There have been many, many people who want to write a novel. Some manage it. Others struggle to get over the line. While more have used things like Novel November (formerly National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo) to get there. In this blog, I’m going to share my tips of how I’ve used NaNoWriMo myself to get a shape to a novel in just a month.
What is Novel November?
For quite a few years, November has been known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). There was a company that was called NaNoWriMo that had a platform that people could update their progress on. It was pretty cool. Until they made a few missteps. Now writers try and make it on their own under the renamed Novel November.
Tip 1: Have A Fairly Solid Plan
If you don’t have a plan, you’re likely gonna struggle. For my attempts I knew what genre I was writing. The idea of whose story I was writing was fairly solid. And I knew where I wanted to go. I had a rough roadmap of points I wanted to hit enroute. When I had that as a plan, I was less likely to meander off track.
People will no doubt scream it kills creativity. We’re not all Stephen King. Having a sense of where you’re going means it’s easier to just write it.
Tip 2: Hide Temptations
What people may not have realised at the time when I was writing my novel, I was writing by hand. Yes, by hand. This was a little cheat I was using to stop me going back and editing. If I was able to, I’d go back and edit bits of my story I wasn’t happy with. It scuppered me before I’d even started.
This way, I forced myself to keep writing. I couldn’t go back and cross things out and write over the top. I needed to keep writing to the end. Then either while I was typing it up or once it was typed up, I edited it.
Tip 3: Look After Yourself
What I also realised writing a novel this way was that it was exhausting. This was a proper marathon. The target was writing essentially about 1,644 words or more a day. For me it was about two chapters a day that took me over the 2,000 threshold each day. I squirreled it in anywhere I could when I had some breathing space. It was covid time in my first go, so no commuting.
Doing it this way, I realised that I needed to look after myself while I was doing it. As fun as it was to write, I needed to learn self-care. Once November was done, I needed to recharge. I read a lot of books. I chilled out more in my free time.
Tip 4: Enjoy the buzz
NaNoWriMo was a great experience for me. I felt that buzz of seeing my progress getting closer to that fifty thousand word target. Years later, I still am in awe of myself doing it for the first time in 2020. In total I tried it myself three times, achieving it two out of three. I had a plan and knew what I was going to write about. I was green about the gills, as the saying goes for how inexperienced I was.
Tip 5: Give Your Novel Space
Taking time away from writing your novel allows you to be less attached. The first draft is likely to be awful. A lot of my first drafts are awful. Having space away means you’re less likely to be insistent it stays as it is. Any work we write will need editing of some kind.
I hope this little blog has helped with some idea on how to get through writing a novel in a month. I’ve written some previous blogs on areas like strong story ideas, implementing hooks, that will definitely help clarify things.
So, happy writing!