NaNoWriMo 2019

Mr E

Anyone attempting National Novel Writing Month this year? I'm tempted. I feel like a nice chunky project to throw myself into.

It's only 6 weeks away now, so time to start planning a story and working on an outline.

1600 words a day for a month is a stiff challenge...

echo beach

It is a tough challenge but it’s also a great way to get a lot of words down in a short time.
I’m hoping to do it again with a more modest target of 30,000 words which would see me close to a first draft. Even if I only hit 10,000 it will be a lot more than I would do otherwise.

pixelburp

2019 has been a bit of a poor year for me, writing wise. Started off well and wiritng with the smartphone was a bump to productivity, but has tapered off. Probably didn't help that my idea was torn up halfway through haha. Novelember might be a good kick in the bum to get back into things.

LaFuton

feel so bastard guilty for not writing properly in so long might just try enter... any tips for someone coming in from the cold?

tbahh

How are people getting on with this?
After signing up to NaNoWriMo eight years ago, I've finally gotten around to doing it for the first time. It's so far been a fun but challenging experience; finding the motivation to start writing is tough but when I'm in the process of doing, it flows quite well. I am excited for November to come to an end though, so I can drop the word count to somewhere around a thousand words a day.

LaFuton wrote: »

feel so bastard guilty for not writing properly in so long might just try enter... any tips for someone coming in from the cold?

I know what you mean about the guilt. The best tip I've received is simply to write. More than likely what you write - I am including myself here - is below par but getting any words onto a page is progress. Anyway, the majority of great writing is in the edit. The following Hemingway quote comes to mind: 'The only kind of writing is re-writing' but if you're staring at a blank page, then nothing is going to happen.

Other advice I can give relates to 1) where you can do it, 2) how to approach the word count, and 3) mini-editing as you go along.
1) I know some authors (I think, Stephen King?) say to write in the same place but that's kind of boring for me so I like to shake it up between hanging out in posh hotels to little cafés as well as at my own desk. Each to their own!
2) I also find it easier to break up the word count, i.e., do a couple of hundred words in the morning and then at night. For this challenge, there are 1667 words daily, which can be very daunting. I think the most I've gone over this word count is like 500 words. I didn't want to go too much further for fear of burnout the following day, but as the month draws to a close, I'm going to try and up the ante for the finale.
3) When I want to continue on with my draft, I look back on the previous day's work and mini-edit it, such as adding in new thoughts, expanding some ideas, images, and this can be a good way to get back into your story while also hitting that word count. Sometimes these mini-edits actually come out to like 1000 words so then I only have a couple hundred more to write.
Best of luck to those doing it, and remember you can do it anytime if you haven’t picked up your pen or paper yet – I am typing mine, though.

pixelburp

Haven't written for a year myself, just find it very hard to do. And the "just write" method only goes so far when you already spend your working days at a computer - the last thing I want to do with my evenings is do more typing, albeit in pursuit of a hobby. I did find that "just writing" on my smartphone to work oddly enough, it felt distant enough from the laptop (and present enough to allow writing anywhere) that I got a fair bit done. Just ran out of ideas / steam, and hit my usual self-hating period of "it's all crap!"

km85264

pixelburp wrote: »

Haven't written for a year myself, just find it very hard to do. And the "just write" method only goes so far when you already spend your working days at a computer - the last thing I want to do with my evenings is do more typing, albeit in pursuit of a hobby. I did find that "just writing" on my smartphone to work oddly enough, it felt distant enough from the laptop (and present enough to allow writing anywhere) that I got a fair bit done. Just ran out of ideas / steam, and hit my usual self-hating period of "it's all crap!"

Don’t be discouraged. I’ve never done Nanowrimo, but I’ve chatted to a good few folks that have. There are some that really stand by it, that really enjoy it, albeit most of them chase targets well short of the 50k. I’m not sure if many of them keep their writing habit going after November, but I guess if you get one good month then it’s worth it.
However, it really doesn’t suit a lot of people. It’s damn hard putting in so much effort, and you do fire out any old crap, you simply don’t have time for quality.
Be aware of something I found out some years ago: there are two voices in your head. One will tell you that you’re crap, the other will tell you what you are writing is crap. You need to ignore the first voice, but listen to the second voice. This is your inner reader that knows what good fiction sounds like. If you read back and you don’t like what you’re reading, then it needs more work. Every writer needs to edit.
The best thing to do is write a little bit every day. Even five minutes, but do it every day. Let it become a habit in your life.
Kieran