nanowrimo writing tips

NaNoWriMo Tips: My Favorite Things

Do you remember the song “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music?

Raindrops on roses
And whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles
And warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies
And crisp apple strudels
Door bells and sleigh bells
And schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Try this writing experiment:

  1. Number a piece of paper from 1 – 25.
  2. Set the timer for 6 minutes.
  3. Now, make a list of your favorite things – exclude spouse and children.

When done with the list, look at which of the five senses are predominant. Taste of food? Smell of weather?

Be aware of how you remember things, and incorporate those descriptions into your writing, remembering to expand your favorite things to include all the senses, too.

You can find more writing tips, NaNoWriMo prompts, and writing tips for NaNoWriMo on our Writers in the Grove site.

NaNoWriMo Tips: Writing Sessions

Writing 1,667 words generally takes 60-90 minutes depending upon how fast you type. If you are hand-writing, it may take even longer, but not much.

Do you need to sit down and write for the full 90 minutes?

No.

Consider splitting up your writing session times into two or more sessions throughout the day. Thirty minutes three times a day still gets the job done if you prepare yourself well.

NaNoWriMo fan and author, Ysenia Vargas offers the following advice:

Basically, for every hour of the day, from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed, you are responsible for writing 500 words an hour. After writing 500 words for that hour, you can do whatever you want until the next hour begins.

You can find more writing tips and prompts and tips for NaNoWriMo on our Writers in the Grove site.

NaNoWriMo Tips: Locations

Where does your story take place? Does it happen in one place or many places?

Take time in NaNoWriMo to write extensive descriptions of each location in each scene in your story. In the editing phase, you might only use a small part of this, but by exploring the surrounds around your characters fully, you have a wealth of information to choose from.

It’s difficult to write about a place you’ve never experienced, though science fiction and fantasy authors do it all the time. If you are new to writing, write about a location you are familiar with, one you know well. You can always change or rename the location later during the editing stage.

Consider the following as you describe each location:

  • Where are they?
  • When are they? What time of day? What year? What month? Which day of the week?
  • Describe the ground.
  • Describe the building(s) outside.
  • Describe the building(s) inside.
  • What is the most predominate color?
  • What do you smell? One thing or many things? Which is dominant? Which is a hint of fragrance?
  • What are the sounds? Are there many or few? Which is loudest, drowning the rest? Which is softest, heard only when paying attention or in a moment of silence from the rest of the sounds?
  • What is the temperature?
  • Is it dry, humid, wet, damp, windy, hot, cold?
  • What does the character(s) feel on their skin? Is the sensation the same on top of the head as well as the feet?
  • Where is the sun? Can it be seen?
  • Describe textures, of walls, ceilings, furniture, floor, plants.
  • Is nature here? What kind of nature? What is it, what does it look like?
  • Does anything in the scene trigger stereotype reactions?
  • Does anything in the scene trigger an emotional or memory response to one or more characters?
  • Are there doors, paths, or exits?
  • Are there windows? Open, closed? What is visible through them?
  • Does the space feel open or closed, restricted, or free?
  • Are there landmarks, statues, artwork, elements that serve as markers or direction indicators?
  • Which way are the characters facing? North, east, west, south, etc.
  • Is the sun/moon in their face or behind them? Or not anywhere?
  • Are their vehicles? Furniture? What man made objects are near them? Do they interact with them?
  • Find one element in the scene and describe it. Is it important to the scene, or an accessory? Does it help the story or help define the characters?
  • Find another element, one that might be missed. Describe it. Why is it there?

This should start a series of your own questions specific to the location. Write those down and create your own list.

You can find more writing tips and prompts and tips for NaNoWriMo on our Writers in the Grove site.

Writer’s Toolbox: Plot and Character Cheat Sheet

Peter Halasz of nowhitespace created a Writing Cheatsheet, a PDF document downloadable and printable that compresses just about all the bits and pieces you need to know about plot and character development.

On one side, the focus is on plot, outlining the hero’s journey, master plots, story structures, classic dramatic situations, myths, folktales, pacing…crammed together into the 8.5 x 11 inch space.

On the other side, it deals with character such as the basics, physical appearance, other people in the character’s life or circle, speech and language styles, soul searching, possessions, habits, personality and values, personality types, archetypes, personality factors, virtues and traits, and a wide variety of standard personality types, classes, phobias, and disorders.

The sources of the information are used in many Master of Fine Arts and writing programs such as Polti’s Thrity-Six Dramatic Situations, Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, Pinker’s Relationship Types, Myers-Briggs Personality Classifications, Edelstein’s Personalities and Virtues, and more.

Whether using this to help you with NaNoWriMo or in general, this is a brilliant tool to add to your writer’s toolbox.

You can find more writing tips and prompts and tips for NaNoWriMo on our Writers in the Grove site.