Advice, for whatever it’s worth
I’m hardly an expert at NaNoWriMo, having only completed it once (though I did finish up All That Death in less than a month this summer). But I keep finding myself offering advice to first time NaNoWriMoers this year, so I may as well post some of it here.
Though 50,000 words seems like a lot, I was able to get there with time to spare last time. Mainly, this came through a couple days where inspiration hit, and I was able to crank out 5,000+ words in one go. My goal for Day 1 on Saturday is 7,500–though that’s really only attainable because of my outline.
Avoid research, if you can, or do it in October (or make it up and come back to it later). It simply takes too long once you get into November. That was one of the nice things about After the Service—the two settings were a small Baptist church and a small Christian liberal arts school. Since I was already so familiar with those settings, all that was left was sticking my characters in there and making/watching them do things.
My most important piece of advice, though, is “don’t take it too seriously.” That’s really the beauty of NaNoWriMo—writing is such a personal thing, and we invest so much of ourselves into anything we spend large amounts of time on, so that it’s very easy to get too attached to our writing. This sometimes mean that we obsess over getting it perfect the first time, or (more frequently, in my case) it means that we resist needed changes once we are finished.
But the idea of cranking an entire novel out in a single month, while working and doing everything else, is so absurd that it forces you to take a step back, get some perspective, and allow yourself to write badly, just to get fill the pages with a beginning, middle and—most importantly—an end. You’re going to have to go back and rework it later anyway, so it may as well be something you realize right away isn’t actually God’s gift to the readers of the world.
So, be prepared for some long nights, try to avoid research, and above all, enjoy yourself. Just over 24 hours until the show begins!
