If you're new to writing and stumbled onto my blog, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, where the goal is to write a "novel" or part of a novel of 50,000 words in the month of November.
It's a huge amount of fun, if you can handle the pressure, and the nice thing about it is that you're part of a larger NaNo community during this time. In fact, I met one of my best friends because of a NaNo event in my area. So yeah, it's a great way to get involved. Just click on the link up top for more information.
Anyway, since NaNoWriMo can be a bit overwhelming, especially for first-timers, I thought I'd spend the rest of October and November to give a bit of advice from my eight years of NaNo experience.
On Mondays, I'll do a series of blog posts (although the first post in this series will be on Wednesday to fit everything in, and I might use more Wednesdays if I need to). On Fridays, I'll be updating on my YouTube Channel. But don't worry, I'll be posting the video and my script on my blogs as well.
If you are joining and you want to buddy up with me, click here.
Okay, so before I start, I just want to clarify something about my approach. I'm a full-blown character-driven pantser, so I don't do much in the way of planning before I start a rough draft. That said, these posts will be useful to plot-driven plotters (which would be my polar opposites) as well. All you have to do is take my plot-related posts as reminders to include later if you're a pantser, and as some things to keep in mind if you plan if you're a plotter. And depending on whether you're a plot-driven or character-driven writer, you can scramble the order of my suggestions to fit you. All writing methods are valid, as long as your method helps you create a strong foundation to your story.
And the first few posts I'll be writing will be about the things you need to build that foundation. Then as we go into NaNo itself, I'll be changing to focus more on NaNo survival. (Because hey, no one said NaNo is easy.)
For ease of use, I'll be using this post as a table of contents for you to refer to.
Table of Contents:
Who's going to join NaNoWriMo? What are you doing to prepare?
Hi Misha - I'm sure these posts will be so important to Nanoers ... not me, but I'll enjoy the read throughs ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by!
DeleteAnd I can't imagine tackling it without a plan. Just amazing.
ReplyDeleteHehehe I do because I found plans ruin the process for me. But I do approach the whole process differently, which I guess makes the thought of going without a plan less intimidating. :-)
DeleteI have never done NaNo because I work full-time. But I'll be curious to see your tips. Maybe they could help me be more productive.
ReplyDeleteWho knows? Maybe I've thought of something you haven't yet. :-)
DeleteI tried NaNoWriMo years ago and failed miserably at it, haha. Can't participate anymore, since I no longer write novels, but I'm still looking forward to your posts on this topic. I feel like they'll be helpful for deadlines other than NaNo!
ReplyDeleteI do think some of it will be useful to any creative. (At least I hope it will be.)
Delete