studied last semester, I decided that this year I would be writing a gothic novel. The story follows the protagonist who has become a servant of a malevolent spirit which is seeking revenge on a society that wronged it. Throughout, the protagonist enacts the creature’s orders, slowly completing a dark ritual, whilst being chased by a holy champion and their own doubts.
Since gothic fiction conventionally follows an innocent victim character, I thought this would be a nice twist, and allows for some interesting scenarios and themes to develop. As I’ve mentioned previously, my go to genre is fantasy, so this will be a change and challenge for myself whilst still being similar enough to what I usually write so I’m not completely out of my depth. I have already written a small part of the story, specifically the opening chapter, during a 3am writing extravaganza a few months back. Since then, I have not touched it due to extreme amounts of university work and general life getting in the way. Despite this, I have been mulling over the idea and I’m looking forward to making some good progress with it!
So what are the biggest obstacles I expect to encounter? Firstly, I have no concrete plans, I have a vague concept of some goals and aspirations for the various characters, but no worldbuilding, strict scene layouts etc. So I expect to get blown way off course or struggle to know what happens next. Both are fine though! I just want to get stuck in and start writing and will maybe map out a little plan over the next two weeks. The second problem is writing burnout, I just completed a large dissertation of 10,000 words two weeks ago, and for the month prior I was pretty much writing non-stop all day, every day. My brain may not enjoy writing or struggle for the first week, but I’m determined and going to keep at it until the creative juices begin to flow again!
Hints and Tips
Have a plan– Hypocritical considering what I just said, I know. However, what I mean by this is having some form of idea of what you want to write about and what you need to do in order to achieve your goal. With the story, having an idea of a base concept and main character are important, otherwise you may be stuck on the first blank page for days. This can be so disheartening, so definitely avoid this by selecting on an idea beforehand. The subsequent points and details can develop naturally as you begin the writing process. However, planning also refers to time management and allocation. For this challenge, it is vital to know how you’ll meet your word target. I tend to go for the 1,667 words a day approach, but if you’re busy one day or have a holiday arranged already, you may need a different strategy or be prepared to write more words over fewer days.
Don’t carry over words to the next day- This may vary with the person, perhaps you can write 10,000 words in a single day (if you can, please tell me your secrets because I wish I was capable of that). However, from my own experience, if you’re unable to write one day due to writer’s block, an emergency, or you had an impromptu day out, do not lump all the words onto the next day. 1,667 words is hard, 3,334 can be crushing. Instead, spread those words out over the rest of the remaining days, this makes it far more manageable to get back on track and won’t feel like an impossible task!
Keep the goal in mind– This isn’t referring to the 50,000 words target, but the desire to not only progress in your project but enjoy to it! This is a challenge and it can be hard, not enjoying it makes it 1000x harder. So remind yourself you are doing this for yourself and something you truly enjoy! This helps keep your motivation high and the process positive!
For anyone who is going to give NaNoWriMo a try, good luck! I hope that you have a fun and productive July and that you’re proud with the amazing work you will produce! Do let us know what you’re planning on writing in the comments, we’d love to know. Also, we plan to set up our own cabin (details to follow) and you’re invited to join us if you want some support or a chat!
-S
Hint of the Week:
Sometimes you actually are the protagonist of your own story!
2 Pen 