Mention “NaNoWriMo” to a fellow writer and you’ll get one of two responses. They might just stare at you with raised eyebrows, wondering if your tongue tripped on its way out of bed that morning. More likely, however, their eyes will light up. NaNoWriMo–or National Novel Writing Month–has become the writer’s equivalent of the playoffs. It’s the writing event, participated in worldwide, as authors make the commitment to write 50,000 words during November, one of the busiest months of the year.
Admission: I have never participated in NaNoWriMo, but I’m a big fan. Although certainly not without its pitfalls, NaNo spurs writers to do amazing things year after year. It helps writers conquer several of the biggest challenges we face:
- Motivation
- Dedication
- Productivity
- Consistency
Indeed, thanks to my discussions with thousands of writers who have already enthusiastically tackled and conquered NaNoWriMo, what I’ve realized is that NaNo’s greatest benefit isn’t the obvious one–the 50,000 written words in your Word or Scrivener doc. Rather, the greatest benefits of NaNoWriMo are the excellent life habits it inculcates in writers. After all, one month of productivity and half a novel really isn’t worth that much in the long run. Instead, the invaluable takeaway from this headlong month of productivity is the head start it gives you on the rest of the year.
How to Use This Year’s NaNoWriMo to Prepare Yourself for an Entire Year of Awesome Writing
This month, for the first time ever (because I’ve only been meaning to do this for the last bazillion years), I’m going to put together a series of posts to help you prep for your best (even if it’s your first!) NaNoWriMo ever. In future posts, we’re going to talk about the nitty-gritty of preparing your notes and putting together a game plan for shutting off your inner editor and ramping up your motivation and commitment.
Today we’re going to start with an overall focus on the skills you should be concentrating on this November.
When I asked for NaNo post ideas on Facebook, paranormal mystery author Liberty Speidel asked,
For your NaNo series…How about a post about how you can translate NaNo’s principles into spurring you into being a more productive writer?
Posted by Liberty Speidel on Sunday, September 27, 2015
Essentially, that’s what we’re answering today, but with a focus on consistency rather than momentum. As valuable as momentum is, it’s overrated. Consistency is what counts. If you can learn how to practice your good NaNo skills every single day of the year, you’re going to be one unstoppable writer this 2016! And even if–like me–you won’t be participating in NaNo, you should still be figuring out ways to increase your proficiency in all of these areas.
The 7 Important Skills You Should Carry Away From NaNoWriMo This November
1. Learning Healthy Preparation Skills
Outlining Your Novel and the Outlining Your Novel Workbook (Amazon affiliate link)
This one is probably my favorite. In writerspeak, what’s the translation for “preparation”? You know it! Outlining, baby, outlining. And as most of you know, I’m a huge proponent of outlining any month of the year. Whether you find full-bore outlining, such as I encourage in my books Outlining Your Novel and the Outlining Your Novel Workbook, to be the most helpful approach for you or not, if NaNo teaches writers nothing else, it offers the perfect illustration of how prep work smooths the way for us during the first draft.
Can you write 50,000 words in thirty days without an outline or any prep? Sure. But as many a NaNo-er can attest, they’re much less likely to be good words if you haven’t put in the necessary time and forethought upfront. Use the month of October to research and brainstorm your story, so you’re ready to roll come November. Then put those outlining skills to good use in racking up the word counts into December and beyond. More on prepping for NaNo next week!
2. Prioritizing Your Writing
The only way you’re going to dodge Thanksgiving, football, family, travel, flu season, and Christmas shopping and still get 50,000 words written is if you’re committed to making your writing a priority. One of the most valuable lessons I have ever learned as a writer is the truism:
This is absolutely true during NaNoWriMo, as attested by authors shouting thank-yous to spouses for takeaway Chinese dinners and help with laundry.
Cook as little as possible during NaNo. Seriously. Get others to feed you whenever possible, or get good take out. #brusNaNoTips #NaNoWriMo
— February Grace (@FebruaryGrace) October 31, 2013
But guess what? It’s just as true all year ’round. Don’t get me wrong. Making writing a priority isn’t easy. In the hustle-bustle, distraction-ridden modern lifestyle, making writing a priority can be downright painful at first. So take that iron will you’re imposing on yourself (and your loved ones, when necessary) during NaNo and keep flexing it every single day for the rest of… well, forever!
3. Getting Into the Habit of Daily Writing Sessions
Whenever someone asks me for my single best piece of advice for writers, one thing in particular alway pops into mind: 
Now, I’ll grant that’s a slight exaggeration. I only write fiction five days a week (with one day off and one day for blogging/vlogging/podcasting). The point, however, is to get into the habit of a regular and consistent writing session. Get your brain into the habit of being creative every single day. As Peter de Vries says,
I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.
NaNo forces writers to be consistent on a daily basis, because that consistency is the only way to meet the possible-but-definitely-steep goal of 50,000 words in a single month. Don’t lose that consistency just because the pressure of a difficult goal has been lifted from your shoulders. Resolve to keep it up every day, and your yearly productivity will far outstrip even what you’re able to accomplish during NaNo.
4. Maximizing Word-Count Goals
Personally, I have a love/hate relationship with word-count goals. As I detail in this post, sometimes word-count goals can actually end up being counterproductive. But NaNo proves, in spades, that sometimes a solid word-count goal can revolutionize your writing process and your daily productivity. Lately, in an effort to maximize my own daily productivity, I’ve been implementing the strict but totally doable word count goal of 300 words per fifteen minutes. That’s 1,200 words per hour. Keep that up throughout November and you’ll need less than ninety minutes every day to reach that 50,000-word mark by the end of the month. Three hundred words every fifteen minutes is 100% feasible. You have to keep typing, of course, but that’s kind of the whole point. Keep moving forward, trust your instincts, trust your ability to revise (I recommend revising each day’s work at the beginning of the next day’s session–and, yes, even during the mad rush of NaNo). Writers often view NaNo as an extended sprint: achievable, but not a pace you can keep up all year ’round. Baloney! Most writers can totally keep up this level of consistent productivity all year around. Find a pace that works for you and keep at it, even after you’ve reached that 50,000 word mark.
5. Turning Off Your Inner Critic
The founding principle of NaNoWriMo is productivity via forward progress. One of the most valuable byproducts of this is the necessity of turning off your inner critic. Let me tell you something: It is impossible to write 50,000 words in thirty days if your infernal internal editor is sitting on your shoulder the entire time. We’re going to discuss this more in a future post, but for now suffice it that the habits you learn during November–chief among them the ability to write quickly, as per above–are going to serve you well in the long run. Once you get into the groove where you’re writing along and shutting out your internal editor’s carping, pay attention to that feeling. That’s something you definitely want to carry with you in future months.
6. Connecting With Other Writers
One of the awesome byproducts of NaNoWriMo is the community. Sometimes it seems like every writer in the entire world is attending this month-long jamboree. (Although if you’re not, don’t feel bad. You and I will have virtual coffee together, all right?) It’s like a giant club that pulls writers out of their solitary lifestyles and into a whirlwind of commiseration and support. Sometimes, this extends even beyond the NaNo forums and the rest of the Internet community to real-life interaction, as shared with me on Twitter:
@KMWeiland I’ve met a bunch of local writers through our local Nanowrimo group. Some of us still hang out every few weeks just to write — Ben Stoddard (@healed1337) September 26, 2015
Don’t lose that. Take the friends you’ve made during NaNo and share the writing life with them all year long. And even if you’re not participating in NaNo (and therefore, we can assume, friendless–kidding, kidding!), take this as a spur to get yourself out there into Social Media Land and meet some fellow authors with whom to share the blessings and burdens of the writing life.
7. Finishing Books
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, NaNoWriMo provides you the opportunity to learn that most important of all writing skills: finishing books. Even if you aren’t finished with your book after 50,000 words, you’re not going to quit, right? Thanks to the siren call of shiny new story ideas, the discouragement that often comes with the long haul of writing an entire novel, and just the general distractions of life–learning how to finish novels can be an uphill battle.
And, yes, it is a learned skill. It’s a habit we must inculcate. Once you do get into the habit of finishing books, you will have the benefit of a proven track record to look back on whenever discouragement or distraction hits you afresh. You finished before, you can finish again! Even better, a finished book is a book you can share–with agents, editors, and readers. That’s definitely a habit worth enforcing the entire year through.
If you feel like you may be struggling with any of these important habits in your writing life, then NaNoWriMo is a tremendous opportunity to up the stakes and learn how to put them into practice in your life. Remember: This isn’t about having an awesome November. This is about having an awesome rest of your writing life!
Wordplayers, tell me your opinion! Will you be participating in NaNoWriMo this year? Why or why not? Tell me in the comments!
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6 Questions to Help You Avoid Repetitive Scenes
6 Requirements for Writing Better Character Goals
Preparing for NaNoWriMo: Your Guide to Outlining Success
The #1 Way to Write Intense Story Conflict
About K.M. Weiland | @KMWeiland
I guess I needed some push. And with your encouraging words, I am going to make a push for it and take part in NaNo. I had already registered but wasnot sure but now I am. Thank you….
Cool beans! Have fun with it. Next week, I’ll be talking about how you can use the rest of October to prepare yourself to write well in November.
So excited for NaNoWriMo this year, mainly to hear how others are doing and to encourage them. I’m like you – never participated in the technical month itself – but I appreciate the way this kind of event helps dreamers become doers. Thanks for the post!
I agree. That’s the most awesome thing about NaNo: it inspires writers to *act* upon their dreams and goals.
I swore off NaNoWriMo after getting pregnant both times I participated! 😉 The last time, I had my energetic son, and that’s enough for now! 😀
I won’t be doing NaNo, but will be encouraging everyone who *is* doing it. If I’m actively writing at all, it will be on a new story that I don’t have a firm grasp on, and anymore, I tend to out-write NaNo pretty easily. But my plans for the last quarter of 2015 are focused on editing and outlining my next stories–I think I have a battle plan in place to start working on three active projects at once, so this will be testing ground time to see how I manage two at a time.
This largely why I’ve never participated in NaNo: the steady schedule already in place, not the pregnancy. :p If you’re already writing at a steady clip that’s near or better than NaNo’s demands, then you’ve largely already incorporated these important habits into your writing life.
I’m toying with the idea of setting a goal of writing a million words in a year. Or extend it to 400 days and bracket it with NaNoWriMo on both ends, so 13 months and 4 days.
Totally doable. Go for it!
I’m doing it! One Million Words is my goal by the end of NaNo 2016. Blogging about it here: http://spacechampion.kinja.com/one-million-words-my-personal-challenge-1739920639
Woot, woot! You go!
I will be doing NaNo, as I have done every year since 2010, but with a significant difference this time. I am actually planning. Yep, with an outline and everything. I’ve started off many a time with just a sentence and a dream, and proudly touted the Pantser label, but that has generally gotten me a large pile of dreck. So this year I’ve got actual plot points, an inciting event, a midpoint, I’m even beginning to work on a climax. I might have some vague bit of a clue how this book will end by the time I start it. This is weird for me, but the other way hasn’t worked that well so I figured, “why not?”
Structuring Your Novel and Outlining Your Novel are both figuring significantly into my October prep strategy. Thank you for that!
Excellent! Structure is *the* key to writing a first draft that works. Best of luck this year!
So excited to learn you are preparing posts for prep! This will be my first experience with NaNoWriMo. I’ve already begun prepping by reading your books on structure and outlining. Looking forward to more tips and prep ideas.
Thank you!!!
Outlining Your Novel is definitely a good place to start, since it covers all the important basics of brainstorming and preparing to write a cohesive book.
I’ve been procrastinating far too long. This has been a wake up call for me. Thank you.
Going to do NaNo this year?
Yes, I will be participating in NaNoWriMo for the second time this year. I am so glad you are writing this series. I will be following.
Thanks for stopping in! Good luck next month!
Thanks for these great tips! I believe I will be participating in NaNoWriMo this year though I like your writing goal of 300 words every 15 minutes. More than what I can accomplish in one month, I look forward to setting up good writing habits.
I have had a few story ideas for several years now and have not ever put any of the ideas to written words. I hope this challenge will help me finally take the big step toward writing that I’ve been struggling to take.
Thanks so much for your Outlining Your Novel, book, workbook (should arrive soon) and the webinar, all have been very helpful to get me past my fear of getting started. Also, I’m looking forward to starting Structuring Your Novel and it’s workbook soon. Thanks again for all your help and great tips!
I’m so glad you were able to participate in the webinar. I hope you found the workbook useful as well! I’ll be offering more pre-writing tips in next week’s post.
Thanks, I’ve listened to it twice already and glean more each time. I have only seen the sample online, as I’m waiting for the workbooks to arrive, can’t wait! Looking forward to your tips next week and in the meantime, I’m learning a lot going through some of your old blog posts. I was telling my husband today that it’s wonderful that you share so much great content on here. Hope you know how much you’re help is appreciated. Thanks again!
That’s great to hear! So glad you found it useful.
K.M. Wieland this is a great motivating article.
I participated in my first NaNoWriMo Nov. 2014 and it was an incredible experience. I did no outline and it took a week before I was stumped. I spent the rest of the November exploring Scrivner and learning to outline.
I went on to participate in the spring event and I completed the Camp NaNoWriMo this past July. So, I’m ready with my outline and Scrivener knowledge at the ready.
2015 NaNoWriMo Month! Bring it on Baby!
That’s great! NaNo is a big commitment, so it’s no shame in having to take time to prepare for it.
I’m joining the crowd after reading your post, absorbing the enthusiastic comments — and receiving an encouraging e-mail from my local NANO leader!
Great! 50k, here you come!
Definitely work your way up to higher word counts. Once your comfortable with a word count goal, challenge yourself to write even better.
Acutally, I recently finished a first draft, so I’m too busy sifting through messy edits to embark on another novel just yet. I’m also a super-big plotter, and sitting down and sprinting to reach a word count has always been difficult for me. But NaNaWriMo does seem like a pretty awesome program anyways. 🙂
Which is fine! No reason to cram NaNo into your schedule when you’re already on a productive writing road. And anyway, who says you can only make 50k words a goal in November, right?
Great tips! I’ve done NaNo once (in 2013) and it was fun, even though my book was very, very bad. The most important thing in this post is outlining, I think. I used to be very anti-outlining, but now I outline like crazy and it helps SO MUCH. Better to figure out plot problems at the outline stage than in the middle of the book, in my opinion.
I definitely agree with that. Although I know outlining can be counter-productive for some writers, if you can make it work for you, it can help you create a first draft that is *so* much better (and so much less time-intensive in the editing) than otherwise.
To me, it isn’t a matter of choice. I am in my most scary state of writing. I had hopped around in a lot of ideas, opportunities. The writing always was so bad…and before I knew it, I had already started and stalled along the way a total of eight projects!!! (and a grand total of one short story finished)
The most counter-productive one can get. Now I have a bizarre goal, that is work on a particular project this Oct get it down in a strong scene-by-scene outline, finish that whole novel in Nov (not the 50k words) and edit it on Dec. It is a far catch but I am going to publish one work in Jan. It is important now in my current state. I really need to get out of this nestled day-dreaming-doing-nothing lifestyle. So a stretching myself a bit is necessary. Come Jan, I will have a solid writing habit and experience of going through every step of this writing journey. It won’t start getting easier, but I will have a sense of accomplishment with me.
Not so bizarre at all. You’re in good company with the planning in October/writing in November scheme.
I did Camp NaNoWriMo this past July (where 10,000 words is the min). And while my intention was to do 55,000 words, by the second week, I had to cut it in half. But I surpassed that half goal. Even though I was writing random scenes. And still need to actually finish the story. I’ve wanted to do it for a while and I can finally say “I did it.” But yeah, no, never again. LOL. I’m a pantser by nature and I felt this was too structured for me. I felt the pressure of hitting a daily word count and I felt stifled. My Creative Mojo doesn’t flow on the daily and I felt stunted. It was a great experience and just reinforced that I just need to roll how I roll and keep doin’ how I do because it works for me.
As I say in the post, I have a massive love/hate affair with word-count goals. I’ve tried to apply them in the past and ended up obsessing over them in a decidedly unproductive way. But I’m finding them incredibly helpful at the moment. To some extent, the applicability of word count goals depends entirely on the project (even the chapter) we happen to be working on at any given time.
Thanks for mentioning my tweet.
I’ve never had much of a problem with reaching the 50,000 word goal in a month. If anything I’m one of the overachievers. The last semester of Journalism in College forced me to become a writing machine because my boss gave me too many hours at work, so I had to do all of my homework on Sundays (my only day off). Last year I even wrote 100,000 words in the first 10 days of Nanowrimo alone, reaching a total of 191,000 words by the end of the month. I’m going to try to pass that this year.
Even so, Nanowrimo has helped me improve my writing. Thanks to the write-ins (where we get together and write for a couple of hours), I’ve become better at writing with distractions. The first year I would barely write 500 words in 3 hours, and now I can do 1,000 in an hour while socializing. I’ll always write faster in silence, but still.
Anyway, these social gatherings are organized through the Nanowrimo website if you choose a local group on your profile. Even if you don’t show up for too many write-ins, at least show up to the opening event to hear a prep talk in person. Also, the all-nighter write-ins are so much fun, especially when people start getting delirious from fatigue.
Thanks for chiming in with suggestions for the NaNo series!
If there is one consequence of NaNo I *don’t* like it’s the idea most people seem to come away with that 50k in 30 days is a monster goal, achievable only with much fasting, sleep deprivation, and yelling at family members. It’s definitely a challenge, but not one that’s out of sight, even on a normal basis. Once we train ourselves to consistently produce decent word counts every day, the whole idea of NaNo becomes much less intimidating.
I probably should
Hi. I wrote a book last year for NaNoWriMo. Not sure yet about this year. K.M., I’ve got both of your workbooks but I haven’t used them yet. Have you considered having templates for those that purchase the workbooks so we can use them more than once? That’s why I haven’t used mine; I would like to fill in the blanks but then I won’t have them for my next book. Just a thought. Thanks for your great site.
You actually can purchase the pdf versions of both right here off my site, which you can print and reuse.
Thank you. Going to check them out right now.
You’ve just convinced me to do NaNo this year (I was considering it anyway).
This is the time where I am trying to make writing a part of my life. I see now that doing nano will help me develop the skills to truly prioritise my writing and get it done around my other work commitments.
Now to outlining I must go 🙂
Excellent! I hope it proves a wonderful jump start for your writing throughout the next year (and beyond)!.
NaNo! I’m excited. I have been following the challenge for a few years but this will be my first year to participate. Besides the eventual product, I’m most excited to meet other writers. As a writer, I feel pretty isolated most of the time. This will be a good excuse to crawl out of my cave.
Yes, I hear only the best things about the NaNo community. Best of luck!
Yes, for a third year. Thanks you for the post. Outlining now.
Whoo, three-peating! You go!
I am going to do it this year, and one big plus I see is that LOTS of friends — not just those who are serious about writing all the time — will be participating. All the more support to keep me in line!
Ah, that’s fun! The more, the merrier.
I am leaning hard in the direction of “DO IT!”. Not entirely sure about a huge family trip out of state for T-Giving, plans seemed stymied right now so as soon as I know the status of that, I can commit. I work as a professional fine artist, too, and from now through 2nd wk of Dec is heavy traffic for me, so it would mean a loss of income to do NaNo. 🙁 I won’t commit to it unless I’m dead certain I have the space to complete the goals, so jury’s still out but not for much longer…..I’ve been intrigued by this project since I first learned of it two years ago.
Very smart to consider the consequences before committing. NaNo’s founders deliberately chose November *because* it’s such traditionally busy month. If you can write 50k in November, you can do it any month of the year! But just because you *can* make it work doesn’t always mean you *should.*
I told you I would read this and here I am. Now, these kind of deserves a long reply :p
Agreed with everything you said. And thank you. I hope good results are awaiting for all of us!
NaNoWriMo can save a writing career (I know that now), for those authors who do not know so. My experience was this:
After finishing my first novel, I was in cloud nine, so proud of myself and amazed at my own skills. I thought finishing a novel was an impossible task for me before and I felt depressed every time I walked into a bookstore, for certainly I was no real writer if I couldn´t get myself to finish a novel as I wanted to. But one day I did. And I was happy. Very much so.
Then the moment came when the book was launched and… oops. Suddenly I had to face the challenge of writing a second novel. I smiled at the idea full of myself. I did it once, certainly I could do it again in the blink of an eye. So I started trying. The first idea didn´t work, it was a sort of literary/philosophical piece I decided I was too young to try. Moved to the next idea. Surprise, it didn’t work either. I started pondering a third option. And I started thinking I was a failure after all… it was all luck, I was useless to try it again.
Then I attended a book launching where I found one of my fellow writers here. He urged me to finish a short novel for a contest where I could win some money and publication. Fair enough. He gave me forty days to deliver the finished product. You didn´t misread, FORTY DAYS, and I didn´t have a single word written. So I sighed and crossed my arms with reluctance, but in the end I accepted the challenge and promised to deliver something. He insisted I had a lot of time and that I just needed to pick up an old idea. I tried to turn a short story into a novel, but decided the same day it wouldn´t work. So I changed, and I picked up again that idea from two years ago, the one I once thought myself too young to write. I started, forcing my inner editor to stay in the back of my mind. I just typed (I reached 1000 words a day on work days and 2000 on free days. I admit I took a week off work for this).
Four days later my beloved granda passed away. Two days after that it was my dearest uncle. And I found out my aunt who lived in Germany was gone too. My father wasn’t in the country and he cut communication for a full week, his own way to face pain (it was all his family). It was hard, and I cried a lot, but every single day I came back to my desk and wrote. The world didn´t stop because of my pain.
I had a top of 200 pages. I decided I wanted a 30.000 words long story. I finished with 22.000 in two weeks and started the editing. I added substance and description, action beats and details. By the night I needed to print and deliver the thing, I had 31.000 words and I had had the chance to revise it five times. I filled 92 pages with very narrow margins.
My fingers are still crossed I will win that award, I guess I´ll be knowing in a few days, but at least this allowed me to discover I wasn’t as useless as I thought even if I´m not the chosen one. All I needed was to sit down and do it. I don´t know if I´ll be able to pull this off twice in a year, but I´m definitely gearing up for NaNoWriMo, all this October to keep up my research and outlining (I am very much of an putliner).
So, that is my experience. Don´t tell yourself you can´t. Sit down and do it!
This is an amazing story! Thank you so much for sharing it. Despite (because?) of how hard writing is, it’s the best catharsis I know. I bet it helped you work through your difficult time as well.
I hope it helps someone 😀 Sometimes we are not as alone as we think, as you pointed here.
I will say it helped, yes. And I agree with you it´s a great catharsis!
Allright, allright! I’ll do it 😀
I’ve been contemplating doing NaNoWriMo for so long that when I finally got a bit of courage, I went to sign up for the website only to find out that I actually already had an account…one that I made in 2010. I’m scared but looking forward to attempting this, I’ll definitely be looking for more tips from you! Thanks for the push 🙂
Sounds like a sign! I hope this year’s NaNo is a great experience for you. Just remember to carry it forward into the next year!
Great motivational article (as are all your articles, really!)
I signed up for NaNoWriMo for the first time. Five years (!!!) I’ve been thinking about writing, reading about writing, but have never actually done any writing. I guess I am my own worst enemy in that aspect.
Chances are I’ll probaby pen what will become The Worst Story Ever Written (which is no small feat in itself 🙂 ), but it doesn’t matter. Getting actual words on paper, that will form some sort of story is my main goal. After five years, it’s about time. So that’s my NaNoWriMo goal.
That’s awesome to hear! Don’t worry to much about the quality of your work at this point. The first step is always just getting words onto paper. You can’t polish words that aren’t written, and you can’t finish a story you never start.
I did NaNo for the first time last year and LOVED it! It was just what I needed (deadlines and positive peer pressure) to get the first draft of my novel out. Almost a year later it’s been through beta readers and a professional editor, and I’m on the 5th draft. I wish I could do NaNo this year, but I don’t think I have 50,000 words of new material in me for this novel. However, I do have an idea for a prequel, so I’m thinking I’ll be an every-other-year NaNo-er.
Good luck to everyone doing it this year. It’s totally worth it!!!
There definitely should be no pressure to do NaNo every year. Do it when it works for you. Do it when you feel it has something to offer you. And that’s totally awesome about your previous success!
Hey KMWeiland, I have a question, if you have the time. I love to write (even if I’m not that good at it), but I am only 13 years old. I feel like this limits me as to how far I can take my writing. Do you think I should still participate in NaNoWriMo? (And do you have any advice for your authors?) Any help would be great!
Believe me, at thirteen, the sky’s the limit! You have nowhere but up to go from here and all the time in the world to do it in. I started writing when I was twelve. Honestly, I wouldn’t worry at all about limits. Write what you love and because you love it, and definitely enter NaNo if you’re interested. Age shouldn’t be a factor at all. Good luck!
Thanks! I guess I’ll just go for it…
You go! Best of luck.
I have recently signed up for my first Nanowrimo. While I was excited about this undertaking when I officially signed-up, I feel even more inspired after reading this post.
#6 from this list is the item that has me most excited about Nanowrimo. I’ve already signed up for a couple of local meet-ups and I’m really looking forward to meeting and connecting with local writers.
Yes for the year of 2019, I’m going to put it into practice just like it’s November.
Hi! I don’t know if you’re still answering comments on this post, but I have a question. I’m a stay at home mom with two boys under three years, living overseas, and I LOVE to write, but my one-hour-a-day plan was straining our schedule too much and putting too much pressure on my wonderful husband. I’m trying to figure out if I can get enough done with the time I have to actually ever finish an 8-book series I’m working on plotting (after having read your blog series).
I already have the series blocked out by acts (in bullet point form) and have addressed most of the character arc questions. Now I’m just starting to work on blocking each book into scenes, but I do still have a lot of plot holes to fill. I’m aiming for a 50-70,000 word length for each, and I’m getting about 25 scene/sequel pairs per book (or at least for the first two that I’ve started blocking into scenes).
Based on where I’m at, and if I can only work on them for two hours a week, how long do you think it would take to a) finish plotting all the books, and b) write the first draft of one of (each of) the books, based on your experience?
If I can figure out some expectation for what it would take, I’d be better able to weigh my options and discuss them with my husband 😉 Worse comes to worst, I might have to put off writing the series for a different stage of life.
Thanks so much!
Robin
Hmm, that’s hard for me to say. It really depends on your own writing preferences and practices. And to a large extent, it also depends on the vagaries of the books. In my experience, every book is a new adventure. One is never the same as the next.
Ok…here’s another question, when you plot a novel in detail before writing it, what is the outlining/writing time ratio? One blog I read said outline / first draft / first revision would be a 1/4/4 ratio. Do you agree? Or is it just too variable to tell?
Again, it will depend on whatever process you find best suits you. Personally, I like to do as much of the work upfront in the outlining process as I can, so I can streamline revision. There really is no set rule or guideline for this kind of thing. Every author is different, and every book is different. You might find this post helpful: https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/how-to-create-the-perfect-writing-process-for-you/
Thanks! That was helpful. Looks like I have some experimenting to do. Not sure if it will work for me or not, but if I can implement your 300 words/15 min goal when I get to the first draft, that sure would help with my problem of limited time!
Good luck! 🙂 You’ll figure it out.