I know lots of people are currently doing #NaNoWriMo. I'm not doing an official version, but I will certainly be drafting at least 50,000 words on a novel this month.

Would anyone find it useful to know how I'm approaching it?

(With the caveat that all brains are different).

OK, here goes. If you're using NaNo as an aspiring writer rather than as a personal challenge, the most important thing to remember about it is that NaNo is no different than any other writing apart from scale.

Like any exercise, it's important to use good form even with small weights, or you won't see good results when you scale up, or you might actually hurt yourself.

There's no point using bad habits just to up word count.

So let's talk how I plan to hit 50k (and know that I will).

Pre-work is essential for me. I don't consider myself a plotter, and I despise outlines, but I need to have a plan.

First step of the plan is answering some basic questions.

Most important: Why am I writing this?

Subquestion to that: why this, and nothing else? I need to be excited before I begin or I'm never going to make it.

Next question: what do I want to make people feel?

Subquestion: what do I want people to feel when they've closed the book?

This set of questions is important because it helps me shortcut the outlining process. I don't have to know the end necessarily, but I need to know what KIND of end I'm hoping for. The more fully I can picture how a reader feels upon closing the book, the better I can aim.

Question: Do I have a ticking clock in mind?

Subquestion: do I need to strengthen my external plot to justify my internal/ character journey?

It's much easier to write a novel if you know you're headed for the Big Race, the Curse's End, the Pageant, the Judgment, etc.

The more concrete my external structure is in my mind, the more free I'll feel to fart about with my character arcs and descriptive playgrounds.

This pre-work is essential. I use it then to write an outline of sorts. Not an outline. A plan. Let's call it a plan still.

Because my goal is to just give myself a tool that keeps me on track. I want some sort of plan jotted to contain all the information that is important to me that I know.

I'll write an outline with plot beats, images, character reveals. "Outline."

I put it on sticky notes.

That way I can move them around and add more information and subtract scenes and moments as I change my mind.

It's difficult to make the abstract concrete. I'm just giving myself all the tools I need to externalize.

Ok, now, the hard part.

The most important part of being a working writer, of hitting deadlines, is time management. Time management isn't just about discipline, though. It's about honesty, kindness, realism, and diligence.

I get out a calendar. I get out a calculator. I do the math.

Writing deadlines often fail because the writer in question has set themselves an impossible deadline.

Let's run some numbers.

You want to do NaNo. 50k words. Let's say you only have Saturdays to spare. Math: 12,500 words a day.

Don't flinch from the number.

Ask yourself if you've ever managed that. Ask yourself if you can add Wednesdays. Two days, 6-8 pm. That's now 6250 a session. Can you do that? Can you type that fast? Be honest. Be realistic. Do not set yourself up for failure before you've even begun.

How many words can you truly do in a sitting? I know this number for myself because I’ve written for a decade.

I know it even more accurately because of a short story challenge I've been doing with a friend: we write as complete a story as possible in 90 minutes once a week.

2k words in 90 minutes. If I know what I'm doing.

Ok, but I still can't use this number for this math. I can do 2k, but they won't be pretty, so if I'm using them to build MORE words, I'll need time to look back over them.

Again, I'm being realistic. Honest. And kind. Why burn yourself out on an idea you love for NaNo? You don't have to hate it and feel exhausted by the end.

So let's do new math.

Instead I'll ask myself how many words I need to get done a week (12,500), how many I can write in 90 minutes (2k), round it up because I won't always be on fire to 2 hours, and then see how many sessions a week I need to accomplish that.

Okay. 6. Let's say 6 two-hour sessions a week. Once a day. I need to be able to edit in order to be smart and clever for the next session, so I'm going to give myself another hour session in the evening of each of those days to edit and reread and plan for the next day.

AND LOOK I GET A DAY OFF EACH WEEK TOO.

Could I grandly say, oh, I am going to do it all on Saturdays? Yes. Could I maybe do it? Yes — I mean, I've written a lot of words, I know how to make words on a page. Will I be doing good words, will I enjoy the process? No.

The important thing for me is identifying how much time I need, setting those hours, and not letting other things bleed into those hours. I don't do anything else during the short story challenge. Otherwise I don't make it. I know this already.

Same for my other work.

Now, finally, before I get to work, I'll write some scratch words. These won't count for my wordcount, because they won't end up in the manuscript, but you can use them for NaNo if you like, if you do them too. What I do is try out my characters' voices, my prose, my shape.

I'm looking for flies in the ointment. I'm looking for surprising voices I enjoy using. I'm looking to see if I'm starting it in a place I find fun.

I'm also taking taking the moment to double check my characters, to reduce them back to studs once more.

I take them down in my mind to tropes, paperdolls, stick figures. The driven one, the sad one, the comic relief. Do I have 2 characters acting out the same role? Time to combine or cut. Do I need a foil for one of my tropes? Time to add.

It's easier before I get deep in the ms.

Then I open my document, I play around with fonts for, like, 90 minutes, and I go, go, go.

That's how I've been setting myself up for this next project, more or less, greatly simplified, and like I said — it's not a "will 50k happen?" It will. You can do it too. GODSPEED.