Tips for National Novel Writing Month
In November every year countless writers take up the NaNoWriMo challenge to produce fifty thousand words by the end of the month. Every year I tweet handy hints to those taking part. Here are some of my tips from 2021...
There are, as I see it, three phases to NaNoWriMo: the preparation phase, the writing phase, and the beyond-November phase.
The Preparation Phase
As October rolls on apace, writers everywhere are preparing for National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo.
If it feels a little late to be preparing to pen those first important words on 1 November – it isn’t!
There are useful steps you can take between now and then, steps that will help you make decisions about your novel before you start typing.
This is the research, reading and thinking phase. So here are a few resources, immediately accessible, that will help shape your writing.
Emma Darwin and This Itch of Writing
Follow a high-quality writing blog such as This Itch of Writing from Emma Darwin (follow her on Twitter at @emma_darwin). For both overview and detail, you can’t beat Emma’s advice. A seriously good starting place for the serious writer.
Mslexia
Mslexia is a top-quality publication in terms of both content and presentation. It’s informative, inspiring and up to date. It’s vibrant and fresh. It has verve. With both detailed writing advice and a wider focus (on genre, and the world of publishing), it cannot fail to be helpful to writers. Follow @Mslexia on Twitter to get a flavour of things. Oh, and subscribe if you can – there are perks for subscribers. You can purchase digital versions immediately from their website.
You can also download for immediate use the Mslexia mini guide A Novel in Nine Steps for coffee-break inspiration. Advice, exercises, and pointers to help shape your novel, covering plotting, point of view, characterisation, and lots more. All for the bargain price of £3. Brilliant. Available here.
FutureLearn
FutureLearn provide free, online, high-quality courses in nearly every area you can think of, delivered by various institutions including top universities. There are lots of courses covering history and literature, and some aimed at writers too. Delivered to your inbox. Study at your own pace.
So get stuck in to any or all of these, and prepare to write!
The Preparation Phase
As October rolls on apace, writers everywhere are preparing for National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo.
If it feels a little late to be preparing to pen those first important words on 1 November – it isn’t!
There are useful steps you can take between now and then, steps that will help you make decisions about your novel before you start typing.
This is the research, reading and thinking phase. So here are a few resources, immediately accessible, that will help shape your writing.
Emma Darwin and This Itch of Writing
Follow a high-quality writing blog such as This Itch of Writing from Emma Darwin (follow her on Twitter at @emma_darwin). For both overview and detail, you can’t beat Emma’s advice. A seriously good starting place for the serious writer.
Mslexia
Mslexia is a top-quality publication in terms of both content and presentation. It’s informative, inspiring and up to date. It’s vibrant and fresh. It has verve. With both detailed writing advice and a wider focus (on genre, and the world of publishing), it cannot fail to be helpful to writers. Follow @Mslexia on Twitter to get a flavour of things. Oh, and subscribe if you can – there are perks for subscribers. You can purchase digital versions immediately from their website.
You can also download for immediate use the Mslexia mini guide A Novel in Nine Steps for coffee-break inspiration. Advice, exercises, and pointers to help shape your novel, covering plotting, point of view, characterisation, and lots more. All for the bargain price of £3. Brilliant. Available here.
FutureLearn
FutureLearn provide free, online, high-quality courses in nearly every area you can think of, delivered by various institutions including top universities. There are lots of courses covering history and literature, and some aimed at writers too. Delivered to your inbox. Study at your own pace.
So get stuck in to any or all of these, and prepare to write!
The Writing Phase
Pour your passion into your first draft, but when redrafting remember: writing is a skill, a craft that needs honing.
Unless certain aspects of plot are time-dependent, forget keeping a timeline in the first draft. That’s housekeeping for later, says Roz Morris in Nail Your Novel.
Embrace invisible speech tags, e.g. he said/she said, to aid flow. Don’t feel you need more than occasional variation.
Don’t use too much ‘throat clearing’ in dialogue: erm, er, ahem, you know, like… It might be true to life but it will distract your reader.
Avoid action tags for speech: ‘Really?’ he shrugged. ‘Yes,’ she smiled. Keep action for, well, action.
Do you repeat certain words too often? Read a few pages aloud. You may not realise you have a writerly tic!
World-building? Character backstory? Don’t add in slabs, but try to drip feed…
Read your dialogue out loud. Does it sound natural? Contractions will help you replicate normal speech patterns.
‘Effective description should generate both character and plot.’ Mslexia, A Novel in Nine Steps.
Adding dialect words or trying to indicate an accent? By all means give a flavour, but don’t overdo it. It can be distracting for the reader.
Try not to use ‘that’ too often. That is a word that can annoy when that is used in that way…
‘Good pacing lets you ratchet up the suspense, then gives your reader time to savour and reflect.’ Thanks Mslexia!
Make sure your novel goes out with a bang, not a fizzle. Give the last stages the attention they deserve.
The Beyond-November Phase
Remember to invest in honing your craft once your passion-draft is complete. It’ll take your novel to another level. Read my article on your passion-draft and what to do with it here.
‘Writing novels is a process of repeating and refining.’ Roz Morris, author of Nail Your Novel.
If writing outside your lived experience, consider a sensitivity reader early in the process. ‘Accuracy is a source of inspiration, not a clamp on it.’ Great advice as usual from Mslexia. Author Kit de Waal wrote a helpful article on this subject too. You can read it here.
Get the marvellous Mslexia magazine. Read about its many benefits here…
Find a supportive local writers’ group. My nearest holds all sorts of helpful events on writing and publishing. Read more about what to look for on my Resources page.
Read, read, read! DBC Pierre suggested that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night is a book all writers should read.
Hope all you wonderful writers out there have enjoyed National Novel Writing Month. Keep up the creative brilliance!
Pour your passion into your first draft, but when redrafting remember: writing is a skill, a craft that needs honing.
Unless certain aspects of plot are time-dependent, forget keeping a timeline in the first draft. That’s housekeeping for later, says Roz Morris in Nail Your Novel.
Embrace invisible speech tags, e.g. he said/she said, to aid flow. Don’t feel you need more than occasional variation.
Don’t use too much ‘throat clearing’ in dialogue: erm, er, ahem, you know, like… It might be true to life but it will distract your reader.
Avoid action tags for speech: ‘Really?’ he shrugged. ‘Yes,’ she smiled. Keep action for, well, action.
Do you repeat certain words too often? Read a few pages aloud. You may not realise you have a writerly tic!
World-building? Character backstory? Don’t add in slabs, but try to drip feed…
Read your dialogue out loud. Does it sound natural? Contractions will help you replicate normal speech patterns.
‘Effective description should generate both character and plot.’ Mslexia, A Novel in Nine Steps.
Adding dialect words or trying to indicate an accent? By all means give a flavour, but don’t overdo it. It can be distracting for the reader.
Try not to use ‘that’ too often. That is a word that can annoy when that is used in that way…
‘Good pacing lets you ratchet up the suspense, then gives your reader time to savour and reflect.’ Thanks Mslexia!
Make sure your novel goes out with a bang, not a fizzle. Give the last stages the attention they deserve.
The Beyond-November Phase
Remember to invest in honing your craft once your passion-draft is complete. It’ll take your novel to another level. Read my article on your passion-draft and what to do with it here.
‘Writing novels is a process of repeating and refining.’ Roz Morris, author of Nail Your Novel.
If writing outside your lived experience, consider a sensitivity reader early in the process. ‘Accuracy is a source of inspiration, not a clamp on it.’ Great advice as usual from Mslexia. Author Kit de Waal wrote a helpful article on this subject too. You can read it here.
Get the marvellous Mslexia magazine. Read about its many benefits here…
Find a supportive local writers’ group. My nearest holds all sorts of helpful events on writing and publishing. Read more about what to look for on my Resources page.
Read, read, read! DBC Pierre suggested that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night is a book all writers should read.
Hope all you wonderful writers out there have enjoyed National Novel Writing Month. Keep up the creative brilliance!