November has arrived, and with it comes decidedly cooler temperatures, midterm exams, and the Thanksgiving holiday. One of November’s slightly less well-known roles is that of National Novel Writing Month.
National Novel Writing Month (sometimes known as NaNoWriMo) is a project through which people all over the world attempt to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. Sound impossible? Not according to the NaNoWriMo website, which states that of the approximately 120,000 people who attempted the feat in 2008, over 20,000 of them completed their novel by midnight on the last day of November.
Though it seems that January or July might be more appropriate and convenient months for college students to attempt this feat, if you’re one of the brave attempting to meet the challenge, the library has some resources to give you a hand with your writing:
Wisconsin NaNoWriMo Participants – Green Bay falls into the “elsewhere” category on the NaNoWriMo regional forums, so if you’re looking for some local writing buddies, check here.
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creative Writing – Not that the title reflects our opinion of any of you attempting NaNoWriMo, but there may be some good tips here.
Materials on Heroes in Literature – Who is your main character, really?
Materials on fiction writing.
Writing prompts from Writer’s Digest – Hit a wall with your plot? Have your main character wax poetic on one of these prompts.
Or try the Plot Twist Generator or Character Description Generator to find ways to shake up your novel. Careful – not all plot twists are rated PG.
If you’re really desperate to up your word count, maybe a thesaurus can help.
The World of Caffeine : The Science and Culture of the World’s Most Popular Drug – Given the coffee you may turn to in order to stay awake and reach your daily word quota, you may want to take a break from writing to learn a bit about the history of caffeine.
Other creative writing materials in our collection can be found here.
Happy writing and good luck, soon-to-be novelists!