I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo for the first time in April 2018. Don’t know what that is? Neither did I.
For those who don’t know, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a challenge of sorts. The aim is to write 50,000 words in the month of November (just 30 days) and if you succeed you get “winner goodies” and a certificate to say you won- if you don’t win, you get the satisfaction of completing x amount of words for your WIP- that you may not have written had you not challenged yourself (go you!)
I didn’t know any of this until last October. I started watching authortubers in June, watching hours of video, to soak up as much knowledge as I could, and come September/October they were all starting to say the same thing- NaNoWriMo. I was no where near ready to write 50k of anything I had, so I made the note to “get ready” before November ’19. But around February/March the videos were singing a semi-familiar tune- Camp NaNoWriMo.
“You go to camp?” Mum asked me. Ah, no. (Although you are put in virtual cabins for the community feel.)
Camp NaNoWriMo is very much the same, but you’re not limited to a 50k word count as your goal. You can challenge yourself to do 30,000 words, or 3,000 words. You can challenge yourself using time as a measurement, or lines even. You can even work on a script or thesis or something else entirely, as it’s not limited to novels. Want to do some edits instead of writing? No problem. Just set your goal to pages instead. It’s much more flexible- and while I haven’t done NaNoWriMo myself, I think I prefer Camp NaNo’ already anyway.
So, what did I do and how did I do?
Well!
Considering I was a complete newbie, and considering I was outlining at the time, I really didn’t have a clue where to start. I chose to work on an hourly basis, picking 30 hours as my “goal”. I had no idea if it would take me three hours or 30 to write an outline. I’d never outlined before, and on top of that, I didn’t know how I was going to outline, or how extensive the outline was going to end up.
I played around with a few outline templates and tips from YouTube videos to try any work out my own style. I did the same thing with character profiles. In the end though, I ended up working on it for 16 hours, and having a pretty basic outline of my book- like, really basic. But I got to the point where I thought, sure, I need more detail, research and general plot ideas, but if I don’t start now, I never will.
You see, in that moment I realised that there was a LOT of holes in my outline. But the holes kind of had placeholders in their spots. For example, instead of spending weeks on researching WWII, I have written roughly what happens in that section, along with the words “research WWII” and a whole bunch of specific things to look up. Meanwhile, I can write other sections of the book that I know I can write without research and come back and work on this bit later.
The last thing I wanted was to not write anything because I didn’t yet know how to write one section. And this is when I learnt my biggest writing lesson so far:
TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS.
I knew my writing style, the fact that I’m a chronic procrastinator, and that I get distracted easy. I decided that if I wanted to write this book within a year I need to get cracking. NOW.
So, I changed my goal (yes, you can do that) from 30 hours to 3,000 words (I had just over 3k). I decided that I was done with my outline, and that counted as a win. Yay!
That was then. This is now.
As Camp NaNo’ is held in April and July, I’m going back for my second round. What is my goal in July? I’m glad you asked.
Throughout May and June I have began work on the 1st draft of the book I outlined during Camp Nano’ in April, but I have since put it down to work on something else. Why? Several reasons really. But the biggest is that I had a look at what I was working on and my year ahead and worked out that I could spend months (maybe even years) working solely on one book, or I could change my course a little and get much more done in the same (or even less) time.
I realised that the book I was working on needed a lot of research in small bouts. I would be writing something and then need to stop. Go to another section, write a bit, and need to stop. With Camp NaNoWriMo, a writer’s retreat, and NaNoWriMo all coming up in the next four months, I wanted to make the most of them and do as much writing as I could. So, with every intention to do some research for this book on the side, I have changed my focus to a book that I started writing years ago. Plan A would have allowed me to write that one book sooner. Plan B allows me to write that same book at a more reasonable pace (and to a better quality) while also allowing me to make the most of the coming months and work on other projects that would have otherwise had to wait. It's a big picture plan.
In preparation for Camp Nano’ I have revamped the outline, updated the character profiles, and done revisions on the 15k words already written for this "new" project. The aim for July is to add another 15k words to the first draft, ready to be revised (including any issues I find with the outline or character profiles) before NaNoWriMo in November- where I’ll add another 50k words. This new plan should leave me with 80,000+ words in my first draft by the end of the year.
I love the idea of Camp NaNoWriMo. I like the flexibility in goal setting, the comradery and the motivation to get your novel written (or edited or outlined or whatever). I highly recommend trying out Camp Nano’ if you haven’t already. It’s free and easy to sign up for, and it creates a great atmosphere for writers who are just starting out to test the waters with their WIP. Play around and work out what suits you. Try different methods to motivate you- if writing a certain amount of words per day scares you, aim for 30mins or an hour a day.
Try something new. Push yourself out of your comfort zone. Get that book done, your way, in your time.
If you haven’t signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo yet but you want to, don’t fret. It runs all month, so jump on the site and start working towards your goals today.