It's that time of year again...

It’s fast approaching that time of year again. The nights are closing in on us, there’s a sharp chill in the air and the leaves are starting to fall down from the trees. You know what that means don’t you? No, not Christmas. It’s time for NaNoWriMo. 

This is my third NaNoWriMo event that I will have taken part in. I first took part last year, and then a second time during the summer’s Camp NaNoWriMo. Somehow, I managed to get past the word count of 50,000 for both of them. That didn’t mean it was easy, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ll be able to do it again this time around.

However, I have learnt a lot from my two previous attempts at novel writing in a month:

I need to watch my words: During the event in July, I had an awful case of word mix up disease. Every time I wanted to write THROUGH or THOUGHT, I would end up typing THOUGH. I’m talking every single time I made this same damn mistake. So needless to say, this time around, I’ll be taking extra care with my typing.

I shouldn't write romance: This is another thing I learnt in July, me and romance do not work. In fiction and in life for that matter. Last November, I wrote a fantasy story that had a romantic element within it. In July, however, the whole story was based on the romance and IT WAS AWFUL. I am not cut out for keeping a full 50,000 word romance story exciting. I’m really not.

Continuity is KEY: Last November, I was constantly forgetting small things that were in the earlier parts of my story. So if I had to come back to anything later on, I was forgetting what I’d written. Planning is crucial for stuff like this. You need to remember tiny little details for everything, just in case you need them later on in the story.

And finally…AVOID DISTRACTIONS: In July, I created a Polyvore account to create style sets for all of my characters, so I had something visual to refer to. This turned out to be a huge mistake because instead of ‘getting inspiration’, I was spending hours looking at pretty fashion designs. Not good.

So, if you’re attempting NaNoWriMo this year, whether it’s you first time on your tenth, then good luck to you. Remember to stay sane and don’t freak out if you don’t hit the word count, because YOU TRIED, and that’s more than many would do.