NaNoWriMo or commonly know as National Novel Writing Month is an annual writing project that gathers together thousands of writers from all around the World to write a book in just 30 days. It’s a feat that everyone should look forward to achieving, writing a novel is much more than just simple writing. It’s a way to express yourself and your inner kingdom.

It does happen only once a year, every November, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of new things to learn every year. The official NaNoWriMo website offers plenty of supports from other community members who are writing books. I will be listing a total of 5 tips that will help you finish your book in less time and also save you a lot of stress.

Read More: 24 Inspirational Blogging Quotes from Bloggers, Writers, Authors

Projects like NaNoWriMo are the best places to start writing a book, if you feel you might need people to support you, other than that – it’s always a good time to start writing a book.

NaNoWriMo Tips: How-To Finish Writing a Book

These tips are definitely not the ultimate guide to helping you finish writing a professional book, but NaNoWriMo is more of an inspirational event that you can attend, to test the waters.

Story, Outline, Story Points, The Whole Idea
A lot of things at once, but also very important and should be taken more seriously than anything else in this post. To write a book you need an idea, at least a general idea of what you would like to tell the audience. I believe that writers are spiritual and creative people, so I can relate to the feeling you get when you want to write a good book that has an amazing story.

The story however needs to be put on paper first, otherwise you will end up writing and thinking about different story points as you go, which may or may not the book come out as very flat. It’s more interesting to read a book that has been thought about a lot and it shows that there has been put a lot of time in making the characters glued to our minds, for at least as long as we are reading the book.

Put the idea on paper and start making story points. After x does y, only x+y could happen.

Write it Down
When you are writing a book, you live the story that you are trying to present. It’s a very strange feeling and atmosphere as you eventually fall in love with the book you are writing. You constantly think of new ways to make twists and surprises, so much that sometimes you forget the best ones, or at least ones that where among the best.

The first tip of this post is that you always keep notes and write down inspirations, ideas you suddenly get. Very often those ideas are what shape the story. As a book writer you know this, so don’t let those juicy story points flip and write them down.

On computers, Evernote does a pretty good job at recording notes. Otherwise a simple notebook will do.

Editing is the Least of Worries
You only want to edit things because you want to read them over and over again, to try and tell yourself there is something wrong with what you had just written. When writing a book, put zero priority on editing and focus only on writing. You will have all of the time in the World to edit the book after it is finished.

By focusing too much on finding mistakes, you will be making a mistake yourself – not finishing the book in time.

Write Every Day
I almost feel like I shouldn’t mention this because of how common and natural it is, to write every day if you want to finish a book that is well thought of. And although these writing tips are taken from NaNoWriMo experience, for any book you are writing – set aside time to write every day.

I prefer to do it in the evenings after a long day, as it gives me time to reflect and think over new ideas. I cannot do it in the mornings as that is when I am my best at work. It’s different for all of us, but the only thing that matter is the amount of words we write day by day until the book is done.

Avoid Forcing Yourself
I would much rather write when I am inspired than to do it forcefully and risk of shaping the book in the wrong way. Although writing can help you put things out on paper and gain a different perspective, I wouldn’t risk writing something when I am feeling properly stressed out about something.

Who knows, it does depend on the type of a book you are writing, as maybe the stressful situation is exactly what it needs.

Write when you feel like writing, but don’t skip days – because the next day you have twice as much words to write.