What I learned from National Novel Writing Month

Jan 11

mad!writing , , , No Comments

November 2008 was my first NaNoWriMo. I have written a few short stories and a couple of screenplays, but I have never attempted anything of this scale. Fifty-thousand words in 30 days. That is approximately 1,666 words per day. I used 1,700 as a guide. Hit the jump for some stats.

More

I’m a Winner!

Dec 01

mad!writing , No Comments

you_won

I have completed the 2008 NaNoWriMo!  Here are some quick stats: my novel weighed in at 50,935 words and I met my daily writing goal 16 out of the 30 days (I was even sick for about a week).

I will participate in Script Frenzy in April.  The goal is 100 screenplay pages in 30 days which will be much easier for me than writing a novel in 30 days.  Later this week I will give you a rundown on the last 30 days.  Now I can get some rest and go see the new Bond movie tomorrow.

Halfway through NaNoWriMo

Nov 15

mad!general , No Comments

nano_111508Today marks the halfway point of National Novel Writing Month.  The goal is to write 50,000 words in the month of November.  As you can see from my chart I am about 3,600 words behind my goal which isn’t too bad.

The little dip you see over the last few days is because I have been sick.  I will be taking a couple of days off around Thanksgiving so I can make the big push for 50,000.

What’s my novel about?  It’s an epic fantasy loosely based on historical events and mythology.  Think The Lord of the Rings meets Pirates of the Caribbean.  Although at this point I want to get one novel done let alone three.

Some of the NaNo forums recommend writing about something you don’t care about, but I don’t know how to do that.  Having something vested in these characters makes it worthwhile.

The biggest lesson I learned from NaNo so far is to keep writing no matter what.  NaNo is a marathon to get to 50,000 words.  You can’t look back or waste time editing, so I have made several notes reminding myself to fix things when I can go back.

In April I plan on participating in Script Frenzy!  It’s basically the same deal except you write a screenplay in thirty days, (something I am more familiar with).  Somehow I think it will be easier to write a screenplay in a month than a novel.

Older Entries