Write a novel in a month?!

Everyone is gearing up for NaNoWriMo. What’s that?


November is National Novel Writing Month, a yearly challenge to writers to write 50,000 words in a new novel within a month. Participants can register online at http://www.nanowrimo.org/ and track their results, find group support, and network with fellow writers. If you register online and complete the task, you can get your name added to a growing list of “Hallowed Winners”.

Several local writing groups and libraries are also participating and you can join in-person with or without the formal online registration (depending on the group). Whether you complete the 50,000 words or just come close, you can feel great about the effort. It’s an exercise in free-writing and forces writers, in a friendly and supportive way, to deliver that novel they’ve been carrying around with them WITHOUT FEAR. From NaNoWriMo, “Win or lose, you rock for even trying”.

When a new student approaches me and says they want to write a book, I always say to them, have you started. Most times I get the response, “No. I don’t know where to begin.” You begin by actually writing. Put your words on paper, just write and keep writing. If you plan to write 50,000 words in 30-days you need to average 16,667 words each and EVERY day. It’s writing without excuse, making time to write and coming back the next day to do it again. Don’t waste time worrying about edits or marketing your work to an editor. Just write.

Start with an idea, a beginning, and decide where you want to go with that idea, the end – don’t worry about the route you are going to take. Keeping that LOOSE premise in mind, begin writing and go wherever the written word may take you. Try to streamline your process towards that original end you thought of, but don’t be surprised if the written words take you on a different journey – let it. Once you start writing you will probably find the words beginning to flow seemingly on their own, just follow them. And write.

NaNoWriMo encourages writers to complete their first draft. Edits will come afterwards. Promotion and eventually looking for a publisher will come later. Your only concern during November is to put those words on paper. Use the rest of October to plan your beginning and end, think of your characters and maybe even come up with a few pivotal plot points – but understand, if you are going to participate officially in NaNoWriMo, you cannot start writing the novel (the 50,000 words) until November 1. December is traditionally the month to start your edits and re-writes. A good article I found about NaNoWriMo is 25 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT NANOWRIMO at http://bit.ly/nBH8sx.


Writing exercise: You’ll need a timer, pen and paper (or your computer keyboard), and a photo – this photo can be from your personal photo album, a wall hanging, or just a random photo snipped from any magazine or newspaper. Set the timer for 15-minutes, look at the photo and begin writing. Write ANYTHING tht photo makes you think of. Don’t stop writing until the timer rings. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling, just concentrate on the photo and write. This is an exercise in Focused Free Writing.



Writing Prompt: Pick up a nearby magazine or newspaper (if none are available use a book if necessary). Choose ten different articles – don’t read them (it’s okay if you read them in the past). Take the first sentence of the second paragraph; using that as your FIRST sentence, write one to three paragraphs for each as if it was your own story.