Betsy Price locks herself in a room with her computer and her research. She is listening to composer Jack Trammell and has turned her Internet off. She reads some of the research she has saved through a script-writing program. Then once she is ready, she begins to write.
“The best thing to do is tune everything out,” she said.
Analee Walton also believes in tuning out the world around her, but instead of Trammell, she listens to white noise or music without a pattern.
“I write pretty much anywhere, whenever I have a few minutes,” she said.
Price and Walton, both seniors majoring in English, are working toward the same goal: 50,000 words. They are joining over 200,000 other participants from all over the world in NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. The NaNoWriMo challenge is to write 50,000 words of a novel during the 30 days of November.
It is a daunting task and it is a lot of writing, but both Price and Walton believe it to be worth it.
“The goal is 50,000 words, but even if you only get half of that, the experience propelled you to write faster,” Price said. “Even not finishing is still worth it.”
This is Walton’s fourth time participating in NaNoWriMo. She has never completed a novel in 30 days before, but this year she is already a third of the way through her novel. If she is successful this year it may be due to her careful planning in the months leading up to November.
“My outline is so detailed it’s not even funny,” she said. “I have it outlined chapter by chapter down to the sentence, so all I have to do is write.”
Trying to write a 50,000-word novel as a student can be difficult on its own. But it is even more challenging when tackling it during crunch time of the semester. Price said most of her other classes do not require the same type of writing, making it easier to balance schoolwork and novel work. She also tends to fall behind on NaNoWriMo, as opposed to her class work.
For Walton, however, that is not the case.
“For me, it’s really the opposite,” she said. “It’s more fun to work on my novel, and I usually end up wanting to do the fun stuff and not write research papers.”
The objective of NaNoWriMo is to encourage writers to produce a rough draft in a really short amount of time so they can then spend the rest of the year editing and fine-tuning. Many writers then try to get their work published. Over 250 NaNoWriMo novels have been traditionally published, NaNoWriMo reported on their website. These novels include Sara Gruen’s “Water for Elephants,” Erin Morgenstern’s “The Night Circus” and Marissa Meyer’s “Cinder.”
Price and Walton both intend to publish their work as well. Price said she will probably self-publish her novel when it is finished.
After signing up to do NaNoWriMo, Price and Walton were connected with other participants in the Tuscaloosa area. Most regions have a Municipal Liaison, who helps encourage writers in their area and plans write-ins and other events.
Amanda Nichols, the current ML for the Tuscaloosa region, said her job is to help writers navigate the NaNoWriMo process and bring them together.
“The only advice that I can give is to put away your inner editor. The motto for NaNoWriMo is quantity over quality. Editing can come later,” Nichols said. “November is for getting your story onto paper. I absolutely recommend NaNo to students. Even if they don’t think they can reach 50k, I think the creative endeavor itself is worth it.”
Nichols said she feels that writers benefit from coming together in a mutual, creative setting.
“The best part for me is the people I get to meet. For most people writing is a very solitary activity. So it’s really nice to get to hang out with other writers and discuss our plots, or lack of one, or complain about our muses,” Nichols said.
Though Walton has not been to an event yet this year, she attended write-ins during previous novel-writing months. There are over 400 members in the Tuscaloosa region. Nichols hosts weekly write-ins at locations such as the Tuscaloosa Public Library or Panera Bread.
“One of the cool things we have done before is light a candle in remembrance of a character,” Walton said. “Every time you killed off a character in a book you would light a candle at one of the write-ins as a memorial.”
Price recommends the NaNoWriMo to anyone who has even just a little time. This year, she is encouraging one of her friends to try it. Her friend, who is a college student as well, has a job and does not think she can do it, Price said.
“I’m trying to encourage her to set a goal of 30,000 words instead of 50,000,” Price said. “If you have some time, try it.”
Price has found that NaNoWriMo is good for developing goal-setting skills and giving a writer the push they need to get started on a large project.
“If you are really stuck on having 50,000 words, I think you are missing the point,” Price said. “It’s not about the word count, it is about writing and writing a lot.”
