NaNoWriMo Prep Guide
/<Cue big announcer voice> ARE YOU READY TO WRIMOOOOOOO?!?!?!
“Ugh, Dana,” you might say. “It’s only September. Why are we talking about NaNoWriMo prep now?” Because NaNoWriMo, to put it frankly, is intense. Really intense. It can be an amazing way to get the bones of a novel down on paper or onto your screen—no judgement, whichever works for you. But it can also be massively stressful and disheartening. And no one wants the second. Thus, early prep. Also, I’ve started getting the emails from our local coordinators, so it’s definitely the season^.
^Basically, as soon as pumpkin spice is in the air, it’s time to start getting ready.
The Basics, or “NaNo-What-Mo?”
So what is NaNoWriMo anyway? NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is a worldwide, month-long event wherein people all over the planet endeavor to write 50,000 words in thirty days, from November 1st to the 30th.
For those who want the math, that’s about 1,667 words a day. For some, that might just sound like any other month (I’m looking at the fantastic and fantastically prolific Ursula Vernon here). But for others, understandably so, that sounds like your own personal hell dripping with night sweats and performance anxiety. So let’s get one thing straight here right off the bat:
📣📣📣 YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO NANOWRIMO IF YOU DON’T WANT TO. 📣📣📣
📣📣📣 REMEMBER THAT YOU DESERVE KINDNESS, INCLUDING KINDNESS FROM YOURSELF. 📣📣📣
📣📣📣 IF THE PRESSURE OF WRITING 50K WORDS IN A MONTH IS GOING TO NEGATIVELY IMPACT YOUR MENTAL, EMOTIONAL, AND/OR PHYSICAL HEALTH, THEN DO NOT TAKE ON THIS ENTIRELY VOLUNTARY CHALLENGE. 📣📣📣
Okay, now with that out of the way, if you are into the idea and this isn’t just a normal month for you (or even if it is and you’re looking for tips), then let’s talk some prep strategies.
Goal-Setting
A very important thing to know—just what are you going to work on? While I’m a discovery writer myself (more on that later), I do think it’s imperative to at least know what you’re looking to accomplish before you get started. Are you looking to complete a first draft, or at least most of one with 50k words^^? Okay, then do you know what book you’re working on? Again, I think writers need to know what they’re writing when they sit down—who is this book about and what are they (basically, at least) trying to get at? Do you need to know how they get from the beginning to the end? I don’t think so. Do you even need to know the ending? Again, I don’t think so (but it does help a bit to know what you’re aiming at). Your idea can be as simple as a guy gets locked in a tower on his wedding day and has to find a way out and get back to the wedding by sundown. Character + problem = plot. Go!
So get a basic goal fixed in your mind before things kick off. Great! You’re already ahead of the game.
^^If you want to set a different goal from writing 50k fresh, new, shiny words, keep reading. I’ll discuss that further down, near the end.
To Outline or Not to Outline
That sure seems to be the big question among writers. I’ve had certain old, white, male writers, who shall remain nameless, publicly condescend to me that most successful writers outline. Clearly no one told Stephen King or the aforementioned Ursula Vernon that, but I digress. Personally, I don’t tend to outline^^^, but it really helps some people. So if you want to do that thing, then go ahead.
Not sure how to outline? Or do you hate traditional outlining methods? Feel free to have a look at my posts on Crushing Writer’s Block and How to Know When to Quit (spoiler alert: it isn’t really about quitting, but rather overcoming).
^^^I do, however, enjoy a good scene spreadsheet—what’s being accomplished in each scene and who’s doing it? Just so I can keep track of all the threads.
Manage Your Expectations By Measuring Your Abilities
Now that you know what you’re going to write and outlining has been discussed, do you know how long writing 1,667 words takes you?
“OMG, Dana, don’t say time stud—”
Time to do a time study! 🤓
“Uuuugh, she said it…”
I know, I know, time studies are the nerdiest of the nerdy, but time is a finite resource and it’s helpful to know how long stuff takes you so you can appropriately manage your expectations.
So! My recommendation (because this is the way I do it) is to decide on a week or even two (tho I realize even just one can be tricky, but that’s kind of the point here) and set yourself an hour or two each day to sit down in the same fashion as what you’re planning on being your NaNoWriMo writing routine^^^^, set a timer, and start writing. Keep an hourly word count throughout the week and then look at your results. Tadaa! Now you know about how long writing takes you. Did you only get an average of about 500 words an hour? Then you’ll need about 2.5 hours to hit that 1,667 word count mark every day, give or take.
^^^^Pro-tip: don’t make this a super special sterile testing time (e.g. don’t set it up where no kids or pets or partners or anything will bother you unless you’re going to be able to maintain that. All. Month. Long). This is so you get an accurate picture of what your NaNo writing time is gonna look like.
Writing Tips: Lightning Round
Right! The time has come! You’re ready to write. “Brevity is the soul of wit” So said Polonius in Act 2, Scene 2 of Hamlet. Well, not today, pal! Not during NaNo! We’re not shooting for Ernest Hemingway levels of succinitity here. We want words! Padding if you must. So here are some quick ways to do that.
Use All the Senses ~ You POV character walks into a room. Of course you’re gonna tell us what they see, but what else? What does it smell like as they pass through a throng of party-going, high society people? How heavy is the statuette they swipe as they pass? What’s the cold marble feel like against their hand? What do they hear as they approach the far door, their escape? Do they grab a cheeky little hor d’oeuvre on the way out? What’s it taste like? Get those sensory descriptions down! Make us feel the scene with all our senses.
Don’t Feel Like You Have to Write Linearly ~ If there’s a scene that eating away at your brain, then write it down! Who cares if it’s not supposed to happen for another fifty pages? There’s no rule that says you can’t just connect them later—that’s how I’ve written every one of my books.
Paraphrase First, Then Build From There ~ Maybe you only have a vague idea of what happens. Maybe it’s something like your MC is trapped in a jail cell and needs to get out and later she’ll escape on a ship that’s just pushing away from the docks. Okay, so write that down. Then write another step—she’s been starving herself so she can slip through the barred window, but when she finally tries, she gets stuck. Now what? Something slippery is close to hand maybe? Something possibly gross? And keep going just like that. Write down possibilities (this is the journaling thing I mentioned in the aforementioned blog entries on Crushing Writer’s Block and How to Know When to Quit). Now keep going, one possibility at a time.
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Writing While Not at Your Computer Counts Too ~ If you get inspiration while standing in line at the grocery store, then write that stuff down. If your phone has a Notes app or even text messaging, then you’ve got a way to do it. Then just transfer or transcribe those awesome words to your main document later.
Yes, Maybe It’s Crap, But Keep Writing! ~ There have been so many days where the best that can be said of my writing progress is , “Welp, I threw words up on a page today.” And that’s okay! That’s more words than I had before! And usually those vomit-words ended up turning into something really structured. Keep writing even if you know it’s not working. That’s what editing (after NaNo is over) is for.
Other Goals for NaNo
But what if I—now stay with me here—don’t want to write for NaNoWriMo? And by that very click-baity description, I mean editing during NaNo instead. Yeah, that’s fine too. You’d have to do some finagling to earn your shiny certificate at the end of the month if you really want it, but (in my mind anyway) NaNo is a great time to buckle down for any novel-creation tasks. I don’t think word counting works for those other things, tho.
True, National Novel Writing Month is intended for knocking out first drafts and getting the bones of that novel down, but maybe you’re like me and you already have drafts. What needs doing at my desk is editing. Lots and lots of editing. So if you want to, set yourself a different goal.
My Goal ~ During NaNo, it usually takes me about two hours to hit that 1,667 word count goal, so instead I’ll be dedicating two hours every day to editing for a total goal of 60 hours of editing in the month of November. That’s at minimum. If I can do more, great.
And if you want to set your own custom goal, do it! Just be sure, like we discussed in the beginning, that you know what you’re aiming for. I plan on making another one of those scene spreadsheets before NaNo starts so I know the shape of what I’m making—trust, there’s a lot of clean-up that needs to happen.
Want more prep resources for NaNoWriMo? The people behind this great movement have you covered here.
If you have other ideas for NaNo prep, drop them in the comments below 👇. And as always, thanks for reading!
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