Nanowrimo

Well, it's October, only one month away from the infamous nanowrimo.

For those who do not know what nanowrimo is, let me explain. It is basically an abbreviation for National November Writing Month, a novel-writing contest that takes place over the period of the entire month of November between 12 AM November 1 and 11:59 PM November 30. Your goal is to write at least 50,000 words in that time period; if you reach that goal, then you are a winner. You don't get big prizes or anything, but you do get smaller ones like avatars announcing you have reached 50,000 words and the ability to boast of reaching that many words; there is also the option, if you finish your story with 50,000+ words, then you can get the story printed out in something like a book style but only for yourself (I cannot vouch for it, as I have never done this). Between November 25 and 30, you can verify that you have the required word count, and they do this by you copying and pasting your entire document into a counter to make sure you aren't cheating.

But, there are rules to this contest. You can't type one word 50,000 times (of course), and you cannot basically do a rewrite of something else you have done (basically, you cannot work directly from a draft of something you have already done; but, like I did last year, I did a basic rehash of an older story but relied mostly on my own memory to write down scenes, and I did not work directly from a previous draft). So, this means you have to come up with something new in rough draft form. The good thing about the contest is that you do not have to be perfect. No need to worry about plot holes or character development because it is just a first draft. Granted, you will hate what you've written afterwards (I did, and I still do), but perhaps in the future you will go back to it and rework it into a polished jewel.

I did the contest for the first time last year, and I am contemplating doing it again (though it will depend on if I can get a workable idea and if my college class load does not kill me first). I encourage any other aspiring novelists to give this contest a try if you have not already. It is fast-paced and will be hard, and it definitely helps to have a support group of other writing friends to push you along. You will be tempted to pull out your hair, but how many other writers can boast of reaching 50,000 words in 30 days?