people have actually done it -- in 2009 over 165,000 people participated and over 30,000 over managed to crank out the 50,000 word goal.

Of course, you probably aren't going to produce great literature in just a month. Infinite Jest and its ilk require more than just a month of writing. But the goal isn't to produce a best seller -- it's to jump-start your novel and get you past the fear of the time and effort involved. As the website says, "the only thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output... the kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly."

To write a 50,000 word novel in a month -- even a bad novel -- takes a certain perseverance and dedication, as well as some careful planning. Here's our guide to ensuring you fall into the group that actually finishes the project.

This article is part of a wiki anyone can edit. If you have advice to add about packing in the words, log in and contribute.

Plan Ahead

To write a 50,000 word novel in a month, you'll need to write just under 1,700 words a day.

Writing starts November first and continues through midnight of November 30, but that doesn't mean you can't start planning now. If you've got ideas jot them down -- character sketches, plot ideas, scene settings, any idea that might help speed your along once the writing starts.

Produce an outline if you can, mapping out the plot of your novel and figuring out how to move from scene to scene before you start writing will help you avoid accidental dead ends.

Clear your November schedule as much as you can to allow yourself more time to write and set a schedule so that you know your daily word goal. To make the 50,000 word finish line, you'll need to write just under 1,700 words a day. Some days you'll write less than that, but if you push yourself on good days, when you're on a roll, you can easily double your required daily output.

Once you start actually writing, take time to plan the next day's writing ahead of time. Having the scenes for tomorrow in your head today will give your brain time to work on it even when you aren't thinking about it directly. In fact, you may well find yourself dreaming about your novel, working out ideas in your sleep. Keep a notebook or a recording device next to your bed to get the ideas down when you first wake up.

Stay motivated

Break down your day into quantifiable output goals: 1,000 words before lunch, or a page before breakfast. Whatever works with your schedule. Set up rewards for yourself on a daily or weekly basis (Beer and wine are excellent motivational tools).

Use one of the community's Word Count widgets, which display your progress on your website or blog.

Even though the last thing you may want to do is write even more, it's helpful to write short blog posts about your progress every few days. The positive comments and advice you'll collect will help you keep pushing on.

Put your novel's synopsis and other info into your profile on the official website. You can collect feedback and develop a network of "writing buddies" to help motivate you.

At the very least, tweet your daily progress using the hashtag #nanowrimo.

Get rid of distractions

Turn off your internet connection and find somewhere to work where you won't be interrupted. Grab your headphones and get out of the house, or find a quiet spot at home where spouses, children and other distractions won't bother you.

If you're writing on a computer, get a writing app that helps hide the clutter and distractions of your desktop. Check out apps like Apple's Pages, WriteRoom, or Ommwriter for Mac or DarkRoom for Windows.

If you'd like to do your writing in the cloud, use something like Google Docs or Zoho Writer which will automatically save your work. You'll need to be connected to the web for these to work, so keep Facebook and Twitter at bay while you're cranking out the book.

My Writing Nook is a clean, minimalist browser-based writing environment that integrates with your Google account. It has a dictionary and thesaurus built in, and a word counter!

No matter how you write, make sure you save your work regularly. Set up your writing application to auto-save your work for you every few minutes.

Allow mistakes

You're going to write a lot of crap. That's OK, just keep writing. Try to turn off that internal editor who's always telling you that your writing sucks. It's possible it does, but that doesn't matter during national novel writing month.

You can always go back later and eliminate the crap and re-write. Remember, the goal isn't quality, it's quantity -- just keep writing.

Conclusion

Writing 50,000 words in a month is not for the faint of heart, but with a little planning and some self-discipline it can be done. There's nothing superhuman about the thousands of people that have done it, you can do it to, so head over to National Novel Writing Month website and sign up.

Be sure to read through the forum for more advice and tips from those who've done it before.

This page was last modified 23:29, 18 October 2010 by chris9876. Based on work by howto_admin.

Authors: How-To Wiki

to know more click here