I’m Going to Write 50,000 Words in November, and So Can You
If I have time for Netflix, I have time for NaNoWriMo this November… I hope.
This November, I’m going to write 50,000 words.
No, it’s not my job — and I’m not taking any time off of my day job to write. This is all going to be one story, all in my free time, all part of a novel that currently exists only in my imagination.
I’ve done it before, and I can do it again. And so can you.
Every November, thousands of people join together for an event called NaNoWriMo, short for “National Novel Writing Month.” It started in 1999, when aspiring novelist Chris Baty decided that, instead of sitting around thinking about writing a novel, he was going to just do it. He was going to sit down and power through and, in a set time period, manage to get something, anything, onto a page.
The approach makes sense, in a numbers game, Moneyball kind of way.
- A typical novel, on the shorter side, is around 50,000 words.
- November has 30 days.
- Therefore, to write a novel in a month, you need to write 1,667 words per day.
See? Easy, right?
In the end, it all comes down to forcing yourself to just write.
I’ve succeeded — and failed — at NaNoWriMo in the past, so I’ve got a game plan. I know what works for me, and what doesn’t. I know that I'm a planner, not a pantser, and I’ve signed up with NaNoWriMo.org so I can track my progress and know whether I'm ahead, or if I’ve fallen behind.
Planners vs. Pantsers, and Adjustments Along the Way
Most people participating in NaNoWriMo sort themselves into one of two categories: they’re either a planner, or a pantser. Planners go into the start of the month with some kind of idea of what they want to write, a plan for a plotline, or already fleshed out and developed characters. Pantsers, on the other hand, get the name because they proudly declare that they’re “flying by the seat of their pants.” They sit down with a blank page on November 1st and start completely from scratch.
According to the official NaNoWriMo rules, all of the writing has to be done between 12:01 AM on November 1st and 11:59 PM on November 30th to count towards the 50,000 word goal — but outside of that, there are very few real rules. There’s nothing preventing someone from starting off with a full outline of the story they want to tell — and indeed, I find that this way works best for me.
Of course, even for the most devoted planners, some pantsing happens along the way. In previous years, I’ve often found that a story starts deviating from the outline, often forcing me to go back and do even more work in reworking the outline to try and get the story to a logical ending!
However, none of this is necessary to succeed at NaNoWriMo. It’s not about having a complete, polished story (and that’s part of the reason why editing doesn’t count towards the word goal!); it’s about putting down words on the page, not getting caught up in my own head and instead just sitting and writing something, anything.
In the end, it’s an excuse to force myself to write — something that I know is good for me, and I know I don’t do enough.
Many Different Ways to Participate
Of course, there are plenty of ways to put 50,000 words down in a month.
The most common way is to try and write a fiction novel, but I’ve met other writers working on a variety of different topics. Some writers choose:
- A fiction story
- A nonfiction story (this one definitely requires planning ahead of time!)
- A series of journal entries
- A series of blog posts
- A serial story, with the same character(s) in many different adventures
- A collection of articles to publish (on Medium, perhaps?)
- A continuation of a previous story they didn’t finish (as long as they add 50,000 words in November, it counts!)
Personally, I’m going to go with the traditional fiction novel, but there’s no rule preventing other writers from taking any of the other options above — or one I didn’t mention.
In the End, Just Write!
The NaNoWriMo organization has a whole collection of goodies for winners, including discounts on shirts, software (such as Scrivener, a great writing tool), and more.
In the end, though, the most important aspect of NaNoWriMo isn’t to win; it’s to write! How many people claim that they have a great novel inside them, a wonderful story that they just can’t find the time to write?
This November, more than three hundred thousand people will sign up, sit down, and put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). They’re not taking time off to do it; they’re making time to write, in amid everything else in their schedules.
I’m going to be one of those writers, struggling to get all my story told, working hard to get all my words on the page and meet the (admittedly somewhat self-imposed) deadline.
Will you join me?
If you want to join me, you can add me as a buddy at https://nanowrimo.org/participants/westwise . Try and keep up with my writing!
Sam Westreich holds his PhD in genetics, focusing on methods for studying the gut-associated microbiome. He currently works at a bioinformatics-focused startup in Silicon Valley. Follow on Medium, or on Twitter at @swestreich.
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