How I NaNo – Catherine Banks

My guest today is Catherine Banks. She is sharing with us her why and how for NaNo. Please welcome her to my blog!

I look forward to NaNoWriMo every year. Two years I tried planning my novel with an outline and the key scenes’ details written down and the other year I just let the story come to me as I wrote with only a character in mind.I seem to write best when I just have a character in mind and let the story and the characters go where they will.

Sometimes I get so excited about a scene that isn’t supposed to happen for a long time, that I will write that scene, leaving several blanks for the rest of the story, and then once I’m satisfied with that scene I will go back and fill in the gaps.

I finished my first NaNoWriMo in 2011 in 11 days by using the method of just creating my character and it was the greatest feeling ever. Not everyone has the same style and you have to figure out what works best for you. One year I didn’t finish the challenge and that was perfectly okay because sometimes things come up and you can’t berate yourself for not finishing. Just think of it as practice.

If you don’t hit the 50,000 mark by the 30 days then just use that as determination to finish the next year. Try altering your methods like I did and see if one works better for you than the other. My husband knows every November that I won’t be speaking to him at night because I will be busy writing my novel, but I also try to remember not to push myself. If the story isn’t flowing at that moment or I feel like my writing is suffering then I set it aside and pick it up the next day.

Generally I spend 3-5 hours per day writing for NaNoWriMo, but some days I only spend one hour and get the minimum 1,667 words. Use NaNoWriMo to find your writing style, find a story that really ignites your creativity and that love of writing we often lose sight of, the one that makes your fingers fly across the keyboard, and remember that this is a very rough, first draft and it is not supposed to be perfect in any way. Get your story on paper (real or digital) and ignore your inner editor until a month or two after you finish NaNoWriMo.

You aren’t doing this for anyone else, just yourself and that means you do it how you want and damn those NaNo veterans who tell you their way is best!

Catherine Banks’ bio:

I’m just your average nerdy bibliophile. I love books, video games, music, and movies. In 2010 I self-published my first novel and now I have several titles under construction and several published. I love fantasy and have an extreme love for werewolves. I spend my days off work writing one of my novels or with my husband and 2 children. I love writing stories and they seem to flow out of me constantly. I just want people to read my stories and enjoy them.

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