So, you’re going to take part in National Novel Writing Month.
Good for you. Excellent. As John McClane said in Die Hard: “Welcome to the Party, pal.”
Here, then, is a list of quick advice nuggets. You may nibble on these and sample the many tastes. Some of this stuff I’ve said before, some of it is new-ish — whatever helps you, helps you. Whatever doesn’t, just wad it up and throw it into the nearest incinerator. Let’s begin.
Source: A Cooling Mist Of NaNoWriMo-Flavored Novel Writing Advice « terribleminds: chuck wendig
I’m reblogging this excellent article about how to write a novel in 30 days because I needed to read it. I’ve successfully completed NaNoWriMo a few times, always writing in the same universe/future about the same characters.
Not this year.
This November, I’m plowing a new furrow in my creative farm, and planting different seeds. What does this mean for a NaNoWriMo experience? I’m not absolutely certain, but I think it means that this story will be more brash and creative, more exhilarating and more painful to bring into the light of day than my second and third stories. I’ll slam different hats on my head depending on my mood and on how easily or how terribly the words flow, drip, and quiver on the brink of becoming.
I’ll celebrate every milestone. I’ll anticipate the rush of 20,000 words, the Sargasso Sea that envelopes 35,000 words, the sense of inevitable completion and renewed spirits that marks 40,000 words, and the swift, downhill slide from 45,000 to 50,000. And if it happens, I’ll savor the realization that the story isn’t over; I have another 5 or 10 thousand words to write before November 30.
And when the moment comes, when I know I have written my story from beginning to end in something slightly less than 30 days, the rush of accomplishment won’t be marred by the sinking realization that the hard part lies ahead. It’s time to go back and turn the tumbled words into something readable.
This year will be my first try at double-timing as a writer. As well as writing a new story, I will do another and possibly final edit of my first Nano novel. If not every day, then at least 3 days a week, I won’t be finished when I pour out a couple thousand words. I’ll work my way through a chapter of The Gideon Effect, as well. This is my promise to myself. Otherwise, I would pass on this year’s National Novel Writing Month and ignore the siren call of this new story that demands to be written because The Gideon Effect has been demanding to be published for over a year.
Wow! That all sounds so ambitious. I’ve been wondering how things were going with your novel. I guess my blog is like my novel, since I doubt I’ll ever write a novel, myself. My longest blog post was on bookstores – logging in at around 5,500 words. It took a couple of months to write that post. I was exhausted for days after finishing that one. So, I appreciate and respect the amount of creativity and work that goes into longer works like novels. I look forward to hearing more about The Gideon Effect.
Thanks, Laura. I hit something of a dry spell this fall, and I think it was because I was trying to stay focused on the edit process when a new story was demanding to be worked on.
Traditionally, I start writing at Midnight on November 1, fueled by a bit of leftover Halloween candy and the sense of exhilaration I always feel on October 31. I like to put a thousand words out there as a hook for a full writing session the following day.
I plan to start NaNoWriMo that way this year because it has always worked before!