Simple curiosity, who here is going to participate to NaNoWriMo next month?
Did you do any planning in advance? Did you participate before? What did you think of it?
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I opened the web page. How can you possibly write a decent novel in a month?– FeatherballOct 28, 2016 at 15:12
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@DanielCann I think you can, if you are an experienced writer with a lot of practice, so your language flows easily and you don't have to fight against each sentence. But the whole purpose of NaNoWriMo, as set out by the founders, is not to write a decent novel, but for those who have always dreamed of writing a novel but never found the time or courage to attempt one, to simply write anything at all. NaNoWriMo is not a writing technique, but a holiday.– user5645Oct 29, 2016 at 6:38
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Oh, I see, thanks for clarifying @what. I'm not entering though– FeatherballOct 29, 2016 at 7:18
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I participated in November 2013. I wrote a first rough draft of a novel, counting a bit over fifty thousand words, in ten days. It was what got me back to writing after a long hiatus of having to focus on job and family. After that push, and because I'm now moving, I would not participate again. On the one hand, in November I will be in the middle of rewriting my current book. That is a process that needs the time it takes and cannot be rushed and done in 30 days. On the other hand, my process is usually different, and what I wrote during NaNoWriMo was basically just a lengthy outline and that it was bloated to novel length long hindered me in finishing it. Only when I found the courage to simply throw it all away and write it anew, taking only the plot and some few passages from that rough, could I finally finish that book. So if I ever happen to be in the outline process in some future November, I might in fact use NaNoWriMo to brainflush that outline onto paper. But I will never consider it "writing a novel" again, and very likely I will rather do my outline the traditional way – that is, as a list or table –, and not waste the experience of discovery writing on the outlining but save it for when I actually follow the landmarks set out by the outline to write the first draft.
It was a great, valuable, and inspiring experience, and you might benefit from it, but for me it is something that I no longer feel I need.