West Des Moines Public Library: November Is National Novel Writing Month

Press release from the West Des Moines Public Library:

October 20, 2021

What do the novels Water for Elephants, The Night Circus, Fangirl and Cinder all have in common? They began as National Novel Writing Month projects. For more than twenty years, this writing challenge turned global phenomenon has motivated people to finally write down the story they’ve had in mind.

Over 500,000 writers participated in the challenge in 2020. Writers devote time each day in November to work towards their goal: 50,000 words in 30 days. Many say the time pressure helps them move past self-doubt and get their creativity flowing. You could be one of them!

Local author (and WDM Public Library staffer!) Maggie Ann Martin created her book The Big F during NaNoWriMo. She shared a few tips for success with us.

“Use a website like Pacemaker to help you set a word count goal and writing pace that’s reasonable for you. My brain likes to “gamify” writing, so any time I can write up against goals and word counts I tend to draft more efficiently!

Also, create your story’s outline ahead of time. When you know where the story is going, it’s easier to keep chugging along to meet those lofty word count goals that go along with NaNoWriMo. If you don’t know where to start on your outline, I’d work following the plot beats featured in Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat! Writes a Novel.”

To participate, simply register on the NaNoWriMo site and be ready to hit the ground running on November 1. Happy writing!

This press release was produced by the West Des Moines Public Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.