‘Writer Twitter’ has once again begun to mention something in conspriatorial hushed tones. The closest thing to liken it to is the conspiritorial tone used in October when someone in the western world discusses the approaching Christmas season.

For writers, this ‘thing’ is something that can bolster the hopeful among us and leave the others feeling unprepared and riddled with doubt (a bit like mentioning Christmas early can do too).

What in the world am I talking about? Why it’s NaNoWriMo day of course!

As the nights draw in, as the fires are lit, as the tea pours like a hot nourishing river, and the muse is fed copious quantities of sweet treats and other indulgences, we writers settle down and enjoy… a grueling month-long writing session.

An epic writing journey that, if we work hard (and we’re lucky), will leave us holding the first draft of a brand new novel. That’s what NaNoWriMo stands for: National Novel Writing Month. You write a novel in a month.

That’s the plan anyway, and for the past eight years it’s what I’ve done. This year will be my tenth NaNoWriMo project (I took part in one of their ‘summer camps’ a few years back).

I still don’t feel like an expert but this year I’ll hit my 500,000 word total, so I feel a lot more confident than I did when starting my first (they tally your projects as well as your total wordcount).

If you’re reading this and you’ve never participated in NaNoWriMo before I thought I’d share a few short tips which have helped me to complete my 50,000 word target each November for the past eight years.

Tip One: Get out of your own head

To an extent this can be about not letting yourself overthink your project. However, there’s a more practical day-to-day component to it.

Whether you plan ahead or write in a wandering flow, do as much as you can to get those thoughts out of your head and on the page.

Put it all in your working document. If you have notes on a character, write it in a headed section at the end of your document marked as ‘character notes’. If you have ideas for future scenes, write the roughest plan for them under ‘scenes’ or something similar.

Basically, wherever possible, do not let your novel take place in your own head. Get every detail written down as they come to you because you will forget them if you don’t.

As an extra bonus, some of your scenes will already be planned out with a skeleton so on less inspired days you can potter around adding more meat to them, adding to the story, and increasing your word count.

Tip Two: Turn Up

In the early stages you may find that you get ahead of your totals. This may incline you to take a ‘day off’ in the first week or so… Please DON’T!

Instead, if you really feel the need for a break, then simply slow down and do less for a couple of days. If you’re 2-3000 words up it may feel like you could risk a day off but you’ll stay consistent and still feel the benefit if you simply write 5-700 words (about a scene’s worth) per day for three or four days. Days off get you out of the habit and steal your momentum.

Falling behind is hard to recover from, don’t risk that extra sly day off as you’ll potentially spend the better part of the following week catching your tail. Please trust me, lazy days are fine, “days off” are rarely worth the risk. I’ve done it more than two or three times over the years and regretted it every time.

Tip Three: Connect to the community

NaNoWriMo has a phenomenally supportive community and you can access them on pretty much any major social media platform, as well as connect in real life.

It’s a worldwide event but it has a strong local component as well. Simply go to the ‘community’ section in your NaNoWriMo dashboard and you’ll see a section marked ‘home region’. Here you can connect virtually. On top of this, depending on your local group, you can even arrange to meet as a group in a coffee shop for an epic writing session on your day off work.

Don’t feel obligated to participate in every NaNoWriMo activity but be sure to have a go at something. You’re really missing out if you don’t connect with others in the same boat. The odd mixture of support and a little healthy competition has helped me in countless ways in previous years.

One of my favourite components of the NaNoWriMo community has been the ‘sprints’. I use Twitter as my primary mode of contact with others during NaNoWriMo and the hashtag #nanowordsprints is connected to a particular activity within this community.

‘Word Sprints’ are short clips of time where the hosts set a timer and you write as much as you can during that time. You then take the designated break, congratulate one another, regroup, grab a beverage, then sit down for the next one.

Typically I find that my own first two or three sprints of the day will be pretty low in word count, but once I’m warmed up the next two or three can get me to (or even over) my target word count for that day. It’s a great way to punch up your wordcount if you’re short on time that day.

Typically, I can’t keep up with sprints every day. It’s a tiring activity, and is also not easily paired with research or planning time. Often only one or two of my weekly writing sessions will include a sprint. However, the usefulness and efficiency is worth the mental exhaustion.

No more tips, just go register

You can already register for NaNoWriMo prep activities. These start in September and run through to the end of October. I’ve never done this myself but it does look like a useful way to go if you’re a planner and want to be thoroughly prepared for your first NaNoWriMo.

Alternatively, simply make a commitment to yourself to join on day one of NaNoWriMo. Go onto your calendar and add a reminder to sign up on the 1st of November. Then just mull over the core idea for your book.

My core idea is very basic at present but I’ve got time to let it grow and gestate. I might write a basic character summary for my main characters. I may note down ideas for scenes. However, I very much prefer to let the story take shape at the time, so personally my prep will be minimal.

Do whatever feels right for you, but if you want to have a book written on the 1st December this year, then be sure to do something right now to cement that commitment.

Hope you found this useful, and hope to catch up with you during our writing projects this November.

As always, thanks for popping over to my site, all the best, John