Every year, as November approaches, I have the same question in my mind: shall I have a try at NaNoWriMo this year? And I’ve decided that this year, with even fewer reasons to go out, is the perfect opportunity.
National Novel Writing Month – NaNoWriMo to the initiated – takes place every November, and to ‘win,’ participants have 30 days to write 50,000 words of a novel. Planning the story and characters beforehand is allowed, but the official word count includes only what’s written during November.
With 30 days to reach the target, that’s a minimum of 1667 words a day. The hard part is deciding which words!
Impossible?
Not at all, as Island Writers member Yvie has proved – although it’s certainly not easy. She says one of her magic secrets for success was to set rewards for achieving 2000 words a day. Sounds good to me: any excuse for chocolate will do.
What I need now is a plot. Help! Thank goodness there are a couple of weeks before we start.
I’m reliably informed, by NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty’s book, No plot? No problem! that it doesn’t have to be a well-written, polished novel, or even a completed novel. Quality, in this challenge, is not nearly as important as quantity. The idea is to write at least 50,000 words of that daunting first draft, even if it’s a bit rough and ready, or indeed dire and pathetic. Which, believe me, is guaranteed in my case! Never mind: once NaNoWriMo is over, I can worry about polishing it up to a publishable standard.
I will post my daily progress on the Island Writers Facebook page – and I’m relying on you all to encourage me, cheer me on when I do well, and most importantly, mock me cruelly on any days when my result is under 2000 words, to shame me into increasing my efforts.
As you may know, I’m incurably competitive, so if anyone would like to join me, I’d welcome the challenge. Any takers? You can sign up in advance or at the last minute, on www.nanowrimo.org.
NaNoWriMo starts at the witching hour of midnight on Halloween, and ends at midnight on November 30th, and I will produce 50,000 words this time. Whether I will produce an enchanting novel is a different question – but it’ll be fun trying!
