Tips on Surviving NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)
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A friend who is also writing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) got in touch on Tuesday with the news 'I have a bad case of the Week Twos'. Week Two is about the time that, whether your novel has been going well up to that point or not, the whole enterprise can look impossible.
You may have fired off the first few chapters of your novel with reckless abandon but now characters are pulling the story in directions you don't want to go (she said that it was turning into a tween romance version of 1984 and she just didn't want to write that book), the plot is swiss-cheesed with holes, and you're probably mired down in a scene where your characters insist on having a long rambling conversation.
It's like a zombie apocalypse only without the excitement.
So now that the rapturous initial spill of words and ideas is churning around into the harder work of building the story and, like superglue, maybe hardening into shapes you don't want. What can you do to rescue your novel-writing mojo?
1. Don't Marry Your Words! Realize that this is your Rough Draft, ideas dancing naked on the page then trying on strange outfits. Everything is subject to the editing process later and even to sweeping revisions but you don't worry about that now. Your brain has to process the ideas somehow and when you're writing so quickly you've got to just let them flow. Hopefully you have a bare framework to arrange the ideas on. I didn't do nearly as much preplanning as I should have for this book but I did manage enough that I have another goal to choose and head for when I need it. I never ever forget, though, that I am not married to the words I'm writing now. I've heard that what you end up with at the end of NaNoWriMo is nothing more than a 50,000 word complex outline. From my experience last year, this is true.
2. Remember That Authors Can Time-Travel. The characters in your book may be bound to a timeline (unless you're writing a freaky time-travel story) but you, the author, are not. You've got the gods-eye view of your timeline and if you are writing a part that does absolutely nothing for your inspiration, if your characters are static and bored don't keep writing at that point in the timeline! Pick up your pen, figure what might happen hours, days, or weeks down the timeline and put your pen down there to begin writing again. This fast-forward can get you out of that quicksand scene that should probably have already ended.
3. Explore the Web. No, not the internet, the web of connections between your characters. Novels are long enough to not only have a plot but also to carry subplots. While you don't want to clutter your story with too many subplots, you might find that if you're stuck for what to write next you can look in on a different character and find out what they're doing and in what way their story intersects or will intersect with the one you're already writing. This year, when I've finished one character's scene and think 'what do I do next?' I figure out which character I haven't written about for a few scenes and go to see what they're doing. To begin with the connections were only that they lived in the same area and knew the same people or were related. Now those connections are helping to weave the plot together...and I always have something to write next.
4. Introduce the Odd Man Out. It's easy to keep creating characters we're comfortable with. When you're stuck, though, sometimes it is due to the fact that all the characters get along and are nodding politely at each other. It may be time to break the mold and bring in a character who is strange, argumentative, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, handicapped, confused, or belligerent. Allowing this character into the mix can stir things up right away, force the other characters to react and that can break that static plot up and get it moving again.
5. Flash Brainstorm. I am very fortunate to have nano buddies who know things that I don't. I'm thankful that Glitch is usually just an IM ping away and he's studied all kinds of interesting things that I need for my novel. He also happens to be the world's nicest guy so when I realize that I need to figure out some more details about the tech in my novel very quickly, he's willing to discuss how things like radio frequencies and encryption keys work. Likewise the NaNoWriMo site has a forum full of people who have learned things that you have not. I saw on the home page where Chris Baty was looking for anyone who could help him with what a painter's life is like. Don't go it alone if unknown facts are tripping you up, throw the question out there, brainstorm quickly with a friend, toss those still-gasping facts into your novel and keep going.
...and if all else fails Glitch recommends throwing in an explosion. It's a little dramatic, I admit, but if you're really desperate you could explode something, kill a character, toss an moose through the dining room window. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right? In any case, soldier on Wrimos!
NaNoWriMo 2011 Has Begun!
Would you believe that some crazy novel writers began their efforts in 'literary abandon' last night at midnight? Some even met up to do it. My tactic was a bit different and I hit the hay early to try and get rid of a persistent headache and to be up bright and early to write.
I don't know about bright but I was up earlier than usual and I did manage to get 1,091 words done (my goal today is 2,000) by 7:10 am when I had to get up and get the family sorted out for school and work.
Once again I am using the Secret Weapon for focusing on my writing: Write or Die (the online version)
Focusing with timed writing I can generally whip 500 words out in 15 minutes which really helps when I need to just get the words down for the day and move on!
Good Luck and happy writing fellow Wrimos!
Glyph out
Wrimo Alert! Plotting Ahead for NaNoWriMo
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Possible participant
This is a Wrimo alert! This is not a drill. Hey, just because I happen to stink at thinking ahead doesn't mean that I can't take a hint.
Yesterday on Writing Forums.com someone mentioned getting ready for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) over the summer. That took me off guard because who is thinking about November when it's barely the end of April?
Glitch, that's who. This morning he popped onto IM with some similar thoughts as the person on the forum yesterday regarding plotting ahead for NaNoWriMo.
Mixed Feelings about Outlines
No Spare Time to Think
One of the main things that I discovered about trying to write 50,000 words in a month is that there is no time to think about background information. I had rudimentary character sketches, a general idea where the story would take place, a handful of plot goals (I'm allergic to outlines) and a heady sense of freedom. Gonna write a novel, nobody to stop me, whoohooo!
It wasn't enough.
Yes, I got 50,000 words pounded out onto the page but I went far afield of what I envisioned the story to be and not in a good way. If I'm going to put my time and energy into this again I'd like to end up with something a lot closer to a manuscript than a wordy, wandering outline, right?
Summer Brainstorms
So I know Glitch is brainstorming ideas for his NaNo Novel and I know I will be, too, if I decide to go with it this year. If I do, I want to know my characters and the world cold before November 1st. I want to have any research done, cool tech designed if the book calls for it, and the plot pretty well mapped out.
I still can't say 'outlined' I just can't. Goals, though, yeah. I'll have goals. In order. Sorta.
Any other Wrimos out there? Do you hear the Wrimo alert? Are you brainstorming your novel for November? Comment and share the love! Or the pain...whatever works.
~Glyph out
Glyph Toots Her Own Horn – Completed NaNoWriMo!
Bear with me just a moment, dear blog readers, this is a day to celebrate! Well, okay, yesterday was a day to celebrate but I was busy doing it, not writing about it. Yesterday I finished the 50,000 word challenge of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) to write those 50,000 words in 30 days.
Writing as 'Fox_in_Socks' on the NaNo website, I managed it in 29 days which is amazing considering that I had a very difficult month, was down for almost a week with strep throat and had to deal with it it in my family, too. And yet, somehow, I've crossed the finish line.
The NaNoWriMo site considers this 'winning' NaNoWriMo, meaning simply that I've beaten my own expectations, that I've managed to meet the challenge. It's not a matter of beating anyone else, in fact, I've celebrated with my writing buddies who have also made it across the line, as happy that they made it as I am that I made it to the finish!
I have learned a heck of a lot this month:
- Not to be turned off by the initial alphabet soup of my ideas
- Alphabet soup, like primordial soup, will eventually evolve into a story and like the things that primordial soup is said to give forth, it will be ugly
- If I am not writing at least 500 words in 15 minutes in 'just-get-it-on-the-page' mode...I'm not really trying.
- A pair of dedicated writing socks helps
- There is a lot of time for focused productivity if I can get up even 45 minutes before I have to get my daughter up for school (Yes, I try to get up an hour before but it takes me about 15 minutes to persuade myself to actually get out of bed, etc.)
- It takes about three weeks of hammering on a novel like this before it starts to get fun. It's only been in the last 15,000 words or so that connections have been made that allow me to write the suspenseful fun stuff that I'm writing now.
- There is nothing that can't be changed later. In fact, huge chunks of the story will be changed later. Don't sweat it, just write it.
- It is still more fun to 'have written' than it is to write, but you can't have one without the other so get the lead out.
- Writing is always more fun with a little competition and/or social interaction to spice it up...of course, to a roleplay game writer like me this isn't really new. I've always enjoyed collaborative story writing even if there is no other real return than the pleasure of creating a story while having fun with other people. But!...
- I CAN write a novel on my own. Long fiction. Before this I thought 1,000 or 1,500 words was an awful lot to write. I got bored. Now I know I can get past that if i really want to. In fact, 1,000 words in a day on a rough draft is small potatoes, I like to get at least 1,600-2,000+ done to feel like I've had a decent day. At one point, when I had fallen behind, I despaired and said that it would take about 4,000 words that day to really catch up and there was no way I could do that. The most I'd written in a day up to that point was 3,333. However, out of sheer pique, not liking to be left behind, I wrote 4,000...then I shocked myself by writing 1,000 more. All in all I wrote 5,010 words that day.
Now I have to finish writing this novel and edit it, probably totally restructuring it, re-thinking it, and revising it some more until it's actually good. I've heard that the real magic is in the editing process and I have to admit that in my short stories this has been so. Rough drafts are raw ideas and some of the good ones make the final cut. Whether this novel 'Before I Wake' will ever see print, I have no idea but it sure has a better shot now that it's written than if I hadn't done it at all.
Don't be afraid of taking a shot at your dreams.
Any other Wrimos reading this, leave me a shout out in my comments! And let's do it again next year.
Glyph out.
NaNoWriMo: What’s That?
National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel (0r at least get that far on one) in thirty days. I'm doing it while Glitch is busy doing something else called 'earning an income' and I can't blame him for that.
I've tried NaNoWriMo before and failed miserably, washing out somewhere around the 2,000 word mark with no clear idea where I was going next. I'm usually not a big fan of outlines and figured that I'd stick with short stories and flash fiction for a while. I was happy. Yet, this year, I had a laptop and therefore no longer had the excuse that I've used before for not once again attempting NaNo. This time, I decided would be different.
That it is!
I am currently at the halfway point, just about where I should be with two weeks elapsed. I'll be honest, the writing that NaNoWriMo requires is an all-in don't-look-back dash toward the finish. Ready or not there is nothing to do but press on to the finish, no time for editing, researching, or lollygagging. I can't believe I've come this far and I fully intend to finish 50,000 words on time unless I can do it faster.
This time I did throw together a loose outline first, and promised myself that I'd look at it as blazes in a trail, something to shoot for if I started to get lost. This perspective helps me to avoid that 'trapped' feeling. At least that was the idea and it does seem to be working.
Because the sad truth is, I know that I'm info-dumping, changing tenses in mid-paragraph, and hunting for my character's motives, background, and, of course, the plot as I go and it's easy to feel like the blank page is a trackless snow field. That's when I use the outline to reorient myself, even if I have to change the outline a bit. It gives me a frantically waving little red flag in the snowfield to head for when I'm lost.
When I'm done with this it won't be a novel, it'll be a more messy complicated outline but the book will be there in the embryonic state. The real challenge will be to see if I can edit it and rewrite it to make it good.
For now, though, the challenge of reaching 50,000 words is enough to go on. I'm at 26,640 words and counting. Hopefully I can manage not to kill my main character out of sheer irritation with the guy before it's all over.
Glyph out.