Achieving NaNo success: schedules, approaches and top tips

[Chilari]

So, with just a few more days til NaNoWriMo starts, what is your best advice to succeed? I don't mean the stupid petty word-boosting tricks people use, like spelling out character names and titles in full each time they're mentioned, avoiding abbreviated words like don't in favour of do not, and giving characters stutters. I mean genuinely helpful advice that won't just create work at the editing stage.

I've succeeded two times and failed four times, so I've an idea of what works for me and what doesn't. Here are my tops dos and don'ts.

DO: have passion for your story. Work out what you like about it and keep that in mind while writing.

Inversely, DON'T: scramble for something to write just because it's NaNoWriMo. Passion is important. What's important is finishing a novel that's worth finishing. NaNoWriMo isn't the goal, it is the means to achieve the goal, namely a completed first draft.


DO: get involved in the community - attend write-ins, chat on the forums, take part in online word wars and so on. Moral support, the ability to bounce ideas off someone else and the knowledge that you're part of something bigger than yourself are good ways of maintaining motivation, and it stops you from getting too introverted and lonely during November.


DO: make a concious effort to write. This is a big challenge, especially for those who have had a bit of a flat spot in recent months or even years. Make a point of writing rather than defaulting to when you feel like it.


DO: understand your writing process and play to your strengths. If you're a pantser, prepare conditions to best allow yourself to work out where you're going as you write. If you're a planner, make outlines and character sheets. If, like me, you're somewhere in between, make the kinds of preparations and outlines you will need to write the story. If you write best in the morning, make time for a good length session. And so on.

And inversely, DON'T: try to force yourself into a schedule or approach that doesn't work for you. That's the fastest way to lose motivation and passion. If you don't know what works yet, try different approaches and if they don't work, try something else instead. Don't try and write the whole month to a schedule that makes you miserable.


DON'T: be lazy. Not reached the day's goal yet? Write a hundred more words, or for another ten minutes. DOn't just give up for the day, not yet anyway.

So, what are your tips, strategies and approaches that work when trying towrite a lot in a small time frame?

 

[Chessie]

These are all amazing suggestions, Chilari. Thank you. One thing that works for me is to meditate before I write. Even just a few minutes of breathing in silence can help clear the mind and allow the story to channel through easier. This is especially helpful when I don't have much time because I feel relaxed and end up writing more.

 

[Philip Overby]

Yes, Chilari made a ton of good suggestions.

I'll add some acorns of my own.

1. If at all possible, write something everyday. Even if you don't reach your word count goal, try to write for at least one hour. I've done that every NaNoWriMo I've done so far and I have a 100% success rate of five novels. (They're all messes, but I did reach the goal.) As Chilari said though, that's not really the point. Work on something you actually like and maybe want to do something with eventually. I find that keeps me working.

2. Don't take it so seriously. It's supposed to be fun, so if it ISN'T becoming the instant classic you thought, just take it as a learning experience and that you wrote a hell of a lot more than maybe you normally do. NaNoWriMo is great for forming good writer habits. While not every needs them, I find they help me a lot more than just writing whenever I feel like it.

3. I second doing word wars. We have a group here on the forum called Word Warriors that is ongoing. I believe it started around NaNo time one year. So that's a way to challenge fellow Mythic Scribes to wars and really push yourself.

4. If you suck at pantsing, outline. Make sure you have some idea of the following:
a. Your antagonist (I think this is very important, as some may leave of an antagonist due to wanting to explore all these other things)
b. The ending (if you know the ending, it's easy to work towards your goals)
c. Basic plot lines

These three things I think are super important for those of us who can't pants to save our lives.

So that's what I have. Good luck everyone!

 

[NellaFantasia]

Aside from the good advice already stated above, there's one thing in particular I do that has helped me. Maybe it'll help someone else, too.

I'm the kind of person who can't do a large writing session at once. I get distracted easily and wander. Even the "just write 100 words and you'll find yourself writing more" doesn't work for me. So I began doing 500 word sessions. 500 words are quick and easy to write, and once it's done I get up and go do something else. Play a game, read, walk the dog, clean the dishes, whatever. Then I come back and do another 500. If I do this throughout the day, I usually get more done than the estimated 1,667 words.

 

[Butterfly]

When I get stuck, I use the Option 1, Option 2, etc, approach and kind of loosely write out along those lines of what could happen when I find those sticky points. One of them always seems to go further than the others and that's the option I go for.