What year(s) did you participate in NaNoWriMo?
2011
Tell us if you won or not, and what you learned from the experience
I successfully reached the 50,000 word mark–and then did a sort of half-NaNo to write another 26,000 words in December, to have a completed first draft by the end of the year. I’d say I had two big take-away lessons.
One, I CAN keep writing if I set my mind to it. I’d frequently hit a point in the day’s writing when I felt like I had written “enough,” i.e., I’d used up that day’s inspiration. But if I was short on words, I’d grit my teeth and keep going–and I’d generally hit a new rhythm to continue.
Two, inspiration will come when it’s needed. I usually have some “Eureka” moments in writing a draft, when a plot point falls into place or I figure something out about a character. Since it usually takes me much longer to write a novel, these tend to be spread out–but in the compressed format of NaNo, the Eureka moments came faster too.
What specific advice do you have for someone attempting NaNoWriMo ?
Find as much community as you can. I had some friends who were also doing NaNo. The message boards are also a great place to hang out. I used them as small breaks between bursts of writing–just don’t get caught up surfing the boards instead of writing! But it really helps to know other people are doing this crazy thing too. It helped me keep writing when I was getting stuck some evening–sort of a “everyone’s doing it” mentality, which meant I could too. The boards also have lots of great advice, from strategies to meet the word goals to specific points on plots or character issues.
Second piece of advice: trust your characters. In the loopy, crazy world of NaNo, I began to feel more and more that my characters were the ones deciding what ought to be happening–and things went best when I went with what they suggested. It helps to have some kind of plan, but don’t be afraid to change things up as the month goes on.
In your opinion who do you think is a good fit to do the challenge and who is is *not* for.
You really have to love to write. Writing became my life during NaNo, and I expect that to happen again this year. I have a job, I have a social life, but anything unimportant got shoved aside for a month while I focused on the writing.
You have to care about your goal. Whatever you’re trying to do in November, it has to matter to you because it won’t always be easy. I don’t think you have to be trying to write 50,000 words, though. That’s the main focus, but I really think it would work as well to have a different goal. Maybe you just want to write 10,000 words. Maybe you just want to finish a short story. NaNo is a great community of writers who are setting themselves goals in writing. Figure out the goal that counts for you–but it has to be important to you.
You have to care about your product. There’s no “reward,” so if you’re planning to pound out 50,000 words of complete nonsense just to say you passed the goal, don’t bother. The reward is the accomplishment, and the written product that you have at the end.
Author Bio:
Cheryl writes YA fantasy, and is planning to launch on her second NaNo this November. She blogs at Tales of the Marvelous (http://marveloustales.wordpress.com), sharing book reviews, writing, and discussions on books. She blogged throughout her NaNo experience last year, sharing the ups and the downs and even novel excerpts (all available in the blog archives), and plans to do so again this year.
Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Social Media:
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/9813065-cheryl
http://www.twitter.com/marveloustales
