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I’ve not been writing for very long, one month in fact and I’ve come across a post about the ‘National Novel Writing Month‘. This is something I have never heard of but having read about it I’m really excited and have decided to participate.

After finding out what it entails I’ve gone through a series of emotions from wonder to fear to nervousness and of course excitement. Quite frankly it is scary as you have to its minimum of 50,000 words for your book to be classed as a novel. If you only reach a word count of 30,000 you can pass it as a novella but NaNoWriMo is about novels so you target has to be 50,000.

50,000 words … that’s a lot of words! It works out to around 1,667 words per day! That is quite some number and it means a daily commitment to getting a target word count done. If you fall behind it will mean there is serious catching up to do! It runs for the whole of November and once joined up you have access to an online community and forums and a profile where you can track your progress! You can start writing from Nov 1st until 30th Nov 2016.

So we have just over a month to get ourselves organised for this so what preparations do I need to do? I’m guessing my main concern should be an idea for a novel which I do have but apart from the few notes I have for some ideas of how my story will pan out that as far as I have got. I think my focus will be planning an outline of the book including chapters, cliffhangers and settings,  a start, middle and end to a story. Characters will be created as I write but I have 5 main characters for my idea. I will share a little insight into my story … but before I do, first I need to be clear what that is!

So the next question for me is how do I join the forums? I’ve logged on but the links for the forums don’t seem to be working. I’m eager to get going and start the planning process!

I may have answered some of the same questions you initially had if you had never heard of it before. If not and I have missed something please ask away in the comments!

I’m looking forward to the challenge! Who is joining me?  Are you participating? If you are Great! Add your name to comments and add me as a writing buddy!

 

Published by Madison Ward

I'm a coffee loving Mum from England who is just starting out as a writer. I decided I wanted to become an author after reading a novel while on holiday in Cornwall. I have been writing my blog to get some experience and explore different genres to decide what style of writing I want to use before finishing my manuscript.

21 thoughts on “NaNoWriMo 2016”

  2. Hi Madsion, you are signed up for NanoWriMo you should be able to click on the forums and it takes you to the conversations from last year, around October 1st ish it will reset to clear the site and new forums will start

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    1. Thanks Hun. I ended up messaging the officials! Lol None of the forum links work on my account. I’m guessing because I wasn’t registered last year I can’t access them. They said it resets beginning of Oct as you said. I will have a look tomorrow and go through the ones that are active.

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  4. Add me too! mrswintheiser. As to some of your prep questions. I’ve come across a blog that had an idea to make basically story sticks. You take popsicle sticks and write down plot ideas and when you get stuck you pick one and you have to incorporate what it says into your story. I don’t know if you’re on pinterest, but just do a search on that site for nanowrimo. You’ll come across a lot. Good luck with your word goals! ☺

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          1. Make a to do list. Include things like clean desk, make playlist, buy coffee (or drink of choice), create outline, come up with reward system, etc. That’s what I’m in the process of doing. Hope that helps.

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  6. I wish you well in your NaNoWriMo goals. I participated for the first time last year and loved it. I even surpassed the 50K word length and the novel I started back then is scheduled for publication the first part of 2017. I will offer two pieces of advice: (1) schedule time every day to write (and do nothing else during that time); and (2) write, don’t wordsmith. Get your scenes recorded. You will take care of editing after November. I’m Taviar in the NaNoWriMo world.

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