Camp NaNoWriMo: A Survival Guide

Have you ever considered writing a novel?

I think many of us have, but we consider our selves not good enough, or maybe we don't have time enough. Well I beg to differ. If you want to - you can do it. If you are in the US maybe you have heard about National Novel Writing Month (usually called NaNoWriMo or only Nano) which is an annual event held in November where crazy people like me and thousands other people try to write 50 000 words in 30 days.

You heard me. 50 000 words. It seems like a lot but I promise you it is doable. Well to be honest - I have not managed to do it yet. I wrote 3500 words the first year. Huge fail. 25 000 the year after that. Less of a fail. But I am incredibly proud of what I wrote.

This April (in 3 days you guys) The Office of Letters and Light organizes what they call Camp NaNoWriMo. It is a soft start to NaNoWriMo and the one who wants to write but doesn't really want to go all the way or who doesn't really know how to do it. Here is a little guide to how to get through it with your mind intact.

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Learn the rules. And set your own.

The rules for Camp NaNo is a bit different from the real NaNoWriMo; you do not have to write 50 000 words. You set your own word count! I set mine to 25 000, because I know I can do it and 50k is a bit heavy for me with school, work AND this blog going. But you can set your own. If you want to write 50 000 words you can, if you feel that 30 000 or even 15 000 is big enough for you it's OK. And if you are crazy enough to write a hundred thousand words in a month they even let you do that. But please, don't blame your lost sanity on them afterwards.

Decide what you want to write

For NaNoWriMo I wrote a fantasy novel. A fantasy novel that is growing and growing and will probably be two or even three books, or one VERY long book. But you can write whatever you want: chick lit, erotica, children's books, your memoirs, a book about writing books. I'm writing a screenplay this April. 

My advice is to write what you enjoy reading. If you devour a Jane Austen novel a day maybe you should write a romantic novel about an intelligent woman, if you have read the entire A Song of Ice and Fire saga maybe you are ready to come up with a fantasy world of your own. Write what you like, because you will be living and breathing this story for 30 days, and it will come back to haunt you once you are done. 

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Be prepared!

Preparation is key. Just listen to Jeremy Irons singing this song and you will get in the mood. The first time I did NaNoWriMo I didn't prepare a thing. I only knew I wanted to a steampunk novel and I went from there. It did not work. At all. So the year after that I started months in advance to prepare my novel. That way you get to know your characters and your settings before you actually start telling their story.

So what is it you should prepare?

• Your main characters and protagonists
  this is very important. You need to know whose story you are telling. You remember those friendship books you had as a kid where your friends answered all these questions about who they are and what they like? Well that's kinda what you'll need to do. You only need to go a bit deeper. What is this person's role in the story? What is his relationship with the other characters? What is his deepest darkest secret? Does he belong to a religion? You need to know everything about everyone. If you write by hand you can keep a sheet (or plural) for every character where you write down all the info on them. If you write on a computer, keep a document for each character or even a folder maybe if you have to. JK Rowling had papers everywhere filled with information on EVERY student at Hogwarts. That's what made it feel so real, because these were all real thought out characters, and not just names.
  
• Your main settings
  This is a lot more important if you are writing a fantasy novel than if your story is set in a high school. I worked a lot with world building for my fantasy novel and I found this world building in 30 days guide really rather amazing. I had the time to go through it but if you don't have 30 days it's OK, you can still find a lot of information there. To rend a fantasy world realistic you need history, some sort of religion (or science if you prefer) and diversity. A planet where everybody has green eyes might be a cool idea, but why? And are there people somewhere with brown eyes? What is the difference between the green eyed people and the brown eyed? Conflict is story. And you need story. Create conflict with your settings and your world and they will be more than just a backdrop. They will take part of the story and help your reader to accept this new world.
  
• Your plot
  I used to violently don't give a shit about this. I just went for it. But I have realized that plot-less stories don't do long term relationships. So if you want to write a good story you have to go through with this. I find this one of the most boring things in the writing process. I hate rules, I don't understand the whole dramatic curve thing, I don't know what a climax is. And I study film. I just don't see it. But I try. Yesterday I sat down (OK, I was in class) and I drew up a curve and wrote down the most important events in the story next to it. It helped me to move around some events, and to know when to introduce one conflict and how much time to spend on everything. And even if I didn't like doing it, I am happy to have done it. I didn't do this for my fantasy novel and it ended up taking up too much space and time.
  
• Your writing means
  I love writing by hand. But it isn't easy when you need to keep count of your words. I tried writing by hand the first year I did NaNo. And as you know, it didn't work. For the fantasy novel I decided to write on my computer so I downloaded a Scrivener trial for it. It was love at first sight. Scrivener is a genius invention for writers and the trial version is really cool since it lets you write for 30 non consecutive days. So even if you don't use it every day you don't lose any days. When writing a novel this is the ultimate tool. You can keep all your research, and character sheets in the same document as your novel and you can split it up by scene and chapter and it is honestly the best writing tool I have ever tried. And if you take part of Camp NaNo you get 20% of the price, and if you manage to get to the 50 000 words you get 50% off! At the moment I am a bit in the merde economically speaking but I will be buying this program in the near future. You can bet on it. However, for this year I will be using Celtx. Even though I love Scrivener, Celtx is better for screenwriting. But who knows, maybe you prefer Moleskines or typewriters. Just find whatever works for you and do not be afraid of trying new things.
  
• Other "needs"
  I need tea, others need candy. Find what it is you need to write in excellence. Maybe you need the latest The Strokes album, maybe you need to have the entire Friends series playing in the background. Maybe you need to have carrot cake available at any time of the day, or coffee, probably coffee. Just find that thing and use this week end to stock up on it.
  
•  Your mentality
  The reason why we are not all writers is because we all have this mental block in our head. We are not good enough, we don't have time, etc. etc. When I feel like that I just think: If Stephenie Meyer did it - so can I. A bit harsh maybe, but it works. You have to run away from all these ideas you have. It doesn't matter if what you write is crap - it is only a first draft! It is written to be re-written. The idea of NaNoWriMo is to get your ideas on the paper, to get all those ideas and plot bunnies out of that pretty little head of yours, no matter how ugly they might be at first. A novel isn't finished in a month. But it is started. And THAT is the most important thing.

Tell your friends/family/pets
Your closest friends should probably know why you aren't spending any time with them, and if you live with your family you should let them know that you might be a bit absent, concerning both body and mind. And if you have pets - give them to your aunt or little brother for a month.
Some people will tell you you are crazy and you should just give up right now, and others will encourage you. Listen to the encouraging once, because when they tell you you should take a break they are probably right.

Get writing friends
Camp NaNoWriMo has a system called cabins where you can find cabin friends, people just as crazy as you are who will help you get through with your story in exchange for some help with their story, or sometimes just a pat on the shoulder or some encouraging words. Better yet is to find real life writing friends, if you manage to persuade someone around you to take part of the adventure you have the best support ever. Hang on to that person - you will need him or her.

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Just do it

Probably the most boring advice you can get/give. But it is true. Don't worry too much. It will be bad. You will use the same word a hundred times but it's OK. It is fine. You suck. But you are trying. And practice makes perfect. A book doesn't just pop out of the ground, and they certainly don't grow on trees (well... they kinda do, but you get the picture). A novel is a painful thing to create, it is blood, sweat and tears and time. A long long time. And it is work. There are a lot of crappy books out there, a lot. So if they can write why can't you? Try it. Don't think too much about the words you chose, you can do that next month. This month do - next month think. I swear - it helps.

Please tell me if you are doing Camp NaNoWriMo and maybe we can go through this together. 

Bisous mes amours et bon courage!