SoCNoC - Week One

The Southern Cross Novel Challenge is in full swing with 47 participants from New Zealand and abroad beginning the journey to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. You’ll hear from us each week with an inspiring news item to keep you writing.

Procrastination goes hand in hand with a challenge such as this so we have the Kiwi Writers log or Klog keeping you entertained with a new post every day for the 30 days of SoCNoC.

With the launch of SoCNoC Kiwi Writers has also launched KiwiMail, our very own personal mail system. Go try in out and KiwiMail another member.

The first week of a journey such as this is filled with enthusiasm. Ideas pop like fireworks, plot bunnies multiply like… well, bunnies and words flow like a river in flood. Grasp hold of these gifts from your muse! Capture them, tame them and set them free! Embrace this enthusiasm and get as many words out while you’re high ad excited to ensure a comfy buffer for any road bumps later in the month.

How do you write 50,000 words in 30 days? Let’s do the math. 50,000 words in 30 days means a daily word count goal of 1,667 words. Or you could up your daily word count to 2,000 words and have 5 days to spare or reach 60,000 words by the end of the month.

Here are some tips to keep that river of words flowing:

1. Be accountable. Tell everyone and anyone you know that you’re going to write a novel this month. They’ll start asking how you’re going and the added pressure will help!

2. Be competitive! Chat with other participants, discuss your word count, meet up with participants in your area. Look on the challenge page and see who is one place ahead of you. Try to get ahead of them. Make that your goal. KiwiMail and challenge them to a word count goal.

3. Use Word Wars. A word war is a period of time that you set for yourself or for yourself and others to write as many words in that time as you can. Race against your timer or other to see who can write the most. Short spurts of 10 – 15 minutes seem to work best.

4. Don’t be too serious. Allow yourself to throw some wacky scenes into your novel or run off on a tangent. We’re going for quantity over quality and we want to have fun!

5. Take up dares. And post dares for others. You can find these in the ’07 Dares thread.

6. Generate ideas. There are some great sites out there that generate names, scenes, ideas and many other inspiring things. Check out Serendipity, Seventh Sanctum and our Resources section for generators.

Happy writing and if you haven’t done so yet… Join Us!

By Kerryn Angell | No Excuses. Just Write.

Updated: 01 Aug 2007 15:53:23

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