A 100% Awesome, 100% Thorough Guide to NaNoWriMo 2013

I’m in. How does one NaNoWriMo?

A 10-Step Guide to Participating in NaNoWriMo.

Most importantly:

1. Start writing on November 1. Keep writing. Don’t stop writing until you hit 50,000 words, or December 1, whichever comes first.
2. Where do you write? Not on the site! In your word processor, notebook, or even typewriter, you iconoclast, you. 
3. Update your word count by clicking “Update Word Count” in the topmost menu. Watch your word-count graph climb your novel as if it were Everest.

How to make friends and influence people, NaNo-style:

• Find your regional forum and attend a write-in. (No region near you? Watch for our livestream write-ins on our YouTube page.)
• Read pep talks from authors like Rainbow Rowell, James Patterson, and Marie Lu.
• Embrace the forums. (The Newbies forum and All-Ages Coffee House are good starting points.)

I want the ultra-deluxe, full NaNoWriMo experience:

• Nominate your novel to receive professional cover art.
• Consult your NaNo Coach.
• Participate in our Writing Marathon.
• Get a hard copy of your winning novel to add to the bookshelf.
• Rock the 2013 NaNoWriMo shirt. Repeatedly press the start button on the front. Wonder why you are not being transported away to the noveling retreat of your dreams.

Starting My Novel Help:

• How to Schedule Time for Writing
• One Sentence on Launching Your Story
• Five Secret Steps to Story-Building
• Writing Your First Novel

Plot Help:

• Creating External and Internal Conflict
• 25 Ways to Plot, Plan, and Prep Your Story
• The Plot Doctoring forum

Character Help:

• The Official NaNoWriMo Character Questionnaire
• Creating Three-Dimensional Characters by People Watching
• The Character Cafe forum

Word-count Help:

• @NaNoWordSprints (What is a word sprint?)
• The Reaching 50,000 forum

Welcome, newcomers, and welcome back, oldcomers, to what will hopefully become a new yearly tradition—one that inspires and instills you with confidence; one that transforms that idea in your head into a novel; one that’s somehow a hundred times better than a week’s worth of Thanksgiving leftovers.

Have a favorite writing resource or tip? Link and/or comment below! Happy NaNoWriMo!