You guys, I’m so excited because for the first time ever I’m participating in NanoWrimo! In case you don’t know, November is National Novel Writing Month and NanoWrimo is a platform where writers come together and set a goal to complete their novel in one month (or at least the first draft). Because this is my first year, I did a lot of research on how to prepare for this event and the following are my findings.
October is the prep time:
Okay, so come November the only thing you should be doing is putting your story down on paper. Your time for outlining, character building, world building, and creating pre-stories is in October. So there’s where I started…
Backstory
So, I got this idea for a young adult fantasy novel and I couldn’t wait to get started. Prior to knowing I was going to participate in NanoWrimo, I started writing the first chapter of my new novel with much enthusiasm. However, I soon learned that I couldn’t write this novel the same way I’d done my other novels. As stated in my previous post How to Outline Using Index Cards, I’m usually a pantsers (someone who doesn’t outline) but I’d never written a novel quite like this one, so once I started writing I had a million questions that kept popping up—interrupting my flow. Immediately I stopped writing the first chapter and headed straight into the back story of each of my characters, their archetypes, their personalities, and began world building.
Organization time
In order to stay organized I bought a binder so that all my information was concise and in one space. This week’s YouTube video is precisely me doing that, so if you want to check out how I put my binder together, swing by.
Calendar
I’m a full believer that if you show up for your novel, your novel will show up for you. However, in terms of setting time each day to write, I’m guilty to say I don’t always show up. I sometimes go weeks without writing my novel (usually due to my mood and less to do with time). With that said, I still wanted to see exactly what 50,000 words in 30 days looked like. So, if I want to write 50K words, this means I need to write roughly 1,666 words each day. Realistically speaking, I won’t have 30 days because it is likely I won’t be writing on Thanksgiving. Take away 1 day, now I have 29 days, now we’re up to 1,724. Okay, now I have a ballpark idea of what it will take to get this done. So, if I aim for 2,000 each day, then I will most likely accomplish my goal. See, planning is everything!
Mood
Setting the write mood when writing is always important, but I felt it was definitely a running theme while prepping for NanoWrimo. For this reason, in last week’s post My Writing Must-Heves This Fall, I took you along while I shoppped for my favorite fall items, which go hand-in-hand with prepping for NanoWrimo. Things like, my favorite mug, comfortable clothes, blankets and music are among some of my must-haves when I sit down to write.
Okay you guys, just one more tip. I wasn't always a planner, and sometimes I still find it hard to stick to a schedule, but when I do, I get so much accomplished. Often times, we resist the very things that we need. I have always been someone that thrived spontaneity and hated the rules that came with schedules--of all kinds. But I've learned that schedules don't restrict me in any way, in fact, they free me to have more guilt-free-time to do everything I want to do without feeling like there's never enough time.
I hope you found these tips helpful and if you like the content, leave me a comment and lets continue connecting!
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Till Next Time, Stay Safe!