This year I took on the NaNoWriMo challenge to write a complete novel in 30 days for the second year in a row. I succeeded, and I’m proud of myself — but it also made me realise how much time I’m wasting the other 11 months of the year.
National Novel Writing Month came to a close yesterday, and now that you have your 175-page near-masterpiece on paper, it’s time to get to the process of editing. We’ve tallied up a few of our favourite tips from writers and some great apps for editing to help you along your way.
This week sees the beggining of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo,) where thousands of people (including Lifehacker’s Australian editor)challenge themselves to write a 50,000 word, 175-page novel before the end of November. It’s a huge task for even seasoned writers, but writing that much does more than just hone your writing skills. Sitting down to write every day can also serve to clear your mind, get the creative juices flowing, and add a little meditative respite to your day that may otherwise be missing.
Last year, I took part in the NaNoWriMo challenge of writing a novel in 30 days, and I succeeded. So naturally, this year I’m doing it again.
In response to incessant nagging from readers, colleagues and assorted Twitterati, I’ve posted chapter one of Shot, my NaNoWriMo novel, on my personal blog. Check it out and let me know what you think. [Shot]
One month ago, I set out to write a novel. 30 days later, the novel is finished (at least in the sense of being a complete first draft). Here’s what I learned from the process, most of which has nothing to do with writing fiction.
Despite having to write the whole thing in 30 days, I’ve had the luxury of actually doing some editing on my NaNoWriMo novel. One of the key tactics? Using find and replace to eliminate the phrases I use too often. Here’s a few everybody should keep an eye out for.
The November 30 deadline for the NaNoWriMo project is fast approaching. That means that I’m spending a little less time in front of a freshly-tweaked word processor, and a little more time in front of a spreadsheet. Why?
The NaNoWriMo novel writing project hasn’t imposed too many restrictions on me (other than having to find two hours a day to work on it). But there is one weird constraint: I can’t read any other fiction while I’m working on it.
Despite its appealing simplicity, I gave up on using FocusWriter early on in my NaNoWriMo project because I didn’t like the way it rendered on screen. As reader Dave quicly pointed out, you can make the software more to your taste with a little tweaking. Here’s how to do it.
