The 3-Day Novel Contest Tried to Kill Me

I paid $50 to torture myself over a long weekend and I'd do it again

Last Monday, while you were sleeping in or having a BBQ or something, I was locked in my basement trying to remember my life before the 3-day novel contest and if I used to be happy then. I couldn’t remember.

Okay I’m being dramatic, but while I thought I was emotionally prepared for how difficult 3DNC was going to be, I was woefully not so, and it is entirely the fault of my day 1.

I woke up at 7:00 a.m (on a Saturday I remind you), and was downstairs with a tea by 7:30. I had figured out my idea and made a bare-bones kind of outline beforehand, so I was able to just start writing. By noon, I was 9k words in and like barely felt it. “How trivial!” I thought. “How dreadfully easy. And people complain about this? Ohohohoho.” (Please imagine my inner thoughts as a wealthy British lady. Thank you.)

After I took an hour lunch break, I got back to it and wrote the last 2-ishk to meet my 11,600 goal. I was trying to aim for about 34k by the end, but would have been happy with anything between 30k and 40k. As you will learn later, I ended up being just as happy outside of those bounds, but we’ll get there. I was done Day 1 by 3pm, and took the rest of the night off.

Day 2 was an entirely different beast.

I had the same schedule—wake up at 7, downstairs by 7:30 tea in hand, right back to writing where I left off. Except this time, I swear I fought for every single word. I had a pounding headache, my brain was fuzzy and tired by like 10, I decided I hated my novel, hated the contest, maybe I even hated writing. I wrote until 5pm, and fell just short of my 23,332 goal, but it was going to have to be good enough because I had absolutely nothing left in me to give. I went to bed dreading day 3.

(Turns out I had really low iron but that’s kind of neither here nor there.)

Going into day 3, my biggest worry was that I just didn’t have enough story for another 11k. Like I mentioned, I had already somewhat outlined but as I was writing, I decided I was actually heading towards a different ending than I had planned, and it was coming up quick.

So I decided that I would just write until the end and see how many words that got me. After my horrible day 2, I would be happy with that. The next morning I slept until 9:30 and went downstairs about an hour later.

I was right about running out of story. I reached the end by about 2pm, 5k words later. I was 6k short of my ideal goal, but:

1.      I felt like I had said everything in the story that I could—it was a tight piece and I worried adding extra scenes wouldn’t actually add any value, and

2.      I was so tired of this novel.

So I did one more read-through, edited quickly, and then submitted.

To celebrate, I ate some soup and sat down to write this post.

Overall, I would say the 3-day novel contest was both easier and harder than I was expecting. I thought that I would be racing against the clock, writing until literally the last minute like that adrenaline rush you get when you’re taking an exam you’re super prepared for (I'm only a bit embarrassed to admit I enjoy taking exams). Instead, I found the race was more against my own energy and how much my brain could take before it turned into actual mush.

What it did do really well was make me want to work on my regular novel so, so much. Okay, and also I got to explore an idea that I had and just see where it took me, and I think it really did help me just focus on getting words on the page and spend a lot of time (like, a lot of time) doing the thing I love the most.

So TL;DR, if you’re a writer who struggles with keyboard paralysis and getting in your own way, I would 100% recommend the 3-day novel contest. If you need to get back into writing, I would 100% recommend the 3-day novel contest. If you want to spend one of your few precious long weekends of the year writing until you cry, you guessed it, 3-day novel contest.

And given you’re convinced to try it out next year, here’s my top ten list of tips for success:

1.      Keep water, snacks, and caffeine close at hand.

2.      Make sure your iron is at normal levels before the weekend starts

3.      Know how fast you can write, and for how long, and plan your schedule (and goal) around that

4.      On that note ^ work on your brain stamina

5.      Fill your space with interesting things to look at because you will find yourself staring at the wall for inspiration many, many times

6.      Write with a buddy or two! I had a couple people to report my progress to and seriously their words of encouragement might have been the only reason I finished

7.      Pick an idea you’re really excited about because you will be stuck with it for hours upon hours

8.      On that note ^ pick an idea that gives you lots of wiggle room—whether that be exploring different character backstories, subplots, or whatever, the more space you give yourself, the more you can find words when you need them

9.      Making a moodboard beforehand is fun and not cheating :-)

10.  Register early for the early bird discount, and submit to get your lil certificate at the end!

I’m glad I did the 3-day novel contest. I’m glad I now know what I’m capable of in 72 hours. And honestly, this contest tried to kill me, but I’m probably going to do it next year too.

Oh, and picadillo ;-)