If you are like me and love writing, then you’ve probably heard of NaNoWriMo. But what exactly is NaNoWriMo? Simply put, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It starts on the very first day of November and lasts till the end of the month. Typically, the goal is to write a completely new novel during this time or 50,000 words. NaNoWriMo is completely free to join and it connects writers all around the world. As a non-profit organization, NaNoWriMo values diversity, equity and inclusion. They have programs that help young writers as well as more seasoned writers.
NaNoWriMo is a great opportunity to harness your creativity and let loose. However, it can get a little overwhelming. Fear not, as someone who has participated in NaNoWriMo in the past, I have some tips and tricks that might help you for your very first experience.
- Set various goals for yourself
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As I said before, NaNoWriMo can get overwhelming if your only goal for the month is to write a full novel. This is why I suggest setting various goals for yourself over the course of the month. I recommend that you have an overall goal, a weekly goal and a daily goal.
- Overall goal: It is not mandatory to write 50k words in a month, so you can set your goal for however many words you desire. This year, my overall goal is to write 20,000 words. As a college student, this goal is achievable for me. Make sure this goal is fun and not a burden to yourself.
- Weekly goal: Since my goal is to write 20k words this month, my weekly goal should be around 5,000 words.
- Daily goal: With your daily goal, you can get creative with fun ways to get yourself to write! Some daily goals could include writing 700-800 words, having a writing sprint for 30 minutes, or writing twice in one day about anything you want. For example, journaling about your feelings can be a fun and relaxing way to fulfill your daily goal. It can be quite therapeutic too!
- When in a funk, don’t panic!
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It is hard to write when you just don’t feel like writing or you are facing the infamous writer’s block, but I have good news for you! There are a few ways to get back into your flow state.
- Create a playlist. This is one of the easiest ways to get back your spark. You can create several playlists for your chapter, characters, specific scenes, or the novel entirely. This can really help in cultivating the mood you wish to portray in your writing.
- Create a collage or a pinterest board. Seeing pictures of the things you want to write could be inspiring. I prefer pinterest as I can just go back to the ones I was originally inspired by.
- Design your character. This can be done by using sites that create characters (like picrewme) or even drawing them yourself. Having a visual representation of your characters can help in developing their personalities during your writing process.
- Want to know a writing tip I learned in a creative writing class? Use the font cosmic sands! I don’t know if the professor said this and it became a placebo effect, but everytime I’m stuck, I switch to cosmic sands and everything just flows out of me. It’s a more wacky font rather than a serious font like Times New Roman and I think that takes the pressure off writing and turns it fun.
- Writing isn’t all there is to a novel
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I know this sounds contradicting because writing is the only way to finish your novel, right? Yes. But in order to write, you have to know what you are writing about. While writing does have freedom of creativity, there are rules one must follow. For example, in fantasy, you can incorporate your own rules into the magic system, but you have to make sure the ranks you are using make sense. A simple search into magical systems, royal systems, or even something realistic like running a marathon can be helpful.
- Let imperfections be
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Writing a novel in a month is an exciting idea, but the idea that you will write the best book known to man in a month is even more insane. I am guilty of this myself as I am a perfectionist at heart, but it’s not a realistic goal. You will probably want to go over and edit the same section again and again, but this will get you stuck in a repetitive cycle. Imperfections on a first draft are bound to happen. Wait until you are done with 5 chapters, for example, and then go and revisit the section you wanted to edit. This ensures that you won’t get stuck and you advance with your goals.
Remember this is meant to be fun so let loose and harness your creativity!