National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) happens every November, and runs from the 1st to the 30th. The goal of the program is to write a body of fictional work of or over 50,000 words within the thirty days. There are hundreds of blog posts that try and strategically teach you how to “win” NaNoWriMo (because reaching that 50,000 word mark comes with some fantastic prizes). But I’m going to tell you the three things that enable you to win, regardless of what type of project you pursue.
When writing a NaNoWriMo novel, you need to have three things: an idea, an outline, and motivation. Friends help too, but if you’re not motivated to finish the project, you won’t win.
An Idea:
Having an idea of what you want to write about BEFORE NaNoWriMo hits on November 1st is crucial. You don’t want to start thinking about the month-long writing bootcamp the day of. You’ve got to have an idea of what you’re focusing on beforehand so you know where to go with it as the month goes on.
Questions like: who are your characters? Where do they live? What do they do? are some starters. But basically you should have a general rundown of your plot prepared (at least mentally) before ever embarking on NaNoWriMo. Now, there are still three days left until the start. So you’ve got time if you haven’t done this yet. But I’d get on it sooner rather than later.
An Outline:
Outlines are crucial, and I stress them particularly for all of you NaNoWriMo writers. Because you’re working on a deadline. That’s my only reason. Normally I would respect your choices to plot or pants (fly by the seat of your pants) your novel. But this is NaNoWriMo we’re talking about. You’ve got 30 days to write 50,000 words. Your daily word count goal is a little over 2,000. And if you don’t know where your story’s going you’re probably not going to get your daily word count goals.
Having an outline, even if it’s just for general plot points, allows you a bit of a roadmap so you can keep your story straight. I ouline by chapters and generally think of my outlines as the scene selection menu that you’d find on a DVD. Each line gives a general summary of what happens in the chapter I’m about to write. All elements of character and world development happen naturally as I write out the basic sequence of events.
Staying Motivated:
Hopefully by both having an idea and crafting an outline in preparation for NaNoWriMo, you’ve managed to get at least a little more excited about your project. This excitement is something that needs to fuel you for a full month. So you’d better be super pumped about the project you’re going to work on. It’s the only way you’ll win.
And figuring out how to stay motivated is the hardest part of planning and winning NaNoWriMo. We’ll talk about staying motivated later in the month, when it’s typical to hit your writer’s slump and want to give up on everyt
hing and never look at your draft again. So more on that later. But this is the start of getting excited for the coming month of writing.
Tweetables:
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@hannahhuntwrite gives you three things to help prep you for #NaNoWriMo14 and #win later on #WritingWednesday
Want to learn how to start off on the write foot for NaNoWriMo14? @hannahhuntwrite has some #tips #WritingWednesday
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