I'm enjoying this challenge more as time goes on. I'd forgotten how much I love these characters and this setting. As I write each day I'm filling in gaps in my manuscript, places where I'd just had a summary sentence or two to remind me of where I was going during the frenzied writing of NaNoWriMo. It's a bit odd to incorporate setting details I created in the second part of the manuscript into the first part. I'm finding myself putting in placeholders for things and places I've forgotten the names for. I'm spending more time than I expected simply reading the second manuscript. I sit down to find a reference and look up ten minutes later when my screensaver turns on. Is it a good sign I'm drawn into my own writing? My words for today are accomplished, so I can spend some time putting them into Scrivener tonight along with some notes for the aforementioned setting details. It'd probably be a good thing to create a text note for each character, too. The first part characters are all named, but there is a considerably larger cast in the second part.
I realised last night that the second manuscript deals almost exclusively with the technology school and shows very little of the magic school. I wonder if that ought to be balanced out. The primary characters are equally important, so they should get equal time. Though I fear the story is going to transform somewhat if I do that. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, I'll focus on my 500 words a day, filling in gaps, and tracking the information I need to keep my fingers on.
February challenge:
Day Two: 338
Showing posts with label nanowrimo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nanowrimo. Show all posts
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Scatterbrain and the problem of Motivation
I read Gary Henderson's most recent post on WriteWright. He talks about getting back to a story he's been plugging away at for some time now. I'm envious. I have projects (too many, perhaps) but I've always been plagued with the problem of starting something and not finishing. Even NaNoWriMo hasn't cured me of that: though I get the requisite 50,000 words written by the deadline, then I have a manuscript which needs revision, editing, polishing, etc. and it doesn't get done.
I look at Gary's writing blog and I'm envious of it. It's clean, it's neat, it has this awesomely shiny sharing widget that I covet. But he put a lot of work into that site. More than I'm willing or able to put into mine. I don't know if I want to get into the nuts and bolts of building my own blog from scratch, or even from a Wordpress template. I've had my issues with templates here on Blogger, and they handle all the behind-the-scenes stuff for me. There was a time I was more than happy to dive in and get my hands dirty with HTML and CSS and formatting and tweaking and settings, oh my. Occasionally I still get the urge. But usually, I want it quick and simple, with a finished product that looks pleasant and performs well.
During NaNoWriMo, I'm all business with respect to the task at hand. I set weekly goals. I wave rewards in front of my nose to get me to keep writing. I have thousands upon thousands of other people across the world who are doing this mad thing with me, and it gives me strength and motivation to keep going, even if I feel like what I'm writing is scary bad.
What I need is the ability to generate that kind of thing for myself. I've long been very bad at kicking my own butt into gear. If I owe work to someone else, I get it done. If I owe it to myself, well, that's different. I'm me, after all, and if I let myself down, it's just me getting let down and what's that matter? I'm not important enough to myself much of the time, it would seem.
The Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group is gearing up for critique meetings. I'm hoping that by participating in some of them I can get some feedback and motivation for my writing. I need at least a little external push (or pull) to keep me going.
Do you have difficulties with motivation in your creative efforts (or elsewhere in your life?) How do you handle them? Do you have any special tools, be they people, places, or things, that help you deal with them?
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
How to scramble your document
I've been writing in 750words.com for over a month now and I'm fairly pleased with the site. It suffers from occasional glitches and slowdowns, mostly late at night, typically when I realise I haven't done my words for the day and am in a mad dash to complete them. But generally it's a nice place to write. The owner of the site says your words are completely secure, but for some of us that's not quite enough. 750words.com doesn't have a privacy policy as of yet, so sometimes I'm a bit worried about the security of my words.
During the last week of National Novel Writing Month, the official word count validators open up and novelists can paste their writing directly into the site and get an official word count. Some of us, despite the reassurances of the NaNo crew that the words are not retained after counting, aren't comfortable uploading the work we've sweated over for weeks to another person's server. So NaNoWriMo offers a solution: scramble your document.
In Microsoft Office and OpenOffice Writer, open the find and replace dialog and enter [A-Za-z0-9], square brackets included. Don't put any spaces in there. If you do, you'll find your 45,000 word novel has suddenly been reduced to 6,000 or so, as the spaces will get replaced as well as the letters. As this is panic-inducing at the end of NaNoWriMo, I don't recommend it. In the replace with field, put the letter a. Or whatever character you want, really; it doesn't have to be the letter a. Be certain to check 'use wildcards' in Microsoft Office and 'regular expressions' in OpenOffice Writer, or you'll get an error.
Your word processor will replace every alphanumeric character with 'a', or whatever letter you chose. The word count remains the same, but now no one can make sense of what you wrote. The down side on 750words.com is that the nifty statistics the site generates will be absent from an entry you save in this format. It can't understand a page full of the letter a, so it doesn't generate any stats. But your word count will be valid and you can continue to progress toward bigger and better achievement badges. And who doesn't want to earn more badges?
Monday, December 6, 2010
Post-NaNo life and looking to the future
After a brief respite following the madness that is National Novel Writing Month, I'm ready to get back to writing. And this time I mean business! I've spent a month writing like my hair was on fire, and though it was difficult at times, I miss it. Most of all I miss the presence of the deadline on my neck.
Wait. What? Yes, I said I miss the deadline. Why? Because it was largely the knowledge that if I didn't get the requisite number of words written by midnight on November 30, I wouldn't win and I wouldn't get the rewards that come with winning. I dragged myself to the keyboard whether I had something in mind or not. Some days I sat here staring blankly at the screen, knowing the sprint timer was running and I had to start sometime. So I started with a character's name and words fell out of my head. Sometimes they were crappy words, but usually they were at least okay. During NaNo the quality doesn't matter quite so much, as I've mentioned here before. But even in daily writing that's not part of a mad writing marathon, first drafts are first drafts. They can be plagued with plot holes or typos, stale dialogue or continuity errors. First you get it all out, then you revise.
I've spent the last few days not writing like a fiend, and also looking into what writing projects I have that I want to work on. I'm determined to write (nearly) every day, and I have enough work to get done. Between a pair of short stories I'm working on, various and sundry other incomplete works I've started over the years, articles for Associated Content, and this blog, I have plenty on my plate. But things need to be done in a certain order.
I looked at Duotrope for markets Thursday. Just breezed over and did a search for places that might buy one of my two stories when they're finished and ready for publication. Here's how to scare yourself in one easy step: two of the fifteen choices I was initially offered were Lightspeed and Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. Lightspeed's site shows that several of their recent stories were purchased from big names. Robert Silverberg. Stephen King. George R. R. Martin. And if you're a science fiction fan who doesn't recognise Orson Scott Card's name, you've missed out. There were other markets, but those two, unsurprisingly, made Duotrope's 25 Most Challenging Markets list. Eheh.
Cart before the horse? Yes. I'm like that sometimes. The idea of submitting to a magazine which publishes such prominent authors is daunting. Then again, I could have what they're looking for. I won't know until I finish my stories and send them in.
I feel the need to seek advice about the publishing world. I know little about it. Should I submit my work to non-paying markets first, to increase my chances of publication and to get publication credits? Or should I go right ahead and send to Lightspeed and its fellows or other publications, perhaps to collect my first-ever rejection? And what about Associated Content? While AC doesn't pay for fiction, and I doubt I'd send them my serious stuff, I could certainly make some progress by publishing poetry or even a brief serial story there.
I have plans, and, now that NaNo is over, I have time to pursue them. Time to put my butt in the chair and get to work.
Wait. What? Yes, I said I miss the deadline. Why? Because it was largely the knowledge that if I didn't get the requisite number of words written by midnight on November 30, I wouldn't win and I wouldn't get the rewards that come with winning. I dragged myself to the keyboard whether I had something in mind or not. Some days I sat here staring blankly at the screen, knowing the sprint timer was running and I had to start sometime. So I started with a character's name and words fell out of my head. Sometimes they were crappy words, but usually they were at least okay. During NaNo the quality doesn't matter quite so much, as I've mentioned here before. But even in daily writing that's not part of a mad writing marathon, first drafts are first drafts. They can be plagued with plot holes or typos, stale dialogue or continuity errors. First you get it all out, then you revise.
I've spent the last few days not writing like a fiend, and also looking into what writing projects I have that I want to work on. I'm determined to write (nearly) every day, and I have enough work to get done. Between a pair of short stories I'm working on, various and sundry other incomplete works I've started over the years, articles for Associated Content, and this blog, I have plenty on my plate. But things need to be done in a certain order.
I looked at Duotrope for markets Thursday. Just breezed over and did a search for places that might buy one of my two stories when they're finished and ready for publication. Here's how to scare yourself in one easy step: two of the fifteen choices I was initially offered were Lightspeed and Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. Lightspeed's site shows that several of their recent stories were purchased from big names. Robert Silverberg. Stephen King. George R. R. Martin. And if you're a science fiction fan who doesn't recognise Orson Scott Card's name, you've missed out. There were other markets, but those two, unsurprisingly, made Duotrope's 25 Most Challenging Markets list. Eheh.
Cart before the horse? Yes. I'm like that sometimes. The idea of submitting to a magazine which publishes such prominent authors is daunting. Then again, I could have what they're looking for. I won't know until I finish my stories and send them in.
I feel the need to seek advice about the publishing world. I know little about it. Should I submit my work to non-paying markets first, to increase my chances of publication and to get publication credits? Or should I go right ahead and send to Lightspeed and its fellows or other publications, perhaps to collect my first-ever rejection? And what about Associated Content? While AC doesn't pay for fiction, and I doubt I'd send them my serious stuff, I could certainly make some progress by publishing poetry or even a brief serial story there.
I have plans, and, now that NaNo is over, I have time to pursue them. Time to put my butt in the chair and get to work.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Crossing the Finish Line
I have arrived in the Winner's Circle! *fanfare* I struggled quite a bit with the marathon this year, and sitting here now I feel less like I've won something and more like I dragged myself through an ordeal and survived. But I have my purple bar and all's right with the world.
This story is by far the most disjointed one I've ever written, and it's not complete in any sense. I lost control of it around the beginning of Week Three, I think, and while I continued writing on it, it never really coalesced into a coherent document. In part, that's what NaNoWriMo is about. I gave myself permission to write like a crazy person, and that's what I did. I always feel disappointed at the end, in a way, because I look at the thing I just wrote and think, "Man, it is gonna take a lot of work to get this thing into any kind of shape." Again, that's okay. That's what NaNo's for. At the end of thirty days of blood, sweat, and tears you have a 50,000 word document that's the starting place for a more complete work.
The hardest part is getting to Step Two. But CreateSpace is offering their free proof copy to winners again this year, and so I will resume, with great heaping amounts of foreboding, the task of editing my 2005 manuscript (and potentially its 2008 continuation/sequel), once I recover from November.
I've enjoyed the month I got to spend with a bunch of new characters. Though it may be some time before this manuscript sees the light of day, I'm hoping to properly outline it and wrestle it into sequential order, at the very least, before using what's usable and filling in the rest.
Here's part of what I wrote this morning to finish off the marathon: a passage about Idrega as a child meeting a human for the first time. Note: my Inner Editor has been muttering in my ear about too many 'very's and is horrified at my word-stretching usage of non-contracted words. Later, my dear Editor, later.
This story is by far the most disjointed one I've ever written, and it's not complete in any sense. I lost control of it around the beginning of Week Three, I think, and while I continued writing on it, it never really coalesced into a coherent document. In part, that's what NaNoWriMo is about. I gave myself permission to write like a crazy person, and that's what I did. I always feel disappointed at the end, in a way, because I look at the thing I just wrote and think, "Man, it is gonna take a lot of work to get this thing into any kind of shape." Again, that's okay. That's what NaNo's for. At the end of thirty days of blood, sweat, and tears you have a 50,000 word document that's the starting place for a more complete work.
The hardest part is getting to Step Two. But CreateSpace is offering their free proof copy to winners again this year, and so I will resume, with great heaping amounts of foreboding, the task of editing my 2005 manuscript (and potentially its 2008 continuation/sequel), once I recover from November.
I've enjoyed the month I got to spend with a bunch of new characters. Though it may be some time before this manuscript sees the light of day, I'm hoping to properly outline it and wrestle it into sequential order, at the very least, before using what's usable and filling in the rest.
Here's part of what I wrote this morning to finish off the marathon: a passage about Idrega as a child meeting a human for the first time. Note: my Inner Editor has been muttering in my ear about too many 'very's and is horrified at my word-stretching usage of non-contracted words. Later, my dear Editor, later.
Idrega stared across the trading platform at the child of the human trader. The child, a male, if she had to make a guess, stood a head taller than she did. Its pale skin, not quite as pale as that of a morend slave, stood out as a stark contrast to its deep brown hair, which was haphazardly arranged on its head and drooped into its eyes. The eyes themselves did not look too different from Idrega's own eyes, excepting that they had the colour of faint peridot, a pale yellowish green.
The child stood very near its trader father, a very tall creature, yet broad and muscular. Idrega felt at once at ease and leery of this human. It was tall like the lesser races, not suited for work within the earth at all. Yet it was of stocky build, broad in the shoulders and possessed of thick, powerful looking biceps. The muscles of the creature sometimes strained the faded tunic it wore as it moved about the trading platform, talking to her own father about the quality of the weapons and the armour it had brought from the human lands far away.
Idrega had never seen a human up close before. She knew these were humans - she had seen them depicted on the engravings in the main dining hall, and near the fountain during gatherings. Humans, she had been told, did not usually live or work in the mountains, as the Keerenoi did. They chose instead to build settlements above the ground, carving pieces out of wood or stone and putting them together to create a safe place to be out of the elements. Idrega thought this silly. Why harvest trees or purchase stone only to make a shelter where one did not exist before? The method of the Keerenoi was far more efficient. Ensigar had begun, many many lifetimes ago, as a simple cave complex which the Keerenoi had adapted and expanded for their purposes. It was only one of many ways in which the human creatures differed from the Keerenoi.
She took a step closer to the human child, watching it intently. The child's green eyes focused on her, staring. Idrega wondered if this creature could understand her language. Her father, speaking with the trader, was slurring odd mouthfuls of the human tongue. It sounded as if he had a chunk of moduk stew in his mouth and had neglected to swallow it before speaking. The human trader smiled and nodded, glancing aside briefly to Idrega and its child.
"Say hello, Idrega," prompted her father. He turned back to talk with the human without checking to see if she had done as he had requested.
Thus emboldened, Idrega took another step forward. "My name is Idrega," she said to the child. "Who are you?"
The child's mouth opened briefly, but no sound came out. "Can you speak?" asked Idrega. "I only know a few words in your tongue," she admitted.
The child glanced to its father, who was involved in an in depth conversation with Idrega's father and paid no notice to it. It turned back to Idrega and slurred out a brief stream of human words in a low tone, its eyes turned toward the platform beneath its feet.
"Shlariat," Idrega offered, using one of two human words she knew.
The human trader looked over at her sharply, then cast a similar look upon her father, who came over to her immediately. "Idrega," he said, his cheeks darkening in embarrasment, "you are not to say that word."
"I don't speak human, father," she replied, confused as to his discomfiture. "The child doesn't speak our language."
"Yes, Idrega, I know that." Her father glanced to the trader, ducking his head slightly in a gesture of apology. "The word you spoke gives offense to the humans. You must not say it again."
Idrega paled. "I am sorry, father," she said quietly. She looked at the child, then at its father. "Will you tell them I didn't mean it, whatever it was that I said?"
Idrega's father laid a gentle hand on her head. "I will. I forgive you, Idrega. I am certain the humans will understand."
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Pink Slips
I'm over twenty thousand words into this story and I've just handed a pink slip to Akka, my citadel's Master Spearman. I'd thought over the last few days that a few of the scenelets I'd written from Akka's point of view really belonged to Teno, the clear villain of the story. I did a mindmap instead of plunging in and writing, and in so doing I discovered that most of Akka's motivations belonged more properly to Teno. Changing Akka to Teno left Akka as a very vestigal character indeed, so I ultimately decided to remove him entirely. This required a reshuffling of the weapons assignments amongst my weaponmasters, but it's nothing a find and replace can't fix. Now Idrega is Master Axeman (or Axewielder, depending on where my brain was when I wrote it), and can well and truly smash Teno's smug face in. 'Cos Teno is a complete jerk and he deserves to be smashed up a bit. :)
It's a bit weird to reassign character motivations and stuff like this, especially nearly halfway into the story. But it feels right. The story feels less cluttered now. The characters re more clear-cut and I can more easily point them in the directions they need to go. To Akka: sorry, dude! To my other characters: on with the story!
It's a bit weird to reassign character motivations and stuff like this, especially nearly halfway into the story. But it feels right. The story feels less cluttered now. The characters re more clear-cut and I can more easily point them in the directions they need to go. To Akka: sorry, dude! To my other characters: on with the story!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Week Two: Motivation: I have it not.
I ought to be socking away another thousand words in my novel right now, but I'm tired and kinda blah and finally in the grasp of 'Why the heck am I doing this stupid thing, anyway?'
All that means is that I'm on the right track. Neil Gaiman, in 2007's Week Three pep talk, said when you reach the point where you think it would be a mercy to simply delete the whole wretched thing, that's when you've made it. "That's how novels get written," he wrote.
This morning, faced with a slightly less daunting packet of the 'I Don't Want To's, I pushed ahead anyhow and managed to put out about a thousand words. It actually turned out okay. Probably a third of it was me flailing about to work out how to proceed, but that's what NaNo is about. Now, with lunch behind me, a fairly warm and sunlit study and a can of Coke that's rapidly becoming lighter and lighter, I'm finding that mountain a lot more difficult to climb. I'm in the middle of a scene where a character is finally getting to duel with the character she hates so very much, and I could care. And if I don't care, the reader won't care.
I'm going to have to switch to something else in the story. That requires me to remember what the heck else I wrote these past eleven days, and, aside from a stack of already out-of-date notecards, I have little grasp on what has gone before. I'm fighting the urge to just give up for today. I'll be right on target overall if I do, but the weekend is coming up, and I know I lose a lot of words then. I may be able to get a day's writing done tomorrow morning, but I've gotten used to having a cushion. If I don't go on today, I won't have that cushion and I'll be back in the place I'm typically in during NaNoWriMo, that of just keeping pace with the official count.
I might catch up next week. Or I might not. Funny how something as simple as writing 1667 words a day, which is really not a lot, turns into something so daunting when it becomes a single story that must (in my mind) make sense. I already have a series of mental notes on characters who've changed personalities or names and questions on why exactly I created this or that bit of ephemera and where I expect to go with it.
Next year I'll plan ahead more. Or something. Well, here are four hundred or so words that didn't go into my novel this afternoon. I'll keep plugging along. It'll happen. I'll hit that 50,000 word mark. It just looks a bit gloomy right now.
All that means is that I'm on the right track. Neil Gaiman, in 2007's Week Three pep talk, said when you reach the point where you think it would be a mercy to simply delete the whole wretched thing, that's when you've made it. "That's how novels get written," he wrote.
This morning, faced with a slightly less daunting packet of the 'I Don't Want To's, I pushed ahead anyhow and managed to put out about a thousand words. It actually turned out okay. Probably a third of it was me flailing about to work out how to proceed, but that's what NaNo is about. Now, with lunch behind me, a fairly warm and sunlit study and a can of Coke that's rapidly becoming lighter and lighter, I'm finding that mountain a lot more difficult to climb. I'm in the middle of a scene where a character is finally getting to duel with the character she hates so very much, and I could care. And if I don't care, the reader won't care.
I'm going to have to switch to something else in the story. That requires me to remember what the heck else I wrote these past eleven days, and, aside from a stack of already out-of-date notecards, I have little grasp on what has gone before. I'm fighting the urge to just give up for today. I'll be right on target overall if I do, but the weekend is coming up, and I know I lose a lot of words then. I may be able to get a day's writing done tomorrow morning, but I've gotten used to having a cushion. If I don't go on today, I won't have that cushion and I'll be back in the place I'm typically in during NaNoWriMo, that of just keeping pace with the official count.
I might catch up next week. Or I might not. Funny how something as simple as writing 1667 words a day, which is really not a lot, turns into something so daunting when it becomes a single story that must (in my mind) make sense. I already have a series of mental notes on characters who've changed personalities or names and questions on why exactly I created this or that bit of ephemera and where I expect to go with it.
Next year I'll plan ahead more. Or something. Well, here are four hundred or so words that didn't go into my novel this afternoon. I'll keep plugging along. It'll happen. I'll hit that 50,000 word mark. It just looks a bit gloomy right now.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Week One Wrap-Up
Here's my chart of progress for Week One. I started out fairly strong (except for Tuesday), kicked my word count down the stairs on Thursday, and somehow managed to write eighteen hundred words on Saturday before going off to gaming. I didn't mind much slacking off Sunday. Between staying up late Saturday, sleeping in Sunday morning, and the change back to Standard Time (my study wall clock is still confused -- or is that me who's confused?), I was not my writing self Sunday. But even with a poor showing Sunday, I'm still ahead of the target for Monday (13336). And I plan to have at least two silver- or gold-star days this week. And something weird has happened to the font in this post. I tried to fix it ... hope it doesn't attack your eyes too much.
| Day | Goal | My Total | Words Today |
| 1 | 1667 | 2648 | 2648 * |
| 2 | 3334 | 3928 | 1278 |
| 3 | 5001 | 6118 | 2192 |
| 4 | 6668 | 9871 | 3753** |
| 5 | 8335 | 10911 | 1040 |
| 6 | 10002 | 12786 | 1875 |
| 7 | 11669 | 13436 | 650 |
* Silver Star! ** Gold Star!!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Day Six
I didn't get much accomplished yesterday compared to Thursday (Day Four), but I still managed to log over 1000 words. I've got the Ctrl-S twitch already. I had it on Day One, really. It kind of hangs out all year long, whenever I'm writing something important, this urge to save my document, even if I'm writing a blog post or an email.
My plot is, as predicted, morphing and changing as I go. I've reached the point where I need to pin it down, so out came the index cards yesterday. I scrawled down a sentence on each about a scene or event that happened so far, so if I get stuck I can pick one up and fill in the blanks or expand on a scene that fizzled out.
And in a trend that is continuing with this year's NaNoWriMo story, I've already written the death of one character. Why is it I always kill the ones I like the most? His death will mean something, ultimately.
This story is turning out to be the tale of two people from entirely different walks of life who are different from their respective norms. Well, three people, really. I'm not yet sure who's the primary and who's the secondary character amongst the two women. And then there's the slave revolt, which builds backstory each time I sit down at the computer. And the scheming. I have two schemers on board this year, and I've yet to figure out which one of them is the more dangerous. The first seems to be sliding into the background whilst the second is coming to the fore. I need to figure out what his motivation is.
So things are happening! Words are getting written! And even if my scenes sometimes wander off into unexpected territory, I'm going with the flow. Back to the word mines with me! Look for a week-end wrap-up of word count over Week One on Monday.
P.S.: I'd love to hear from any of you who've taken up the NaNoWriMo challenge this year! How's it going for you?
My plot is, as predicted, morphing and changing as I go. I've reached the point where I need to pin it down, so out came the index cards yesterday. I scrawled down a sentence on each about a scene or event that happened so far, so if I get stuck I can pick one up and fill in the blanks or expand on a scene that fizzled out.
And in a trend that is continuing with this year's NaNoWriMo story, I've already written the death of one character. Why is it I always kill the ones I like the most? His death will mean something, ultimately.
This story is turning out to be the tale of two people from entirely different walks of life who are different from their respective norms. Well, three people, really. I'm not yet sure who's the primary and who's the secondary character amongst the two women. And then there's the slave revolt, which builds backstory each time I sit down at the computer. And the scheming. I have two schemers on board this year, and I've yet to figure out which one of them is the more dangerous. The first seems to be sliding into the background whilst the second is coming to the fore. I need to figure out what his motivation is.
So things are happening! Words are getting written! And even if my scenes sometimes wander off into unexpected territory, I'm going with the flow. Back to the word mines with me! Look for a week-end wrap-up of word count over Week One on Monday.
P.S.: I'd love to hear from any of you who've taken up the NaNoWriMo challenge this year! How's it going for you?
Thursday, November 4, 2010
NaNoWriMo update
A quick update before I head off to lunch:
NaNoWriMo is going pretty well for me so far. I'm a bit ahead in word count and my story is slowly beginning to shake out. I'm focusing on things I hadn't expected to, but it'll all tie together in the end.
Before the week is out I'll need to spend some time outlining the direction of the story. I'll probably pick up some index cards and scrawl out scene ideas on them. It's easier to organise them when they're on index cards. You can move them around and write on them or pin them up on a corkboard or whatever.
One of the keys to my success thus far has been word sprints. Either on my own or with a group on the Internet, I spend ten or fifteen minutes at a go writing my little fingers off. I'm averaging over four hundred words in a fifteen minute stretch, I think, so a handful of those is enough to satisfy my quota for the day.
If you're NaNo-ing, don't forget to take periodic brief breaks. Sprints help with that. Fifteen minutes on, five minutes off, for example. Get up. Walk around. Pet the cat. Get the mail.Pester Visit a co-worker. Take your mind off the story and your body out of the chair for a bit. Then get back to it.
Later I'll put up a word count gadget so you can follow my progress. That is if the NaNo site is behaving and if I can find somewhere to put it on the blog page! This place is getting a bit crowded. After NaNo I may consider a new template. Ah, a concern for later.
Hope all you Nano-ers out there are kicking your word counts down the stairs with steel-tipped boots!
NaNoWriMo is going pretty well for me so far. I'm a bit ahead in word count and my story is slowly beginning to shake out. I'm focusing on things I hadn't expected to, but it'll all tie together in the end.
Before the week is out I'll need to spend some time outlining the direction of the story. I'll probably pick up some index cards and scrawl out scene ideas on them. It's easier to organise them when they're on index cards. You can move them around and write on them or pin them up on a corkboard or whatever.
One of the keys to my success thus far has been word sprints. Either on my own or with a group on the Internet, I spend ten or fifteen minutes at a go writing my little fingers off. I'm averaging over four hundred words in a fifteen minute stretch, I think, so a handful of those is enough to satisfy my quota for the day.
If you're NaNo-ing, don't forget to take periodic brief breaks. Sprints help with that. Fifteen minutes on, five minutes off, for example. Get up. Walk around. Pet the cat. Get the mail.
Later I'll put up a word count gadget so you can follow my progress. That is if the NaNo site is behaving and if I can find somewhere to put it on the blog page! This place is getting a bit crowded. After NaNo I may consider a new template. Ah, a concern for later.
Hope all you Nano-ers out there are kicking your word counts down the stairs with steel-tipped boots!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
On Your Marks, Get Set, GO! NaNoWriMo 2010
At midnight tonight, National Novel Writing Month begins. Some writers choose to get to bed early, others to stay up and seize NaNo by the horns as soon as the clock ticks over. Typically I choose the former, but last year the latter approach proved fruitful, so I'll probably be doing that again this year. Getting a head start, as it were, on my word count for the day helped boost my production in later days.
If you're a member of the NaNoWriMo site, don't forget to set your time zone today! You don't want to find out at 11:30pm on Monday when you're about to upload your first day's total that the server thinks you're an hour off and your total goes into the following day, leaving you with the dreaded zero for Day One. Keep in mind also that the servers are typically slow the first day as writers from all over the world update their word counts. Day One is not a day for procrastination! You can update your word count as many times in a day as you like, so if you stay up tonight and put in some work, you can put up a word count before you go to bed.
Before the madness starts, it's important to observe two rituals of NaNoWriMo. First is the Month-Long Novelist Agreement and Statement of Understanding, also known as the Form #A30/31/50K. This form, found in Chris Baty's "No Plot? No Problem!", is an acknowledgement that you're about to undertake a gargantuan, perhaps insane task, and that therefore quality is not a concern. It also states you're not to move the deadline. You weren't thinking of doing that, were you? Of course not. Make yourself a copy of the form and sign and date it. Tack it up on the wall where you do most of your writing, so you don't forget your commitment to this crazy damn thing.
Secondly, and in my opinion more importantly, there's the release of your Inner Editor. On page 108 of "No Plot? No Problem!" is a magical button, printed right there on the page. Chris Baty has made the incredibly generous and wondrous offer to take your internal editor away for the month so you can write in peace without it hovering about all the time, trying to correct spelling, insert commas, or complain about how your plot is a wimpy wet dishrag and your characters are empty shells not worthy to show their faces on soap operas. Don't worry: your editor will be safe and happy for the duration of NaNoWriMo, free to frolic with everyone else's Inner Editors and out of your hair. All you have to do is press the "Take My Inner Editor" button and all will be well.
Of course both of these things are in fact optional. Personally I like the Inner Editor Kennel idea, but you're under no obligation to sign anything or press any paper buttons. I recommend it, though. It's fun, and it'll help put you in the right frame of mind. I also recommend you grab a copy of "No Plot? No Problem!" from your local library or bookstore. I had one out of the library for at least one of the years I participated in NaNoWriMo before breaking down and shelling out the fifteen bucks at my local bookstore.
Don't forget: you have the power. One day at a time, one scene at a time, one character at a time, one sentence at a time, one word at a time. Let go. Have fun. If you make it to 50,000, fantastic! If you don't, also fantastic. And please, please, please don't worry about making it perfect. It won't be. Even if you took a year off from work to write it, it still wouldn't be perfect. And that's okay.
Before I go off to NaNo land, let me provide you with a list of useful tools and things to help you get through the month:
Of course both of these things are in fact optional. Personally I like the Inner Editor Kennel idea, but you're under no obligation to sign anything or press any paper buttons. I recommend it, though. It's fun, and it'll help put you in the right frame of mind. I also recommend you grab a copy of "No Plot? No Problem!" from your local library or bookstore. I had one out of the library for at least one of the years I participated in NaNoWriMo before breaking down and shelling out the fifteen bucks at my local bookstore.
Don't forget: you have the power. One day at a time, one scene at a time, one character at a time, one sentence at a time, one word at a time. Let go. Have fun. If you make it to 50,000, fantastic! If you don't, also fantastic. And please, please, please don't worry about making it perfect. It won't be. Even if you took a year off from work to write it, it still wouldn't be perfect. And that's okay.
Before I go off to NaNo land, let me provide you with a list of useful tools and things to help you get through the month:
- National Novel Writing Month official site. Packed with useful, inspirational, fun stuff to help you get through the month!
- Writer: The Internet Writer, an online fullscreen text editor.
- SomaFM, source of great tunes to write by. Groove Salad is my favourite.
Friday, October 29, 2010
More on Workspaces
I find it helpful to choose a few inspiring or useful things to keep on hand during NaNo. I read the weekly pep talk that comes in the e-mail from NaNoWriMo. I keep "No Plot? No Problem!" close to hand. I have a few notecards I've tacked or taped up over the last few NaNos that carry inspirational messages, such as "Keep pushing. Never mind the yetis," a phrase adapted from a WriMoRadio podcast from a few years back. The computer monitor is crowned with three small plush animals who seem to look at me as if awaiting my next NaNo session, peering down expectantly when I come in to write.
It's handy that NaNoWriMo begins just after Halloween. Lots of tasty treats are available, generally for a sale price, since the stores don't want to keep the stuff around after the holiday is over. But it's a great opportunity to snag a bag or two of your favourite sugary treat, to be used to help push you along during NaNo. Use them as short-term rewards: "If I finish today's writing, I can have a chocolate." Keep a supply of your preferred caffeinated or writer-power-inducing beverage on hand.
On the subject of rewards, I proffer my own system: In the back of my novel notes book, I keep a running total of my word count from day to day. I also make sure I have some foil star stickers. Before NaNo starts, I decide on the scale of accomplishment. If my minimum total requirement is 1667 words, that gets no stars. Grade C. If I write 2000 words, I get a silver star. Grade B. And if I have a day where I write 2500 words, that gets a gold star: Grade A. At the end of the month, I tally up the number of stars and make what usually amounts to an arbitrary judgement as to what kind of prize I get for my accomplishment, regardless of whether I've won. I tie this system to my preferred writing program, TextRoom, which allows the setting of four levels of goals. I label them by grade, and I aim for an A.
Another tool I find invaluable is a random word/phrase generator. BigHugeLabs.com has a plot generator, and there are plenty of other random seed generators about on the Internet. I also have a game called Spinergy, which comes with a big spinner thing with word overlays. You spin it and it gives you three random words. When ideas run dry and you just need words, especially near the end of November, using a random word generator can help you squeak over the line, even if all you end up writing is a few thousand words about how an alien from the future enjoys cinnamon Pop-Tarts.
It's handy that NaNoWriMo begins just after Halloween. Lots of tasty treats are available, generally for a sale price, since the stores don't want to keep the stuff around after the holiday is over. But it's a great opportunity to snag a bag or two of your favourite sugary treat, to be used to help push you along during NaNo. Use them as short-term rewards: "If I finish today's writing, I can have a chocolate." Keep a supply of your preferred caffeinated or writer-power-inducing beverage on hand.
On the subject of rewards, I proffer my own system: In the back of my novel notes book, I keep a running total of my word count from day to day. I also make sure I have some foil star stickers. Before NaNo starts, I decide on the scale of accomplishment. If my minimum total requirement is 1667 words, that gets no stars. Grade C. If I write 2000 words, I get a silver star. Grade B. And if I have a day where I write 2500 words, that gets a gold star: Grade A. At the end of the month, I tally up the number of stars and make what usually amounts to an arbitrary judgement as to what kind of prize I get for my accomplishment, regardless of whether I've won. I tie this system to my preferred writing program, TextRoom, which allows the setting of four levels of goals. I label them by grade, and I aim for an A.
Another tool I find invaluable is a random word/phrase generator. BigHugeLabs.com has a plot generator, and there are plenty of other random seed generators about on the Internet. I also have a game called Spinergy, which comes with a big spinner thing with word overlays. You spin it and it gives you three random words. When ideas run dry and you just need words, especially near the end of November, using a random word generator can help you squeak over the line, even if all you end up writing is a few thousand words about how an alien from the future enjoys cinnamon Pop-Tarts.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Preparing for NaNoWriMo: Setting
Setting is important when you're writing your novel. You want to give your reader a sense of where and when the action is happening and draw him or her into the world you're creating. But the setting of your physical writing place in this world is of equal importance. Some have the luxury of an entire room of the house to dedicate to writing. My study houses most of my creative activities, like writing and artwork. Since I worked on art this week it's slightly less cluttered than it's been recently (it helps to be able to reach your art desk), but it still needs a lot of work. And with five days remaining until the start of NaNo, and that fun but pesky Halloween between now and then, I've got work to do.
I have a mini-poster somewhere around here that reads, "Geniuses thrive on clutter". It's a cute saying, but take it with a grain of salt. Clutter disrupts my creative flow, I've discovered. A desk completely barren of anything save the tools I need to do my work is a bit creepy though, so I try to strike a balance. And after all, isn't it said that a clean desk is the sign of a sick mind?
If you do your writing outside the home, your options are probably more limited. At a library or coffeehouse you may want to take headphones to listen to something other than screaming children or Muzak jazz. I did a couple writing sessions at a Starbucks last year during NaNo and found the music terribly loud. I had to make a concerted effort to shut it out, since anything with lyrics tends to disrupt my writing process. That's why I prefer (some) libraries, generally the type which would favour a stereotypical "Shhh!" sign on the librarian's desk. I've been to 'non-shush' libraries and while they're still great places, conducive to my writing they are not, at least when populated by ... disruptive forces. I have a hard time staying in my scene and/or character when assaulted by the periodic sounds of stomping toddler feet and overloud queries or exclamations. I try not to wince too hard.
Your desk at work can be a good place to get some writing done, provided you can do it discreetly and without costing your company too much of your productivity. Even if you don't have a desk you can still work on things, even if it's only to sort out a plotting problem in your head while you work. I once worked at a warehouse job where I carried a notepad in my pocket and composed bizarre songs about how much my feet hurt. I also wrote over 10,000 words of a story during that time, using bits of the warehouse as setting. Stacks of boxed product threatened to topple onto characters while they were running around during an action sequence. And I think I chased them around with a forklift gone haywire. Somehow I never used any of my coworkers as templates for characters in that story. Some of them were quite colourful and entertaining people.
Give some thought to the place(s) you'll be doing your writing during NaNo, and prepare while you have a little time. Because once you start writing, you won't want to be distracted by tidying up. Or that tidying will suddenly become The Most Important Thing (TM) in your entire life and will keep you from writing.
I have a mini-poster somewhere around here that reads, "Geniuses thrive on clutter". It's a cute saying, but take it with a grain of salt. Clutter disrupts my creative flow, I've discovered. A desk completely barren of anything save the tools I need to do my work is a bit creepy though, so I try to strike a balance. And after all, isn't it said that a clean desk is the sign of a sick mind?
If you do your writing outside the home, your options are probably more limited. At a library or coffeehouse you may want to take headphones to listen to something other than screaming children or Muzak jazz. I did a couple writing sessions at a Starbucks last year during NaNo and found the music terribly loud. I had to make a concerted effort to shut it out, since anything with lyrics tends to disrupt my writing process. That's why I prefer (some) libraries, generally the type which would favour a stereotypical "Shhh!" sign on the librarian's desk. I've been to 'non-shush' libraries and while they're still great places, conducive to my writing they are not, at least when populated by ... disruptive forces. I have a hard time staying in my scene and/or character when assaulted by the periodic sounds of stomping toddler feet and overloud queries or exclamations. I try not to wince too hard.
Your desk at work can be a good place to get some writing done, provided you can do it discreetly and without costing your company too much of your productivity. Even if you don't have a desk you can still work on things, even if it's only to sort out a plotting problem in your head while you work. I once worked at a warehouse job where I carried a notepad in my pocket and composed bizarre songs about how much my feet hurt. I also wrote over 10,000 words of a story during that time, using bits of the warehouse as setting. Stacks of boxed product threatened to topple onto characters while they were running around during an action sequence. And I think I chased them around with a forklift gone haywire. Somehow I never used any of my coworkers as templates for characters in that story. Some of them were quite colourful and entertaining people.
Give some thought to the place(s) you'll be doing your writing during NaNo, and prepare while you have a little time. Because once you start writing, you won't want to be distracted by tidying up. Or that tidying will suddenly become The Most Important Thing (TM) in your entire life and will keep you from writing.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Preparing for NaNoWriMo
I'll need to select one or two special writing utensils, hopefully from the massive collection I already own, to be my faithful companions, along with my laptop computer, this year. There are always a couple of standouts amongst my pens and pencils, a few with just that extra sprinkle of awesomeness. I'm particularly fond of Sakura Gelly Roll pens, though the glittery ones have heavy ink I dislike. They're cheap, though on certain ones I've bought ink flow can be a problem. My old standby, the green and blue fountain pen, is usually near to hand, and I've enlisted any number of gel pens over the years.
 |
| Three years of noveling madness! |
Monday, October 25, 2010
'Twas the week before NaNoWriMo, and I had no story idea...
It's one week until the start of NaNoWriMo 2010, and, as per usual, I have no idea what I'm going to write this year. A few months back I had three possible story ideas, but none of them seem as shiny now as they did then. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though it makes it impossible to do the minor planning ahead I'd hoped to do. In 2005 I chose my story on November 1st and ended up writing 26,000 words of a story I'm very fond of. I added 50,000 to that same story a few years later (under the Zokutou Clause, which came from a now-defunct writing website and stated that if you'd successfully completed NaNoWriMo you could work on finishing a novel, since you now knew you could start one).
I think I'd like to start with something fresh again this year. Last year's "The Clockwork Robot" was okay, less the few places where obvious extras were written in for the sake of word count. 2007's untitled time travel work has some definite gems, though it's more than a bit of a mess in places. And I think I reached the end of the "Umbra" story in 2008. I think. I wonder if I ought to read that over again and maybe write more about Sarah and Aristotle and the bad guys. Though I think the cast changed enough that the dynamics are different. And I think ... I think the good guys actually won.
Or did they?! *evil laugh*
I think I'd like to start with something fresh again this year. Last year's "The Clockwork Robot" was okay, less the few places where obvious extras were written in for the sake of word count. 2007's untitled time travel work has some definite gems, though it's more than a bit of a mess in places. And I think I reached the end of the "Umbra" story in 2008. I think. I wonder if I ought to read that over again and maybe write more about Sarah and Aristotle and the bad guys. Though I think the cast changed enough that the dynamics are different. And I think ... I think the good guys actually won.
Or did they?! *evil laugh*
Friday, October 22, 2010
When Things Go Pear-Shaped, Part III: "I created you guys! Why aren't you doing what I want?"
Janet Evanovich has written that she doesn't have this problem, but I don't know how you can write real characters without running into it from time to time. When I create a character, she has her own mind and agenda. Yes, I gave them to her so she could do things in my story, but she's still her own person. I've written about strong characters of mine before, but I was really surprised during NaNo '08 when a relatively minor character up and decided he was going to war.
The war was a background item up until that point. It was a source of tension, sort of, and it gave the setting a bit of depth. But when the boy Sarah had begun to get along well with at the Technologists' School declared to me that he needed to go off to war, I was taken aback.
And so he went off to war, leaving me with another plot thread to write, which is a good thing in NaNoWriMo, as it adds words, but was completely unexpected.
Can you force your characters to go where you want them to? Maybe. Personally I've had little success doing so. Characters shoved into plots they're not interested in fall flat and grow dull. It's as if their life force, so to speak, drains away. I'm reminded of the game Pikmin, where the little Pikmin creatures' colours fade to almost nothing when they're not being controlled by the player. They droop and stand around idly, doing nothing, when they could be putting effort toward a worthwhile task. That's how my characters feel when I try to manhandle them. So I don't. I let them guide me. And sometimes I get some very interesting things out of the process.
The war was a background item up until that point. It was a source of tension, sort of, and it gave the setting a bit of depth. But when the boy Sarah had begun to get along well with at the Technologists' School declared to me that he needed to go off to war, I was taken aback.
"What do you mean, you're going to war? Sarah needs you! She's the protagonist and she'll need your help in the coming pages."
"I'm sorry ... I don't mean to inconvenience you, but you see, it's for my father. He would want me to continue in the family tradition, and he's not really all that happy I'm here at Technologists' school instead of training to be a soldier. Now that the war's almost on our doorstep--"
"But you love technology. You're good at it! And ... I hadn't exactly intended to write the war in this story."
"I don't mean to tell you your job, but perhaps then you oughtn't to have written a war into the background in the first place."
"Augh. Alright, point. But--"
"Sorry, I've got to get my things and get on the train. Hope things work out."
And so he went off to war, leaving me with another plot thread to write, which is a good thing in NaNoWriMo, as it adds words, but was completely unexpected.
Can you force your characters to go where you want them to? Maybe. Personally I've had little success doing so. Characters shoved into plots they're not interested in fall flat and grow dull. It's as if their life force, so to speak, drains away. I'm reminded of the game Pikmin, where the little Pikmin creatures' colours fade to almost nothing when they're not being controlled by the player. They droop and stand around idly, doing nothing, when they could be putting effort toward a worthwhile task. That's how my characters feel when I try to manhandle them. So I don't. I let them guide me. And sometimes I get some very interesting things out of the process.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
My NaNoWriMo Toolbox: Reward System
When my momentum is flagging, when my characters seem flat and listless and my plot pointless, I turn to an old standby: the reward. Last year I was actually a bit ahead near the end of Week One, and I promised myself a treat if I could crack 15,000 words by the end of the first weekend. I succeeded, but I think I forgot to buy the reward I had in mind. The ploy, whether it was fulfilled or not, did the trick. I made my self-imposed goal in time.
A mid-stream prize can do wonders for your self-esteem. It doesn't have to be anything grandiose and you don't have to spend a lot of money on it. Take yourself out for a movie (perhaps after NaNo is over). Spend time at a spa. Buy that new technological trinket you've been wanting. I also advocate a treat for winning, as that's the ultimate goal we're chasing here. When I won NaNo one year, I bought my first mp3 player, a cheapie little Sansa Clip, as a reward. It was inexpensive and drove home the point that I'd accomplished a not-insignificant achievement. I've found myself wanting more space, though, so this year I may upgrade in December. Then again, I really would like a starter video camera...
Your reward can be as simple as a day off from whatever mundane chores you may have around the house. You'll probably need the agreement of your housemate(s) for this one, but if you live with nice people, they'll take it in stride, despite the fact you probably chased them off with a broom throughout the month of November. Or you may choose to get ahead one day, promising yourself you don't have to write the next. This choice would be more dangerous for me. I need the momentum I get from writing each day in order to keep going.
If you dangle a carrot out in front of you this November, you may find yourself writing more than you thought.
A mid-stream prize can do wonders for your self-esteem. It doesn't have to be anything grandiose and you don't have to spend a lot of money on it. Take yourself out for a movie (perhaps after NaNo is over). Spend time at a spa. Buy that new technological trinket you've been wanting. I also advocate a treat for winning, as that's the ultimate goal we're chasing here. When I won NaNo one year, I bought my first mp3 player, a cheapie little Sansa Clip, as a reward. It was inexpensive and drove home the point that I'd accomplished a not-insignificant achievement. I've found myself wanting more space, though, so this year I may upgrade in December. Then again, I really would like a starter video camera...
Your reward can be as simple as a day off from whatever mundane chores you may have around the house. You'll probably need the agreement of your housemate(s) for this one, but if you live with nice people, they'll take it in stride, despite the fact you probably chased them off with a broom throughout the month of November. Or you may choose to get ahead one day, promising yourself you don't have to write the next. This choice would be more dangerous for me. I need the momentum I get from writing each day in order to keep going.
If you dangle a carrot out in front of you this November, you may find yourself writing more than you thought.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
When Things Go Pear-Shaped, Part II: What Are You Guys DOING?!
In the frenzy of fast-paced Week One, it's common for things to get a little out of control. In 2005, after finally managing to get my characters off the train they'd occupied for much of the story, I was at a loss as to how to get them to the next point. The NaNoWriMo forums suggested I write an angry letter to my characters as a way of coping with the frustrations they were causing. So I did. I wrote to my primary characters:
And I wrote to the villains, too, who were equally mired in the 'I just wrote my butt off for nine days and now I don't know what's going on' swamp:
And the passengers on the train, who'd suddenly become irrelevant or something, because I'd ceased mentioning them, though there was a giant monster about to smash up the train:
While this process was perhaps less actually helpful as cathartic, a friend of mine answered the letters as their addressees, to my great amusement:
This served not only to crack me up, which I needed as I proceeded into the dreaded Week Two doldrums, but also showed me that my characters' personalities were coming across as I'd intended. Sarah's not quite so self-involved and bloodthirsty as to actually leave Aristotle behind to be eaten, but it's not out of the ordinary to suggest she might seriously think about it, especially as he was not only out-of-shape but somewhat irritating to boot.
So if your story goes a bit off-track or your characters wind up going off in an unexpected direction, you might try writing them a letter. If nothing else, it'll let you blow off some steam.
Dear Sarah and Aristotle:
I'm thankful you've finally gotten off the damn train after spending most of the story's existing 5892 words on it. Really, I am. But now there's a monster chasing you and what the crap are you gonna do? You can't run forever! Aristotle's cloak is way too freakin' big on him; he's gonna trip and fall down on his skinny butt. And then you'll both get eaten. Or captured. Or ... oy vey.
And I wrote to the villains, too, who were equally mired in the 'I just wrote my butt off for nine days and now I don't know what's going on' swamp:
Dear mysterious bad guy:
Who the heck are you? What do you want? Why are you sending weird monsters and little black flying things after a train? Does Aristotle's magic cloak smell like candy to you? 'Cos it's not made of candy, dude. Just FYI.
Dear bandits:
Who are you working for?
And the passengers on the train, who'd suddenly become irrelevant or something, because I'd ceased mentioning them, though there was a giant monster about to smash up the train:
Dear train passengers:
Where did you go?
While this process was perhaps less actually helpful as cathartic, a friend of mine answered the letters as their addressees, to my great amusement:
Dear Author,
Aristotle is nice and all, but if it's gonna be him or me, the skinny bastard's lunch. If he doesn't trip I'll kick him. That should give me time to escape.
Love,
Sarah
Dear Author,
My magic cloak will get me out of this! Sarah may not make it, but that will give me the courage and drive for vengeance to carry on and beat the bad guy. I might even tear up a little at that emotional scene at the end, even though she tried to kick me.
Love,
Aristotle
Dear Author,
I know the cloak isn't candy. You don't get to be a mysterious bad guy (TM) without learning that cloaks aren't candy.
I wasn't originally going after those two runts. I wanted the train. But they were too close to my devious plans and might have seen something. So I have to take care of them before they get to the police. But dont' worry. I have plenty of hungry monsters to take care of them. And they haven't learned the truth about cloaks...
Love,
Mysterious Bad Guy
Dear Author,
We're working for the mysterious bad guy.
Duh.
Love,
The Bandits
Mmmmuugnnnn Mmmmmerrrmmmn,
Mmmmwhhuhhh mmm mmmmmrrrmm. Mmm uhhhhggnnnn Mmmwwwwmmhh.
Muumm,
Mwnnng mmmwhhhh mmmmerkmmmn
*Loosely translated to:
Dear Author,
We're in the monster's belly. Please send help.
Love,
The Train Passengers
This served not only to crack me up, which I needed as I proceeded into the dreaded Week Two doldrums, but also showed me that my characters' personalities were coming across as I'd intended. Sarah's not quite so self-involved and bloodthirsty as to actually leave Aristotle behind to be eaten, but it's not out of the ordinary to suggest she might seriously think about it, especially as he was not only out-of-shape but somewhat irritating to boot.
So if your story goes a bit off-track or your characters wind up going off in an unexpected direction, you might try writing them a letter. If nothing else, it'll let you blow off some steam.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
My NaNoWriMo Toolbox: The Road Map
It helps me immensely to have a plan, an outline, or just a rough sketch for my story before I actually sit down to write it. You're not allowed to write any prose until the first of November, but you can certainly write outlines, timelines, histories, or character sketches. If you know you want a scene where the protagonist unexpectedly bumps into the antagonist during a spring downpour, then scribble a note down to that effect. If you know they'll be discussing a certain topic, mention it in your note. But don't write any of their dialogue, nor any setting descriptions that you'll be tempted to use in the actual novel.
In the few years I've taken on the NaNoWriMo challenge, I've discovered that somewhere in Week Two or Three I invariably end up at a 'well, now what?!' moment. I've used Week One's head of steam, I've stretched into characters who were less three-dimensional and given them some motivations and background, and I can't think of anything else to actually write about that will be useful in the story. In NaNos past I've been plagued with the problem of being able to write something, but not what I need to write to advance the plot and get to the end. It's because I don't know where the end actually is. With a plan or outline in my hand, I have a road map to the various points of interest in the story. It's like a built-in tour guide, defining the important stops along the way. And even if all you do is scrawl down a few index cards' worth of scene notes, you'll have something to help get you back into the swing of things when the plot winds down. To continue the example I mentioned above, you might grab a 3x5 card and write: "Sally and John meet by accident in the parking lot of the mall in a spring downpour, argue about last summer's disastrous company picnic". Then file it away or tuck it in your writing notebook (don't lose it!) and take it out when you run out of story. It might just save your butt.
In the few years I've taken on the NaNoWriMo challenge, I've discovered that somewhere in Week Two or Three I invariably end up at a 'well, now what?!' moment. I've used Week One's head of steam, I've stretched into characters who were less three-dimensional and given them some motivations and background, and I can't think of anything else to actually write about that will be useful in the story. In NaNos past I've been plagued with the problem of being able to write something, but not what I need to write to advance the plot and get to the end. It's because I don't know where the end actually is. With a plan or outline in my hand, I have a road map to the various points of interest in the story. It's like a built-in tour guide, defining the important stops along the way. And even if all you do is scrawl down a few index cards' worth of scene notes, you'll have something to help get you back into the swing of things when the plot winds down. To continue the example I mentioned above, you might grab a 3x5 card and write: "Sally and John meet by accident in the parking lot of the mall in a spring downpour, argue about last summer's disastrous company picnic". Then file it away or tuck it in your writing notebook (don't lose it!) and take it out when you run out of story. It might just save your butt.
Monday, October 18, 2010
When Things Go Pear-Shaped Part I: What's Your Name Again?
I'm by no means a veteran writer, but I've done NaNoWriMo enough times that I have a good grip on its ups and downs. Stories I've written during NaNo generally break some, most, or all of the rules I normally set down for myself as a writer. It's a necessary part of NaNo - on such a tight schedule, I don't have time to be quite so picky about things like writing complete scenes, characters wandering off to do their own things, or their names changing.
In 2007, one of my primary character's names changed about a third of the way into the story, and I failed to notice the change until several thousand words later. Herbert, the somewhat bumbling pseudo-antagonist to the main character, inexplicably became Harvey, who was slightly less bumbling but more focused, more intent. Herbert did something that hurt someone else by accident, and was nervous about how he was going to escape punishment. Harvey, by contrast, knew he was doing wrong and did it anyway, because he felt he needed to. That his actions may have harmed someone was not nearly so much of a concern to him as it had been when he'd been named Herbert.
The accidental name change lent a bit of momentum to the story. The protagonist, not well defined, had mostly been bouncing in an incidental way from plot point to plot point. With Herbert's transformation into Harvey, she had more of a foil to work against. While Harvey wasn't exactly an antagonist, he led her into more adventures, I think, than the wimpier Herbert would have. And there's a nasty edge to Harvey that makes me glad to see him get (sort of) what's coming to him.
It's important to go with the flow during NaNoWriMo. If I'd done an accidental name change of a principal character in another story, I'd be much more distraught. But in NaNo, not only does it not matter during November, it's a NaNo novel, and the rules of 'you can junk it if you want' apply. I think Herbert should stay Harvey, and when I decide to work on this story again, I'll make the necessary changes in the manuscript.
In 2007, one of my primary character's names changed about a third of the way into the story, and I failed to notice the change until several thousand words later. Herbert, the somewhat bumbling pseudo-antagonist to the main character, inexplicably became Harvey, who was slightly less bumbling but more focused, more intent. Herbert did something that hurt someone else by accident, and was nervous about how he was going to escape punishment. Harvey, by contrast, knew he was doing wrong and did it anyway, because he felt he needed to. That his actions may have harmed someone was not nearly so much of a concern to him as it had been when he'd been named Herbert.
The accidental name change lent a bit of momentum to the story. The protagonist, not well defined, had mostly been bouncing in an incidental way from plot point to plot point. With Herbert's transformation into Harvey, she had more of a foil to work against. While Harvey wasn't exactly an antagonist, he led her into more adventures, I think, than the wimpier Herbert would have. And there's a nasty edge to Harvey that makes me glad to see him get (sort of) what's coming to him.
It's important to go with the flow during NaNoWriMo. If I'd done an accidental name change of a principal character in another story, I'd be much more distraught. But in NaNo, not only does it not matter during November, it's a NaNo novel, and the rules of 'you can junk it if you want' apply. I think Herbert should stay Harvey, and when I decide to work on this story again, I'll make the necessary changes in the manuscript.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)