Have you ever tried to write a novel? It doesn’t matter if it was fiction or non-fiction. It doesn’t matter whether it was an action tale of spies against spies, or a story of love between two misanthropic socialites. It’s just…have you? If you have, then you probably know the amount of work that is required in preparing for and actually attempting the feat, let alone being successful with it. Well, don’t give up! National Novel Writing Month approaches with hopes that this time you’ll be more successful.
National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo for short, is a contest that runs through the month of November. The idea behind the contest is to get as many different writers together onto one online forum, www.nanowrimo.org, and then write a novel. Your entry into the contest would be your finished novel, clocking in at over 50,000 words, by the end of the month. That said, you’re not left high and dry to do all the work by yourself. Here’s how it works:
First, you need an idea for your story. You can come up with it yourself, or you can hop onto the online forum and get ideas. You can show your idea to other people that are there and maybe they can help you clean it up. It might be a good idea to do this before November, so you don’t have to lose any time that could very easily go into writing your story. There are separate forums for every genre, spanning from adventure to mystery, from science fiction to erotica, so there’s definitely a spot for whatever story you want to tell.
Then comes the waiting for the contest to begin. The weeks turn to days, the days turn to hours, and then finally November comes around and you’re able to start writing your masterpiece. Only of course, you’ve got to be timely. It’ll be tricky balancing a school schedule, a work schedule and writing but if you set aside a little bit of time each day you might be able to produce enough content to stay in the race. Plus, you’ve got everyone on the forum on your side, willing to help you out if you get stuck. The idea behind the battle is you just can’t give up, even if you realize that half of November has gone by and you’ve just started chapter two.
Oh yeah, and don’t forget, this is a contest! Complete your novel, send it in and you automatically win a prize. What prize? One complete novel! Written by you! Good luck!