What NaNoWriMo is teaching me
Yesterday wasn’t a good day for writing, because I had plenty to do and little time to sit down and think about my character’s next move. Despite the fact that I’m behind schedule, I’m quite positive about the result. Actually reaching the goal of 50k words it’s important for me, because I challenged myself to do this right and I really want to succeed (my inner critic would be insufferable if I don’t).
However, no matter how much I feel compelled to reach 50k words, I don’t want to reach that goal by writing crap. I know it’s a first draft and that I will have plenty of time for editing later, but I would prefer not to have to re-write everything or NaNoWriMo would have been useless.
So, here we come to the point: what is NaNoWriMo teaching me?
In this first week I learnt that, if I write a little every day (really every day, with no exception), I don’t need to re-read what I already wrote, because I don’t lose the thread. This save me a lot of time. Moreover I see the story proceed quickly and I feel encouraged to write because I am curious to see where it will go.
So, what about you? What are you learning from NaNoWriMo?
I know it’s quite a short post, but I need to go back to my NaNoWriMo project to catch up with today’s word count!
So far I’ve learnt that my outline was all but a waste if time because I have seriously deviated from it, but I think the story is stronger. I’ve also learnt I’m quite a compact writer and I need to work on writing detail better 🙂
I wrote a sort of outline too but, as Cinta said, my characters keep doing different things from what I planned. I have a pretty good idea of how the story is going to end, but I don’t know exactly what the journey will be.
Mines pretty much the same, the ending won’t change but my characters had a more exciting journey then I had planned 🙂
Sometimes it is good to deviate from the plan. One never knows what they can find along the way, and maybe it is even better than what we had planned 😀
Indeed it’s good!
I got some ideas while writing, mainly for details, that I didn’t even thought about while planning. And some parts of the story are flowing so easily that I am surprised… and really excited!
That’s great! That’s enough proof that you are becoming a good writer 😀
You don’t know how much it means, told from you! Thank you!
lol I’m not Jane Austen! 😛
But you’re a writer that I really respect.
Aww thanks!
I think the greatest benefit of NaNo for me will be a learnt habit – to sit down every morning and write those 2000 words.
I also use NaNo to learn how to best maximise my words-per-hour output. So far it seems I am much more efficient when I write in 20min sprints (2k/h), a bit less so if I do shorter sprints (1.7k/h) and a quarter slower if I write without breaks (1,5k/h). The content itself also seems better when I take short breaks; perhaps they allow me to think a little ahead and get exited all over again for the new trap my characters are about to stumble into. ;]
I agree with you. NaNoWriMo started only a week ago, but I already feel bad if I spend a day without writing, while before I spend weeks without touching a pen or my keybord. My goal for this NaNo won’t be to reach 50k, but to learn to plan time to write every day.