Fall marks the time of the year that many authors focus on their writing projects. NaNoWriMo provided a good opportunity for writers to gather together and write the first draft of their novel or revise their story. However, the NaNoWriMo organisers are currently facing a backlash over allowing the use of A.I. Many authors announced that they will not participate in the official NaNoWriMo event this November and they won’t relate themselves with NaNoWriMo anymore. Maybe you are one of those writers too. You don’t want to participate in the official NaNoWriMo challenge this year, but you still want to challenge yourself to write the first draft of your novel. Instead of NaNoWriMo, I suggest you take the 90-day novel writing challenge created bythe author of this blog article. The blog article includes: What is the 90-day novel writing challenge? The goals of the 90-day novel writing challenge Choose the writing software Brainstorm your novel Find the time and day that suits you best Track your writing process What happens after the writing challenge? Conclusion Further reading What is the 90-day novel writing challenge? The 90-day novel writing challenge is a writing challenge where authors aim to write a completed first draft of their novel in 90 days. Writing 50,000 words in a month can be stressful and overwhelming for many authors. The 90-day novel writing challenge is a more realistic and flexible challenge where authors can finish the first draft of their novel in a more relaxed and consistent way. The 90-day novel writing challenge will help you create a consistent writing routine that you can maintain after the challenge ends. You can ask your writer friends to participate in this challenge with you so that you can share your writing progress, motivate each other and talk about your stories. You will also improve your writing and editing skills. The goals of the 90-day novel writing challenge Main goal: Finish writing the first draft of your novel in 90 days. The average word count for writing a novel is 80,000 words so for the purposes of this challenge you need to write 80,000 words to finish the first draft of your novel. Your novel might end up being fewer or more words. The purpose of this writing challenge is to finish writing the first draft of your novel, no matter how many words your novel is. The 80,000-word count goal is just an estimate based on the average word count of novels for most genres. Write 1,000 words every day. If you write 1,000 words per day, you will finish the first draft of your novel in 80 days. You can use the remaining 10 days of the challenge's 90 days to plan your novel. Remember that this is just an initial plan and it can change any time. For example, you might finish your novel at 85,000 words or have an emergency that keeps you from writing every day. Stay flexible. Adjust your schedule and deadline as needed. Don’t get discouraged. Keep writing every day or as often as you can. Smaller goals: Divide the 80,000 words into 4 smaller goals of 20,000 words. Subgoal 1: 20,000 words Subgoal 2: 40,000 words Subgoal 3 : 60,000 words Completed manuscript: 80,000 words Divide your story into smaller goals to boost your confidence and motivate yourself to keep writing your story. Every time you hit the 20,000-word subgoal reward yourself. The rewards for the smaller goals can be as simple as going out to your favourite restaurant with your friends, going to the cinema or having a day off for yourself. Make sure to reward yourself with something “bigger” when you finish writing the first draft of your manuscript. The reward can be going on a short trip, upgrading your writing software or going back to your favourite hobby e,g drawing, playing a musical instrument, or reading a book. Choose the writing software Choose writing software that is easy and comfortable for you to use. There are many available free and paid writing software on the market. If you are a new writer on a budget, you can try Microsoft Word or Google Docs but you can also check Scrivener or Campfire if you are interested in writing software with more outlining and editing features. Do your research and choose one that best suits your budget and needs, if you don’t already have one. Brainstorm your novel 1) Think about your story idea, genre and tropes. What is your story about? Is it a contemporary romance story, a murder mystery or a paranormal thriller novel? What tropes will you include in your story?Write down in your writing software as much information as you can about your story idea and tropes. You can learn more information about how to brainstorm your story’s genre, tropes and main characters in this blog article. 2) Think about the main character(s) of your story and write down as much information as you can about their goals, motivations and flaws in a character profile. You can also write some information about their physical appearance and personality. You can learn more information about creating character profiles and compelling characters in this blog article. 3) Outline your novel using the 3-act structure and the 15 beats analysed in Save the Cat Writes a Young Adult Novel by Jessica Brody. Write as much information as you need in every beat. You can also write detailed chapter-by-chapter summaries if you want to know exactly what happens in every chapter of your story. The amount of preparation you can do is up to you. You can find more information about how to write a romance novel using the 3-act structure in this blog article. Find the time and day that suits you best Find the time of the day that suits you best to write 1,000 words per day. There is no ideal time to write. Write when it is best for your schedule and lifestyle. Try to write every day in order to keep the momentum going and create a consistent writing routine. Beginner writers will need at least 1 hour to write 1,000 words but experienced authors will need less time. Take as much time as you need to write 1,000 words a day. You can learn more tips about how to create a consistent writing routine and write every day in this blog article. Track your writing process Keep a planner where you add your daily word count and how much time you write every day. You can also create a word count tracker in an Excel spreadsheet where you add the date, scene/chapter, sprint duration, words per sprint and daily word count every day. This is a writing challenge so focus on writing. Do not edit. Move forward. Write your story. Don’t think about how to improve scenes that you have already written. Leave them for the editing stage. Your goal now is to finish writing the first draft of your novel. What happens after the writing challenge? After the 90-day novel writing challenge ends, put your story away. Get back to your manuscript after a month and start reading it. While reading your manuscript, make notes on what changes you wish to make. Look at the big-picture storytelling elements of your story such as story structure, characters (goal, motivation, flaw, conflict), pacing, setting, show vs tell, dialogue and genre conventions. Make notes about the issues of every chapter in the manuscript and note down issues that cover the entire manuscript in a separate document. Then, look at the issues you have noted, create an editing plan and start editing your manuscript. Conclusion This blog article encourages authors to participate in the 90-day novel writing challenge. It is high time for authors to look beyond NaNoWriMo and participate in flexible writing challenges that promote their creativity, inspiration, and motivation and allow them to set realistic writing goals. Comment below and let me know if you are participating in the 90-day novel writing challenge this year! Don’t forget to share the blog article on your social media! Further reading NaNoWriMo A.I. controversy explained How to brainstorm your novel’s genre and main characters How character profiles can help you write consistent and compelling characters How to write a romance novel using the 3-act structure How to create a consistent writing routine Save the Cat Writes a Young Adult Novel About the authorMaria Georgiou is a professional developmental editor for romance authors. She specialises in editing contemporary romance, YA romance, romantic suspense, paranormal romance and romantasy. She is a member of the EFA and ClubEdFreelancers. Learn more about the author: About me Get in touch: Facebook and LinkedIn Learn about fiction editing: Resources Library and Blog Get a quote for your writing project: Get in touch with me form
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About the authorMaria Georgiou is a professional developmental editor for romance authors. She specialises in editing contemporary romance, YA romance, romantic suspense, paranormal romance and romantasy. She is a member of the EFA and ClubEdFreelancers. |