Samara Yew, author of Murder by the Seashore, a California Bookshop mystery, is visiting Ascroft, eh? today to tell us a bit about her experience of participating in National Novel Writing Month.
Welcome, Samara. I’ll turn the floor over to you –
Did you know that in the writing community, next month is referred to as something called NaNoWriMo? November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short and NaNo for even shorter—an annual event where writers all around the world challenge themselves to write a novel in one month. If you are wondering why this topic is significant to a blog tour about my new cozy mystery, Murder by the Seashore was written during NaNoWriMo back in November 2020. Well, the first very messy draft was, at least.
Since writing an entire novel in one month is rather an almost impossible task, the specific goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words in one month. For reference, the final version of Murder by the Seashore is 70,000, so even though I “won” NaNoWriMo by reaching the 50K goal, I still didn’t complete the entire book. During revisions, I added an additional 20K words in the months following. The official website has a log to keep track of words written each day, and writers can be awarded badges on their profile for completing specific tasks such as writing 7 or 14 or 21 days in a row, reaching 5K or 10K or 25K words, or updating their progress every single day in November.
Whew! That’s a lot of work! I’m not even going to try and sugarcoat it to make it seem like this is at all easy. Because writing an entire novel in one month is as difficult as it sounds.
But the sense of community is strong during NaNoWriMo. There are in-person local groups that meet up to write and they can be found through the website. There are also online forums, writing groups, and buddies you can add for further support. This all makes writing an entire novel in one month slightly less daunting because so many other writers are doing the exact same thing.
The true spirit of NaNoWriMo is to start a brand new novel with word one written on November 1st and complete the story on November 30th, even if the final word count isn’t there and many scenes are only space holders. The true spirit of NaNoWriMo is to be able to write “The End” on the last page. But there are many NaNo Rebels who might work on a book that is already being drafted, edit a second or third draft, or aim to reach their own word count target. And I believe that any writer who attempts NaNoWriMo is a winner because they end up with more words at the end of November than they did at the beginning, even if it’s only a few hundred. The main goal is really to sit down and make the time to write that book that had always been a dream.
Murder by the Seashore was written in the true spirit of NaNoWriMo. I did have an outline, something I made up during Preptober. Yep, you guessed it. Not only does November have a different name in the writing community, but so does October. But I started with a blank Word document on November 1st and wrote every single day of the month. The last few chapters were a mix of scene placeholders and bullet points. It was a hot mess, but I was able to reach the end of the plot. I had my work cut out for me for the second draft, but you can’t edit a blank page, so I was very proud for reaching the 50K NaNoWriMo goal.
And if you “win” NaNoWriMo by uploading your manuscript to their website for a word count verification, there are different offers you can claim. Writing software programs such as Scrivener, Campfire, or Plottr often have discount codes for winners to use their products.
Have you attempted National Novel Writing Month before? Did you reach your goal? If you’ve ever thought about writing a book, I think November is an excellent time to start because people all around the world are attempting the same venture. Add me as a buddy on the NaNoWriMo site and I will cheer you on! Who knows? Maybe your NaNoWriMo project will become a published book one day just like Murder by the Seashore.
Oh, and by the way, I know 50,000 words may sound like a lot to write in only 30 days, but really that is just 1667 words per day. You’ve got this!
Thank you for sharing this with us, Samara, and good luck with Murder by the Seashore, the latest book in the California Bookshop mystery series.
Readers can learn more about Samara Yew by visiting the author’s website and. her Facebook, Instagram and Goodreads pages. You can also follow her on Twitter.
The book is available online at the following retailers:
Amazon – PenguinRandomHouse – B&N – Chapters Indigo
About Samara Yew: Samara is a cozy mystery author who writes about adorable bookshops and dead bodies. A full-time mom, full-time dog servant, and part-time writer, Samara lives in British Columbia, Canada, where she can often be found watching Psych reruns. Samara loves to travel, especially visiting her husband’s home country of Singapore or donning Mickey ears in Disneyland. She’s a member of Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers.
dianneascroft.com 