Thoughts on National Novel Writing Month

 “The truth is that there’s always a gap between the story as you imagined it - compelling, insightful, rich with subtle nuance - and what actually ends up in the manuscript. This is because stories must be written, and read, one word at a time…” - Nancy Kress 

This is my fourth year participating in National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo. Every November people try to write a 500,000 word novel in thirty days. It’s recommended to write 1667 words a day. I’ve never been a stickler about the official NaNoWriMo rules. I don’t often hit 1667 words a day and I don’t think my ideas are detailed enough for an entire novel. 

I’ve had story ideas and characters running around in my head for years but I haven’t written many of them down. I figured participating would be a way for me to finally finish something. That’s been more challenging than I thought.

Although I have yet to complete a story, let alone a novel, I did get something out of the work I put in. Each year has been a learning experience.

2018

The project for my first year was a science fiction/fantasy story that evolved from a story I came up with in my childhood. Although I didn’t finish it, by writing for a month I saw my characters come to life. At the end of the month I had a partial draft and I knew how the story would end. That’s more than I had before I started. It felt pretty good. 

2019

For my second year I decided my project would be a collection of at least four short stories. My plan was to write one story per week. It sounded like a good idea at the time but I wound up spending the entire month on the first story. I didn’t finish it. On the positive side I beat my previous year’s word count. 

2020

It took me a while to figure out what to do last year. My first thoughts were to finish a previous project or start a new story. But I also had some essays that I wanted to write. So I took last year’s idea and tweaked it a little. I named my project Short Fiction and Essays. I worked on one piece of fiction and a variety of essays. 

Once again, it sounded like a good idea at the time. It was a way to get me writing. I beat my previous year’s word count once again but the only thing I finished was one essay. The essay became a post for my blog. But at the end of the month I didn’t have the sense of accomplishment that I had the previous two years.

I thought having separate mini-projects would make it easier for me to finish things. Instead, I didn’t feel as focused as the previous two years. I only finished one essay and I didn’t think that was much of an accomplishment. Since I update my blog at least one a month, I would have written that essay whether it was National Novel Writing Month or not. In the end I didn't see the point.

As disappointing as last year’s experience was, it was still a good learning experience. It helped me understand that NaNoWriMo works best for me when I use it to focus on writing fiction. I decided on this year’s project pretty quickly. 

2021

This year I’m putting all my energy into one story again. If I finish it before the end of the month I'll start another one.

I wrote my first short story when I was in high school. I don’t have it anymore but I remember some vague details. I tried to write a new version of that story once before but nothing came of it. But I didn’t stop thinking about it and it kept growing. I decided that this year’s project would be based on that story. 

Before the month started I gave myself three goals:

Write every day. 

Break last year’s word count. 

Finish the story. 

The month is just over half over. I’ve written and updated my word count every day so far. I broke last year’s word count on the 15th. That was huge for me. Not so much because it’s a higher number, but more importantly because I’ve gotten further into a story than in previous years, in half the time.

I don’t have everything worked out story wise but I’m finding that things get worked out as I sit down and write. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for the first time and it feels pretty good. 

(Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month)