nanowrimo tips

NaNoWriMo 2016

It is almost time for the annual NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month. It begins at midnight October 31, and runs through the last day of November.

The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words (and complete a novel) in 30 days.

Don’t stress out yet. The numbers divide down to 1,667 words a day, typically 60-90 minutes of writing.

Join more than 300,000 people globally, and Writers in the Grove members, by participating actively or passively. This can be a solo experience or a highly social one. You can connect online and/or connect in person through the many local activities, events, and write-ins where people gather in a social space to write and get to know each other.

Go to the NaNoWriMo site for more information, and check out last year’s “It’s NaNoWriMo Time: How To, Tips, Techniques, and Survival Advice.”

Last year, Writers in the Grove had about eight people participating, some openly, some secretly, not willing to go public because they were afraid of failure. Let’s clear something up right from the start. There is no failing with this. The goal is to write, and anything that gets you writing, and keeps you writing, is a good thing, whether or not you achieve the 50K goal. Many never reach it, but keep trying year after year.

NaNoWriMo is not just about the word count. It is about the writing.

To handle the diverse Writers in the Grove membership needs, we are once again challenging our members to do one of the following:

Write a minimum of 1,667 words a day.
Write for an hour minimum a day.

What You Will Learn From Participating in NaNoWriMo

Last year was the first year we had many members participating and we all learned so much, it was an amazing journey. Here are some samples:

I learned I could write consistently every day.
I learned how to write consistently daily.
I discovered some fears and road blocks I didn’t know I had.
I figured out how to work harder with less research.
I just wrote. Usually I spend too much time in my head and less writing, but I just wrote.
I learned it isn’t as hard as it sounds.
I learned that I had something to say, a story to tell.
I realized how much I allow life to get in my way. I sit down to write and the phone rings, doorbell goes off, email pings, thoughts roam – and how much I need to just say no.
I realized that the true art in writing is editing after you write.

NaNoWriMo is a chance to note all the things that get in your writing way. Keep a notebook and jot them down when you encounter them, and make a plan around or through them. You will always need those solutions as you charge ahead with your writing career. (more…)

National Poetry Writing Month 2016

Like NaNoWriMo, there is a NaPoWriMo, the National Poetry Writing Month for the entire month of April.

The goal of the project is to write a poem of day every day for 30 days in April.

There are many tips and techniques on their site and other poets and writers are offering tips and prompts throughout the month.

NaNoWriMo: Let Your Character Take You on a Month Long Journey

A few people have been asking me about NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days, and they want to know how it works, and how they can get involved even though they might not have a specific story to write about. We put together everything you need to know to participate in NaNoWriMo in “It’s NaNoWriMo Time: How To, Tips, Techniques, and Survival Advice,” and you will find other NaNoWriMo topics we’ve covered scattered throughout the site.

To address the question of how to participate in NaNoWriMo when you don’t have a specific story to write is a different and more complex question. Ask yourself:

Is there a story idea that haunts you, nags you, disturbs your sleep?
Is there something you’ve always thought or said, “That would make an interesting book.”
Is there a person or place that fascinates you?
Is there a hobby or special interest that you return to over and over again through your life?
Is there a skill, talent, ability, or knowledge you have that not many others do?
Is there a question that you wish someone would answer?

Here are some things you need to know about NaNoWriMo as you answer those questions:

You do not have to write a book.
You do not have to write fiction.

The reality is that you just have to write. There are prompts to stir the imagination and inspire you to write on that subject or something else in our Prompt-a-Day starting November 1.

To help some of our writers, I’d like to take a different approach to storytelling and novel writing, and that is to have you answer a question a day about a character that may be tickling your imagination.

Answer a Question a Day in Words

A writer of many novels told me years ago that sometimes her novels write themselves and sometimes she writes them, but always, her characters tell her where to take the story.

I’ve thought about that often, writing with such commitment that you, the author, steps out of the way and you let the characters tell the story.

If that sounds like fun, we’ve put together a series of questions to help you answer a question once a day with words, letting your character or characters take you on a journey.

In the wise words of our Writers in the Grove leader, M.J. Nordgren, always look for conflict – in every sentence, every paragraph, and every page. That is what makes for an exciting read – and write. These prompts are designed to help you explore the conflicts within the character, between the character and other players in the story, conflicts between the character and their environment and situation, and conflicts between the character you started with and who the character becomes as they are tested throughout your story.

There doesn’t have to be any chronology to these. That’s what editing is for. But exploring these concepts, answering these questions, may just inspire a bestseller.

As with all such prompts, let them take you where they take you. There are no rules, except those set by NaNoWriMo to write every day a minimum of 1,677 words.

Where is your character right now? Why are they there?
If your character were afraid of anything, what would it be and look like?
What are your characters habits? What body language, behaviors, tasks do they repeat regularly? Which are annoying to others? Which are annoying to self? Which are beneficial? How do they help the character?
When your character’s routine is disrupted, what happens?
What wounds does your character carry forth into their adulthood? Why?
What does your character hope for in life? Do they have goals, dreams, aspirations? What is stopping them?
What would be the worse thing that could happen to your character? How would it happen, when, and why?
Where does your character spend the most of their time daily? Describe and define it.
If your character could go anywhere in the world, money no options, where would they go and why?
Describe your character’s family. Be specific in describing the family members as well as your character’s thoughts about them.
Describe your character’s friends. Who are they, what do they look like, how did they meet, and how do they support or not support your character with their relationship?
What are your character’s expectations, the things they expect from the world, their family, and friends? How do these expectations differ from reality?
How is your character treated by other people? Is the treatment appropriate?
When put in an emergency situation, how would your character respond?
If your character was to go on a journey, how would they travel? Foot, air, wagon, car, train…? Why would they choose this method?
Describe someone your character would hate. Why?
Has your character ever been in love? What was it like? Describe the person. What happened?
Your character has a secret. What is it and why it is a secret? Who would be hurt if the knowledge was revealed?
If your character had a dinner party, who would they invite and why? What would the dinner conversation? Describe it.
Describe your character’s heroes.
Your character won the lottery or a grand prize. What would it be and how would your character handle the winnings?
Open the door to the home of your character and walk us through it. Pay attention to what is in the closets and behind closed doors.
Does your character eat when they get up in the morning or wait? When and what do they eat through a typical day, and what do they do when eating? Do they eat in, out, or in a special place? What are they eating? Why?
In your imagination, you are standing and overlooking a place in which your character lives. Describe it for every season.
Where was your character born and how does that birthplace impact the personality, history, and relationships of the character?
What makes your character laugh out loud? Why?
Describe a moment when your character’s heart was broken, never to be fully mended.
Look at your character’s hands and feet. Describe them. What are on them? Shoes, gloves? Jewelry? Tattoos?
Does your character have a job or hobby or both? Describe it in detail, and how they got into that job or hobby. What is good or bad about it?
A disaster has befallen your character and their place of residence is destroyed. What items do they mourn the loss of most?

Print this out and assign a question a day and see where your writing takes you.

For examples of more character questions to ask your character and see where they take you, see the following.

Where will your character take you?

NaNoWriMo: Beat Sheets and Story Engineering Worksheets

There are some terms you need to know if you will be participating in NaNoWriMo this year.

Plotter: A writer who plots out their story with an outline, which they tend to follow for the most part during NaNoWriMo.
Pantser: A writer tackling NaNoWriMo with little planning and forethought, just writing by the seat of their pants.

A few years ago, a new term arose, brought to light by Angela Quarles, self-labeled a Geek Girl Romance Writer. She also offers writing advice, tutorials, and tools to help writers.

In her post about her experience and the lessons learned, she describes the two key types of writers who participate in the National Novel Writing Month challenge, and invented her own type called plotser:

What’s a plotser? A cross between a pantser and a plotter, with maybe a wee bit more emphasis on the pre-plotting.

With Hurricane Sandy and other circumstances, my new agent (signed only on Oct 4) and I weren’t able to coordinate on what direction to take for a sequel to MUST LOVE BREECHES. So for most of October, I wasn’t even sure if I was participating in NaNoWriMo. Then at the end of the month, I decided to take up a premise that had nothing to do with BREECHES so I wouldn’t waste my time writing a sequel she didn’t want.

However, that meant I’d not spent time plotting at all.

I had what I thought was a fun premise and a sense of who the H/h were and so started one day late on November 2. I caught up with everyone over the weekend and was doing swimmingly until about Day 5, then my word count dribbled downward and things ground to a halt. I had no idea where I was going with this and I didn’t like feeling that way. This wasn’t the normal ‘what I’m writing is drivel’ feeling, I really felt like all my characters were just spinning their wheels waiting for something to happen. Like the plot. Ugh.

A local writer friend sagely advised me to take a break for a week, two weeks, to figure out the plot and then do a FastDraft blitz at the end. So I did! I ended up creating a spreadsheet to help myself stay focused on what I needed to discover…

As a result of her experience, she created the Story Engineering Worksheet (Excel Spreadsheet), a spreadsheet created in Excel that breaks down all the elements of a novel into their finest detail. To download, click, on the link or right click and save to your hard drive.

Described as a “mix of the four act/part structure, and beat sheets,” the worksheet is based on the spreadsheet by Jamie Gold called a beat sheet, a worksheet that structures your plot all on one page.

Described by Storyfix in their Lessons for Writers:

The “beat sheet” is a way to sequence your story, using bullets instead of whole sentences or paragraphs.

Yes, this is an outline, but it is more than that. It is a scene structure for your novel built around basic plot points or story arcs. (more…)

It’s NaNoWriMo Time: How To, Tips, Techniques, and Survival Advice

November 1, 2015, at midnight is the start of NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month.

The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words (and complete a novel) in 30 days.

Sound impossible? The numbers divide down to 1,666 words a day, typically 60-90 minutes of writing.

To participate, you may do so actively or passively. This can be a solo experience or a highly social one. You can connect online and/or connect in person through the many local activities, events, and write-ins where people gather in a social space to write and get to know each other.

Here is how it works.

Before November 1, sign up on the NaNoWriMo site. There is no fee. It’s free. By registering, you will get email notifications and notes to cheer you on throughout the month, and be able to track your word count daily.
At midnight, October 31, you start writing.
Each day, you report the number of words you’ve written. If you are using Scrivener, it’s easy to update this information daily. I’ve included tips on how to track your writing below.
If you wish, participate in the regional forums such as the one for Washington County, Oregon, and consider attending some of the many local events throughout the month. NOTE: There are also prep events online and locally worth attending.

That’s it.

NaNoWriMo typically features over 310,000 participants on six continents. Many educators work with their students to participate during November as well as throughout the year. (more…)