How to Deal With Failure After National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

Many writers want to explore how National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) can help them in terms of getting 50,000 words down on the page, but what happens if you don’t reach your word count?

Instead of feeling exhilarated, you’re left feeling like a failure and may even be reluctant to start writing again.

There may have been many reasons why you didn’t complete the 50,000 words; the words I put down weren’t any good … I may as well give up, I will never make the word count now … There were so many other things I had to do … I didn’t know what to write …

The list could go on.

These are some of the explanations I have heard when a manuscript goes unfinished but once momentum stops on a manuscript, it can be twice as hard to get started again.

NaNoWriMo can be a great boost to get you started and in some rare cases even finished with a manuscript, but when you don’t make the 50,000 word mark it can leave you feeling drained and defeated.

So how does a writer overcome Post-NaNoWriMo-Trauma?

Here are some ideas to get you writing again:

• Take a few days away from writing your novel. In the time that you usually set aside for writing, do some reading.
• Create and start writing in a writer’s journal.
• Try writing in a completely different genre (a few paragraphs or pages for fun).
• Do some research on your topic, genre or setting.
• Write a rough outline of your book or story (for nonfiction this will be your contents page).
• Find some writing prompts on the internet and use them to write a couple of paragraphs.
• Create a mind map of whatever you are thinking about right now!
• Create a detailed character profile for one of your secondary characters.

After you have taken a few days to explore the ideas above (or even some of your own ideas) you will want to go back to your current work-in-progress.

Don’t set unattainable goals for your novel writing such as 10,000 words a day when you only have hour before bed.

Instead start with an easy goal such as 500 words a day and when you reach it consistently for an entire week, increase it by 100 words. This way you will find out what is a good word count for your lifestyle without setting unattainable goals.

To also help improve your writing skills, take advantage of our free online writing course for fiction writers.

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