NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, is a competition to write a 50,000 word novel entirely in the month of November. It is a fun way to write in a community atmosphere. Although there are no prizes for winning (save the bragging rights), the accomplishment of having finished a 50,000 word novel in a month is a prize in itself.
NaNoWriMo is known as NaNo for short, and started when Chris Baty challenged some of his friends to write 50,000 words in one month in 1999. It has grown to over 100,000 participants worldwide, of whom more than 15,000 finished in 2007.
Step 1
Visit Nanowrimo.org and sign up for an account. The competition begins on November 1st, but you can sign up any time during October or November, before the end of the contest.
Step 2
Join the forums for support in your novel and help. They help get you excited to write and are full of information to make your novel more realistic, ideas to pad your word count, links to online thesauri and dictionaries, and even a forum for other writers in your region.
Step 3
Pick up some NaNoWriMo dares from the forum. Dares are silly (or not-so-silly) plot twists, characters, or objects that you try to work into your novel. NaNoWriMo is all about quantity, not quality, so many writers work in as many dares as possible. One of the most popular dares is the Traveling Shovel of Death™, a shovel that is used to kill or bludgeon characters. Another popular amusement is to incorporate characters whose names are anagrams of "NaNoWriMo": Mr. Ian Woon, Norman Iwo, and so on.
Step 4
Develop a plot. Don't be afraid to drop by the adopt-a-plot thread in the forums; those are up for grabs.
Step 5
Plan, plan, plan. Some people didn't win NaNo because they had no idea what to do next. You don't need to make it detailed; you don't even need to follow it completely. Chapter summaries will do, and the plan is just for if you go into a corner and can't continue. Don't be afraid to veer off the plan or change completely. Many NaNoWriMo writers title their novel and name their characters before they've even thought of a plot. It is perfectly acceptable under the rules of NaNoWriMo to outline your plot before November 1st. You may bring in as many notes and supporting documents as you wish, but the work of fiction itself must be written entirely during the month of November.
Step 6
Prepare a writing spot. In order to validate your word count, your final submission must be in .txt format or an electronic document you can copy and paste as text, but you can hand write or use a typewriter, and enter it into a computer after it is finished. Have a lamp and a comfortable chair—you'll be spending a lot of time there.
Step 7
Start writing immediately when November begins. Midnight (in your time zone) on November 1st is the official start of NaNoWriMo. You should have your notes handy, and just start writing based on what you've plotted out. Refer to them often, because you may forget a key component later on, which means you have to think some more.
- It's possible to make up an entire story as you go, but it's still a good idea to take a few notes as you go.
- Keep a list of your characters as you name them. You may be surprised at how quickly you will forget who was who. A simple page or text document will help you keep them in order.
- Don't go back and reread your previous day's writing each day; you will be tempted to fiddle with it. Read back only enough to get your place in the story and continue. Notes will help you keep your place without too much back reading.
Step 8
Get together your "NaNoWriMo Survival Kit." Writers stock up on energy drinks, soda, and one-handed snacks so they don't have to leave their writing spot while they are writing. Many also prepare specific "writing playlists" of CD's or mp3's to listen to. Buy a supply of notebooks and your favorite pens to carry around for whenever inspiration strikes.
- Catch up on housework and other tasks
Step 9
Do not stop. Do not delete words. The backspace key will only reduce your word count; do not let it! If your novel is utter junk, well, you're not alone. Someday you will look back at the hilarious typos and the Freudian slips and laugh. (Also, there's a thread in which to post such amusing disasters.) Overdo it the first week. Try and get 20k words by the seventh day. No doubt it will be nearly impossible to do it, but even if you don't make 20k, you'll be a good bit ahead in case you miss a day of writing. Try and hit 35k by the next week, 45k the following week, and 50k in the next few days. See the pattern? You have a smaller and smaller goal every week. This is to accommodate for writer's block, which you may get from time to time.
Step 10
Keep track of your word count. You can update your word count at any time through your user profile. The website keeps a graph of these updates.
Step 11
It's ok to be ahead of your weekly goals. It gives you more buffer time in case of an emergency. However, don't go all out on one weekend, except if it is the first weekend. You can experience a burnout, and that's not good.
Step 12
Develop your characters. Write them and watch how they behave and how they react to whatever trouble you throw at them. Your descriptions of them will require lots of words, and they'll set the pace and the tone for the rest of your story.
Step 13
Develop your story. You may have only a vague idea of where you are going. That's all right. The objective here is quantity, not quality. Still, your story will be easiest to write if it's interesting. Don't be afraid to throw in a complication. Kill a character, have somebody get pregnant, bring in a new villain or reveal the extent of a character's flaws. Then, see how your characters react.
Step 14
Take the plot somewhere, even if it's not where you intended. Sometimes the surprises are the most fun.
Step 15
Bring the story to an end. Even if there were details in the middle that you couldn't get to yet, start moving towards an ending sometime during week 3.
Step 16
Verify your word count. Now for the hard, painful part: when midnight, local time, the night of November 30 hits, stop. Even if you haven't hit 50,000, you must stop now and turn in your word count. You can finish writing it if you think you have anything to salvage, but your wordcount as of the end of November 30 is your final NaNo wordcount. Remember that even if you only hit 10 or 20k, that's more than most people ever write.
- To verify your word count, you will upload your entire manuscript or paste it into the website once at the end of the month. The NaNoWriMo website does not save or publish your manuscript, but if you are concerned about anybody reading your story, there is a tool available that will jumble the manuscript so that it will become unreadable without altering the word count.
- Verify your word count early if you can. The website gets a great deal of traffic during the first and last couple of days of November. Verification is available starting on the 25th of the month.
Step 17
Starting November 25th, you can upload your entire novel for verification. If you've reached the 50,000 word goal, you'll receive a downloadable certificate and your name will appear on the list of winners.
Step 18
Plan if and when you will edit your novel. In the spirit of NaNoWriMo, you should have done no editing during the month of November, which means your novel will need cleanup to be the best it can be. If you decide to work with it, expect to put in a year or so of editing to get it ready for others to see.
Step 19
Decide whether to share your finished novel, and how. If so, give copies to friends, family, and other NaNoWriMo authors.
- A few NaNo authors do publish their books in print with book publishers, but most manuscripts require extensive revision to achieve that quality.
- "Vanity" presses, publishers who will print small numbers of copies on an on-demand basis, exist and can print even a single copy of your book for a modest price.
- It is very easy to publish a manuscript online. Be sure to mark it with your copyright or a free license of your choice.
Step 20
Start again next November!
Tips
- If you do 1667 words a day, you'll hit 50,000 exactly on November 30th. However, this isn't recommended because you might be hit with something real-lifey at the last moment and have to catch up. Instead, use weekends to catch up and get ahead of your word count, especially early on when your energy is fresh.
- 50,000 words in one month is a lot, even for an experienced novelist (which most participants are not). Do not aim for more than 50,000 words your first year. If you would like to accelerate your schedule, aim to write 50,000 words sooner. You can always continue if you find yourself with days left after you hit 50,000 words early.
- Lurking and posting at the forum will give you more determination to keep going, because you'll be surrounded by people doing the same thing.
- Word pad like you've never word padded before! "Don't" can become "do not", and "won't" become "will not". Even adding something as stupid as, "He slipped on a banana, stood up again and continued" will help; just edit it out when December comes.
- Talk about the weather. Describe the character's meal or wristwatch in detail. Besides filling the page, this sort of filler information can get your writing moving if you are stuck simply by putting you in the mindset of the story.
- Write a juicy love scene or a detailed battle. You may find it easy to fill space.
- Learn to type quickly beforehand (if you're using a computer), which will help a LOT.
- Take a notebook with you everywhere and write when you're out doing nothing.
- If you're handwriting your NaNoWriMo novel, every time you've finished the page count the words (which you will have to do manually) to avoid doing this later. It's tedious, but will keep the pile of pages down later.
- Word wars (typing for a set time, without going back to edit even the typos, as quickly as possible) help a lot, but do them in short bursts (45 minutes at the most).
- If you're using a computer, SAVE OFTEN. Back up your manuscript daily.
- If, despite frequent saving, the whole thing gets lost somehow, Heaven forbid, then it is probably acceptable to check your last recorded word count, type in some word, copy-and-paste it that number of times, and then continue. Do not grieve for the lost work until December, at which point you will find support.
- You may hear something about a second-year curse. It is just a myth. Repeat, just a myth. Don't let it psyche you out.
- Substituting caffeine for sleep is a good alternative to trying to write copious amounts of words during daylight hours, though this method should not be used more than three or four times during the month and not more than twice consecutively.
- Don't be afraid to ignore something here and improvise or write your own way! Everyone's NaNo experience is different. Some don't touch notebooks, some forget their plot on day one, some procrastinate until the last week and go insane writing to catch up. This is the GENERAL way- made up of what's most commonly worked!
- Caffeine is NOT NECESSARY. This may be hard to hear, but people HAVE managed to write more than 50K without any caffeine at all. It helps for an all-nighter, but it's NOT necessary.
- Go to your regional NaNoWriMo meet-ups. You can meet others in your area who are working on their novels. These meetups are a great place to share plot and character ideas, and just to vent your frustration when you get stuck.
- Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo, has written a helpful book about the process called No Plot? No Problem! It gives encouragement, tips, and previews of what typically happens with participants week by week.
Warnings
- Beware of dropping grades. Be very careful at school and don't let your real work slip.
- Beware of unsupportive family and/or friends.
- Be careful of all-nighters. Don't do them unless you're extremely behind, and it's almost the end of the month already. Remember that you need to sustain a pace to finish.
- Characters WILL most likely hijack your plot.
- Your NaNo novel's first draft will be DREADFUL.
- Your writing quality will go down after doing this. Use some word prompts and write like you used to before November and it'll come back quickly.
- Beware of crashing computers and wetting notebooks. Backup often and keep a supply of pens handy.
- If you write out your novel in a notebook, when it comes time to verify, Try to find a random word generator such as this one http://www.lipsum.com/ and tell it to generate the exact amount of words you have written. Copy and paste this text into the verification box at the NaNo site.
- The forums are addictive.
- You'll be tempted to edit. DON'T. There's another month- March, to be exact- for editing, called NaNoEdMo. If you hate that last word/paragraph/page/chapter, highlight it and turn it white, then continue. Or cross it out in notebooks, don't erase.
- Plan ahead for Week Two- but don't loaf off just because you can that week.
- Don't start writing until November 1st. You have to start NaNoWriMo with a blank slate. No previously written prose is acceptable.
Things You'll Need
- A computer with a word processor and word count, or a few notebooks and pens.
- Actually, you'll always need the notebook and pens, even if you're not writing it by hand. Inspiration can strike at any time.
- Persistence
- Determination.
- Copious amounts of your favorite non-keyboard-threatening snack.
- Caffeine.
- Low sanity is also useful. It means that nobody will notice a change once NaNo is over and you have become that strangest of species, a writer.
- Free time. If you don't have it, MAKE it.
- Fun. Enjoy yourself at least MOST of the time. This is the only part of this thing that's ENTIRELY needed.
