Last week I told you about NaNoWriMo. I also said something about how it’s the writerly equivalent of running a marathon – and just like running a marathon, the key to success is in preparation.
Sure, you mightn’t be pulling on your trainers each day (although daily exercise is pretty important for writers – the subject of a whole other post) with November nearly here, it’s time to get started (if you haven’t already) on your Nanowrimo training plan:
- Decide how you will be writing your novel.
I use the Scrivener app. I love how it sets session targets. I especially love the corkboard – so much that I might just manage a separate post on it. It is, however, a paid app and if you’re just starting out or taking the idea of long-form writing for a spin you might not want to invest in that just yet. (You can trial it for free – the link is here.) As at the time of writing, a standard licence for Mac/Windows laptops is $77AUD and for ipads/phones is $19.95 AUD.
If you’re writing your nanowrimo novel in word or freehand, simply enter your word count daily into the nano website. You can stay on track, and the graph is cool. I told you about the graph, didn’t I?
2. Have a back up strategy…and use it
Be paranoid. I back up to dropbox and weekly to a hard drive – just to be sure.
3. Carry a notebook and pen with you at all times. Jot down scene ideas, dialogue or character backstories while you’re on the bus or stopped for a coffee. Even if you are writing into a laptop, this could give you a head start on your next writing session or help you solve a plot point that stopped you in your tracks during your last stint with the keyboard.
4. Have coffee – or wine – on hand.
The quote “write drunk edit sober” was attributed to Ernest Hemingway who apparently didn’t say any such thing, but it makes for a good story. I have to admit that wine (in moderation of course) does help the creativity flow a tad – although be prepared to edit a lot afterwards (not in November…see tip no. 14).
Seriously though, I’m a tea drinker and during November I drink a lot more of the stuff than at any other time of the year. The ritual of stopping to make it actually helps.
5. Set your targets
Dig your calendar out from wherever it’s languishing and mark in your writing days for November. Decide how many days a week can you write? (Hint: be realistic)
5 days?
7 days?
This will determine your nanowrimo daily target.
If you intend writing 7 days a week, you’ll be heading for a target of 1667 words a day.
I go to bed an hour earlier and write there. It works for me – just don’t tell my chiropractor. Quite often I dream what happens next.
I also tend to grab moments wherever I can – in the hairdressers, during lunch hours. Wherever, whenever. The year my daughter did the HSC I got heaps of words written waiting outside maths tutorials. I felt like I’d been called to the headmaster’s office.
While you have your calendar out, mark in all your commitments – places that you know you have to be. Be honest, and be realistic.
Maybe you can manage a half an hour in the morning before the kids get up and all hell breaks loose, or an hour at night after they go to bed. You might choose to fit it in on a weekend, or get together with friends for a marathon writing session.
However you schedule it, keep to it.
6. Schedule in your down-time
You have to. Getting out for a walk, or a coffee or whatever will help keep the creative juices flowing – and ensure you stay sane. If you want to stay inspired while you’re walking, listen to your favourite podcasts.
7. Expect life to get in the way – it will.
There will be some days where you can sit down uninterrupted at the keyboard and others where you’re clawing five minutes here, there or anywhere. Life doesn’t stop just because you’re doing this. Houses will still need cleaning, clothes will still need washing, gardens will still need weeding, and arguments will still need mediating.
In the same vein, there is no perfect year to do nano – it’s what you make of it.
8. If you really want to do it, you will make time.
I recall finishing my first nano experience in 2009 in the airport at Perth.
As well as the normal demands of home and my full-time job, the relocation project I was working on for Perth (and managing largely from Sydney) had blown wide open.
2010 was much the same, although this time the relocation was in Hong Kong and the final chapter was finished at that airport.
On both occasions, I carried my notebook with me and scribbled during coffee and lunch breaks. Back in my hotel room each night I’d transpose my scribbles into real words and somehow the word total grew. Having so much on added to the sense of achievement.
In 2015 I spent most of November road-tripping around England, and in 2016 I was climbing a mountain in New Zealand – or, rather, walking Milford Track, which is much the same thing.
Weirdly, the years when I’ve smashed nanowrimo have been the years that I’ve been busiest. Conversely, the years where I’ve struggled with word count have been the years when the day job and other commitments have been lighter. Go figure.
9. Run your own race
I tend to go hard in the first week of the challenge and, despite the session targets I set myself, usually end that first week well ahead of schedule.
This is good because I hit my personal wall at about the 25,000-word mark – and things slow from there. It allows me some contingency – which leads me to…
10. The middle two weeks are hard.
Most stories are abandoned somewhere between 15,000 and 25,000 words. The story is often in the saggy doldrums, enthusiasm is waning, and the end is still a long way off.
I find that the efforts of the first week get me through the middle two.
11. What if my story gets stuck?
When I get really stuck, I jump scenes – sometimes writing the end first, other times writing another scene that has jumped into my head. It works for me. Nowhere does it say that you need to write in a specified order.
Next week I’ll pop up some tips for moving forward when the words seem stuck.
12. What if I don’t know if my idea has legs?
That’s what makes nanowrimo so great – it allows you to explore an idea and determine whether there really is a 75-100k novel in it.
My effort in 2009 was 50,000 words that will never see the light of day (heaven forbid) but needed to come out of my head. Once those words were out, other ideas started to flood in, plus I knew that I could do it. I now have a board full of potential stories – most of which consists of a single line “what if…” or a character name or occupation.
If you want to write something, but have something else taking up too much real estate in your head, I’d urge you to use this year’s Nanowrimo for precisely that purpose.
13. Plotter or Pantser?
If you like to know where you’re going to go with the story and how you’re going to get there, you’re probably a plotter.
If you’re starting with the germ of an idea, maybe a character or two, and just seeing where it leads you, you’re a pantser.
Perhaps you’re a combination of the two? I’m definitely a pantser.
Nanowrimo is a great time to play with something different. If you’re a plotter, why not give yourself the freedom to see what happens? If you’re a pantser, why not experiment with a different technique?
14. Don’t edit
The point of nanowrino is to get the words out, so resist the urge to edit as you go. There’s plenty of time for editing afterwards.
15. What if I don’t make the 50,000 words?
So what? You’ll still have more words than you started with.
And finally…
Nanowrimo is meant to be fun, so try not to be too hard on yourself, or do the analysis paralysis thing. Just write.
There’s no judgment, or right or wrong. There are just words – and hopefully, more of them by November 30 than there was at November 1.