Writing challenges are always a really good way to get yourself into the writing mood and to actually push yourself to get on that manuscript you’ve been juggling ideas for. Of course, the most famous writing challenge probably ever is NaNoWriMo. I’ve engaged with NaNoWriMo plenty of times before, including Camp NaNoWriMo and I really like the idea and the concept behind the challenge. So, today, I’ll be giving you the best, most in-depth guide possible on what NaNoWriMo is and how you can conquer this month-long challenge.
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What is NaNoWriMo?
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. The yearly challenge started back in 1999 and it occurs every November. The goal of the challenge is to get you to write a book that is at least 50,000 words. If you are successful, you’ll have basically beat the challenge.
What’s great about NaNoWriMo is that, first, it’s completely free to register for. There’s no upfront costs or anything like that, so you can enjoy the challenge. Additionally, it’s probably one of the best ways to get yourself writing, as well as establish daily habits for writing.
I’ve talked about writing on a busy schedule before, because I know how that feels. I just recently graduated from university, so my writing time got smacked a lot by exams and assignments and group projects, but I still tried to figure out ways to get writing in my daily routine.
Even as an author myself, I still like to participate in NaNoWriMo because I’m always coming up with new book ideas and having WIPs that I can shuffle through helps keep some variety in my writing time.
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NaNoWriMo Rules Explained
There are a few rules in NaNoWriMo that you should know about. Even though there’s no enforcement of the rules, it’s a bit more fun to follow them as you undertake the challenge. I think it just feels more rewarding. Like a souls game boss fight.
Firstly, the competition starts on November 1 and ends on November 30 and within that time frame you need to write a minimum of 50,000 words. If you can write more, then by all means, go for it. But your minimum word count is 50,000. Also, you can’t split the word count with another writer. The 50,000 are your own individual 50,000 words.
You technically can’t start writing before November 1–you can, but it won’t count in the NaNoWriMo word count challenge. However, I do recommend that you work on your outline prior to November 1, so figure out your plot, your characters, world building, etc… I’ll get into that in a minute.
How to Prepare Your Story Before November 1
First things first, before I even start talking about signing up for NaNoWriMo, you’ll need to start preparing for the challenge. The best way to do that is to have your story idea already fleshed out so that you can just dive right into the writing on Day 1. If you spend a week planning during NaNoWriMo, that’s a whole week that you didn’t write in. That could be costly when you have 50,000 words.
I’ve covered how to outline a novel in one day before, so you should check that post out for more in-depth information.
I’ll give a few brief pointers that you should look for when you go to work on the planning phase of your novel.
You want to identify what the idea for your story is going to be. Basically, if I asked you to write a prompt based off your story, what would it sound like? If you’re a bit lost and you don’t have any idea what you want your story to be, I have a list of over 100 prompts for fantasy stories if that’s your genre of choice, so go check that post out for some inspo!
You can also go online and search for prompts on Reddit or try to write down a few ideas until you’ve narrowed down the one that you think has the most “book” potential.
First, you want to work on the world building the most in the initial parts of your planning phases. World building is a bit of a complex process and it can get a bit confusing at some points, which is why you should be keeping track of your world building as you add or subtract information.
I’ve made a list of ten world building tools that you can use to help you with this part, so you can use any of these to keep track of your world. You can also just write things down in a notebook as well, but it helps to use software for this part.
After world building, I recommend designing your main character or main characters. You also want to think about who the protagonist and the antagonist will be in your story. Creating an outline for your character is the best way to start as you can have a sort of document to refer back to when you’re actually writing your story.
You also want to define what conflict type your story will have. There are 7 major identifiable literary conflict types that we can observe in most stories, and I’ve talked about them in-depth before as well.
You’ll also want to pick with POV you will use for your story, and if you want to know the difference between them, you can check out this post for more help.
The next thing that you can do is actually plan out each chapter. I’ve done this before and it’s honestly super helpful in keeping me on track with my writing, but you’ll need to have a solid understanding of what your story is going to be about for this to work. Also, planned out chapters may end up being different in the final product, so be flexible to change.
If you find the chapter outlining process to be a bit intimidating, you can simply use the three-act structure or some other general outline structure to help you. Keep in mind that your outline is subject to change and you may not end up writing the same story at all–which is totally fine!
Make a Game Plan
Before you even start on November 1st, you’ll want to have a sort of game plan going. Basically, you need a schedule of how you’re going to get started with your writing and how you will keep yourself on task.
Additionally, you’ll want to set realistic writing goals depending on how many words your story will be and what sort of free time you can pencil into your day to dedicate to writing only.
(I wrote this article while Camp NaNoWriMo was going on, which is basically just a sort of mini version of NaNoWriMo that happens often in the Summertime and I would say it’s a really good preparation for the November challenge as well.)
Signing Up for NaNoWriMo
To sign up for the challenge, you just need to head to the NaNoWriMo website. This is what you’ll be greeted with:
You’ll then want to sign up, which will take you to this page:
Once you’ve signed up, you’ll be greeted with a dashboard:
This is where you will see your current project and if it’s part of any challenge. Camp NaNoWriMo allows more flexibility than the standard NaNoWriMo challenge, as you can set your own word count goal, but it’s about the same concept-wise.
You’ll also want to familiarize yourself with the My NaNoWriMo tab, which is where you will find details on your current project.
Stats are pictured below and this tab basically shows your progress, if you’re on-track or not, and some more fun things below. The nice thing about NaNoWriMo is that it sets your daily word count goal as well, which makes it easier for you to figure out how many words per day you’d need to write.
Creating a project is really easy and you’ll be able to set a specific one for Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo as there will be a prompt button for you to do this. You just need to put the name of your story and then you will have your book ready to keep track of.
There is also the ability to add further features to your story, such as your project status, if you want it to be visible to others, the genre, a summary, and even a cover to make the dashboard look a bit cooler.
Next, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the profile feature. In this place, you can set a profile picture, a banner, find all your projects, and more:
This is actually my NaNoWriMo profile and as you can see, I am a very big fan of personalization.
You can also see the projects dashboard on anyone’s profile and see how they’re doing. I don’t always update my profile, so some of my word counts are definitely outdated LOL!
For the most part, what you want to focus on the most for NaNoWriMo is the My NaNoWriMo tab, as this is where all your project details will be and where you’ll update it as you go.
Stay on Target
As you work through your NaNoWriMo goal, you’ll want to stay on target and keep yourself in check. This can be done by keeping a writing journal where you set a schedule for your writing time or you can find a friend who is a writer and help keep each other accountable.
The idea is that in order to beat the challenge, you’ll need to complete it. Even if you can’t write every single day, that’s fine, but by the end of 30 days, you’ll need to have finished 50,000 words.
Now, 50,000 words is on the lower end of the word counts that you’ll usually find in stores, but it’s a great stepping stone for your first draft and it’s a great way to get yourself to write. Especially if this is your first novel, that’s a huge achievement! It took me years to work my way up to writing 100,000+ words, so don’t intimidate yourself before you even get started.
What Happens if You “Win” NaNoWriMo?
Once you’re done with NanNoWriMo, you’ll get a banner and bragging rights of being able to complete a whole novel in a month. It’s more of a challenge to better yourself and gain writing skills along the way.
Also, do remember that this is more of a first draft, so your completed project is only the beginning. As you keep writing, you should edit and work on your draft in order to turn it into a complete manuscript.
NaNoWriMo is probably one of the best challenges for new and experienced writers and it can really help keep you on-track and accountable in completing a writing goal. I really recommend you go for it and you can start an account now and prepare your story whenever you want.
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