I Wrote A Book In 30 Days! Again!! - NaNoWriMo, 2019

For people who are not aware of what NaNoWriMo is, it's an annual writing event that happens in November and where anyone can participate in it. To get a winner certificate, all you need to do is write 50,000 words for your book. The goal of the event is to motivate people to write. I have written about it in more detail in my last year NaNoWriMo post - "I Wrote A Book In 30 Days! - NaNoWriMo"

My first NaNoWriMo adventure happened last year, where I struggled to hit 50K words in the last couple of days of November 2018. My first book demanded lot of research and I had to make sure everything is accurate. This year, it was relatively easy to hit 50K words, despite many distractions. In fact, I have hit 51K+ words this year. Second time is the charm!


My book for this year is called "The Red Diary" and it's a thriller. The protagonist is a 30 year old lady who has the habit of buying strangers diaries from flea markets and ebay. Her life changes(cliche, cliche) when she stumbles on a red diary, as the tone and content of the diary gets creepier with every page.

NaNoWriMo 2019 Certificate

NaNoWriMo 50K words

NaNoWriMo Progress

NaNoWriMo Daily Word Count

Experience:

• The first and foremost thing to remember is - Don't worry if you are writing a masterpiece or for that matter writing well.  Don't overthink too much and be scared, just put all those words on your mind to paper. Just create. For yourself.
• Practice makes perfect. Though I have only written once, I was aware of my short comings. I didn't fall into the trap of research and ignore writing this time. One more thing I tried this time was - "Show, don't tell", as in write about the situation, emotions, reactions etc instead of just stating the gist of the situation like "Tom was angry".
• I can't stress the importance of talking about your plot to someone. They don't have to contribute to the story line, but you will find yourself uncovering ideas and loopholes as you talk about it. If you don't have anyone to talk about it, get a rubber duck and explain it!
• Don't worry about having the entire plot put together on Day 1. Keep writing about the things you are sure about and let the plot evolve. Story does really come to you.
• Remember that this is not the time for editing or taking that negative criticism to heart. If you have time, see if you can improve the way  you are writing, but if not, now is not the time. Just park all those "Your writing sucks" comments for the rest of the year and improve your writing style, instead of being dejected and giving up altogether.
• Pay no attention to the naysayers. "Why don't you focus on better and practical things?", "What's the point of it all? Boring" - you will get to hear all sorts of such comments from the people who are actually close to you and whose opinion matters to you. If you love writing, just write. Expect no support from anyone and you will do good.
• Being ready with the basic outline of the plot before November 1st will help you in saving all the time you will spend racking your brain for possible plot lines.

If you love writing, don't miss NaNoWriMo. Put those vague story ideas into actual writing!

Happy writing :)