This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
You’ve probably heard of National
Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and you may already be thinking about
taking part. Here’s why you should give it a go…
The goal in NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words of fiction during the month of November. That translates as 1667 words per day. Even if you try and fail, you're likely to get more writing done during the month than you would've done otherwise.
It’s freeing. If you’ve never written a fast first draft before – ignoring your inner editor and concentrating solely on the goal of making your word count every day – then you’re in for a treat. And if you find it doesn’t suit you, then you’ve discovered something valuable about your own writing process. Either way, you win!
It helps with procrastination. There's nothing like a deadline to help us focus and bloomin' well Get On With It.
Misery loves company. No, hang on, that sounds a bit negative… While attempting NaNoWriMo, you are secure in the knowledge that around the world thousands of other writers are doing the same thing.
If that thought isn't enough, then you can hang out in the forums on the official website, join a local NaNoWriMo group and even meet up with fellow participants for writing sessions and the like.
You can form your own group on the website, too, and compare progress and swap ideas with your friends.
There is no failure. You should give yourself a pat on the back just for trying, plus:
It's a fun challenge. It might work brilliantly for you and you'll follow in the footsteps of Lani Diane Rich, Sara Gruen and Keris Stainton who all went on to publish books they wrote during NaNoWriMo.
It might not. You might (like me) find that 30,000 words in a month is your limit or that the 'messy first draft' method is not your bag. In my book, anything that gets you to either try new methods or get words onto the page is a success.
Good luck and happy writing!