Write a Novel in One Month with Nanowrimo: You Can Do It!

Do you nanowrimo? Or are you maybe thinking about trying it for the first time this year? Great! Shimmy up to the nearest computer and start tapping on that keyboard - as fast as you can! Write a novel in one month. You can do it, and November is the time for it - the kairos, as the ancient Greeks would say.

Nanowrimo is shorthand for National Novel Writing Month, which everyone who's anyone (in the novel writing universe, that is) knows is November. During the wonderful, idyllic month of November every year, thousands of people pledge to write an entire 50,000 word novel in one month. At 12:01 AM on November 1, the clock starts ticking - writers have until midnight on November 30 to validate their word count and qualify as a nanowrimo winner. Is it hard? Oh, yeah. Is it fun? More than you can imagine! Can you do it? Yes, you can! Join up at http://www.nanowrimo.org.

In 2009, my twin sister, my 14-year-old niece and I all decided to jump into the insanity and write a 50,000 word novel in one month. I had several more co-nanowrimo buddies from my favorite online community at the www.simpleliving.net Discussion Forum. (I'm one of the moderators there.) Starting with about 10 of us, most of us finished the course and wrote 50,000+ word novels during the month of November. How did we do that, you might ask? I am especially impressed that my 14-year-old niece surpassed the 50,000 word mark, all the while going to school and basketball practice and maintaining an A average in her classes.

I think the first week was the most nerve-wracking. As reality dawned on me, I realized that 50.000 words in 30 days averages out to 1,667 words per day. For me, that's at least two hours of typing. While I didn't begin the writing part of my novel until November 1 (I didn't want to CHEAT!), I did get myself organized during the second half of October by outlining and doing character sketches. I knew I wanted to write a mystery/detective type novel, so I read all I could find on how to structure a good mystery story. I outlined a very basic plot: set the scene, introduce characters, throw in a mysterious murder, shadowy bad guys, spine-tingling break-ins and threats, then have my characters solve the murder one clue at a time until the end where the solution presents itself. I was so very proud of myself. I could just taste the millions of dollars raining down on me from this brilliant bestseller about to be written: "The Silver Dollar Mystery".

Meanwhile, my sis was busy outlining her own brilliant murder mystery (great-minded twins think alike, you know) entitled "Murder at Matheson Manor". In keeping with her title's alliteration, her main character was also an "M": Marya. Add that up with my main characters, sisters named Millie and Molly, and we were ready to rumble...or rather mumble!

I averaged about 12,000 words a week, and I was humbly surprised by how much time I was able to eke out of each day for writing. That in itself is worth doing nanowrimo. If you've ever said to yourself, "I could never write a whole novel", nanowrimo is for you. I was amazed at how the words flowed all month long. I took my laptop everywhere I went. If I was waiting for my son at an after-school event, I sat in my car or a nearby restaurant and tapped fiendishly away on my keyboard. I took two mornings a week and sat down at my local coffee shop, which has free wireless Internet, and typed out whole chapters while my sister, 350 miles distant, did the same at her local Starbucks. Every so often one or the other of us would pop an instant message to the other: "how u doin over there?" or 'brb, need more coffee!".

The nanowrimo.org website is a bastion of support. There are local groups all over the country who meet at restaurants, bars and coffee shops during the month of November and write together, sharing the insanity and the fun. There are helpful articles on how to organize your novel and your time. There are encouraging and inspirational blurbs from those who have won the prize before.

Are these novels any good? The nanowrimo website bears amazing testimonials of how many have been published. The average November novelist, however, is happy just to see the word count hit 50,000. That doesn't mean the novel is finished. If you are serious about publishing your masterpiece, you'd better be planning on spending December (and maybe January, February, etc.) editing and rewriting. My own brilliant mystery novel was ever so much fun to write. But in the interest of finishing it in one month, I was forced to forego hours of research on things like police/detective protocol, the value of old coin collections, and historical details. I also discovered, to my shame and dismay, that I had foreshadowed events early in the novel that never came to pass (because I forgot I had alluded to them earlier). In the end my novel was a happy mish mash of mysterious happenings, with lots of loose ends that needed to be neatly tied up at some later time - December maybe.

In short, you can absolutely write a novel in one month, and the absolutely best way to do that is to join forces with thousands of other writers just as crazy as you are. Visit nanowrimo.org and make the pledge to write a 50,000-word novel this November. I'm already outlining my novel for this fall, a historical novel about sharecropper families in 1930s Missouri. It's going to be brilliant, and I'm going to be rich beyond belief! Join me! My nanowrimo handle is ellencantoowriteanovel. Look for me there this November.