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I share with you my (sorta) wisdom
Oct. 28th, 2007 09:49 pmI just noticed that last year's NaNoWriMo widgets have zeroed out. Dammit, I wanted a permanent trophy of my 2006 win, thanks much.
Anyway, I've come to share some tips and tricks for NaNoWriMo as we're at T -4 days.
Meg's Super (Hopefully) Helpful Tips for NaNoWriMo
1. Save up your good days. Meaning: you will start out week one with great enthusiasm, and you're more likely to have the energy to go over your word count. Don't just stop at the necessary 1667 words. Go as far as the energy will allow you, because a day when you write 2,000 is a day when you can afford to write less when you're tired/busy/distracted/in a rut/not feeling well. You will thank yourself for this.
2. Don't let the 4 p's get you. The four P's are: Piss Poor Prior Planning. The years I've done best at NaNoWriMo were years when I'd plotted ahead, and gotten a good idea for the plot and shape of the story I was going to be writing. Getting 1667 words a day is grueling enough. Trying to find out what those words should be about just makes your life harder. You have a few days before NaNoWriMo. Sit down and just roughly sketch out what you feel like working on. It can be as simple as "character a and character b fight crime, wacky hijinks ensue" or as complicated as a full, formal outline. It's up to you. It's also LEGAL. Nothing says you have to come up with the idea for the novel in a month. You just have to write it in a month.
3. Feeling is *not* first. You can't just write when you feel enthusiastic. Otherwise you'll do two days and quit. You have to write even when you feel uninspired, tired, cranky, and frustrated. It sucks, and you'll feel like you're writing absolute tripe, but you have to do it. Otherwise, what was the point? If you wanted something easy, you came to the wrong place.
4. Turn your editor off. This is a common tip, and when I say "turn your editor off" I mean, remind yourself that no matter how much this draft sucks, you've got all the time in the world to edit at your leisure if you decide to. So go ahead and do what you have to now. Thing is? Even in a non-NaNoWriMo setting, the best novels are all about the editing and the rewriting. Nobody, no matter how big/famous/talented they are gets it right the first draft through. Or the second. Or sometimes even the fifieth. You have my written, explicit permission to write tripe, trash, drek, drivel, garbage, absolute junk. Just so long as you write 50,000 words of it!
5. Identify your time-sucks. We waste more time than we think during a day. TV is a big time suck for me. For a month, you may have to turn off the Law & Order re-run you've seen five times already. I guarantee you, you won't miss anything. Here is also where Piss Poor Prior Planning can hurt you. Sit down, think about your schedule, think about where you have time.
6. Keep your spirits up. Nothing helps like having a really positive attitude, and being happy about doing NaNoWriMo. Get excited! Yes, it's an uphill climb (hell, it's a climb up Everest!), but it's a great adventure, a challenge, a chance to see what you're made of. You'll also have a novel at the end. 50,000 (or more!) words.
7. Have friends, even have a bit of competition. It helps to do this with people. If only because it makes you say, "Well, I'd hate to be behind in my wordcount when so-and-so is so far ahead. I'd look bad." Our species was built around the principle of "monkey see, monkey do". Which means, "monkey see other monkey's wordcount, monkey write".
Optional tips that have worked for me, but might not work for you
1. Having a soundtrack/playlist for your novel. I have two types of songs. Songs I listen to when I need to get my mind into a sort of zone, and they're songs that I can sort of tune out, but that put my mind in a certain state. And there are songs that get me juiced, that inspire scenes and feelings and characters. If a song has a lyric or a tune that captures something I'm trying to write, I add it to my playlist.
2. Surround yourself with things that inspire you. Pictures, art, music, fuzzy animals. Fuzzy animals can become distracting, though. Some of them will try to type for you. Don't let them.
3. Take a few moments to think about how delicious success will feel. Think about how you will be able to say you wrote a novel. Think about how many people on planet Earth say they're going to, but never get off their duff and do it.
4. Don't be afraid to carry pen/paper with you at all times and sketch even the briefest scenes. In fact, don't be afraid to switch between paper and computer. Sometimes that can push you to weasel out a few hundred more words that you would have otherwise. Paper also helps because it doesn't have automatic wordcount available, like a word processor does. Thus, you just have to keep writing and do the math later.
5. Save the wordcounting for last. Just write as much as you can. There will be days when you write and write and you get your wordcount, only to find out that barely made 500 words. You will scream, pull hair, kick things (and people). Take a breath, put the count of your mind, and push ahead.
I wish everyone luck in NaNo, and I salute you for the courage, fortitude, and dodgy mental stability that is needed for such an undertaking. We few, we happy few...we band of buggered. (Ten points for getting the quote).
Anyway, I've come to share some tips and tricks for NaNoWriMo as we're at T -4 days.
Meg's Super (Hopefully) Helpful Tips for NaNoWriMo
1. Save up your good days. Meaning: you will start out week one with great enthusiasm, and you're more likely to have the energy to go over your word count. Don't just stop at the necessary 1667 words. Go as far as the energy will allow you, because a day when you write 2,000 is a day when you can afford to write less when you're tired/busy/distracted/in a rut/not feeling well. You will thank yourself for this.
2. Don't let the 4 p's get you. The four P's are: Piss Poor Prior Planning. The years I've done best at NaNoWriMo were years when I'd plotted ahead, and gotten a good idea for the plot and shape of the story I was going to be writing. Getting 1667 words a day is grueling enough. Trying to find out what those words should be about just makes your life harder. You have a few days before NaNoWriMo. Sit down and just roughly sketch out what you feel like working on. It can be as simple as "character a and character b fight crime, wacky hijinks ensue" or as complicated as a full, formal outline. It's up to you. It's also LEGAL. Nothing says you have to come up with the idea for the novel in a month. You just have to write it in a month.
3. Feeling is *not* first. You can't just write when you feel enthusiastic. Otherwise you'll do two days and quit. You have to write even when you feel uninspired, tired, cranky, and frustrated. It sucks, and you'll feel like you're writing absolute tripe, but you have to do it. Otherwise, what was the point? If you wanted something easy, you came to the wrong place.
4. Turn your editor off. This is a common tip, and when I say "turn your editor off" I mean, remind yourself that no matter how much this draft sucks, you've got all the time in the world to edit at your leisure if you decide to. So go ahead and do what you have to now. Thing is? Even in a non-NaNoWriMo setting, the best novels are all about the editing and the rewriting. Nobody, no matter how big/famous/talented they are gets it right the first draft through. Or the second. Or sometimes even the fifieth. You have my written, explicit permission to write tripe, trash, drek, drivel, garbage, absolute junk. Just so long as you write 50,000 words of it!
5. Identify your time-sucks. We waste more time than we think during a day. TV is a big time suck for me. For a month, you may have to turn off the Law & Order re-run you've seen five times already. I guarantee you, you won't miss anything. Here is also where Piss Poor Prior Planning can hurt you. Sit down, think about your schedule, think about where you have time.
6. Keep your spirits up. Nothing helps like having a really positive attitude, and being happy about doing NaNoWriMo. Get excited! Yes, it's an uphill climb (hell, it's a climb up Everest!), but it's a great adventure, a challenge, a chance to see what you're made of. You'll also have a novel at the end. 50,000 (or more!) words.
7. Have friends, even have a bit of competition. It helps to do this with people. If only because it makes you say, "Well, I'd hate to be behind in my wordcount when so-and-so is so far ahead. I'd look bad." Our species was built around the principle of "monkey see, monkey do". Which means, "monkey see other monkey's wordcount, monkey write".
Optional tips that have worked for me, but might not work for you
1. Having a soundtrack/playlist for your novel. I have two types of songs. Songs I listen to when I need to get my mind into a sort of zone, and they're songs that I can sort of tune out, but that put my mind in a certain state. And there are songs that get me juiced, that inspire scenes and feelings and characters. If a song has a lyric or a tune that captures something I'm trying to write, I add it to my playlist.
2. Surround yourself with things that inspire you. Pictures, art, music, fuzzy animals. Fuzzy animals can become distracting, though. Some of them will try to type for you. Don't let them.
3. Take a few moments to think about how delicious success will feel. Think about how you will be able to say you wrote a novel. Think about how many people on planet Earth say they're going to, but never get off their duff and do it.
4. Don't be afraid to carry pen/paper with you at all times and sketch even the briefest scenes. In fact, don't be afraid to switch between paper and computer. Sometimes that can push you to weasel out a few hundred more words that you would have otherwise. Paper also helps because it doesn't have automatic wordcount available, like a word processor does. Thus, you just have to keep writing and do the math later.
5. Save the wordcounting for last. Just write as much as you can. There will be days when you write and write and you get your wordcount, only to find out that barely made 500 words. You will scream, pull hair, kick things (and people). Take a breath, put the count of your mind, and push ahead.
I wish everyone luck in NaNo, and I salute you for the courage, fortitude, and dodgy mental stability that is needed for such an undertaking. We few, we happy few...we band of buggered. (Ten points for getting the quote).
