NaNoWriMo: Reaching 50,000 Using EelKat's Methods: Part 3: Don't Quit!

Now this is a biggie! I know it may seem obvious, but the #1 best way to win NaNoWriMo is to not quit!

So many thousands of people drop out after the first 4 or 5 days. They just quit.

You can't win if you quit. Even if you don't make it to 50,000 words (and more than half the folks who enter don't!) you have the satisfaction of saying: "I made it to the end - I didn't quit!"

When you get right down to it, no one really cares if you wrote 50,000 words or not, because every one is too busy chatting on the forums about everything under the sun with their new found fellow novelist friends. It's more important to stay with the group and have fun, than it is to stress yourself out to win. Always remember, that not reaching 50k is not the end of the world, and you have all year to finish your novel no matter how many words you wrote in November.Write Now - Edit Later

For most first time NaNoer's the biggest challenge of all will be fighting off your inner editor. A NaNoNovel is prone to mistakes. The goal of NaNo is speed not quality. When you are writing a NaNoNovel it's quantity first, quality later. By December you will have a misspelled grammatically illiterate mess on your hands. No worries - March is the official month to return to NaNoWriMo and edit your NaNoNovel.

The problem most first time NaNoers have however, is well - writing. It's natural to look back and say: "I spelled that wrong, I better go back and fix it now before I write another word." This is however the downfall of many a NaNoNovelist. Once you go back and edit one word, soon you find a second word to edit, than a third, than you start finding grammar errors, soon you think - "He should have said this to her, I better delete that and rewrite it." Before you know it, your already written 1,000 words is suddenly only 750 words - now you are not only not writing, but you have actually started deleting words and are getting even farther behind!

DO NOT LOOK BACK!
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DO NOT CORRECT SPELLING ERRORS!
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DO NOT ADJUST BAD GRAMMAR!
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DO NOT CHANGE SCENES AND DIALOG!
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Just write. Write. Write. Write. Write again, and than write some more! You have a word count deadline to beat. Shoot your inner editor, bury him deep under piles of errors and than write a little bit more.

There are some NaNoNovelists who say the best way to start your book is to open chapter one with a separate story in which the Main Character is you, you are another author, and you have just shot your (inner) editor and buried him under a pile of misspelled words, than run off and write the worst novel they can think of, that their (inner) editor would disapprove of most of all. They say it works wonders and that they are able to most on from that to their novel without looking back to edit. I've never tried this myself, but, hey, if it works, good for them!

What ever you do, just remember - the goal is to write as many words as you can as fast as you can in hopes of writing 50,000 words before November 30th. You get to come back in March to edit out all the errors, so write now, edit later.
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This article was originally published in October 2006, under the title The 13 Step Method To NaNoWriMo. The second edition was created on: April 22, 2007 and last updated: September 22, 2009, is copyright to Wendy C. Allen and The Twighlight Manor Press, and is reprinted here with permission.
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To read the complete article: NaNoWriMo: Reaching 50,000 Using EelKat's Methods (The Complete Article - All 26 Pages - Including the 13 Step Method)
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NOTE: If you would rather read each section individually, you can follow the links below:
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NaNoWriMo: Reaching 50,000 Using EelKat's Methods: Part 1: Getting Started
NaNoWriMo: Reaching 50,000 Using EelKat's Methods: Part 2: Write Every Day
NaNoWriMo: Reaching 50,000 Using EelKat's Methods: Part 3: Don't Quit!
NaNoWriMo: Reaching 50,000 Using EelKat's Methods: Part 4: Write it YOUR Way!
NaNoWriMo: Reaching 50,000 Using EelKat's Methods: Part 5: The Dangers of Word Padding
NaNoWriMo: Reaching 50,000 Using EelKat's Methods: Part 6: The 13 Step Method
NaNoWriMo: Reaching 50,000 Using EelKat's Methods: Part 7: Love Your StoryNaNoWriMo: Reaching 50,000 Using EelKat's Methods: Part 8: December and Beyond
NaNoWriMo: Reaching 50,000 Using EelKat's Methods: Part 9: 50k in 3 Days!
NaNoWriMo: Reaching 50,000 Using EelKat's Methods: Part 10: But I've Never Written Anything Before
NaNoWriMo: Reaching 50,000 Using EelKat's Methods: Part 11: Remember - You Are Writing a Novel!
NaNoWriMo: Reaching 50,000 Using EelKat's Methods: Part 12: Where to Find More Info