Gear up for National Novel Writing Month
At this very moment, thousands of writers across the U.S. and the world are franticly clicking away at their keyboards in hopes of making their word goal by Nov. 30 for National Novel Writing Month.
National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo, is an event where creative writers work toward a set word goal in developing their very own novel throughout November.
University of Idaho creative writing students Olivia Haberman, Brittany Kienke and Paisley Lukenbill are three friends taking on the NaNoWriMo challenge.
“This will actually be my sixth year participating in NaNo,” Haberman said. “I heard about it sometime in high school and thought it sounded fun.”
Kienke said this is her first year participating in NaNoWriMo, since her friends begged her to join in the event.
“I figured it’d be easier to do it with a group, as you get lots of support and encouragement, so I gave in to the peer pressure,” she said.
Lukenbill said it is liberating to write in a genre she wouldn’t normally try.
“I’m writing a mystery novel this year, which is something I would never try in my sane mind, but, fortunately, you don’t have to be in your sane mind to be a part of NaNo,” Lukenbill said.
The three friends are going for a word goal of 50,000 words each, which is the minimum count to submit to the NaNoWriMo website before midnight, Nov. 30.
Anyone who completes the word goal will get their novel officially verified, their name will be added to the site’s Winner’s Page and they will receive a winner’s certificate and web badge for their accomplishment.
Both Kienke and Haberman said the greatest challenge for the event will be holding themselves back from the impulse to self-edit their novels during the writing process.
“I’m a major self-editor,” said Kienke. “I can spend an hour just staring at the page, stuck in the middle of a sentence, trying desperately to find the perfect word.”
Haberman said NaNoWriMo is about quantity over quality.
“If you’re writing a novel in thirty days, you have to make peace with the fact that it’s going to suck,” Haberman said. “If I’m going to finish, I can’t allow myself to re-read what I’ve written or I’ll never get past how awful it is.”
Lukenbill’s biggest challenge is getting herself to sit down and just keep writing.
“I get bored and don’t want to work for days at a time,” she said. “I have to just sit down and force myself to write everyday because meeting 50,000 words in one month will be difficult even if I am diligent.”
Kienke said something that has really helped her with the writing process was taking the time to work on the basic plotting of her story, and she isn’t afraid to write whatever idea comes into her head.
Lukenbill said writing ridiculous things that are unnecessary for the plotline but add to the word count is a perfect technique for NaNoWriMo.
The most important thing to remember for NaNoWriMo is to have fun with the writing process, the three writers said.
“If you’re doing NaNo for the first time, don’t give up,” Haberman said. “When you fall behind on your daily goals, it’s cool — some of the most fun I’ve had over the years is digging myself out of the deficit and back to where I’m supposed to be.”
Kienke’s advice is to breathe, shut off the self-editor and write until your fingers fall off.
“Even if the novel you turn out ends up being atrocious, it’s still good to get yourself writing,” she said.
Lukenbill said NaNoWriMo is the time you can let loose with your writing.
“Take risks in your writing and try things that you wouldn’t try in any other circumstance,” she said.
A group of Moscow writers meets at the One World Cafe for write-ins to bounce around ideas and encourage each other in the process.
The NaNoWriMo website, nanowrimo.org, is a way to connect with other writers, check out regional word counts and get involved in other events by NaNoWriMo.
“It’s frantic and crazy and I love it,” Haberman said.
Emily Vaartstra can be reached at [email protected]
Illustration by Alejandra Soto | rawr