Nanowrimo, anyone doing it this year?

Question

I heard about it recently, and just signed up on their website. It's my first year, and I'm actually kind of excited. I've never written a novel before or know much about this site, so I have a few questions...
1- Have you participated in it before? What do you think about it?
2- Do you go to the little clubs that nanowrimo hosts in your local areas?
3- How much is 50,000 words?
4- If you write it by hand, how do you verify your word count?
5- I've heard about people sending there work to editors and stuff to get it published, how does that work?
6- Have you started your outline yet?
7- I'm 14, any tips to be successful?
8- What else can you do on the site?
Feel free to only answer the questions you want.
Thank you so much for your help, I will pick a best answer! (:

Answer 1

I might do it this year to see if it motivates me to finish my novel that I'm 15 chapters in with 51,000 words, and I haven't worked on it all summer. Yes, I know I should write a story from scratch for Nano, but really, no one's going to come knocking at my door if I use it to motivate me to finish the first draft.





1) No. Never done it before.



3) 50,000 is about the minimum amount American publishers will accept for a novel. Technically, a novel is 40k words at the least, but most publishers prefer 50k minimum for some YA novels; adult novels are usually higher, but you can find some that are about 50k.



4) you'll have to count every word, or type it up and see how many words you have. You can probably do an estimate by counting the words on a few pages and assuming that's about how many words you're fitting per handwritten page. This might or might not help: when I was in high school, we were told that 10 hand-written pages totaled 5 typed pages. I hand wrote one of my essays that had to be a 10 page minimum, and when I typed it up, it literally came to 5 pages, so there might be something to it. Though, this doesn't really tell you how many words per page.



5) long story. You'd need to do research on it. and, editors and agents expect a flood of (bad) submissions a month or two after nano when people are sending in their novels they wrote for the project. Most of that stuff is crap when writers send it in that soon after. But, if there's any consolation, The Night Circus was a nanowritemo project, but the author took the time (think years) to properly rewrite and edit it to make it into something decent that could be published. She said that she changed a lot of the plot and that the published book no longer resembles what she wrote during nanowritemo.



6) I don't outline in the sense you're probably thinking. I consider my first draft my outline and then I build on that. My first drafts are pretty much as shell of a story that needs to be filled in, but my current project that I'm working on will definitely change plots when I finish the first draft.



Good luck with it. I'll consider doing it this year, but not according to it's rules. I just need motivation to finish it. Ive barely read or written anything this summer and need to get back in the habit.

Answer 2

1. Yes, it's awesome.

2. No

3. 50,000 words is a little over the length of a very short novel, and about half the length of a novel like The Hunger Games

4. You can estimate by counting the words on a page and multiplying the number of pages you have written, but the only way to get the proper word count is either count each individual word or to type it into the computer after you write it by hand.

5. It's a long and complicated process, too much so to go into detail on here. The best way, though, is to find a literary agent.

6. I'm currently working on something else, if I finish in time I may get an outline ready for Nano.

7. Write, write, write, write, write... keep writing. Do just a little bit every day. Even if you think it sucks keep writing.

8. There are forums to chat with other people and you can add friends.

Answer 3

1- Have you participated in it before? What do you think about it?



I have! I have done it twice. I failed the first year, but the second year I got to 50,000 words! I didn't finish the novel, but I got to the word goal, which I was super proud about. That was in November of 2010, and I'm currently seeking publication for the book I started! It was definitely a huge factor in my road to being a published author.



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2- Do you go to the little clubs that nanowrimo hosts in your local areas?



Nope



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3- How much is 50,000 words?



A whole freakin lot.



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4- If you write it by hand, how do you verify your word count?



Count the number of words on your first 3-5 pages and then average out how many words per page. Apply that to the number of pages you've written. If you want, go to http://www.lipsum.com and generate as many words as the program will allow (It can generate up to 10,000) and paste those into the verifier.



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5- I've heard about people sending there work to editors and stuff to get it published, how does that work?



This is not something that's part of the website. NaNoWriMo is all about writing and has nothing to do with publishing or editing. If you want to do research on publishing or finding an agent, check out this site: http://www.yahighway.com/2008/01/publishing-resources.html http://www.yahighway.com/2008/01/all-about-literary-agents.html



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6- Have you started your outline yet?



When I did NaNoWriMo, I started planning 1 month in advance. I'm a "pantser" so I don't do a lot of planning with my writing. I like making it up as I go :)



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7- I'm 14, any tips to be successful?



It's SUPER hard to balance school, a social life and NaNoWriMo, so BE PREPARED to make it your second priority for an entire month (school being your first priority). If you miss just one day of writing, it's a HUGE PAIN to catch back up. Not to mention there are the Thanksgiving holidays to take into account. This isn't something that you can just choose to do for fun and maybe get there. This is something you have to commit to, something you have to set aside time for, and something you have to REALLY plan your schedule around, if you want to be successful.



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8- What else can you do on the site?



I wasn't really focused on the site... I was too busy writing! I did like when they did fake book covers for some of the books ^_^



BEST OF LUCK!



I loved my days doing NaNoWriMo so much! I almost want to do it again this year, but I don't know where I'll be, in terms of my next novel, so we'll see!

Answer 4

Yes indeed! I'm 15, and this'll be my 6th NaNo :D



1. I have! It's very fun, and even if you don't do anything with it afterward, it's a great writing activity for a month (not to mention impressive!). You've got to be determined though.

2. No, but I can't drive yet xD

3. Mine end up at about 120 pages (12 pt, single-spaced), but I use a lot of description (rather than dialogue). 1667 words a day.

4. Just tally up the average approximate word count per page (count a few pages and divide). Figure how many pages it will be. You can then make some lorem-ipsum text for your approximation and paste that into the word counter.

5. This is totally separate from NaNoWriMo (they don't provide anything for it), so I'm not sure.

6. I have an idea, but I try not to outline until closer to November 1st so I don't get bored with it :)

7. No tips other than to be persistent! And NEVER skip a day! Just one day will throw off your momentum so much!

8. There are forums for chatting, fun distractions and links, and I have a tendency to update my profile more often than is necessary xD



Good luck!! Have fun!!