NaNoWriMo Prep 2014!

There hasn't been a year (since I've been an active writer) that I haven't done NaNoWriMo. I have even dabbled in Camp NaNo in the past. November is fast approaching and I thought I might have some tips and such for potential NaNo novelists.

   I'll preface this by saying everyones writing style and technique is different. NaNo is great for me because I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants writer. I always have been. I go into writing with a simple this is what I'm writing, this is how it starts, this is how it ends idea. Of course going in that way theres lots of plot holes, inconsistencies, and the like. I'm just not the kind of person that can do, and follow outlines. That being said, getting the first draft done and written is the goal.


      Tip # 1; Don't forget this is not a month for you to write a best-selling novel. It is a month for you to get your idea down. Write the first draft. You might hate it, you might like it, but you can definitely feel proud of yourself when your done.

    Tip #2 ; Outlines. As stated above, I'm not a big fan of outlines,they don't work for me. But they work for lots of people! Here is a very basic plot outline that's great just to get you thinking about the plot, which is the most important part of the story. Here is a more detailed plot outline, which I will admit I have never used and frightens me.

   Tip #3 ; Friends. Almost everyone hits a rut around the middle of the second week. It's tough to break. The way I've always done it is Word Wars. Word Wars are when you and a fellow NaNo novelists or group of NaNo novelists set a period of time and you all write at once, the goal being to get the highest word count in that frame of time. It might seem silly, but it really honestly helps. I've only ever known one other person who did NaNo, so it was always myself and her. Talk to people on the NaNo site! You're more than welcome to add me on the NaNo website, link here, (or click the linky on the right side) and I'd love to Word War with you and talk about writing!

   Tip #4 ; DO NOT EDIT. Some people are perfectly fine not editing as they write, I'm not one of them. When I say DO NOT EDIT, I don't mean spelling and grammar, by all means fix spelling and grammar. But you need to avoid trying to fix plot holes, or change scenes. It will take you off of your goal which is write the 50k (or more) words. Unless of course (like me) you are using NaNo to write a second draft, in which case you will be doing quite a lot of editing.



   Tip #5 ; Breaks. It is easy to push yourself. You have to push yourself at least a little bit to accomplish NaNo, but if you push yourself too hard, your novel could suffer. Everyone wants to hit their goal, but it's important that you come first. Take a break, if the daily word count is a lot, split it up, if you're becoming irritated by your own novelings, grab a snack and catch up on some (or a lot) of TV. I can't stress enough how getting stressed about NaNo is not good. It's supposed to be something fun overall, that you can feel proud of at the end of the month. So push yourself, but treat yourself just as well.


  Good luck to all you NaNo novelists, I hope to hear from some of you, and I hope you all surpass your goals!