How to write faster during nanowrimo

Do you wonder how you can write more words for nanowrimo, and do you also want all these words to be good? The pressure of writing fifty thousand words is real but it also seems do divert the attention from writing to writing more words. But really what is the point of writing even five thousand words if they aren’t very good? We all know that first drafts aren’t perfect but writing for the sake of words won’t do you any good. Now a lot of us don’t really have the time either so here are my tips for writing more during nanowrimo. Before we get started go ahead and subscribe to my newsletter so you never miss a post from me.

1. Know what works for you

Now the first tip I have for you is to know what sort of writing works for you. Let me explain what I mean. I’ve seen a lot of people giving advice like keep a notebook with you or write whenever your waiting in a line. Or just write between classes. But here’s the thing that may not work for you. Some people can pump out a lot of works in a good fifteen minutes but the rest of you may not be able to do that. You may need at least an hour for writing that is to explore your outline and take some time. And that’s okay. But I want you to take a minute to figure that out. Try out writing sprints and if that does not work for you, that’s one thing you have eliminated. If sprints don’t work for you or you need larger sprints, that’s okay. Its completely normal and quantity is not as important as quality.

2. Remove all distractions from your workspace

This has to be the best thing you can do for yourself. How many times do you simply start writing and then get a notification from your phone which you absolutely have to check. Don’t do that guys its going to take you too much time to get your concentration. One text or one comment to reply to on Instagram is never just that. Your phone doesn’t have to be the only thing that distracts you but let’s face it, phone’s are the best distractions. You may need to remove books from your shelves or anything else too. What I recommend doing with your phone is to put it in airplane mode or mute the notifications. You can do this with certain apps or mute the entire phone. Music can always be played on your laptop but if you must have it on your phone mute everything else. Figure out what all you need to remove and I also urge you to find a good place to write. It can be on your couch or you may need a table in front of a window to look out off. Make sure that wherever your writing si comfortable for you and that the lighting is comforting. We all know how annoying it is to write for a while and then need a break because of the annoying pains.

3. Take breaks

You don’t have to write everyday. Nanowrimo is meant so that we can create a habit and actually follow our dream. The habit doesn’t have to be, write everyday. Weekends may be more busy for you or there may be a couple days of the week. Writing everyday isn’t for everyone. It may surprise you but even professional writers don’t write everyday. They might do soething related to writing but may take breaks from that too. I think that gives you the right to take a break. What will happen if you don’t? I mean the writing police is going to come for you and you will never ever be allowed to write ever again? No. Writing us an art and everyone has a different way of going about it. so when breaks are required take the. I know that its hard not to feel guilty sometimes but you don’t have to. Writing is an art, you do it because you love it and it helps you express yourself. Don’t let it be your master, not in that way.

4. Create your writing schedule ahead of time

Guys, guys, guys, hear me out. I know your probably thinking “writing schedules are not for me.” and that may be so. But if the reason you think its not for you is because you tried one and it worked for a couple days or its too boring and tiring, I don’t think your doing it right. The basic problem is that your schedule is too general. Chances are that you probably got it somewhere off the intenet or your just throwing a couple of things you want to do in a list and randomly following it. that’s not going to do. There’s a lot you can do like calendar blocking, dumping everything you have to do on a piece of paper before organizing it and so on. But don’t worry for I have a whole post on How to create a writing schedule that actually works for you. Click the link and check out the blog post. Now you may think that nanowrimo has already started and there isn’t much of a point, if you think your wrong. Nanowrimo doesn’t just exist for you to pump out fifty thousand meaningless words. Its there so you create a writing habit and do it for yourself. If you haven’t subscribed already I urge you to do so I’ll be sending a newsletter to help you with nanowrimo very soon. I couldn’t do that at the beginning of the month, but its coming.

5. Don’t compare your word count to your friends

Does your friend right super fast? Well that’s because they are different from you. Or does your friend take your time and write slower than you? Does that bother you because maybe you think you should be writing faster or because maybe because your writing fast your writing isn’t as good as it should be? Actually that is not true. People have different writing speeds. Some people may write faster and still get really great words out. And some may write slower and that’s okay. You take your time and do what’s best for you. Don’t try doing what someone else is. Guys finding your community and having great friends from there are super great…that is until you start comparing yourselves to them. I have seen so many people saying that if you write slow, its okay and that people who write fast don’t write well. Guys this isn’t true. I know you want to make slower writers feel good about themselves but don’t do it in the expense of faster writers who may even write as well as others. And if you write slow, you are just as valid and important.

6. Outline

Again, your probably gonna say that outlining isn’t for you. And it may not be but an outline can help you a lot. And it doesn’t have to be thousands of words. It can just be sketching out your characters and plot. Now I also have a post for this (surprise surprise) how to get started with outlining your story and how to go about it. Click the link and check out the post I promise you its super helpful and I go about all the details and how it doesn’t have to be one ten thousand words roadmap.

And I don’t care if we are already into nanowrimo its still not too late to outline your novel. I swear even if your done with your novel, you can outline it just so you can do a good job editing your novel.

But here’s another tip for you. Before you sit down to write grab a piece of paper and jot down some details about this scene. If you outlined already, use it as a reference point. You can jot down details about the point of view your going to write It can be anything.

And while you outline I give you full permission to write down bits of dialogue or scenes. That’s totally okay. The writing police isn’t going to come for you guys, I promise. and you don’t have to copy paste the exact scenes. You could use it as a guide.

And while we are talking about outlining go grab all my writerly templates like my character template, series/novel outline template and scene card. Go subscribe to my newsletter now and they’ll get delivered straight to your inbox. Scroll down to this exact page to get them!

7. Visualize the scene

This is the last thing you can do for yourself and the best part is you can do this anytime. While your getting yourself some food, cleaning your room or standing in a line. Go over the scene like its from a movie in your head. This way when you write it, you’ll know how it goes. All you have to figure out is the descriptions. This also helps you to know your characters faces better. and come on you know how much you want to do that. and no it doesn't actually count as procrastiation.

Now that's all I have for you today. i hope you enjoyed this post and it did help you out. Hit that like button and comment down below and let me know how your goals are gong. Subscribe to get notified every time i post and to get my newsletter. and if you made it this far and need motivation for nanowrimo here's an amazing resource for you from the amazing Abbie Emmons. She started a fun thing called letters from Abbie where if you subscribe to the website you'll get a wonderful and encouraging email every single day of nano with a desktop background and everything. its really awesome. click here to go sign up now!!!!