NaNoWriMo for teens?

[dirty ethel rackham]

Dd15 has recently discovered National Novel Writing Month and decided that she wants to try it.  Of course, she didn't decide to do so until there were only 2 weeks left to prepare.  I had her download the workbook and she will work through it the next 10 days.  I know that is not ideal, but we really only just started looking into this.  I guess those Bravewriter classes have really inspired her to write more.  Anyone done this?  Any advice?   

[jenn-]

Are you signing her up for the regular NaNo or the youth version?  Let her have fun with it.  My DD participated in youth NaNo from 9-12yo before school just got to much for her.

[marbel]

We did it when my kids were younger but we just had fun with it.  We used the workbook some, but not a lot.   It was just a fun, exciting month out of our lives. (Actually, two months for my kids because they did it a second year.  The 3 of us did it the first, but I couldn't do it a second time.) 

[dirty ethel rackham]

Are you signing her up for the regular NaNo or the youth version?  Let her have fun with it.  My DD participated in youth NaNo from 9-12yo before school just got to much for her.

She will be doing the youth version this year.  She has set a goal of 25,000 words.  This will be part of her composition credit this year.  She has downloaded the high school workbook to help her focus her efforts.   Since she discovered this so late, she missed out on a lot of the local planning events.  Maybe next year. 

[jenn-]

She will be doing the youth version this year.  She has set a goal of 25,000 words.  This will be part of her composition credit this year.  She has downloaded the high school workbook to help her focus her efforts.   Since she discovered this so late, she missed out on a lot of the local planning events.  Maybe next year. 

 

I remember my first NaNo.  I was all sorts of prepared with characters and a detailed story line all planned out and then my characters all rebelled.  I thought everyone on the message boards were nuts when the mentioned characters that took over, but they were totally right.  If she has a general idea of who she is writing about and the vaguest of plot ideas, don't stress too much over planning. She needs to learn to shut off her inner editor and realize that editing is for December.

[Julie of KY]

My 12 year old has just decided that she wants to do this. Recently she's been doing a lot of "doodling" with words and she just finished Bravewriter's Short Story class.

[TC5]

My son did this two years ago with zero preparation. We were in the middle of a cross-country move, so it was great for him to have any kind of educational goal. He met it, but we didn't realize until too late that he could have had his book published. This year, I discovered the workbook, and he has gone through some of it over the past few months. He hasn't visited the web site yet, though I did see there were some webinars, which we missed. My son loves to write, do he does this for fun. I won't be assigning much other writing during November, though. And we will try to pay more attention to what is going on in nanowrimo besides my son's writing in a vacuum.

[elegantlion]

This will be great for her. Nanowrimo is about getting words on a page, it's not about honing a story to perfection. I've been doing Nano every year since 2007 and I learn something new about MYSELF every year. The goal is a word count. The method you use to get there can sometimes feel like chaos mixed with a lot of randomness. 

 

You learn several things, some random ones are: 

• am I disciplined enough to write everyday. If not, how long does it take me to catch up
• early in the month you think your writing is stellar
• late in the month, you want to burn it all
• prioritizing your writing time, life happens to writers too
• what words do you overuse
• how to grasp that scene in your head and throw it on paper when you're tired and distracted
• keeping characters straight and make it so they sound like themselves, not like every other character
• having bad things happen to your characters (this can help you deal with IRL situations too)
• going deeper in your writing, beyond the fluff level
• Thanksgiving - dealing with family - letting them know you're writing a book - it's kind of like letting the cat out of the bag for some, learning to deal with naysayers for others
• earning silly badges on the site
• connecting with other crazy writers in your area
• discovering how it feel to write so much you need wrist braces for a few days (did that a couple of times)
• discovering if you really want to try this writing thing

At the end of every November, I'm tired. Every year some distraction comes up to eat into my time. Every year I wing a lot of my story. Some Nano stories end up filed away in the dark, some are on the pile to edit. 

 

Don't let perfection become the goal, it's not. Nanowrimo isn't even about writing a book. It's about discovering your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. Come December 1, she may be thrilled to have finished and never want to do it again, or she'll be ready to edit and keep writing. 

 

As for missing the planning events, it may not have missed much planning, depending upon your area. It's more about socializing and realizing you're not crazy for attempting this. Many areas have write ins every week as well, your area probably does. Those are fun, some writing gets done too. 

 

I wish her all the best. 

[jenn-]

This will be great for her. Nanowrimo is about getting words on a page, it's not about honing a story to perfection. I've been doing Nano every year since 2007 and I learn something new about MYSELF every year. The goal is a word count. The method you use to get there can sometimes feel like chaos mixed with a lot of randomness. 

 

You learn several things, some random ones are: 

• am I disciplined enough to write everyday. If not, how long does it take me to catch up
• early in the month you think your writing is stellar
• late in the month, you want to burn it all
• prioritizing your writing time, life happens to writers too
• what words do you overuse
• how to grasp that scene in your head and throw it on paper when you're tired and distracted
• keeping characters straight and make it so they sound like themselves, not like every other character
• having bad things happen to your characters (this can help you deal with IRL situations too)
• going deeper in your writing, beyond the fluff level
• Thanksgiving - dealing with family - letting them know you're writing a book - it's kind of like letting the cat out of the bag for some, learning to deal with naysayers for others
• earning silly badges on the site
• connecting with other crazy writers in your area
• discovering how it feel to write so much you need wrist braces for a few days (did that a couple of times)
• discovering if you really want to try this writing thing

At the end of every November, I'm tired. Every year some distraction comes up to eat into my time. Every year I wing a lot of my story. Some Nano stories end up filed away in the dark, some are on the pile to edit. 

 

Don't let perfection become the goal, it's not. Nanowrimo isn't even about writing a book. It's about discovering your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. Come December 1, she may be thrilled to have finished and never want to do it again, or she'll be ready to edit and keep writing. 

 

As for missing the planning events, it may not have missed much planning, depending upon your area. It's more about socializing and realizing you're not crazy for attempting this. Many areas have write ins every week as well, your area probably does. Those are fun, some writing gets done too. 

 

I wish her all the best. 

 

So very well written.  Although I have met the word count each time I participated, I've only reached the conclusion of a story once.  I was on a roll with a second one and knew how it had to end, but I fell in love with my character and he was supposed to die (terminal brain tumor), and I didn't have the strength to kill him so he happily lives in that unfinished book.  I also have to keep my wrist brace handy during NaNo attempts.

 

 

One of these years I will remember not to open these NaNo threads.  I haven't participated for the last two years (week long cruises in November made it not feasible), and now I have the itch building with zero ideas. 

 

 

[Mom22ns]

She will be doing the youth version this year.  She has set a goal of 25,000 words.  This will be part of her composition credit this year.  She has downloaded the high school workbook to help her focus her efforts.   Since she discovered this so late, she missed out on a lot of the local planning events.  Maybe next year. 

 

My ds did NaNo every year in high school (5 times total). We never started before mid October, so that isn't a big deal at all. He set varying goals each year and wrote between 35-50,000 words in each of his high school nano novels. Now as a freshman in college he is part of the writing club and they are planning to participate in NaNo at the adult level.

 

I think it is great she wants to do it and I hope she has a great November. 

[dirty ethel rackham]

Thanks, everyone.  I'll pass this on to her.  She is excited.  She has always wanted to write a novel.  When she was in 4th grade, she had a writing buddy and they would write alternate chapters.  But, her writing buddy was much older than her and outgrew her.  Since no one else in the family likes to write, I have to say I have neglected this side of her.  But, having her take a few Bravewriter classes has really inspired her.  She loved her Fan Fiction class she took for fun one summer.