November is National Novel Writing Month!
It's almost November, which means you've likely seen the term "NaNoWriMo" floating around YWS or elsewhere online. But, what does that mean? NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and is a challenge to write a novel!
It started in 1999 as a simple but daunting challenge: write a 50,000 word novel between November 1st and November 30th. It's intense. It's rewarding. It can be down-right exhausting. You can do as much planning beforehand that you want to (which is why October is often called "PlanMo" as NaNo-ers try to plot out what they'll write in November) but the big push comes in November.
Now, 50,000 words might sound intimidating -- but don't fret! You might be surprised at how many words you can crank out once you beat down the inner editor and just WRITE instead of trying to edit as you go. But even if you don't get to the big 50K, whatever you wrote will be that much closer to you having a completed novel! And it will also stretch your writing muscles and make you more likely to hit 50K in subsequent years!
Where Do I Start?
Good question!
Head on over to the NaNoWriMo Forum and start plotting out your novel! Read through some others' threads to gain inspiration or check out the archives to get an idea of how things have gone in previous years.
Then, once NaNo starts (November 1st!) get to writing! Post your daily progress (in your planning thread or on your wall) and let the rest of us hype you up as you go! If you make wall posts, make sure to tag them with #NaNo or #NaNo2020 to be sure we all can find your updates!
Finally, you have the option of joining the Official NaNoWriMo Site ! This is not in any way affiliated with YWS, but it can be a fun tool to use to update your daily word counts and see your progress bar filling up! You also can earn some fun badges over there, and even add friends to keep you accountable!
And with that, I wish you a HAPPY NANO!
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