That’s right, NaNoWriMo is only a few days away: are you ready for the marathon write of the year?
What is NaNoWriMo?
For those of you who aren’t in the know, NaNoWriMo means National Novel Writing Month and is only a few days away! Thousands of writers around the world are getting ready to write a 50,000-word novel in just one month. Yup, sounds crazy but its true. If you’re interested, why not register on their website?
Okay, I’m Ready, What Now?
You’ve decided to join in the (perhaps somewhat nerdy) fun and games and have no idea where to start? Firstly, if you are new to novel writing, it’s handy to have an idea of how to write a novel!
Preparation, Preparation, Preparation
NaNoWriMo is hard core and, if you go in unprepared, you might die. Or at least your book might, which is almost the same thing. We are all individuals, so figuring out how you work best is up to you. Saying that, many NaNoWriMoers, hoping for success, find that a decent plan helps prevent them from mixing together their favourite episodes of Twin Peaks with the plot from Battlestar Galactica, along with anything else that enters their imagination during November. In other words, a plan can help prevent your novel from becoming too diffuse. Unsure how to go about this task? The Writer’s Bureau has a pretty good article on how to plan a novel.
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Write, Write, Write
50,000 words in month is a pretty incredible challenge, that’s about 1666 words a day! The best advice for getting this done is actually very simple: just keep writing! Don’t listen to your negative thoughts, they are rubbish. It doesn’t matter how amazing, or poor, your work is at this stage, the point of NaNoWriMo is just to reach that 50,000-word point. You can come back to edit any tangents and waffle when the competition is over. So, ignore the backspace key on your laptop and, when you are out and about, keep a notebook on you so you can type up your ideas when you get home.
If you are a NaNoWriMoer with the intention of getting your NaNoWriMo novel published, why not contact us and have one of our professional proofreaders edit your work as you go along? Come the end of November, you’ll be in a great position to wrap it all up in a bow and send it off to publishers or your agent.