Pros and cons of NaNoWriMo
National Novel Writing Month is one way to generate your first draft. But it's not right for everyone. Here are some pros of prose and cons of constraint.
Are you doing NaNoWriMo this month? If you’re not familiar with it, NaNoWriMo — National Novel Writing Month — is the annual churn-out-a-first-draft fest, when thousands of writers around the world attempt to bash out 50,000 words in November. It’s one way of generating your ‘vomit’ draft. But is it right for you?
Writing a lot in a short amount of time — whether or not you do it in November — is certainly good for your productivity. But is it good for your writing — or even your mental health? Everyone’s different, and it depends on what works for you. So let’s take a look at the pros of prose and the cons of constraint.
Pros of NaNoWriMo
A feeling of achievement. If you complete the 50,000 words — or even just a substantial number of words that help progress your novel. Even getting 5,000 words down can build momentum and help your novel take shape.
A first draft. 50,000 words does not (quite) a novel make (the average is 80,000 words) — but it’s a good start. And, since writing is rewriting, generating material you can work with is a productive way to spend your time. You can develop your NaNo draft into a more polished complete draft later.
No filter. The speed required means you just have to get your words down, without second-guessing yourself, editing as you go, or worrying about quality. It’s a great antidote to perfectionism.
Focus on one project. Lots of us have multiple ‘works in progress’ on the go. Which, in itself, has pros and cons. But NaNo makes you focus on one project for a sustained period — which is great for actually finishing something.
A writing habit. Writing an average of 1,667 words per day, every day, for a month, is good for discipline. It helps instil a writing habit that you can continue once the challenge has finished (albeit at a much lower rate).
Show and tell. You now have something you can discuss with writer friends, share at your writing group — maybe even use to put together a sample chapter to send out with a query letter to an agent.
A community. Lots of people participate in NaNoWriMo - and you can find them online, including on social media with #NaNoWriMo. You can help motivate each other and spur each other on to keep going.
Good for ‘pantsers’. Novelists are often divided into ‘plotters’, who plan everything in advance, and ‘pantsers’, who apply the seat of their pants to their chair and just write, without much of a plan. NaNo is great for the latter group — especially if you need to write to discover your story and characters.
Cons of NaNoWriMo
A feeling of failure. Small steps set you up for success. Big leaps can set you up for failure. 50,000 is a tough word count to reach in just a few weeks, and you may feel you fall short if you don’t reach the finish line — as many don’t. Or if you feel your words don’t live up to your high standards.
An unrealistic goal. NaNo has failure built in. And this can result in losing motivation. You may be familiar with ‘SMART’ goals from appraisals. It’s an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time limited. NaNo is some of these things. But, for many of us, it’s neither achievable nor realistic. Choose writing goals that work for you, that you can actually achieve. Your success will build on itself, and keep you motivated.
A bigger edit. Generating lots of material you can revise and rework later — without worrying too much about quality — can help push your creative work forward. But if your messy first draft is too messy, you may have a mountain of editing, unpicking and fixing to do. Depending on your own, individual process, this may work for you — or it may not. You may save time by getting your story straight before diving into your keyboard.
An endurance test. Grinding out a big word count, day after day, may feel productive — but it might not be fun. You might lose enthusiasm for your project, and the enjoyment of writing. Writing should be creative and fun — not an endurance test.
A time suck. Do you really have time to write 50,000 words in a month? Most of us have jobs, caring responsibilities, social lives and/or relationships as well as a book to write. How will you balance these things? Maybe a schedule that actually works with your life is better for you than writing at NaNo speed.
Stress! NaNo can be incredibly stressful. If you’re going to panic about falling behind with your word count, race to catch up with yourself or beat yourself up for not hitting 50,000 words, perhaps NaNo isn’t for you. You can write at a slower pace and enjoy a calmer life.
Rushed writing. Writing isn’t simply typing: it’s planning, plotting, structuring and thinking. While speed writing may be good for productivity, rushed writing can be bad for your writing. I’m not necessarily talking about quality here (you can edit, revise, rework and rewrite later). I’m thinking more of the time some of us need to think through plot, character or structure.
Bad for plotters. Related to this, if you’re a ‘plotter’ rather than a ‘pantser’, NaNo may not work for you. Or at least not until you’ve done the work of planning and plotting your novel, getting your spreadsheets out, working out your plot points and character arcs. Once you’ve done that, NaNo may fit into your process of actually getting some words down. Because it’s the end of the process for you.
Do you have the right mindset for NaNoWriMo?
There are no right or wrong answers here. NaNo is great for some people, counterproductive for others. The key is to understand your own creative process, how you prefer to work, what time you have available, and your attitude to these sorts of challenges.
These pros and cons may help you decide whether or not Big Writing Challenges are for you. If you think NaNo might work, try it. If it works, great! But don’t beat yourself up if you don’t hit the finish line, or collapse under the weight of your word count after a week. You haven’t ‘failed’ — you’ve learned something about your natural writing rhythm, and generated some material you can use.
NaNo can push you past perfectionism, boost your productivity and give you a feeling of accomplishment. But it can also lead to feelings of failure, demotivation, stress and overwhelm. Be prepared, treat it as an experiment, and go easy on yourself. There’s more than one way to write a first draft.
Lots of great tips and notes in here.