Winning NaNoWriMo in a Few Easy Steps

Being a writer is tough. Even more so if you want to make a career out of it. Thanks to the advancement of technology, the means to write have not only improved but also increased, which means that competition has never been higher. Nonetheless, there are some ways to improve your chances of making it big or outright become a famous writer, and one of these is winning NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month, is an organization that dates back to 1999. It started off as a challenge among friends to find new ways for writers to improve their craft and also to prove themselves. This challenge then evolved into the annual writing marathon that happens every November.

You may wonder how applying for a writing competition with hundreds of thousands of participants is any different than just publishing your works on your own and trying to shine. It’s almost as difficult, if not more, but at least in NaNoWriMo there is a guarantee that an expert will review your work.

Just as any hero needs a magic sword or power to vanquish evil and protect the world, so does a writer need an excellent tool to aid him in his road to victory in NaNoWriMo, and there is no better tool than LivingWriter! Let’s see some tips and qualities you need to bring the prize home and how LivingWriter can help you strive for them.

Be Disciplined

Before anything else, you need to be aware that the most important thing is how much though and effort you put into this. This competition requires you to write a 50k words novel in 30 days, so it’s necessary that you understand the weight of this goal and how important it is for you to dedicate yourself to it.

You shouldn’t over-rely on LivingWriter, which will only serve as an aid. Remember, LivingWriter is not winning the award, it’s you.

Be Organized

This is where LivingWriter comes in strong. We offer a variety of features that will assist you when writing your novel, especially when it comes to keeping it organized and neat.

Outlines allows you to create and view outlines of your story, showing the chapters of your manuscript with short descriptions of them in one place. You can get into even more detail with subchapters per chapter, or be content with the chapter descriptions you made that you can keep at the side while you’re writing.

Story Elements, on the other hand, deals with the nitty-gritty details of your story’s characters, settings, and other prominent objects/phenomena. You can keep comprehensive notes about them and have them right at your fingertips whenever you need them.

Story and Chapter Goals are perhaps the most important features of LivingWriter in your NaNoWriMo journey. Story Goals allows you to set a goal word count for your entire manuscript, which would be around 50,000 words in the case of NaNoWriMo, as well as the goal deadline. LivingWriter then automatically calculates the number of words you need to write per day to achieve your goal word count. It even considers your days off, recalculating your goal number of words per day based on the remaining days. Chapter Goals works similarly, but limited only to chapters and does not need a goal deadline. See it in action here.

Don’t Fear Trying Something New

When doing something as big as a worldwide competition, it’s normal to try and do something safe, something that you have experience with and may offer you the best chances at winning. However, you may very well have a hidden talent for a different genre, or even a whole other writing style at that.

Be bold and daring. Try something new, maybe pick up that idea you discarded a few years ago. You never know how far some ideas could take you. You don’t have to write the best novel, but instead you just need to write the manuscript that you’re confident with.

A great help for this is LivingWriter’s novel templates, which offer a variety of genres and writing styles. Each one also offers their respective descriptions and examples needed to guide you through this new and exciting experience.

Don’t Give Up

As stated in the beginning, it’s tough being a writer. Winning NaNoWriMo would be a tough hurdle for any writer out there, professional or not. However, you lose out on nothing if you do end up not finishing the challenge.

Success rarely comes overnight. Just look at Suzanne Collins, a writer who didn’t see any success with her book series from 2003 to 2007, yet suddenly struck gold with her Hunger Games book series in 2008, at 45 years old.

There is also the possibly that you are not interested in monetary gain or fame, and would just be satisfied with inspiring someone or having a big, positive impact in their lives, which is also a great aim to have.

Don’t forget, it is never too late for success. If you need help reaching it, LivingWriter is always here to aid you.