How To NaNoWriMo Without Losing Your Ever Loving Mind

It’s NaNoWriMo, ya’ll! And you know what that means!

Oh, you don’t know what that means? Stated simply, it’s time to get your writing on! NaNoWriMo is, has always been, and (by all accounts and predictions) always will be National Novel Writing Month. Do you see the acronym hidden inside? Can you pluck it with your pointy fingers and plop it down in front of you? Can you appreciate the NaNoWriMo for the great potential and power it holds within? If you’ve answered “Yes!” to all these questions and then posed a few more of your own, then Mister (or Miss or Missus or whoever you are), I like the cut of your jib. Hook your pen up to my wagon and let’s push off. There’s golden plot lines in them thar hills and we’re just the couple of pokes to dig ‘em out.

Got your pickaxe?

My Royally Esteemed/Terribly Flawed NaNoWriMo History

How can you write a novel in a month? Is it even possible? I’ve heard many success stories of people who have done it. Every November, this take-it-as-you-will creative wonder comes around and begs writers around the globe to forget all their misgivings and just have at it.

Me? I’ve attempted my hand at NaNoWriMo at least three times in the past. Once, I got about a third of the way through the first draft of a new novel before realizing I had absolutely no plan and no prospects. So that was that. The second time, I think the same thing happened, although probably sooner in the month. No preparation equals no story. With each subsequent November since, I’ve entertained the notion of “doing it up right this time.” But I never have. Until now.

No really. Now.

Because what else have I got going on this month besides parenting some kids and reading/analyzing Shakespeare’s greatest/longest work. Pssst! It’s Hamlet! Oh, those are two insurmountable tasks to surmount. So what the heck, let’s throw this third turd on the Barbie!

I don’t think that’s the correct phrase.

Quiet, Ken.

How difficult could 50,000 words be to come by, really? That’s always been my goal in NaNoWriMos of Future Past, so why change it? And sure, I intend for my current work-in-progress to be longer, around 80k maybe, but I’ve already got a chunka chunka chapters in the bank. Not to mention (mention it!) a halfway decent outline. So if all goes well and I meet an average daily goal of 1,667 words per day (OMG), I should be close to done with a first draft by end of month.

And if I haven’t said it enough already:

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

What time is it? Where’s my word count at? I’d better get writing.

NaNoWriMo With A Friend

Writing is indeed a solitary creative endeavor. But it doesn’t have to be. When you NaNoWriMo with a friend, your chances of success double. That’s just good science. If you’re interested, you can go to NaNoWriMo’s website to meet a bunch of like-minded strangers and enforce your artistry upon them; alternatively, you can catch a buddy and say, “Hey, let’s do this thing.”

That’s what I did. I bugged my friend Ron Dean til he finally gave in and said, “Fine, I’ll be your huckleberry.”

Ron’s goal is probably more attainable than my sure to disappoint 50K gold standard. If you’re new to NaNoWriMo, have a listen to what Ron says. He’s way more sensible than I. Than me? Than myself? Meh, I’ll fix it in editing. But not this month! No time for edits, November! Just. Keep. Writing.

Anyway, here’s Ron…

How To NaNoWriMo:

The Ron Dean Way

I started my novel way back in summer 2018. As of today, I’m maybe a quarter of the way through a working draft. Though I’ve logged a ton of hours crafting character backstories, building a mythology, making maps, ect.; the real work, getting words on the screen, has dragged. It doesn’t help that two of my fantasy-writer heroes, Patrick Rothfuss and George R. R. Martin, are authors who let their work marinate for years before publication. They are full-time writers who write slowly, why shouldn’t I? I’m a full-time teacher, a father of two, and an amature writer; nights when I write 500 to 1,000 words are uncommon triumphs of will and post-dinner coffee. But all excuses aside, I know I need to write more to write better. Otherwise, like so many of my half-written short stories and blogs, my novel will die before it is born. Enter NaNoWriMo 2019.

I first learned of NaNoWriMo last year, and at the time I was already knee-deep in my nascent story and writing like mad. I put down well over 30,000 words before November with no real slowdown in sight, so NaNoWriMo was the motivation I didn’t need. I was already running the race, blasting off into space, but at my own pace; which, incidentally, wasn’t anywhere near that required of authors during NaNoWriMo. Finish a novel in a month? Unrealistic. The idea seemed like a gimmick to get people motivated, so I paid it little heed. But here I am, over a year later, and my word count is stuck in slack tide. Can NaNoWriMo help?

Fun fact: You can’t spell NaNoWriMo without MOON, so the answer to the nail-biting last question in the previous paragraph is YES! NaNoWriMo 2019 can get my word count tide moving onwards and upwards (but not too high: this analogy is not particularly appropriate considering our current climate-change conditions). I will not force myself to write at the rate necessary to complete a novel in thirty days, because I would only be setting myself up to fail. I’m not an experienced enough writer to pull that off, and if I could, I know the product would not be to my standards. But I found that there is value in writing every night, or as near as possible, because my best stuff seems to come out when I’m writing in volume.

And so, my challenge is set: I will write every night in November, even if I can only squeeze out a couple hundred words. I will not try to hit an arbitrary word count by November’s conclusion or anything of that sort, and on the nights my main story wants to take a break from being written, I’ll be sure to write a character backstory scene, expand my mythology, or invent something which adds to the tale and brings me joy. If I’m motivated and writing, I expect the results to be good. After all, words on the screen are better than words unseen.