NaNo-vember

NaNoWriMo starts Saturday. If you take a peek over in my sidebar, you'll see that I've not only participated the past three years, but I've completed a 50,000+ word novel every time.

I enjoy the discipline of it. I really do. To make myself sit down and write at least 1,667 words a day for the entire month makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something.

My biggest problem is revision once I'm done. I've spent hours and hours trying to rewrite things that seemed not quite right and still don't have a finished work to show for it. But that's okay. Sooner or later I will, and then it will all be worth it.

So, are you thinking of participating this year? What are your strategies for "winning"? Do you have a plot? An outline? Or do you wing it like me?

Oh, yeah!

In which I realize I'm more busy on vacation than I was at home

I'm coming into the home stretch now - I'm less than a thousand words away from 50,000. In between writing we've been swimming, seeing the science center, a local aquarium, and today we're going back to the science center (a year membership was the same price as a day so we just got that). And we haven't even gotten to Disney yet! Not to mention I'm expected at the Enterprise Christmas party!

Death by pole vaulting?

Yesterday, the main character in my novel got shot with a bow and arrow. I didn't plan it, it just came out that way in the writing. My first Nano novel had a character who got hit by a javelin. I'm beginning to sense I have some sort of deep-rooted fear of track and field events.

Next year I bet I could do a lot of damage with a shotput.

NaNo Tips - really this time

Many of you know my background in writing, and specifically that I have a BA in creative writing from a college with a well-known writing program which has produced more Pulitzer Prize winners per capita than any other college in the country. While I am relatively certain I will not soon be added to that list, I do happen to know a thing or two about writing. So today, I'm going to offer some actual tips on getting through NaNoWriMo.

The problem I keep seeing all over the blogosphere is that people get stuck. You reach a point in your story and have no idea what should happen next. Assuming you didn't write an outline before beginning, the first thing you should do is sketch a quick outline showing where you want things to go. Skip the next step in the plot (since if you knew that, you'd be writing it!) and pick up the story somewhere down the line. Then brainstorm different ways to get your character over that gap in the plot to where he/she needs to be.

And while we're doing that, here's an essential tip that really helped me the first year: no one says you have to write these 50,000 words in order. If you already know how a particularly dramatic scene is going to happen, go ahead and write it. You can cut and paste later, but for now you're writing, and writing something that is presumably exciting is a great way to kick-start your novel again.

A fun thing to do if you can't figure out the next scene is to introduce your character to someone he/she has never met before and have him/her reveal his deepest secret, either on purpose or by accident. Then imagine what might happen because of it.

Another good way to get back in the groove is to figure out what your character's lowest point is going to be. When is he/she going to be closest to giving up? Then make a list of things he/she will need to get back out of that hole. Does he need to learn a lesson first? Will he need some vital piece of information? Is there a prop she's going to use to escape? Whatever it is, write the scene in which he gets it.

And finally, if you know where your novel is going to end, go ahead and write the ending. Sometimes your characters will surprise you and reveal their own stories, and then all you have to do is go back and write it. Happy writing!

Some NaNoWriMo tips

Stuck on your NaNo novel? Here are some tips for reaching 50,000 relatively painlessly.

1. Do not use contractions. It is perfectly normal for people to speak without them, is it not?
2. Give your characters four-part names. Think about it: every time Felicity Ann Holton-Smith talks to Garrison James St. Cloud, that's eight words just for the names!
3. Likewise with place names - set your story in Littleton-on-the-St.-John, and have your characters go out of town a lot, so they can say they're returning and use the name again.
4. Become well-acquainted with "well..." It's an all-purpose word you can use almost every time a character speaks. "Well, I don't know." "Well, she said she would be here." "Well, this is ridiculous." You can go back later and take them out, but they'll get you to 50,000.
5. Um, people say "um" in real life, so they definitely should in your novel. Um, I think.
6. Have your characters sing a lot. Inserting song lyrics will bump your word count nicely. And then you can remove them later to avoid any possible legal entanglements.
7. Adjectives are your friends. Why just drink coffee when they can drink a hot, bitter cup of joe? It's not just a room, it's a small, cramped room. You get the general idea.
8. If you really get stuck, you can always have your character go nuts, a la The Shining. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work...

I'm a little over 12,000 words right now. Going for the three-peat! (which, by the way, counts as two words)

On your mark, get set, write!

Today is the first day of National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo. The other day at co-op, I saw one of the teenagers in the common area wearing a homemade NaNoWriMo shirt, so I went over to talk to her. She hasn't participated before, but she has a friend who did last year. Her friend is going to be her partner and help her stay on track.

So I asked her if she had a plot idea, and she told me this wonderful tale of a female outlaw in the old west and her search for justice. My jaw just dropped. It sounds like a great book. And then she asked about mine. "Well, it's a romance. Sort of a romantic suspense thing. With a kidnapping." Man, how lame. "It's sort of a sequel to the one I did last year." Okay, she doesn't care, stop talking. "There's a music group with six guys in it, and last year's was about one of them, so this one is about another one of them."

Now I'm rethinking. There are so many stories to be told. Is this really the one I want to spend a month with?

But you know what? I really love this character. I once met a writer who told me he had to fall in love with his female characters to write them really well. I think this character wants me to write about him. And if there's one thing I've learned as a writer, it's to let the people in my head talk when they want to.

To NaNo or not to NaNo?

In just a little over a week, signups begin for this year's NaNoWriMo. That's National Novel Writing Month, a time when thousands of writers all over the world crank out 50,000 words in just 30 days. It's always in November, which always seems to be a busy time for me. But I've managed it two years in a row, and come out a winner both times. It really seems to help get my creative juices flowing and focused on a task. I just don't know if I should do it this year or not.

See, I'm still revising last year's novel. I love it, I think it has a strong story and characters, and I think it could sell. But it still needs a lot of editing and tweaking, and maybe I should spend two hours a night doing that.

On the other hand, I already have the second book in the series all plotted out in my head. I just need to write it. And what better time to write it than when I'm forcing myself to write new material every night for 30 nights? Except it would be more like 25 nights, because of Thanksgiving and everything. I mean, whose idea was it to do this the month of Thanksgiving?

So, what do you think? Should I go for it again this year, or take the time to "finish" (and I put that in quotes, because all writers know that nothing is ever truly finished) last year's novel?