The NaNoWriMo challenge can be a huge undertaking. Writing 50k+ words in just a month seems simple in concept, but hard to execute, but having the right tools and prep-work can take a lot of stress off of the process.
Here’s how NovelPad specifically can help you win NaNoWriMo.
Low Learning Curve
NovelPad’s learning curve is a lot lower than others, making it a user-friendly choice for anyone doing NaNoWriMo, from veterans to newcomers. There are no useless features, and if you don't want to use an existing feature, it stays out of your way! Draft on a simple, clean, distraction-free software with intuitive features just a click away.
NovelPad Features
NovelPad has a host of features that can help you keep track of what you planned during Preptober. Here is a thorough article on how to plan your entire novel with NovelPad.
Characters
Building characters is arguably the more important aspect, if you outline your novel. Use this board to take down names, nicknames, and backstories for NovelPad to store and keep track of so you can focus on writing. See every scene a character appears in, in order, on the Character Board.
Similarly, users can log and track locations in the same way.
Plots
The Plot Board organizes not only the main plot, but any side plots you may have, be it a romance subplot, an epic side quest, ill or missing family/friends, or a mystery’s red herring. It’s easy to follow plot lines to see what's missing or out of place in the story.
Notes
Notes are a great organizational tool for NaNoWriMo. Keep your to-do list for revisions, outlines, character sheets, and any information you'd like to store and access with one click. You can even link Notes to the relevant scene card or character (or any other element!).
Color Labels
With 50,000 words to write, the last thing you want to do is delete any, even when you know that scene won't make it into the final draft. So we leave it there to deal with later! Track your "trash later" scenes with a color label.
Autosaves and Rewind
Did that one time you forgot to save, and you lost over a chapter of work, traumatize you into saving every two minutes? Tired of having to stop your writing flow to remember to do just that in hopes you never lose your words again? NovelPad has you covered!
NovelPad saves your work on their own protected servers every 60 seconds! Even if worse comes to worse and, somehow, you lost a chunk of information, NovelPad Rewind allows you to retreive any past iteration of your project, down to the minute.
Goal Tracker
NovelPad has an internal goal tracker, allowing you to keep an eye on how much you’ve written on what day. The goals auto-adjust every day to reflect your progress and still meet your goal.
This is helpful anytime of year, but especially NaNoWriMo, when wordcount is the whole point! Stay motivated, on track, and in control of your goals with the super customizable goal tracker.
Community
The core idea of NaNoWriMo is to connect writers with a community. NovelPad has also built an engaged, supportive, and helpful group of writers. With a NovelPad subscription, you can even utilize their Discord writing workshops, taking that newly written 50k words to swap feedback and push you into that second draft.
Join the NovelPad discord to join the fun! It also helps that the NovelPad developers are right there to answer any questions you may have about the program.
Celebrate!
By the end of November, take a moment to celebrate your victories. Make sure to let us know how you did in our discord so we can celebrate with you!