People prepare for the mayhem of NaNoWriMo in different ways. I, for example, went online and bought all the NaNoWriMo shirts I could get a hold of. I even bought last years, which I technically didn't participate in, but I feel like I did.
Some people prepare by plotting plotting plotting, and fleshing everything out. They go through a frantic hustle, and wonder if there's enough time to finish planning everything in time for November.
Then others plan a little, but want to mostly go with the flow during November.
Still others only discover NaNoWriMo a few days into the challenge, and *really* haven't had time to plan.
All ways are great! And I recommend them all. If you're a planner, but get stuck halfway through because you run out of plot, or you feel like your creativity is squashed, then try it without planning. If you don't plan and find yourself feeling like you have nothing to say and it's all filler, then try planning a bit more.
Every writer has to discover the right balance between planning ahead and seat-of-your-pants writing.
For me, my first novel was almost entirely seat-of-my-pants. It wasn't very good, but it was also my first novel. For my second novel, I planned more, but not too much. It was definitely better, but the plot felt stretched and the characters not as well fleshed out as I would have liked.
So this coming November, I am trying a new approach. I'm currently working to flesh out my characters more this time around, and develop the plot a little bit more. I've definitely left room for myself to explore side plots, characters, and the plot.
If you flesh out your characters and story, it will make it easier in November to write by the seat of your pants. You don't have to plan out every scene, but if you have multiple ideas that you can explore, it will make you feel more comfortable with discovering the plot along the way.
I have to give it a try first, but I think this approach might be the most fun!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Flesh out Characters by Imagining Scenarios
You can flesh out your characters by imagining them in a variety of situations and imagine how they will react. Some situations you can imagine them in are:
They find a wallet on the side of the road that is full of cash.
Their hair gets destroyed.
They step on a frog.
They get separated from everyone and are lost.
Their clothes rip.
And as many other scenarios as you can think of!
They find a wallet on the side of the road that is full of cash.
Their hair gets destroyed.
They step on a frog.
They get separated from everyone and are lost.
Their clothes rip.
And as many other scenarios as you can think of!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Easy Step by Step Guide to Writing a GOOD Novel!
Are you one of the thousands who want to write a novel? Are you toying with the idea but can't seem to get started?
Well I'm here to tell you that you CAN actually write a novel. Contrary to popular belief, it's not as hard as it sounds, and you will realize this after you've written your first novel.
The thing holding a lot of people back is the fear that what they write won't be good enough. Do you only write when brilliance is flowing through your fingertips? Well the irony is this: I used to be like that, and let me tell you, I didn't get very far in my novel. And looking back, that brilliance was pretty bad. The thing you need to realize is that you won't start writing publishable things until you've written at least 1 novel. For me, my first novel was a piece of crap, but it taught me how to write a novel. My fiction writing got better, and my second novel was light-years better in quality and story.
So here is the step by step guide to writing a good novel.
Step 1).
Write a crappy novel. Don't pick a plot you're in love with - this will be your crappy first novel. Come up with a brand new plot - don't make it too detailed, just enough to get started. Spend one day coming up with a loose idea. Now make a schedule. If you have nothing but free time, you can write your novel in a month. If you're a little busy then 2 months, and if you're really busy then make it 3 months. I wrote my first novel (50,000 words) over winter break at college, and my second novel (60,000 words) over two months during a college semester. Now set a word count goal. Make it something small so that it's doable - I suggest 50,000 words since that's considered a short novel and it will be crappy anyway. Ok, now divide out the words by how long you're going to take and that will be your daily word count.
VERY IMPORTANT! Don't get behind on your word count. I did a NaNoWriMo like novel for my first novel and I was on the forums non stop. Let me tell you, lots of people didn't finish. And the sole reason - the ONLY reason they failed, was because they got behind on their word count. If you miss one day, consider yourself a failure and you might as well stop then. It's true. Don't say, oh you can make it up another day. The fact is, your daily word count IS doable. But getting behind revised word counts are NOT. It's NOT reasonable to write 5000 words a day for a week, no matter how optimistic you are. And if you're the type of person who can do that, then I don't think you need my suggestions very much, you can do it on your own.
I suppose you're wondering how exactly you're going to come up with the content to write an entire novel without really planning all that much. Don't worry about it! It's going to be crappy anyway. You can certainly plan all you want as you're writing the first draft, but it will mostly be seat of your pants writing.
If you find you are running out of ideas (I ran out of ideas halfway through my first novel) just type. Things will come to you. Change point of view, rewrite scenes from another character's point of view, introduce new characters, add in bouts of rambling thoughts the character has, or start up a conversation with another character. It doesn't have to be relavent, just add words and eventually it will lead somewhere.
For example, start out by having your characters making small talk, have them talk about what just happened and have them question everything. It will get you moving again. Just never stop writing or your novel will be over and you will fail the program.
So, the main point to get out of this is set a daily word count, a total word goal, and don't ever fail to complete your daily word count.
Step 2).
Congradulations, you didn't miss a daily word count and have successfully completed your first novel! Pretty crappy huh? Yet surprising good at the same time. Don't worry, your next one will be better. What have we learned? You CAN write a novel! And you know the way to do it (set a goal and stick to it). So your writing has improved, and you are better equipt to write out a novel length story. This brings us to step 2 of the 2 step process of writing a good novel. The second step is to write a good novel. You will once again set a total word count goal, time to do it over (2 months for example) and a daily word count goal. You should know yourself better by now and will have a feel for what will work good for you. If you'd like to have an outline or write by the seat of your pants again or have a mixture of the two, you can plan that stuff accordingly. This step of the process is going to be more independent. At this point, you (and I) trust that you can do it, and are capable of doing it on your own!
Just don't over plan, or get afraid of writing it because the plot is "too good" and you don't want to mess it up by writing it. Think of it this way: if you never write it, then it isn't a novel, and if you do write it and it comes out badly, you can always rewrite it! It will probably be more fleshed out by then also.
Good luck, I know you can do it, just like I did!
I am a Computer Science major who never wrote short stories or wrote all the time. I used to read a lot when I was younger, but hardly ever read anymore. Not someone you would think could write a novel is it? Well, I have perserverence and a strong will. I wanted to write novels, so anyone else who has the same desire can do it too. You really can!
Well I'm here to tell you that you CAN actually write a novel. Contrary to popular belief, it's not as hard as it sounds, and you will realize this after you've written your first novel.
The thing holding a lot of people back is the fear that what they write won't be good enough. Do you only write when brilliance is flowing through your fingertips? Well the irony is this: I used to be like that, and let me tell you, I didn't get very far in my novel. And looking back, that brilliance was pretty bad. The thing you need to realize is that you won't start writing publishable things until you've written at least 1 novel. For me, my first novel was a piece of crap, but it taught me how to write a novel. My fiction writing got better, and my second novel was light-years better in quality and story.
So here is the step by step guide to writing a good novel.
Step 1).
Write a crappy novel. Don't pick a plot you're in love with - this will be your crappy first novel. Come up with a brand new plot - don't make it too detailed, just enough to get started. Spend one day coming up with a loose idea. Now make a schedule. If you have nothing but free time, you can write your novel in a month. If you're a little busy then 2 months, and if you're really busy then make it 3 months. I wrote my first novel (50,000 words) over winter break at college, and my second novel (60,000 words) over two months during a college semester. Now set a word count goal. Make it something small so that it's doable - I suggest 50,000 words since that's considered a short novel and it will be crappy anyway. Ok, now divide out the words by how long you're going to take and that will be your daily word count.
VERY IMPORTANT! Don't get behind on your word count. I did a NaNoWriMo like novel for my first novel and I was on the forums non stop. Let me tell you, lots of people didn't finish. And the sole reason - the ONLY reason they failed, was because they got behind on their word count. If you miss one day, consider yourself a failure and you might as well stop then. It's true. Don't say, oh you can make it up another day. The fact is, your daily word count IS doable. But getting behind revised word counts are NOT. It's NOT reasonable to write 5000 words a day for a week, no matter how optimistic you are. And if you're the type of person who can do that, then I don't think you need my suggestions very much, you can do it on your own.
I suppose you're wondering how exactly you're going to come up with the content to write an entire novel without really planning all that much. Don't worry about it! It's going to be crappy anyway. You can certainly plan all you want as you're writing the first draft, but it will mostly be seat of your pants writing.
If you find you are running out of ideas (I ran out of ideas halfway through my first novel) just type. Things will come to you. Change point of view, rewrite scenes from another character's point of view, introduce new characters, add in bouts of rambling thoughts the character has, or start up a conversation with another character. It doesn't have to be relavent, just add words and eventually it will lead somewhere.
For example, start out by having your characters making small talk, have them talk about what just happened and have them question everything. It will get you moving again. Just never stop writing or your novel will be over and you will fail the program.
So, the main point to get out of this is set a daily word count, a total word goal, and don't ever fail to complete your daily word count.
Step 2).
Congradulations, you didn't miss a daily word count and have successfully completed your first novel! Pretty crappy huh? Yet surprising good at the same time. Don't worry, your next one will be better. What have we learned? You CAN write a novel! And you know the way to do it (set a goal and stick to it). So your writing has improved, and you are better equipt to write out a novel length story. This brings us to step 2 of the 2 step process of writing a good novel. The second step is to write a good novel. You will once again set a total word count goal, time to do it over (2 months for example) and a daily word count goal. You should know yourself better by now and will have a feel for what will work good for you. If you'd like to have an outline or write by the seat of your pants again or have a mixture of the two, you can plan that stuff accordingly. This step of the process is going to be more independent. At this point, you (and I) trust that you can do it, and are capable of doing it on your own!
Just don't over plan, or get afraid of writing it because the plot is "too good" and you don't want to mess it up by writing it. Think of it this way: if you never write it, then it isn't a novel, and if you do write it and it comes out badly, you can always rewrite it! It will probably be more fleshed out by then also.
Good luck, I know you can do it, just like I did!
I am a Computer Science major who never wrote short stories or wrote all the time. I used to read a lot when I was younger, but hardly ever read anymore. Not someone you would think could write a novel is it? Well, I have perserverence and a strong will. I wanted to write novels, so anyone else who has the same desire can do it too. You really can!
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