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Advice for NaNo Newbies?
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Jessica
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Oct 11, 2013 09:10AM
The title speaks for itself! Any advice to any NaNo newbies this year (myself included)? :)
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The best habit I developed is to shut off the Internet until I had logged my daily wordcount. You'd be surprised how much writing time you pick up when you don't have the World Wide Lava Lamp to distract you with its shiny colors.Then when you're ten thousand words in and the novelty has worn off, keep at it. No matter how many doubts you have, it'll all be worthwhile when you get to your wordcount goal. Make it pretty and exciting during the rewrite.
Best of luck!
Good advice. I'm also a NaNo newbie this year. :) I think I'll pay attention to that advice.Question for you all: How do you manage to juggle school/work and meeting your daily word count? Do you write extra to make up for days when you don't meet your word count? Just curious... :)
Steve has a good point, try to put away as many distractions as possible. I have a program that I use to write that is internet based so I don't kill the internet but I do only keep two windows up (one for my music and the other of my writing). I also find that being involved with the NaNo community really helped me (going to write-ins, finding forums that actually helped me, ect). However, I only participated in the online stuff once my word count for the day was done.
Also, a routine normally helps people. I find I don't need to set aside a specific time at the same time every day to write but setting aside an hour or two that is to be used for writing helps in the first few weeks and then at the end.
One thing they say you should do is set realistic word count goals for the day/week. If you know for a fact you can't write everyday make sure you figure out when you can write and then adjust the amount of words to that (like I know I will have to write nearly double my daily word count on weekends to make up for days I can't write during the week and then on some weeks I will have to write more on weekdays than weekends).
I have only done NaNoWriMo a couple times so I don't have a whole lot of experience, but those are what I found helpful to me.
♪ Tara ♪ wrote: "Thanks Irene! That was helpful. :)"Good! :)
Outline. The more of an idea you have of who you're writing about and where you're going with it, the less time you'll spend thrashing around looking for a direction. Also, don't self-edit. That's for later, and you'll pick up a lot more of your quota if you don't spend the day after you write something tweaking it.
Nicolas wrote: "Outline. The more of an idea you have of who you're writing about and where you're going with it, the less time you'll spend thrashing around looking for a direction. Also, don't self-edit. That's ..."Good point. I actually work better with pretty much no plan, but I find that I am one of only a select few that can be successful that way.
points to go for:* Find some writing buddies: I was really encouraged by my one writing buddy back in 2011, it helps to have someone to share your thoughts and work with as you battle that all important word count. This year I have 5 so hope it will work again.
* The word count is meant to encourage you, do not fear it!
* Use the forums: the forums on Nanowrimo are always an absolute gold mine of very useful information for writers, particularly the 'Writing 101' section. I'm talking everything from what to name your character to what kind of sheep to include in your novel! Not even joking, even the weirdest questions can be answered.
* Don't have a plan, just write. Simple ideas are good but don't work out any plot. Just write, that's the whole challenge!
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I've steadily progressed in my writing, and continue to hopefully. Commas, style, voice, the whole bit. Luckily this thread came along. All of what is in it is very credible and interesting to read. I find that this is a useful tool for Nanowrimo community members, like myself:)
Ingrid wrote: "For my edition on Nanowrimo, i've found that not stressing too much on the word count goal and the internet, and profound errors on my paper, permit my goal succession.I've steadily progressed in ..."
November is always a super busy month for me so if I don't win I won't be too terribly unhappy, but like you I won't be stressing too much about word goal. I know I can reasonably write 750 everyday so I need to just double that...I think though, that I will spend long hours writing during the weekend and then writing very little during the week.
Last year, when i attempted NaNoWriMo for the first time, i set aside 2 weeks (before November) to plan my novel. With the basic outline, characters, maps etc. i was then prepared to begin writing come November and i felt confident on the 1st that i knew what i was going to do...rather than stare at a blank sheet of paper in terror! I also would say that 'keeping going' is most important. There were many times i was blocked, unable to get the words on paper as my mind went blank. There were times when i found it so tough and mentally challenging that i felt like giving up, as self-doubt crept in when i was most tired. But, i kept WRITING and everytime i hit a brick wall i kept on going, because i was not only determined to complete the challenge but prove to myself that i was able to write to a deadline (like a professional writer i suppose and experience what it was like). Keeping going is not always easy but it is the one thing that i would focus on throughout the month, especially during the middle (2 weeks in) when it gets tougher.
Excellent advice so far, guys! Thank you so much. Just one more question: What is the whole mentoring thing? NaNo sent me an email about it and I didn't understand it. :(
Jessica wrote: "Excellent advice so far, guys! Thank you so much. Just one more question: What is the whole mentoring thing? NaNo sent me an email about it and I didn't understand it. :("I don't know a whole lot about it but from what I understand you can get a "mentor" if you are a newbie. The mentor is someone who is a seasoned NaNo who has volunteered to kinda help the new people.
Prepare now. Plan your novel from start to finish: brainstorm, outline, and research everything now so you'll be ready to take off running come November 1st.
Thanks Sherri, that's good advice too:)
NOTE: This thread was moved to the Beat The Challenge: NaNo 2013 folder as of 10.21.13.
WORD WARS!!! Word wars have seriously been such a help to me in past NaNos. Get one or more people (on here or wherever) to do a word war with you. Set a time to start, set an amount of time to go, and use writeordie.com. Then post the results - the person with the most words at the end of the amount of time, wins!
Jayda wrote: "WORD WARS!!! Word wars have seriously been such a help to me in past NaNos. Get one or more people (on here or wherever) to do a word war with you. Set a time to start, set an amount of time to g..."
That looks neat Jayda! Thanks for sharing!
That looks really cool--I definitely might try that!
I find that free-writing really helps when i am blocked. Just writing something. Anything. Can really be useful :)
Thanks! I've heard that from several different people. I should probably try it.
I would offer advice but I'm also new. Sorry about that.
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Woohoo, my first day of nano EVER and I closed it out with 2,018 words.
Alex wrote: "I just finished for today! Well it's technically tomorrow, but oh well. 1,800 words down. :) I can finally sleep..."1,800 words for day 1 is fantastic!! When i attempted NaNo for the first time ever last year, i began with around 6 hundred and something words for my first day and then gradually builded up the daily word count as the days passed - getting used to writing every day. It's hard but very rewarding. :)
I got up to 2,167 yesterday. Time to see what today brings!
Yeah! Another day, another 2K! I should probably check up on my writing buddies and see how they're doing...
