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Wednesday, October 16, 2013

16th October 2013

Aaaah! Done with raya haji and now is the time to start preparing for NaNoWriMo!!
First thing first, why is NaNoWriMo very important to me? Well, this is one of the most important exercises for writers, even if you haven't had any of your works published. November is the month when you really push yourself, forget whatever people had said about your previous work and just write!
It's like a month long bootcamp for writing where you have to overcome the demon inside you. There will always be a little voice telling you to quit when you're stuck, unsure of the plot, hate the protagonist, unhappy with the non-existence of interesting drama, frustrated with your lack of English vocab or worst - when other things need to be prioritized. *sigh*
NaNoWriMo to me is when I tell myself to just go! go! go! There shouldn't be any pause or long absence from the word processor. I didn't draft my story with paper and pen during the 2012 NaNoWriMo. I typed everything straight on my lappie and managed to reach 50K words at the 11th hour.
In November 2012 I brought my lappie everywhere - to the coffee shop, balik kampung and even during my trip to Langkawi. When I worked on my novels, I usually spent 1-3 hours a day so that I could complete the first draft within 2 months. For NaNoWriMo, I had to make sure I write between 2K-3K words a day in order to reach the 50K words target in less than 30 days.
I actually spent less than 30 days writing my 2012 NaNoWriMo novel. The first 2 days was spent defining characters and preparing the novel treatment.
I like having story map and treatment, although I don't usually follow them 100%. When I start on a writing project, I like to visualize where the story is going and have at least one ending. The plot, twist and ending might change along the way, but that's okay. We usually would come up with something better than what we planned.
So, what are you waiting for? Do join NaNoWriMo this November! You could be writing your next best selling novel!

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