NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)

Ever heard of NaNoWriMo? That's short for National Novel Writing Month, and since I write a lot of novels, I decided to advise a NaNoWriMo Club at school. The goal is for participants to write 50,000 words during the month of November, thus completing a big chunk of a novel and getting far enough along that it would be sad to abandon the task even if the month is over.

The club is small but mighty, and while I'm technically the adviser, the real person in charge is The Novelist.

I had The Novelist as a freshman and since then, she's written two novels. She even won an award for one of them when she entered it in the Scholastic Writing Competition! The Novelist is a very cool human and she is bringing her positive vibes to my classroom every Tuesday in November. The other members of the club are so excited to have her as a coach!

I passed Poseidon Jr. in the hallway this morning and the first thing he said to me was, "Guess what today is!"

I of course knew the answer. "NaNoWriMo!" I exclaimed. "Day one! Oh my gosh!"

"Oh my gosh!" Poseidon Jr. repeated, and then we both squealed a bit.

There are some dystopian writers in the mix. Quiet Quiet Cocoa Puff is creating something about people with chips implanted in them, I believe, and someone else is also writing a dystopian piece... though I'm not sure what it's about. At first, it was about turnips or carrots or something, but that idea has been abandoned and replaced with something new. And if I knew what the new idea was, I've since forgotten.

The Ninja is being very hush-hush about her idea, but Poseidon Jr. is the opposite! Not only has he got all these characters existing in his head, he's also created a playlist and a cover for his novel! Go Poseidon Jr.!

Chipper McSunshine is writing a mystery. It involves two girls trapped in a basement and a trail of breadcrumbs leading to them... but the breadcrumbs are actually stamps. It sounded like an interesting plot. She started writing it when she was in seventh grade, but now that she's a sophomore -- and a better writer, not surprisingly -- she's going to rework it and bust it out this month.

The Limbo King, as far as I know, isn't quite sure what his novel will be about, but he has a very intricate theme in place. I find it interesting that he prefers to start with a theme. I'm someone who needs the characters and a bit of plot (it might only be a snippet, but it has to exist... and it helps to have an ending, but that's no longer a requirement for me).

I was talking to The Novelist after the club wrapped up and we realized that we brainstorm our novels very differently. She makes storyboards and character descriptions whereas I just sit down and start writing. I keep a page of notes to help keep me organized, but I rarely do any brainstorming ahead of time. Although, I did do stuff like that when I was a kid. I still have a big binder on the bottom shelf of my bookcase that's labeled "Head Story." It has song lyrics and letters from bands and the first chapter, rewritten multiple times, of my first novel Kick It (which has still never been published, but will someday be shared with you). So, that's going to be next week's discussion with the club: What are the steps you take before writing?

I need to get to writing my novel now because I still have 50,000 words to produce this month. Gotta go!