National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo for short, is an attempt to combat against the infamous pain in the ass that is writer's block and procrastination. For the month of November, 12:00:00AM on Nov.1 - 11:59:59 Nov. 30, you task yourself with creating a full blown novel of whatever you want. Science fiction? Go for it. Fantasy? I raise my axe for your dwarven brothers. Detective Fiction? Well, that is what this site is based around, isn't it? NaNoWriMo is a program where you set your own limitations, boundaries and investments. Why not attempt to take a month and be able to call yourself a novelist, all you have to harm is yourself should you try not to.
NaNoWriMo does have some set guidelines if you wish for a base to work with, however you're free to go at your own pace and set up your own landmarks. The program itself encourages those who take it to write 50,000 words (roughly 175 pages) in the thirty days it gives. It also encourages you focus entirely on the creative writing aspect of writing, leaving editing for when December comes. You are simply trying to topple the obstacles that are writing your complete first draft through this program, and that's much easier to do if you focus entirely on the draft, not making it a final copy. But, hey, you're the writer here. If you only want to do a novella of 5,000 words, go for it! If you want to edit after every chapter, that'll give you a better base for when the month is over! Do what you want, but do the writing!
While the goal of NaNoWriMo is definitely something to admire, you have to wonder what makes this any different than any other month? You could do this there if you wanted to.
Yep, that's about right. You can do this at anytime. December, January, June. But would you? Would you just say that you're going to write 50,000 words in a month for any random month of the year? No, of course not.
NaNoWriMo attempts to combat this cynical way of thinking by offering a whole community of its own to assist you, and various tools to help motivate you to writing. The NaNoWriMo website, linked at the bottom of the page, offers a forum of its own where over 250,000 people have taken the challenge up. Here you can talk with other writers, ask for help with some particular problems you find yourself having(such as character names, development plotlines and hooks, and more), dig through piles of advice for your newfound craft, or just entertain you if you feel down through various stories.
NaNoWriMo also includes a region system where you inform it of your geographical location. This places you into a grouping with all the other writers undertaking the challenge this year. These groups hold special get-togethers over to course of the month to do a meet and greet, a celebration when finished, and writing parties, where you get together and write, then go and grab a cup of coffee. My local region currently has 5 write-ins planned, along with the kick-off and ending celebration. These regional groups also have let you see where special locations collaborating with the program are located, allowing you to know nice places to go and do work on your project in peace. I'm actually located about 5 minutes from a bookstore that in working with NaNoWriMo and is holding our parties. This allows you to have a great chance at going and meeting some interesting people and having people taking the challenge literally right next to you. You not only have the potential to make some great friends through this, but also have some serious motivation given through not wanting to disappoint those in your group.
Finally, NaNoWriMo has a writer's log that allows you to update word count on a daily basis and post excerpts from your work for others to read. This will allow you to see your word count accumulate in real time, and give you a constant update on how your story is taking shape. Nothing makes a writer feel more giddy than justifying their work through a visual showing that you've just gotten into a new set of digits in your word count. Savor every thousand words you make, and be proud of your accomplishments.
NaNoWriMo does have a few rules for "winning" the program. This does not involve any sort of competition with other writers, but is no less satisfying. You're simply competing with yourself to see this project through. This is gonna be easier to just copy/paste, so that's what I'll do.
NaNoWriMo Website wrote:Win or lose, you rock for even trying.
That’s all there is to it! Occasionally, participants write in to ask about the rules of the event. We don’t have many! But because we’ve found that creativity is often heightened by constraints (and communities bolstered by shared goals) we have evolved a handful of rules over the years. The rules state that, to be an official NaNoWriMo winner, you must…
- -Write a 50,000-word (or longer!) novel, between November 1 and November 30.
-Start from scratch. None of your own previously written prose can be included in your NaNoWriMo draft (though outlines, character sketches, and research are all fine, as are citations from other people’s works).
-Write a novel. We define a novel as a lengthy work of fiction. If you consider the book you’re writing a novel, we consider it a novel too!
-Be the sole author of your novel. Apart from those citations mentioned two bullet-points up.
Write more than one word repeated 50,000 times.
-Upload your novel for word-count validation to our site between November 25 and November 30.
- The NaNoWriMo website.
- The NaNoWriMo Youth website (if you are over 13, you may take part in regular NaNoWriMo. Can't be older than 17 for this program. This has flexible word count.)
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