The Pros and Cons of NANOWRIMO

Gentle people, it’s that time again. We are deep into ‘Preptober,’ when writers the world over are gearing up for the most magical time of year: National Novel Writing Month.

Never heard of it you say? Well, you can recognize it by its sweet symphony: the wailing and gnashing of teeth from those haunted spirits of writers stuck in eternal writers block and the triumphant cackling of the novelists who managed their daily word count–and only had to sacrifice their sanity to achieve it.

But in all seriousness, Nanowrimo (pronounced Nah-No-Wry-Moh not Nah-No-Wree-Mo apparently) is an exciting time when people try to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Specifically, the 30 days of November.

Why you ask?

To write or not to write?

Masochism. .

Or maybe it’s the desire to push themselves, to challenge and sharpen their wordsmithing and just finish that novel, gosh darn it. A typical novel is between 40,000-100,000 words. For some genres, like fantasy, it goes upwards of 120,000 words. So for those writers, it may not be a finished novel that they’re drafting, but for many others it is.

Finishing a novel is one of the most challenging parts of writing. The idea phase is lovely and romantic. The planning phase is fun and only occasionally overwhelming.

The first draft, however, soon becomes harrowing and suddenly you’re questioning your life choices, getting bogged down in the second act and tangled in the sub-plot threads that you thought complemented your story so nicely but now you have no idea what’s going on and–oooh look another shiny idea over there. That one seems much easier to write, let’s do that.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Nanowrimo challenges writers to finish. It’s fun, it’s crazy, everyone does it or wants to do it. So you should jump in, right? Well, that depends.

Below, I’ve compiled a list of pros and cons for Nanowrimo to help you, my young pada-writer, decide if this is ‘write’ for you.

Pros: The Vibe

The general positive aspect of NANOWRIMO can be summed up in one phrase–the vibe. All of the following fit into this umbrella term, but let me break it down for you.

Community

Perhaps the best aspect of NANOWRIMO is the community. You’re trying to write a novel in 30 days, but you aren’t alone.

There are forums upon forums for genres, topics, writing advice, the aforementioned wailing or cackling. The platform groups aspiring novelists by region so that you can hang out with other writers either digitally or in person through Write Ins.

Writing can be a lonely craft, so get a little less lonely by hanging out with other people who prefer books and words over people.

Rewards

Nanowrimo participants highly recommend using a reward system to support your writing goals. From every 100 words to every 5000, you choose the metric and the reward system.

For instance, you can reward yourself with candy or washi tape or a matchbox car for every day you hit your wordcount goal. Then when you hit the bigger milestones, you can reward yourself with fancy coffee, or that tshirt you’ve been eyeing.

The Nanowrimo shop even has winners tshirts so you can reward yourself with the opportunity to brag in public!

But seriously, establishing a habit of recognizing your progress, rewarding yourself for your hard work and achievements really helps. Writing is a marathon, so treat yourself when you can.

Events

I mentioned this before under community, but the opportunity to go hang out with other writers really cannot be over-emphasized. Go meet people who understand the highs and lows of creating your own worlds and stories.

I know people are scary, but you’ll find some that will make it worth it. Trust me.

Get’r’done

Between the competitive vibes, the high energy and the accountability, NANOWRIMO provides writer rocket fuel to help you get the project done. This was essential for me personally during my first Nano.

It proved to me that I could in fact do the thing. I could get the words on the page. I could write the story. Granted, I write fantasy so my novel wasn’t “done,” but achieving 50k in 30 days proved it was possible.

The Cons: The Hangover

There are several hard aspects of Nano, but the hardest for me is always the aftermath. Let me explain. Inevitably after Nanowrimo is over, I get absolutely nothing done in December. Or January. Sometimes even February.

If my draft was finished this would be fine. But as a fantasy writer and a wordy-word person, I generally end up with drafts close to 150k. So having to take a two month break after one month of writing does seem like a great system.

Burnout

Writing so much in such a short time frame is hard. So hard. Many people write every day, many people write thousands of words a day. And before that there’s the hype and the planning, so it’s easy to run through all of your energy and have none left by the time the excitement is over.

Suddenly in December and January, you find you’re not writing at all. Not even a word. Because you just burned yourself out.

Sustainability

Like burnout, the issue with Nanowrimo is that for many of us, writing 1667 words a day every day isn’t sustainable. Creativity tends to happen in cycles, and our daily lives rarely allow for the luxury of consistent uninterrupted writing time.

When you commit to Nano, you ask your family for support and they’re excited for you so they agree. But for many writers, they find that a month of being understanding wears thin. This can be emotionally exhausting.

For many writers, sustaining the habits developed during Nano isn’t possible. And when you’re done, it’s hard to figure out what your writing life should look like.

One size does not fit all

Many writers do not win NANOWRIMO. And that is not because they aren’t great writers, or they are never going to finish a project or finish their novel. It’s because this style of helter-scelter writing doesn’t suit them.

Some writers are able to just dump words on a page and then organize them after. Others meticulously choose every word they put down. Some writers only need one draft. Some (like me) need ten drafts and seven years (I’m not crying, you’re crying).

But a lot of people fail to take this into consideration. So when they do not ‘win’ NANOWRIMO, they get discouraged and stop writing for a while or altogether. They think because they cannot do this one crazy thing it means they cannot do any of the writing things and that is just not true.

Join the Rebellion

If you want to jump in to NANOWRIMO this fall, do it. Ride the high, enjoy the rush. Live on coffee and energy drinks, stare at that blank page, type until your fingers cramp, the whole shebang. You’ll have a blast and you will be so proud of yourself. Regardless of whether you win.

But, if you’re not sure that the 50k in 30 days thing is for you, I have a suggestion. Join me and many others in being a Nano Rebel.

A rebel is someone who doesn’t follow the Nano rules. For instance, I am not starting a new project from scratch. I am trying to finish a draft (gosh darn it) of the second book in my trilogy. Do I need 50k? Yes probably. But I would settle for 30.

To be a rebel you can continue a project you’ve been working on, commit to writing a smaller word count, write short stories or a novella. Use whatever writing goal that would most benefit you as a writer where you are at today. With what you can reasonably do with the time and energy you have.

Create a sustainable habit maybe (and fyi that doesn’t mean you have to write every day).

The point is, you can joint he NANOWRIMO fun, make writerly friends, enjoy the vibe, and not burn yourself out.

That’s my goal this fall. If you want to join me, come be my writing buddy. We will get through this together.

The Pros and Cons of NANOWRIMO

To write or not to write?