National Novel Writing Month is upon us
November is most often known as “The month before Christmas” or “Time to prepare for finals,” but if you’re into writing, it is something else entirely – a season of both fear and anticipation.
NaNoWriMo, or NaNo for short, stands for National Novel Writing Month. This is the challenge: Write 50,000 words in 30 days. That’s about 1,700 words per day, which is more than the average Gazette article or most first-year writing assignments. It can be about anything you want. A classic fantasy novel about elves beating up dragons while on a quest to the mountain of doom? Sure. A fan-fiction cross-over of the Walking Dead and Star Trek? If that’s your thing. A whole book of haikus? Why not. The only restriction is the massive word count, and the prize is the satisfaction and boasting rights.
Not that you can’t do anything with it after it’s finished. Several novels written during NaNo have gone on to be published, even become bestsellers like “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen or “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern. Over the years, this challenge has become more and more popular, with writer communities from as far as Vancouver to Johannesburg taking part.
Diana, the unofficial ML (Municipal Liaison) for the HRM this year, helps organise events that bring NaNo participants from all over the HRM to write together and support each other.
“The number and variety of people who do [NaNo] is shocking,” Diana says of the ever-growing writing community, which ranges from teenagers to retired Dal professors to published authors.
The great thing about the diversity of the participants is that it usually results in diverse stories, something Diana is eager for.
“[I’d like to see more stories about] girls kicking ass without guys. It’s something that’s not really represented in media, or when it is it’s very little.”
Her main piece of advice? “Just write. Don’t worry about what you’re putting down. December is for editing, November is for getting the story out.”
With that in mind, here are some good places to help you through the 50 000 words:
• The NaNoWriMo forums (nanowrimo.org/forums, great place for support and sharing ideas)
• clevergirlhelps.tumblr.com (One of the best places for research and writing advice)
• maxkirin.tumblr.com (Encouragement and tips for writers)
• Writeworld.org (Writing advice and prompts)
•donjon.bin.sh (A really cool map generator, perfect for fantasy worlds)
• Springhole.net, Seventhsanctun.com, generatorland.com (Plot generators)
• fantasynamegenerators.com (Awesome name generator- not just fantasy names!)
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