I started writing seriously in February of 2014.  That month of that year, I sat at my computer and put words to paper, pushing through writers block and unhappiness with less than stellar writing.  Almost two years later, I’m still working on the book and, at 240 000 words, I still have a way to go before it is finished.

Earlier this year, I took a short break (around July) to try my hand at short fiction.  The endeavor started out as a path to getting published before my book was finished, but turned into a realization that it was important for me to write as much as possible to develop and grow.

In August I made the decision to break my massive 240 000 word monstrosity into three parts and edited the first, packaging it into what I thought would be a publishable manuscript.  To make a long story short, I wound up getting more than a handful of rejections and ran across a wonderful community that has helped me grow and develop as a writer.

Joining this community is what prompted me to take part in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

I joined on November 4th and immediately started writing and outlining the what I wanted to do.  At first, I thought about expanding one of my science fiction short stories into a full book, but that would be too difficult to do in a month.  The work in question was a psychological science fiction thriller that I would need a lot more time to write.  Instead, I decided to write a mystery novel, my first try at something outside of the realm of science fiction.

I officially finished the work on November 31st, but wanted to share what I learned about writing a novel in a month. To be honest, I thought it would just be an exercise in volume, but there was so much more to it that I never expected. Here are a few of those things:

1. Writing under pressure is insane. Before this, I never held myself to any deadlines. I always wrote when I felt like it and only when I felt like it. When things hit the page wrong or didn’t seem to mesh with what I was going for, I’d stop and rewrite later or redo the same section until I had what I wanted. This last month, I set a goal to hit – 65 000 words. At the beginning of the challenge, I was already THOUSANDS of words behind and needed to catch up. I did quick calculations that put me at having to write over three thousand words a day just to make it to the end on time. On top of that…I had to write every day whether I wanted to or not. This brought a whole new dynamic to writing. I had to focus on getting through scenes and chapters rather than agonizing on whether each thing was perfect. It was a different type of writing than I’m used to and definitely a different pace.

2. Outlining before hand is nifty. When I’m at work or doing something that involves a process, I always do some kind of outline or work plan. That’s just the kind of person I tend to be. When I started writing, however, I never held myself to any kind of outline, just writing what came to mind and letting the characters explore the world they were in at the same pace I was. It is an interesting way to write, but can wind up leading you directly into a nest of snakes if you aren’t careful. The first day that I started writing for NaNoWriMo, I made character profiles for each of the main characters in the story and wrote a rough outline of what was going to happen. More characters did wind up creeping into the story and the outline changed a bit near the middle and end, but I knew where the story was going before I got to that point. While this constrained my overall freedom a tiny bit when writing, it gave me enough of a framework to get where I needed to go without completely losing the plot.

3. Writing at that speed feels tighter. I spent a lot of time writing and though I put a lot of effort into making sure the world was present, I didn’t overburden it with descriptions. Everyone knows what a Chevy is and what a phone looks like, so I didn’t describe every object in minute, obsessive, brain addling detail. I’m sure I still have a bunch of filler words that will need to be edited out, but  I’m guessing they are far less prevalent than they would be in a meandering work produced over a longer period of time.

4. I loved the brutality of it. Writing 3k words a day is HARD. I hated it most days…but I also loved it. Many nights, I was up super late trying to get extra words to paper. Many of those night, I hated that I was doing it. Many of those nights, I also pushed that little voice aside and soldiered through each page like a Sardaukar. It felt like punishment, but I loved making sure that each word got on the page. In the end, it turned out that even when I didn’t want to write, I wanted to write!

5. Titles are hard. I started the work with a title. I changed the title a little bit into the work. Since I finished, the title has changed again. Maybe I’m just overthinking it, but I want the title to be perfect…PERFECT I SAY!

6. Genres. I tried a brand new genre for NaNoWriMo – Mystery. I loved designing the story and adding twists. It made me happy to think about what would make sense or be interesting for the reader to experience along with the main character. I tried to make sure that each twist and story point made sense, but it was fun writing in a grounded reality where fantastical elements couldn’t be made up to move the plot forward (not that I don’t like that…I super do). I even have an optional Epilogue that leaves everything open for a sequel/series if I want to go there.

When I started writing for NaNoWriMo, my goal was to produce a novel in a month.  I never expected to actually learn anything from the experience.  I’m currently editing the work and plan on trying to publish it, but even if no one picks up the work, I’m glad I wrote it.  This November, I learned so much about writing and the process than I ever had over the past two years.  I only hope that learning continues as I produce more work in the future.