Usually at this time of the week, I’d be writing an update on my latest system. I’m going to hold off on publishing those check-ins for about a month because I’m participating in National Novel Writing Month! I’m going to be documenting my experience here on the blog, starting with the all-important NaNoWriMo prep.
Now, anybody reading this has an official role in this month. I’m trying out a method of accountability that I’ve heard called, “Shout It From The Rooftops”. Basically, I’m telling as many people as humanly possible that I’m doing this so that I feel social pressure to follow through. So you are now officially on the hook to ask me about my progress as often as possible.
If you want to help me (and believe me – I WANT YOU TO HELP ME), please pick a day between November 1 and 30. Set a reminder to reach out to me and ask me how it’s going. Comment on the blog, hunt me down on Instagram, call me, beep me, come at me! Just a message that says, “Hey, I’m here to check in on NaNoWriMo. How’s it going?” This will grant you entry to the group that gets to pat themselves on the back if I succeed – or publicly make fun of me if I don’t.
What is NaNoWriMo?
NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. From the official website:
National Novel Writing Month is an annual Internet-based creative writing project that takes place during the month of November. Participants attempt to write a 50,000-word manuscript between November 1 and November 30.
Personally, I’ve had an idea for a novel bouncing around my head since I did a 6th grade social studies project where we invented a civilization. Over the past 19 years, I’ve mostly thought through character traits, so I want to push myself to actually DO something with them.
How do you prep for NaNoWriMo?
I can’t claim to be an expert at this, since it’s my first year participating in the challenge. But you can BET I’ve done my research about it! The first decision to make – before you start imagining plots, settings, or characters, is whether you’re a Pantser or a Plotter.
Plotter
A Plotter is someone who plans out the plot of their novel before the month starts. There are varying levels of Plotting, but it usually entails having an outline of the plot as well as descriptions of character and setting.
Pantser
A Pantser is the opposite of a Plotter – they fly by the seat of their pants and let the characters drive the plot of the story.
But Plotter or Pantser, some prep will be necessary if you want to “win” NaNoWriMo (AKA finish your 50,000 words by 11:59:59pm on November 30).
Resource Dump for NaNoWriMo Prep
I’m going to highlight four resources that I’m using to prep for my first NaNoWriMo:
No Plot? No Problem!
I’m planning on using this book as a roadmap for November. Written by the guy who came up with NaNoWriMo, it has week-by-week suggestions as well as overall prep tips.
I’ll probably write up a whole review of this book later, but I would highly recommend anybody hoping to climb to the 50,000 word peak take a look at it. The three big things I’m taking away from it for this November are: get ahead in week 1; you’re going for word count, not quality; and prep snacks.
NaNoWriMo.org’s Prep
Obviously, I’m going to the source! The official website for the event has a whole slew of resources for participants. But the most relevant to me at this point is the NaNoWriMo 101 section. Here, they have 6 sets of exercises that you’re meant to start working through in mid-September. The 6 sections help you build ideas, flesh out characters, and make a plan of attack for November.
NY Book Editor’s How-to Article
This article has some quick tips for mentally preparing for the month ahead. The last one is going to be the hardest for me – “Prepare not to edit”. After a couple months of writing blog posts and immediately editing them, it’s going to be an exercise in restraint to not edit!
Remember: NaNoWriMo is a quantity-over-quality sprint. The idea is to commit to getting your ideas out of your head and onto paper. Deciding whether it’s any good is for December or later. November is for WORDS ON PAPER.
Reedsy’s NaNoWriMo Blog Content
Reedsy’s blog has a lot of quality content for all your writing needs, but their collection of articles on NaNoWriMo is especially robust. From basic how-tos to tips and tricks to get you through the hardest part of the month, I can see myself reading through this content throughout November to keep myself on-track.
Imma be writing on my laptop, thanks.
My Plan for NaNoWriMo Prep
For those of you who are going to check in with me throughout the month, here’s my accountability dump of what I’m using this week to prep.
First off, I fully intend to be a Plotter. And I have a feeling that it will go the way most Katherine Plans go – I get about 2/3 of the way through, panic at how little time I have left, and then fudge the rest of it.
Plotting
So what does my Plotting entail? I’ll be using this quiz to learn about different story structure techniques and choosing one that makes sense to me. I’m hoping to have a pretty robust outline of the novel done by the end of the week.
I have a couple characters that have been living in my imagination for the better part of two decades. I’ve captured that information in my Scanner Daybook and will be rounding out the cast of characters this week.
Setting is going to hold a special place in my heart, since this story is going to be set in the fictional land I made up in 6th grade. As a result, I’m going to go deep in building out the geography and history of the land. This is heavily influenced by one of my favorite authors, James Michener, who writes historical fiction that covers hundreds of years.
YouTube creator Artifexan has a whole series on worldbuilding that I’ll be using. From there, I want to spend some time imagining how economic and political systems would have developed in this land over time, based on the geography. My existing knowledge base on these topics is pretty light, so I’m not expecting to have this fleshed out by the end of this week.
Emotional Prep
Finally, I’m going to prep my physical space for writing. I need to clean my desk off and make it a cozy, productive space. In No Plot? No Problem!, he recommends having a specific writing hat that you put on when it’s time to get serious. This serves a dual purpose of letting your housemates know that you’re in Serious Mode while also providing a physical reminder to your brain. Oh, and snacks. I need to figure out what snacks will help me through (and where to hide them from my Snack Monster Husband).
One thing I want to keep in mind next month is that this is a test run. I’ve never considered myself an author. I never thought I wanted to write a novel, really. I just want to push myself to hit this goal to see if I enjoy it. So I’m going to try and enjoy the process. Stay tuned.
I’ll be back next week to let you know how my prep week went. In the meantime, set your reminder to check in with me. It’ll be fun! I’ll give you a word count update. Maybe at the end I’ll send everybody commemorative postcards or something. Comment on this post if you’re not sure how to get in touch – I’ll make it happen 😊
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