Winning at NaNoWriMo: gearing up for National Novel Writing Month

October 29, 10:26 AMChicago Literary Scene ExaminerRobert Duffer

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It takes some writers a lifetime to complete a novel [shudder]. During National Novel Writing Month, over 100,000 budding novelists aim to start and complete their manuscript in the month of November.

NaNoWriMo, as it is endearingly called, started as a lark by some post grads suffering a case of ennui in the San Francisco Bay Area. The prescription was not more cowbell, but ‘noveling,’ according to founder Chris Baty. Now in year ten, NaNoWriMo (say it out loud—it’s catchy) is an international sensation with five participating languages and nearly 125,000 participants, though not everyone is a winner.
Yes, there are winners. Stacy Ratner, founder and Executive Director of the Chicago-based literacy nonprofit, Open Books, is gearing up for her eighth NaNoWriMo; she’s “won” six times. It's not about the badge, however. It's all about the story.

"A whole community of people around the world are participating in this annual rite of magic and madness," Ratner says. "The stories you meet over the course of the month really can change your life."

Winners like Ratner sign up to the NaNoWriMo website (it’s free) by November 1st and complete a 50,000-word manuscript to submit by November 30th. Don’t worry, they don’t even read the thing. They just make sure there’s 50,000 words, and if you cheat by plagiarizing or cutting and repasting or repeating the same word 50,000 times, well, you’re a loser. In NaNoWriMo and in life.

The sustaining idea behind NaNoWriMo is that for many people it takes a community of support to write a novel. Forums and anecdotes, tips and suggestions, can all be found on this online community. Ratner participates in ChiWriMo, a local community in Chicago, which sponsors support-type events throughout the month.

Even with local and online support, the prospect of finishing a 175-page manuscript in 30 days can be daunting and downright silly. Amy Guth, Chicago Tribune literary reporter and Managing Editor of the small press So New Media and author of the novel Three Fallen Women, is gearing up for her third NaNoWriMo. “The prospect of NaNoWriMo can be a little intimidating at first. Editing can wait, typos can wait. Just get it down.”

Yes, but how? For Ratner, who wakes up an extra hour or two early each day, it’s not NaNoWriMo that’s hard, it’s her real life responsibilities. “The real challenge for me is remembering to do everything else during that month. I love NaNoWriMo -- it's one of high points of my year -- so I am always tempted to put off other responsibilities and indulge in more writing during those wonderful 30 days.”

If you do the math, 50,000 words over 30 days is about 1667 words per day. Every day. Or if you go by pages, you're looking at  roughly 6 pages per day if you figure 300 words a page in Times New Roman font double spaced, depending on the amount of dialogue. Regardless of how fast or slow you write, the trick for NaNoWriMo is quantity, not quality. Like celebrity memoirs.

“November is for banging out words as hard and fast as possible,” Guth says. “I think a lot of writers psych themselves out and are so afraid to write an un-good sentence that they write nothing. But, being willing to take risks being willing to suck is the only thing that ever allowed us to write anything great.”

Less than a quarter of participants win. Yet, according to the site, “a growing number of these novels have found publishers.” NaNoWriMo isn’t about getting your novel published; it’s about getting your idea on the page and having something to work with. Newsflash: No novel has even been published without being written. NaNoWriMo gives you the deadline and the community to get started and keep trudging through the crap to something you never thought you could do. From then on, it's easy.