It’s almost November when hundreds of thousands of writers will take on the challenge of writing 50k words in a single month. It’s not a small undertaking, but one that is easier if you have a plan.
Here are some steps to help you succeed:
Before NaNoWriMo
Have a Plan of Attack
Come up with a plan ahead of time. When are you going to write? How many words do you need to write per day or week to hit the 50k mark? A plan helps you stay on track. There are many apps out there you can use to track your progress. My favorite is ToDoist, but there are many others, like Habitica, Habitify, Momentum and more. For example, I want to write the 50k in the first 3.5 weeks of the month because the holiday is family time. This means I need to write 14,500 words per week the first three weeks and 6,500 the final half week. Knowing this lets me figure out my daily average and weekly total.
Have a Back-Up Plan
If life (or client work) interferes with my plan, my backup plan is to adjust my writing times to go later in the evening and longer on the weekends. I have a chart showing my daily and weekly goals so I’ll know how much I need to make up in these extra writing sessions. Do you have a backup plan in case you don’t make your first week’s goal? Maybe it means adding time to your second week to catch up? Maybe it’s writing on the weekend or on a weeknight? Figure out how you can catch up if you fall behind. This will help you succeed in the long run.
Make Yourself Accountable
Set up rewards and penalties for reaching or missing your interim goals. These incentives could help motivate you to keep going. But even if you choose not to attach external incentives, you do need to keep yourself accountable. Once you have a plan, figure out how you are going to stick to it.
Prepare to Succeed
This means defining what success means to you. Do you want to produce 50k words and that’s it? Or do you want to end up with 50k words that are the foundation for a great first draft? Do you want to work toward a larger novel? What part do you want to finish in November? Define what you want to accomplish.
Know Your Throughline
Know what the end goal is for your novel. Now I know this might cause the Pantsers out there to stress, but you should know your story well enough to know what you ultimately want for your characters. This could be as simple as wanting them to find love or eliminate a threat, save the world, climb a mountain. You don’t need an elaborate plot to know where your story is going. There is a lot still to figure out and improvise along the way. You can even change the ending if you want, as long as you know where you are going.
Plot and Plan
If you are not a Pantser, then take time to plot and plan ahead of time. This will help you stay on track and end up with the story you meant to write. Plotting takes more time up front, but it saves time during editing.
Go for the Hybrid Plan
If you don’t want to plot or pants it, then you can combine the two. Go for a bare bones approach where you know what you want to accomplish at key points in the story and you work from milestone to milestone. This is a great way to lay out the structure of your story without feeling locked in to anything.
Know Your Characters
This one is important. You have to know your characters before you start writing. If you don’t do any other planning, do this. Figure out who your characters are, what they look like, their names, what they want and what stands in their way. Know how they will react to things and what motivates them. You have to understand their psychology so you know how to make them keep going despite all those obstacles you are going to throw in their way. The big question to ask yourself is why don’t they walk away when it gets tough? The answer to that speaks to your character’s motivation. If they want to save their child, nothing you throw at them is going to stand in their way. If they are ambitious, they will be willing to go to more extreme measures to get ahead. If they are in love, they will endure more than someone who is not. Find out what makes your character keep moving forward.
This Book Is About…
Story is about more than what happens. It goes deeper than: this happened, then that happened, and then… You have to know what your story is about at its core. Is it about growing up and finding your place? Overcoming prejudice and succeeding anyway? Falling in love despite the forces trying to keep your characters apart? If you can fill in the blank: This story is about ______, you will be closer to knowing how to write your story.
The next blog will cover tips you can use during NaNoWriMo.