Considering doing a NaNoWriMo November fist draft challenge? 50,000 words is a huge amount of words to write. Especially for a first draft time. Oh god, is that a huge pile of shit to put out on paper or into a computer. Remember:
The first draft of anything is shit.
~ Ernest Hemingway
So do not worry about turning out a first draft that is ready to turn into an editor for them to show you the errors of your ways? Do not worry about anything except one thing: getting 50,000 words written.
To help myself in this goal I had a few things that I set down as things to pay attention to while doing my NaNoWriMo first draft.
The first item on this list was to aim for 2,000 words per day. Everyday. If you go over the 1,667 words needed to hit 50,000 words in a month you will get there. I chose 2,000 words because I liked round numbers. If I hit the goal every day I should, and did, hit 50,000 words by the 25th of the month. I hit my goal on the 22nd.
Do not erase anything. You are getting words out for a first draft. You need to keep adding words, not taking them away. You will write something that does not fit your flow of your story. Are you sure? Leave it there. You can erase it for your second draft. Or perhaps it will become an aside from a character. Or perhaps the start to a different book. Do not erase it now and lose it forever.
Get as plain a writing surface as you can. Have no spell checkers or anything at all. You are writing words. You can clean it up later. I used a text editor that wrapped lines. That was all. Now that I have a first draft done I can go through it and learn my spelling.
Have side tasks. You may, probably, run into a time when you cannot, for whatever reason, add more to your novel. Have a side task to write on. In my novel I had the start for a recipe book (let’s maybe put it in as release from my chapters?); a “starter” section to introduce the reader to what you had prepared; stories about how I got each and every scar on my body (who needs tattoos? Oh, wait, a nurse gave me those); and other bits. As long as you are writing, you are making progress. I actually have the starts for three or four novels now.
Do not forget your goal: hit 50,000 words. Consider these words from a Pep Talk writer:
That novel you’re drafting right now? The novel it eventually becomes may or may not, on the surface, end up looking anything like the words you have on the page right now. Maybe it will. Maybe your novel will need mostly polishing, expanding, smoothing out. Or maybe you’ll revise your draft so completely it will, on the surface, bear only a passing resemblance to what your novel eventually becomes.
~ Anna-Marie McLemore
Yes, it does matter what you write in your 50,000 words. But do not get hung up on writing what will show up in your final novel.
And on the topic, do read the Pep Talks – the hands-down best advice I found in the NaNoWriMo world. There is wisdom and reassurance in every single one of them.
Have a scheduled bit of time to write in. For me, it was nine to noon. Though it often went to 1:00 or 2:00. No, I did not work for four or five hours straight. I’d get up, have coffee breaks, have a breakfast break. But every day I would be at my place to write and writing. Being up and there kept my mind on the subject of writing. It was needed.
{ get this cleaned up !! }
[Closing thoughts?]
What if 50,000 words is just too much? But you still want to participate in NaNoWriMo, there are options. I did that for a marathon run. 26 miles? Um, no, not for me. But half that distance seemed to be within reach.
Pick a smaller goal – how about a half book, 25,000 words in a month.
Pick a weekly goal – How about four short stories, each of 4,000 words?
Go for failure – set out for 50,000. Then track yourself and see how you fail to hit it. If you are not sure of 50,000 words but, well, gee then set out for 50,000 words, and keep a journal of how you did each day. Find out what gets in your way. Not enough time? Not enough planning? Whatever it is you on your way to NaNoWriMo next year.
And there is the fail-safe way to do it. Lie to yourself. “Oh, no, I can’t do that. I’m just jotting down ideas.” Do 1,700 words a day like that and you will succeed.