6 Lessons from NaNoWriMo

Over the course of November, I wrote 50,012 words towards my novel, pieced together as:

• scenes for the first 5 turning points and first step of the 6th turning point of my WIP
• a prologue
• off-shoot stories about some of the cast of characters who are part of my protagonist’s journey.

Source: screen grab from 10000hoursleft’s NaNoWriMo account

In addition to NaNoWriMo, I completed a writing course, applied for 5 jobs, and fulfilled family, work and personal responsibilities. The writing milestones are personal highlights of the past 12 months. Funnily, when I co-wrote my first post of 2016 (on maintaining goals), I hadn’t set out on this path, conceiving these goals in the final half of the year (and working on them in the last quarter), giving me a more tangible target than my previously vague goal of progressing my WIP over the year (it is never too late to start a ‘new year resolution’).

Here, I share lessons I learnt about myself, my writing, and the writing process.

In August, when I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo 2016, I had an almost finished detailed synopsis of my novel. I knew if I wanted to give NaNoWriMo a decent shot, I needed to finish my writing course before hand, with the aim of having a complete structure for my novel. This helped me complete the 8 month course that I had deferred, worked on, got bored with, regained momentum on, and extended over 2 years.

I aimed for 50,000 and got in at 50,012, reminding myself of the first concrete goal I can remember visualising, in my final year of school, where I hand wrote a sign that I posted above my desk, that read ‘Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER)≥ 90’, a ranking used to determine eligibility for university courses. What did I get? 90.25. I wonder what would have happened if I had set my goals higher (or lower even).

As for the means to get to the 50,000 word target, I knew that I could only manage that huge word count with a dedicated effort each day averaging 1667 words daily over the month – a slow and steady approach over the whole month.

On days when I got bored of the story that had been kicking around in my head for about 5 years, I broke free of structure and wrote about the minor characters. Not only was this enjoyable, giving me free reign, it also informed the main story and allowed me to add some depth with a greater understanding of the complex lives of the supporting cast and their interactions with my main character. In doing so, a significant addition to my story was establishing a cultural identity for my main character – more on the angst that that has caused me in another post.

First draft is really all about ‘place holding’, as eloquently stated by writer, blogger and NaNoWriMo participant Doug Branson in our NaNoWriMo exchanges. I spent too much time describing what was happening rather than allowing it to unfold, and this didn’t change until day 25 when I distinctly remember feeling I had gotten over a sticking point in my writing and ‘stuff’ just flowed. This was in part due to back stories of minor characters that gave me ideas for my novel proper, and possibly also finally getting into the groove after all that writing. Better late than never, hey? Although I cringed while writing a lot of the time, I refrained from editing and plodded on, the only way possible to achieve my 50,000 word target.

It is possible to make time for your goals, if your heart is set on it. This lesson is a double-edged sword. Yes, I achieved my goal while maintaining the essentials of my every day life, but I also recognised that there are some aspects of my time that I can relinquish only for so long. In order to complete my NaNoWriMo goal, I gave up my usual commuting activities: meditation, sleep, and reading. I realised that it wasn’t sustainable long term, and recognise the toll the pressure took on my health. I have learnt the benefits of a writing goal and a dedication to time for it, but bending  time to fit 1667 words into a day is not for me. In a recent post where I assessed optimal daily word count from a range of perspectives,  I concluded that 1,000 – 1,400 words per day is the level where possibilities are open for a range of prolificacy, but that even 500 words per day goes a long way towards writing goals and satisfaction.

Taking a leaf out of my own book, I will aim for 500 – 800 a day to maintain my mojo, and accept any extra as a bonus. Have I started this daily habit yet? No – I am experiencing a little burnout and taking a much needed break until January 2017.

On each occasion I sat down to write, I had a clear idea of the section of the story I was in; my main character’s concrete goal; her character arc at turning point, step and sequence level; and, the central dramatic question raised at the start and usually resolved at the end of each of turning point, step, and sequence. Fingers crossed this means the 50,012 words I will revisit will have some sense and meaning and I can focus most of my energy on writing rather than structure.

I intend to complete the remaining sections of my WIP before returning to the beginning to re-write. The more  financially viable option (than enrolling in the next course at the Writers’ Studio) will be to reference  books on writing and editing and/or take a creative writing course on a MOOC platform. If you have any recommendations of books or free online courses in this area- please let me know. I’d also love to hear about your goals (writing or otherwise) and what you’ve learnt on the journey.