Each November, writers around the world embark on a wild journey to write a 50,000-word
novel in the span of a month. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short) started in 1999 with 21 people, and in 2011, it included 256,618 participants and 36,843 people who met the word goal by the November 30 deadline.
NaNoWriMo is a great idea; this is how the creators describe it:
Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.
As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel. Wrimos meet throughout the month to offer encouragement, commiseration, and—when the thing is done—the kind of raucous celebrations that tend to frighten animals and small children.
The problem is that many of us are still intimidated by the scope of writing approximately 175 pages in one month, sparking a flurry of frantic questions. When will I have the time? What am I supposed to write about? What if it’s absolutely horrible?
So let’s take some of the scariness out of the idea and simply use National Novel Writing Month as an inspiring journal writing idea. What if you were to write a novel (this November or five years from now)? Who would your main characters be? What story would capture your imagination?
1. On a fresh page in your personal journal, do a free-writing brainstorm of characters you find interesting. Make a list of personality characteristics, partial ideas or other traits as they come to mind. For example:
• Pastor struggling with the death of a child
• 16-year-old girl, small town, dream of sailing around the world
• Bartender in an Irish pub who solves mysteries
2. Now do the same for plot details or scenes, whether they are related to your character concepts or not; for example:
• Cross-country road trip
• Lost camera’s pictures as clues in a crime
• Amnesia caused after a car accident
3. If you had to choose a novel idea right now, what would you write about? Draft a brief synopsis in your personal journal, putting as much detail in the description as you can.
4. Set aside your ideas for the moment, but come back to them when you are ready to pursue them!
Have you ever thought about writing a novel? What kind of story appeals to you most?
Need some emotional and mental help to get through the holidays? Get Create Write Now’s holiday journaling e-book for only $0.99 and work through it with Mari in our Free Ho! Ho! Ho! Help for the Holidays Forum!
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