Making the Most of NaNoWriMo

It’s the month that prose pros have been waiting for. The time of year that supplies you with a viable excuse for locking yourself away in your bedroom for prolonged hours to hone your craft. November is almost here, and with it, NaNoWriMo.

For any unaware writers, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) takes place over the month of November, during which writers brave the challenge of writing an entire book (50,000 words) in those thirty short days (+1 hour from daylight savings).

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As someone who’s attempted NaNo four times before, I can promise you that the 50,000 word challenge is not as daunting as it sounds. But maybe you don’t believe me and you’re still intimidated by a million and one things related to NaNo. So let’s break down the experience: how to prepare for it, and how to make the most of the month.

Preparing for NaNoWriMo:

1. You should have started earlier.

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2. Be genuine to your own writing process. If you’re someone who benefits from mapping out the story chapter-by-chapter before you sit down to write, make sure to do this.

2.b. Remember that nothing is set in stone. So if suddenly it seems like Chapter 5 in your outline should be Chapter 8, you can move it.

2.c. Writing for NaNo doesn’t need to be linear – you can start from the middle and work forwards, or write backwards, or episodically and then weave in the threads to connect the chunks of text.

2.d. At the very least: you need to have an understanding of your exposition (the who, where, when) and a basic idea of the plot of your story (or a general direction).

3. Plan a writing schedule. Then, don’t stick to it. Instead – plan how long you expect yourself to write per day. Whether it’s an hour or more, set aside that chunk of time on a daily basis. Set alarms for yourself; decide to always write immediately after dinner. What NaNo is striving to do is get you into the habit of writing on a daily basis – a practice many of us, well, don’t practice. Because we can’t afford it. Because it seems too costly. But that’s why we’re doing NaNoWriMo – to prove to ourselves that it is possible to pursue our passions of writing, no matter what distractions are going on in our lives.

During November:

1. Write. Focus on quantity over quality. Don’t make it perfect.

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2. Ask questions on the forum. Tens of thousands of people from around the world participate in NaNo – I find the forums specifically helpful for cultural questions that I wouldn’t be able to answer on my own or through my own research (like what Seattle was like in the 1990s before I was born, or personal experiences of racism in stuffy Southern suburbs).

3. Answer questions on the forum. You have unique experiences, and someone out there needs to hear them. Be a part of the community and browse for forums where you can help another writer by offering your own insight (like talking about photography terminology, or funny moments you’ve had with your mom’s baking customers).

4. Build relationships. One of my own goals for this upcoming NaNo is to connect with writers whose passions fit into similar genres in the hopes of finding a future reading partner. I’m in need of forming a writing community and getting honest, constructive feedback on my novels to push them out of their current stasis. 

So reach out to people you find on the forums! Post about your NaNo goals on other forms of social media: make hourly Snapchats about your varying stages of lethargy as you stagger towards your daily word limit. Make friends hold you accountable to your writing. Use NaNoWriMo as an opportunity to develop better writing practices.

Whether you “win” NaNoWriMo (by reaching that 50,000 word count) or not, you’ve still made more progress than you otherwise would have made, simply by attempting to write an entire novel in one month.

Read more of Cam's work on Floodmark.