And we’re half way through the COUNTDOWN.

Today, with 5 days left for Novelling Month to begin in earnest, it’s time for us to ask some searching questions about our reasons for signing up to NaNoWriMo.

As I browsed through the magnificently lively NaNoWriMo site and other related sites, I noticed that many NaNoers are using it as a fabulous opportunity to ‘kick-start’ their dream of writing a novel. This means they are turning November 30 into a deadline, so all through November their efforts are focused on meeting that target.  Deadlines are amazingly powerful.  I know.  I can get very lackadaisical about completing projects if I’m not given a deadline.  And, here’s a confession.  Some years ago, I was really fed-up with myself.  Despite being a prolific and rapid writer and being obsessive about meeting delivery dates for all commissioned writing projects, I was not fulfilling my dearest ambition – writing a novel.  To remedy this, I joined a Novel Writing Certificate programme so that I could create a framework within which to finish my novel.  I nearly succeeded – with 90,000 words written but some way still to go, I came to a standstill.  And we all know that once you let a personal project go, it recedes like a mirage.

I’ve signed up this year because I want to finish off the work started a while ago and to add 50,000 words to those already written.  Then I’ll edit.

So I, personally, am approaching NaNoWriMo with the intention of finishing up all the incomplete bits.  In preparation, I’ve been skimming through the manuscript and getting back into the spirit of it.  Mainly there’s a ‘a book within a book’ that I want to write; something mystical, bound up in history and myth but which also carries the dramatic culmination to the whole.  Knowing that gives me a solid basis to plan my strategies.

Why not ask yourself why you’re doing this?

Is it to finish something you started a while back?

Or to get yourself kick-started?

For the sheer joy of writing without strings attached?

To get into a creative frenzy with a lot of other writing fanatics?

To have a chance to exchange amazing advice and stories with novellers from around the world?

With a view to producing a publishable short novel or novella?

As a stee-eep learning curve – an immersion month that’ll leave you familiar with your writing abilities, strengths and preferences.

Does the intent affect the approach?  Think carefully.

those who want to get their novel finished will want to get as much of their story told as possible – even exceeding the word target.

Those writing for the joy of it could play around with styles, genres, devices – feel free to pursue innovations, experiments, storylines which could end up in a blind alley.  It all adds to the word count, after all.

A publishable piece would require a level of planning, if not plotting, as well as some character work.  But remember - no correction at this stage.  Just get the thing written, complete with notes on character development and plot.

A learning curve would be even more effective if you can record your process in a journal alongside; a bit of a post-modern touch would be to incorporate it into the text and increase the word count.  Not cheating if you look at the FAQs on the official site about what constitutes a NaNoWriMo. 

I’ve been through my book and marked out certain parts of the narrative as starting points or ‘prompts’ for my NaNo novel.  That’s given me an idea of the themes I’ll be writing about and how the content ricochet from the mind of one character to that of another.  I have in my head a rough route map of where the protagonist is going and a few seminal events in his life that affect the end and tie his knowledge and experiences to the main novel.

I already know his context but I’m slowly beginning to hear his voice in my head.  I’m hoping that in the next few days it’ll get increasingly clearer.  If that happens, writing will be a piece of cake.  Just a question of writing down what he dictates. I will set aside time in December and January to pull the whole thing together, edit, rewrite.

If you haven’t tried the techniques in this blog yet, do start practising them.  They’ll stimulate your imagination, help you create valuable writing space for yourself and give you the instant-writing habit.  I’ve written many, many books in record time using the techniques I’m passing on to you for free.

Good luck meditating on how you’ll need to approach your novel.  It’ll stand you in good stead.

Happy writing.