By Rebecca Do
Spooky season is over; the leaves are falling and the temperatures are dropping. What’s a better way to pass the time in between that awkward fall-to-winter transition than writing a novel?
NaNoWriMo is an acronym for “National Novel Writing Month.” Launched in 1999, it aims to promote creative writing among writers around the country. From Nov. 1 to Nov. 30, writers will attempt to churn out a 100% original novel before the month ends.
The rules of the “challenge” are simple: write at least 50,000 words of your novel by the end of the month. Pre-planning and storyboarding are allowed by writers if they so wish. Anyone who completes the goal of 50,000 words is considered a winner according to NaNoWriMo.
To put it into perspective, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck have roughly 50,000 words in them each. You could be on your way to writing a new literary classic with this challenge.
It may seem tricky; tricky enough to beg the question of “why should one participate in this grueling feat?”
Participating in NaNoWriMo forces you into a state of solitude; you’ll be more motivated to write that book when there’s a time crunch, and when there’s a prize (or, in this case, an online certificate of completion) to be won.
Fountain Valley High School English teacher Amy Phelan participated in NaNoWriMo last year. She will be participating in it again this year.
Last year, Phelan completed the month-long challenge with ease due to plotting it out beforehand. However, this year is a lot different.
“I have a story but I haven’t written anything down as far as an outline. I think that’s okay,” said Phelan. “Some writers [are] plotters, people who plan it out and that’s what I did last year versus ‘pantsers,’ flying by the seat of your pants. So I’m gonna try flying by the seat of my pants this year.”
But if your on-the-spot writing skills aren’t up to par with an English teacher just quite yet, here are some tips for the first-time NaNoWriMo participant.
- Pace yourself.
Writing 50,000 words is tricky, but it’ll be less tricky if you know your limits. The optimal writing time (and the most popular way to space and allocate your writing time) is to distribute your word count evenly throughout the 30 days. That’s roughly 1,667 words a day. But people have different schedules, and sometimes you can’t afford to write instead of studying for your test tomorrow. Set word count goals for yourself in order for you to make it through the month.
- No Plot? No Problem!
If you haven’t planned your novel out yet, write about what you’re familiar with. This may include your home, your friends, your school and other things that you surround yourself with on a daily basis.
- Thinking about plotting?
If you’re thinking about plotting but don’t know where to start, follow the plot diagram. This consists of an exposition, a rising action, climax, a falling action and the resolution. If you’re not sure what situation to put your characters in, follow the pyramid to better organize your ideas.
Kaede4, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
So, if you were looking for something to take your mind off your grueling fall semester, use writing as your escape and join the NaNoWriMo challenge!
