I first learned about National Novel Writing Month
(NaNoWriMo) back in 2006 when I had an English teacher who shared the project
with us in class one November. I remember thinking the idea was interesting,
but I never had the motivation or wherewithal to actually do it.
Two years ago I was sitting in my tiny, cold apartment on
the brink of my first ever Winter with a capital “W”, in a town where I had
barely any friends and realized that I have a lot of time to dedicate to
something like this. I’d been thinking of a book that I would like to write for
a month or so leading up to the November first start date, and decided that
NaNoWriMo would be the perfect time to stretch out my writing fingers.
So I did it. And I completed it. Easily.
It was a great feeling of accomplishment: 50,000 words in 30
days, averaging 1,667 words a day to hit that 50,000 word mark. I ended the
month having written 50,586 words. When I did NaNoWriMo again in 2013 I
ended the month at 50,502..
This year I am doing it again. I had prepared myself a lot
and had great ideas for books I wanted to write the last two years, but found
myself bogged down in the intensely detailed stories I was trying to write.
With the strict writing schedule required from NaNoWriMo it didn’t leave me
much space to work out plot issues when they popped up, or build on my world if
I went to an area I hadn’t yet planned.
With my two years of experience I think I have a handle on
how to go about NaNoWriMo, especially if you find yourself not having too much
time to dedicate due to work and/or your personal life. Granted, the event has
been going on for fifteen years now so I am by no means an expert, these are
just things for that work for me as a more casual writer. I know people who hit
50,000 words in the first week and end the month having written hundreds of
thousands of words!
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| 2012 word count per day |
1. Write in Different Places
I cannot be productive in my apartment. It’s impossible. My
apartment is a place where I relax. I don’t do any lesson planning there and I
don’t write there. If I am at home I am curled up in my chair under a blanket watching
some YouTube video, catching up on American television, or watching a random
documentary on Netflix. My mind goes into shutdown mode at home.
There have been times when I have written at home, and if I
actually had a desk to sit at and write rather than an ottoman that my laptop
sits on I may be more inclined to write there. But, alas, I do not have the
space for a desk in my tiny Japanese apartment so I do not have one.
Regardless, I think that different locations can break the
slog of always sitting down to write. Take your laptop to a Starbucks and enjoy
their free wifi and outlets (maybe one of the only places in Japan that has
both of these). If your laptop has the battery life, take it anywhere and just
write. Maybe even see if you can just go visit a friends and share what you’re
doing with them. I write at school in my free time and I write in cafes.
2. Have a List of Names
There is nothing worse than being in the groove of writing
only to introduce a new character (or location) and just stop because you can’t
think of a name for them. I have ruined many writing sessions because I have to
stop and search for a name for my character.
In the week leading up to NaNoWriMo I opened up
BehindTheName.com and just refreshed their Random Name Generator. I like theirs
because you can select different countries or even historical periods to get
your names from. If I get bored of refreshing (which I did) I then open up a
random country and jut write names I like. In my fifteen minutes of searching I
ended up with a list of about 30 names that I pull from when I introduce a new
character.
Also, always remember that you can change a name if you don’t
like it, removing the stress of finding the Perfect Name makes it a lot easier
to just choose one and go back to writing. Microsoft Word has that lovely “change
all” feature where you can search for a word in your document and substitute it
out with another, so it is very easy to go back through and change a character’s
name, even after you’ve written upwards of 50 pages!
3. Don’t Force Yourself to Write Everyday
While writing every day would be ideal, I think for most
people it is impossible to sit down and write anything of merit just because
you have to. When I give myself the time to actually get in the mindset and
just write, I can easily knock out the required 1,667 words a day in about 45
minutes to an hour. If I sit in a café for three or four hours on a Saturday
afternoon, I can write 4,000 easily. And that includes random texting breaks
and time spent on Facebook just clearing my mind after a chapter finishes.
Last week I was extremely busy, I had a lot of classes to
plan, so free time at work was minimal until later in the week, then I had
three days of my part-time job (rather than two) in the evening. I was
exhausted. But I knew that this week at school I would have so much free time due to exams that I
didn’t worry about not being able to write much.
Currently, I am very far behind, but I know that I can
easily write 2,000 to 3,000 words a day (if not more) just at work, so I can
easily make up the lost time. Not constantly worrying about writing all the
time makes it easier. My first year I was able to write daily thanks to my work
schedule being easy, but last year was much different, and I had stretches
where I wouldn’t write for days yet I still finished.
I think giving yourself three or four days in the week to
write 3,000 to 4,000 words is perfectly acceptable and how I prefer to do
NaNoWriMo. Plus during the down days I can focus on what I want to write next
in my story.
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| 2014 graph - Clear break in writing |
4. Have a List of Things to Write
Because I take days off to think about where I want my story
to go, I can create a list of different scenes or events I would like to write
about. I was walking through a very gray, drizzly, cold November day last week
and decided that I would like to write about one of my characters reminiscing
about similar times related to that weather in his past whilst walking down a
road. So I wrote it down on my List To Write and when I was next free I wrote
about it.
Sometimes a certain scene can just not what you’re in the
mood to write, so I think it’s a good idea to skip it and write something new.
That change of pace will refresh your mind and you can come back to the skipped
scene easily. The great thing about early drafts is that you’re going to change
things anyway.
Things that I usually have on my list include: how two
different characters met; a history explaining the certain aspect of a
character; history about the setting itself; minor events that happen in the
story that maybe don’t play a role overall but I feel like writing because
something inspired me like a song or real-life event. Sometimes when I am just
sitting on the bus or subway a scene will pop into my head and I write it down.
Even if it doesn’t fully work for the story, just writing something with my
characters is good for the development of those characters’ voices and
personalities.
5. Just Write
Sometimes we hit a block and we just can’t think of where to
take our story next. This happens to me all of the time. I actually think
forcing yourself to write something can help break through that wall. Put on
some moody music (high energy, intense, sad, whatever) and just write using
those characters. Write something that is nonsense. Have two characters meet
for dinner and discuss something. While it may not be useful to your story and
you may not even use it in your book at all, the practice will help you develop
the characters more and maybe their conversation will lead you to something
that you didn’t think of for the story itself.
To me, writing is a very organic process. I’ve written
fantasy stories and I spend quite a bit of time in the prep of the world
itself. Designing governments and magic systems and cultural habits. But the
stories themselves I like to allow to happen more naturally. I have a basic
design of where I want to go, things I want to happen, but I feel the story is
more enjoyable to write when I have a loose goal at the end like “I want to
write a story about self-discovery in not needing anyone to love you” and then
have the story morph around that.
I think one of the best things I heard from a writer was
when I read something by John Green years ago. He said how 90% of his first
drafts aren’t even in the books. When you break away from that mindset of
perfection and following a strict outline you give yourself the freedom to let
the story just happen. Relax the mind and just write. It is much easier than
you think!
As a note, this blog post was just over 1,700 words! So 1,667 isn't so bad!
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