This being the first weekend of Nanowrimo, it's probably going to be the easiest. Unless you've got lots of plans and no time to write, this weekend you should be filled with the joy of Nanowrimo. Your story idea is fresh and exciting, you're filled with wonder at knowing you're sitting down to write when so many other novelists are sitting down to write, and you've got nothing but wide open possibilities ahead of you.
Now, you may be the sort to be intimidated by that blank page.
Here's my first tip for you:
1. Do not be intimidated.
Ha, you say. If it were that simple, I wouldn't be struggling to start in the first place!
Okay, you're not wrong, of course. The blank page can be scary. Figuring out what your first words should be just might be your first big challenge of the month. Here's the thing: even though the first sentence or page of a published novel might make or break that novel - it will NOT make or break your Nanowrimo novel. And here is why: This draft is for you. 100% from start to finish all about you taking your idea and your characters and your setting out for a spin and seeing what comes of it.
REVEL IN YOUR OWN IMAGINATION!
Let yourself run wild. Put down anything. Start with "Hello!" Start with something utterly mundane. Borrow from a famous book - maybe your story *does* start with a dark and stormy night. Run with it. I promise that after November ends, you can come back and change those words. You may find your entire first thousand words are unnecessary and that the story really starts much later. Or heck, maybe it starts much earlier! But for now, let it start *somewhere.*
Tip two:
2. Capitalize on your enthusiasm.
Some people worry about burn out - they don't want to write too much for fear that they'll tap themselves out too early on. Many people point out that Nanowrimo is a marathon and not a sprint - and I absolutely agree with that sentiment. However! If you sit down to write and you are filled with the spirit of the thing - do not force yourself to stop writing at 1667 words (the daily word count if you spread the task evenly across all 30 days of the month). Write until you feel like stopping. Write until you're satisfied, until you're no longer feeling driven to keep going. Get those extra words in now, while they are easy and you feel good about them.
For many people, there is going to be a time this month when you no longer love your Nanowrimo novel. When the words start to dry up, you don't know what happens next, and worse, you no longer care what happens next. The only thing that will keep you going then is sheer determination to finish. Having the extra words then will put that little bit closer. It will buy you a few days of messing about with zero words written or with only a hundred or two words written, until you make it through your funk.
Finish day two of Nano today having written with great abandon. Now that all the people and places and plots that you've been preparing are materializing on the page, give yourself permission to play with them, to let them explore, to let them get themselves in and out of trouble - planned or not.
Enjoy this weekend, and write!
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