5 Tips for Building a Sustainable Writing Practice
Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. First Draft Pro, a 2023 Camp NaNoWriMo sponsor, is a great writing app—whether you’re writing solo or with a co-author. Here are a few tips for building a sustainable writing practice, brought to you by author Ariana Brown and First Draft Pro.
We’ve all heard the advice to “write every day,” as if it were that easy! Translation: suck it up, no one cares if you’re tired. But what if there was another way to get writing done, without being unkind to yourself?
Hi, I’m Ariana Brown, and I teach writers how to create a writing practice that is sustainable, flexible, and fulfilling. Most of my students are chronically ill, disabled, neurodivergent, or simply exhausted from the daily stresses of life. I know writing isn’t your only responsibility—capitalism makes sure of that! But I strongly believe that writing should be an enjoyable activity you look forward to.
Below I’ve compiled my top tips for exhausted writers who want to be kinder to themselves—and still get the work done.
1. Add pleasure to your writing routine.
Sensory pleasures are neither frivolous nor are they only for children. They’re a crucial part of being alive! They give us something to look forward to when times are tough and we need motivation. Candles, soft blankets, cold beverages, mood lighting, dance breaks, yummy treats—whatever you choose, make sure it’s something you love. Paint your nails a fun color so you have something beautiful to look at while you’re typing away. Make a playlist of your favorite songs and after you finish a chapter, blast one song so loudly you have to get up and dance. Then, get back to writing. Remember, even for the most focused among us, pleasure is a better motivator than shame.
2. Be clear about your intentions.
What brought you to writing in the first place? For some, it was the ability to escape into our imaginations. For others, it was the chance to finally express what we’d been holding inside. Identify your reason for writing, then ask yourself: Am I still enjoying this? Do I still feel connected to my reason for writing? If not, explore how you can strengthen your connection to your inner child’s reason for writing.
3. Work with your brain, not against it.
If we know that everyone’s brain works differently, why do we force strict discipline and linear processes on ourselves? My advice: find or create a writing process that works for you. Maybe you love outlines; maybe you prefer to see where the words take you. Either way, make space for wandering, play, and discovery as you write. Take brain breaks. Doodle, map, dance, and draw when you get distracted. Body double with other writers, try new exercises and prompts to make the writing sing, and take plenty of breaks to stretch your body and talk to friends. We come to writing with our whole selves. Listen to your body, don’t shut it off.
4. Find a writing community.
You don’t have to wait for a community to come to you! I offer co-writing sessions on Zoom four times a month for my Patreon supporters, but do what works for you. Attend local open mics as an audience member and cheer on your peers. Invite your best friends to your living room once a month for a two hour writing/crafting session. Or check your local library and bookstores for free workshops and author events. You don’t have to do this work alone.
5. Develop a gratitude practice.
Finishing your draft is a huge accomplishment, but it’s not the only milestone to be celebrated. Consider creating opportunities to thank yourself throughout your writing practice. You’re doing an amazing and difficult thing. The fact that you keep showing up is worthy of celebration. Whether you decide to journal, rest, pray, meditate, or reward yourself, a little gratitude goes a long way.
Ariana Brown is a queer writer from San Antonio, TX, based in Houston. She is the author of We Are Owed (Grieveland, 2021) and Sana Sana (Game Over Books, 2020), and a national collegiate poetry slam champion. Ariana holds an MFA in Poetry, MS in Library and Information Science, and a BA in African Diaspora Studies and Mexican American Studies. She has been writing, teaching, and performing for over a decade. Follow her online @ArianaThePoet and www.arianabrown.com.
i think i like first draft pro better than ellipsus for writing stories..... i like ellipsus for my poems and such but i do often just use tumblr for those.
Beyond the Word Count: A Book Editor's Guide to Writing a First Draft
Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. First Draft Pro, a 2023 NaNoWriMo sponsor, is a beautifully designed writing app for fiction writers. Today, they've partnered with Kelly Norwood-Young, former book editor for Pan Macmillan and Penguin Random House, to bring you some pro tips on writing your first draft:
In my career as a book editor, I’ve reviewed hundreds of manuscripts. I've seen the joy of authors creating compelling tales, but also how disheartening it can be to rewrite a disjointed story. I’m here to give you some strategies to address common pitfalls so that you not only reach your NaNoWriMo goal, but also lay the groundwork for a manuscript that truly deserves to be called a gripping novel.
1. Have a plan.
Even if you’re more of a ‘pantser’ than a ‘planner’, it's really helpful to have an outline. I have two favourite approaches for this: the structure-first approach, and what I call the ‘Phoebe Waller-Bridge approach’.
The structure-first approach
There are a lot of narrative frameworks for story structure, but the most foundational in Western fiction is the three-act structure. Here’s a handy guide that breaks each of the classical three acts into a day-by-day guide to NaNoWriMo:
8-day guide to Act 1
14-day guide to Act 2
8-day guide to Act 3
The Phoebe Waller-Bridge approach
I love this quote from Phoebe Waller-Bridge: ‘I’ve never thought structure first. I’ve always thought material first, jokes first, character first ... But knowing the end really helps. Then you just go as far away from the end emotionally as you possibly can.’
Sketch out your major story arcs, your character’s desires and conflicts, and the world they inhabit. The more you know your story's world and inhabitants, the less you'll stray into scenes that lack purpose or create plot and character inconsistencies.
2. Keep the story moving.
Each word needs to propel your story forward. Superfluous details or tangents that don’t serve the narrative stall the momentum you’re trying to generate for your reader.
There’s a trick you can use to move your story forward, called the question of reversibility. Ask yourself: How difficult would it be for my character to reverse their decision? The harder it would be for them to turn back, the more you’ve moved the plot forward.
3. Plant clues carefully.
Plant important elements early and make sure every element, however subtle, serves a purpose (i.e. Chekhov’s Gun).
Be sure to set up necessary components for your climax so that you can steer clear of Deus ex Machina (having that strong outline will help you here), and avoid red herrings unless they serve a clear, meaningful purpose (e.g. you’re writing a mystery and your readers expect some false leads). Misleading your readers without a payoff can erode their trust.
4. Write for the reader, not yourself.
‘There is only one thing you write for yourself, and that is a shopping list,’ insists Umberto Eco in On Literature. Even if writing, for you, is a therapeutic outlet, a form of self-expression, or a way to leave a legacy, you’re still writing to say something to someone else. Your story simply won’t be as strong if you forget your reader’s perspective.
5. Keep daily editorial notes for your future self.
While editing should wait until at least December, end each day with a brief reflection, noting any off-course deviations, potential inconsistencies, areas to research further, or moments of inspiration to revisit when you start editing.
These daily notes will be invaluable during the editing process, helping you to remember insights that are no longer fresh when you come back to the manuscript later.
6. Embrace the first-draft mentality.
There’s a lot you can do to ensure that your first draft is the best it can be before the end of November—but just as important is to understand that all first drafts have flaws.
As a book editor, I've witnessed manuscripts transform, sometimes unrecognizably, from their first drafts. Embrace the uncertainty and creative detours—because it's from this beautiful chaos that your story will find its true voice.
Kelly Norwood-Young is a seasoned book editor and proofreader with comprehensive experience across various facets of manuscript editing. Her background includes roles at Pan Macmillan and Penguin Books, extending into a successful freelance career working with award-winning authors. Kelly's work, known for its precision and sensitivity to the author's voice, has been integral to the success of both new and established writers globally.
Try out First Draft Pro: All NaNoWriMo participants can use the discount code NANOWRIMO2023 for 20% off a premium subscription to First Draft Pro! Offer expires January 31, 2024.
Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. First Draft Pro, a 2022 NaNoWriMo sponsor, is a collaborative writing app built for story-nerds. Today, they’ve partnered with novelist and screenwriter Sam Beckbessinger to share some tips on writing humor. Don’t forget to check out the offer to NaNoWriMo writers to try out First Draft Pro for free this month!
Here’s the problem: you love a joke. You’re perfectly able to get into a good banter with your buddies. You’re hilarious in a DnD game. You’re the comedian of your group chats. But put you in front of a blank page and suddenly you’re about as funny as a statistics textbook*. Your manuscripts are full of notes like << INSERT JOKE HERE??? >>. You wouldn’t actually want to sit next to any of your characters at a dinner party.
* There is a marginal likelihood that a funny statistics textbook exists somewhere, but it would be a real outlier.
Well, I have good news for you! Writing humor is a skill that can be learned like any other.
How comedy works
If you’re going to try to write humor, it helps to understand how comedy works. It’s very simple: the logic of humor is surprise.
Fundamentally, here’s how most jokes work: you create an expectation, and then you do something wildly unexpected. Take standup comedian Mitch Hedberg: “This shirt is dry-clean only, which means it’s dirty.” The first sentence by itself isn’t funny; it becomes funny when the second sentence subverts it. A joke is a story, and a punchline is a mini plot-twist.
You’ve got to build up to the subversion. Humor has a specific rhythm to it. You start off slower and more detailed, establishing the pattern, painting the picture, ratcheting up the tension… then BAM, you come in with the twist. Take this exchange from Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
“You know,” said Arthur, “it’s at times like this, when I’m trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I’d listened to what my mother told me when I was young.”
“Why, what did she tell you?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t listen.”
Notice the rhythm of this exchange. The first paragraph is slow, with long sentences and dry multisyllabic words, then the writing speeds up to deliver the punchline. You build the tension, then you break the tension. A lot of humour is in the timing.
So if you’re trying to be funny, the trick is to pull off this little tension > surprise dance on every level of granularity in your prose. There are funny words, funny individual sentences, funny situations, and entire characters who are hilarious (usually, the ones who take themselves very very seriously).
And there are specific tricks to help you do this, like:
The rule of three
Double meanings
Exaggeration & absurd comparisons
Callbacks
Come join us over on the First Draft Pro blog, where I’ll show you how they work!
Sam Beckbessinger writes weird horror stories and kids tv shows, and helps people learn to adult better (she's still figuring it out herself).
Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. First Draft Pro, a 2022 Camp NaNoWriMo sponsor, is a collaborative writing app built for story-nerds. Get free access during July 2022 for Camp NaNoWriMo! In this post, founder Tarryn-Anne Anderson shares helpful tips for writing collaboratively:
We often think of writers as loners on the outskirts of society, scribbling furiously in their notebooks and pecking away at their typewriters. So it’s pretty easy to conclude that writing is solitary, and perhaps even lonely, work.
But collaboration is actually an integral part of storytelling! Along the journey from idea to publication, most books are the loving work of multiple people: co-writers, editors, and beta readers. That said, storytellers don’t always have the right tools to help them work effectively with others. Let’s take a look at a few tips to help you get the most out of working collaboratively:
Co-writers
Working with a co-writer is probably the most obvious kind of partnership – you share the vision for a manuscript with another writer and work through the creative process together to get it done. Yes, you might need to relinquish some creative control, but the insight into someone else’s process can be really fun and inspiring!
Tips for cooperating with co-writers:
Play to each other’s strengths. Perhaps one of you is great at realistic dialogue while the other can write some epic descriptive prose. Bring the best of your skills to your story by focusing on what you’re good at.
Work transparently. Choose a good cloud-based writing software (hint, hint) so that you can both work on your manuscript at the same time – even when you’re working remotely.
Stay motivated. Set some shared goals for your manuscript. A target word count is often just what’s needed to inspire some furious typing.
Editors
Writers are naturally protective over their stories! But don’t let your pride (and, ahem, prejudice) get in the way. Editors are there to spot the small things like grammar and typos, but also to offer suggestions on the bigger picture like how to tighten up your plot, or make your characters more relatable.
Tips for embracing working with an editor:
Version control is your friend. You can expect a bit of rewriting during the editing process, but being able to track suggestions and roll back to previous versions allows you to let go and embrace change.
Write in sections so that you can easily juggle bits around if need be. When that big edit comes in, it will be much simpler to shuffle scenes or chapters around.
Beta readers
Beta readers are there to give you feedback from the perspective of a potential real-life reader. As such, your partner or bestie usually doesn’t make the best beta reader because they’re (hopefully!) less willing to dish out criticism about your work. Choose someone you trust, but who you know will be honest – the point is to make your story the best it can be, not to crush your spirit!
Tips for benefiting from beta readers:
Select readers who expand your worldview. Choose beta readers who might have life experiences or perspectives that differ from your own, or that align with your characters. Their feedback will help you make your work more authentic.
Show your working. Give your readers context! Leave them notes and direct them to specific sections of the manuscript where you’re struggling or want a second opinion.
Gather feedback in one place. Allow your beta readers to comment directly on your manuscript. That way there’s no confusion as to what they’re referring to, making it easy to implement the suggested changes.
There really is magic in writing collaboratively. Although some parts of the writing process will be down to your individual genius, what better than to nerd-out with fellow story lovers about the nitty-gritty of your manuscript?
First Draft Pro is designed with exactly this kind of collaboration in mind. Shuffle scenes, track changes, keep notes and refine your manuscript – together. Get free access to First Draft Pro for the duration of Camp NaNoWriMo! Whatever your goal, we’re here to help you meet it.
