#writerly tips

[knightmarelair]

How To Injure Your Characters

How To Injure Your Characters

It is a common joke between writerly friends and I that I do quite enjoy harming / injuring my characters. So much so, that whenever I message a friend saying I finished a really awesome scene, they’ll reply with “who did you hurt this time.”  So let’s talk about how to injure your characters, and how to do so to better your book!  Realistic When injuring a character, I’ve generally got a few…

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[bookaddict24-7]

NaNoWriMo Tips & Tricks

(Image source is here.)

The beginning of December marks the end of NaNoWriMo, this fierce writing whale that we all try to overcome by the end of November. For years I have either watched others around me stand up to the challenge, or I have joined in and ended up failing, or backing out less than midway through. 

Confession: I never thought I would actually ever complete a NaNoWriMo chalenge.

Another Confession: This year was different. 

I want to share some of the tips I used (by accident or by pre-planning) that helped get me through this month, even though I worked a lot of holiday hours (holidays begin extra early in retail) and I was trying to keep my reading at a decent pace (this can perhaps be put into question). 

I don’t have rules--these are not things you HAVE to do to succeed because everyone does things a little differently, but I guess you could use them as a guide. To be completely transparent: I didn’t realize most of my own personal tips were working until the month ended and I was at the 50k mark. 

1. Time management. 

A lot of authors and writing gurus say that you should write every day. Being a person who has spent the last 2+ years in a weird writing rut, I can tell you that this rule is kind of bullshit. It’s rules like this one that made me start to think that maybe since I couldn’t muster up the courage or creative mind to sit down every day to write, I must not be a writer anymore. 

While granted that this rule isn’t a must for the year-round writer, for a NaNoWriMo writer, it’s an unfortunate MUST. Unless you’re like Sarah J. Maas, who can write 30k words in one day, I don’t recommend skipping too many days. The more days you miss, the more you need to write to catch up, or keep up. It’s more of a suggestion so you can maintain your stress levels low. 

2. Set Goals.

Before NaNoWriMo began, one of my best friends showed me this awesome post about how one could separate the number of words they need to write per day in order to reach 50k in one month. While at the time we didn’t realize that we would have the same goals on the actual website, it helped to mentally prepare myself for the challenge. If the website is still showing the daily goals, I strongly recommend jotting down how many words to write per day to reach 50k. It’s surprisingly manageable. 

3. Dedication. 

I can’t tell you how many times I said to myself, “I’m not going to write today. I’m so tired. I can’t.” But then I would sit at my computer after a late shift at work and write my daily goal. I have found that when you skip a day, or you give yourself too many excuses as to why you shouldn’t write on that day, then it becomes a slippery slope. I don’t know how it is for anyone else (and I can’t talk for anyone else but myself), but I tend to quit when too much time has gone by. The best way for me to remain dedicated to what I’m working on is by forcing myself to do what I need to do every day. 

4. Be Reasonable. 

To play devil’s advocate to the last tip: don’t overwork yourself. If you genuinely are exhausted, like falling asleep on your feet or just mentally done with the day, then reconsider your writing session. I remember a couple of days ago, I began writing before bed. I had just finished a late shift and I was exhausted. As I wrote to meet the daily goal, I found myself writing half asleep, waking up, and having to rewrite the sentence again. 

Be reasonable with yourself. Sleep, eat, drink lots of water, and remember to breathe some fresh air. Go to work/school/social events and let your mind focus on other things.

5. Be Determined to Finish. 

If you go into the challenge thinking or somehow knowing you won’t meet the goal, then there’s a greater chance that you won’t make it to 50k. Believe in yourself and your skill, because sure others may be cheering you own, but you’re your best cheerleader (to be a sappy tree). Believe you can, work towards it, and watch the word count climb and your goals become more attainable. 

6. Partner/Friends

If you know someone else who loves to write, or who has been thinking about doing NaNoWriMo, then ask them if they’d like to be your partner in crime. There are some people who lose themselves to the challenge, but there are others who just can’t seem to get into it, or have trouble keeping up with the goals or with the motivation. 

One of my best friends and I started the challenge together and we motivated each other to keep going. Her asking me if I’d written yet and her knowing what it felt like to work on something like NaNoWriMo helped me because someone else knew what was needed to succeed. Sometimes you need that extra push or reminder. Also, this is bad to say, but the guilt of having to say, “No...I haven’t written today...” if I hadn’t written was another motivating factor. 

7. To Plan or Not to Plan. 

Everyone writes differently, or else we’d have the same novels floating around. Much like with writing, everyone has a different approach to how they write and/or prep for NaNoWriMo. 

Truth time? I didn’t plan. At all. 

But then again, I’ve never been much of a planner. 

I kind of knew where I wanted my story to go, so I felt comfortable in that knowledge. Sometimes when I sat down to write I knew exactly what scene I wanted to work on because I’d been thinking about it all day. I’m a fan of picking names on the go, letting the story take me down unplanned paths, and kind of watching things develop on their own. When I start planning a story (which I did for the first novel I ever completed), I usually plan it by chapter and sometimes it fulfills that desire I have to write things down, but almost always the desire dies with the planning. 

This book has been years in the making because it touches on so much of my childhood and things I went through, so I didn’t really need to plan that part. But I still let the story take its own life because I see my novels as sentient beings who have the power to choose how they will come around. 

8. Remember that Your Word Count Might be Different from NaNoWriMo.

Imagine my surprise when I put in the chapters from Scrivener (the writing app I use on my Macbook, which you can buy in the App Store) into the NaNoWriMo word count verifier and I had written 400 words less than I’d originally thought! I’m glad I checked days before the final day because I would have been seriously pissed. 

This isn’t a big tip, but a reminder to double check and verify your word count every day. 

9. And with that, Check Your Word Count Every Day. 

I can’t even begin to state how much it helped me to see the progress every day on the NaNoWriMo website. It’s one thing knowing you’re writing towards this goal, but it’s another thing entirely to watch yourself getting closer to reaching it. 

10. It’s Attainable.

I used to believe that I could never do this. I thought I would take forever because of the type of writer I am. Hell, I never thought I’d ever write so much again. This goal is attainable. It may seem impossible or over the top, but it can be done. 

Granted, 50k is perhaps the length of a contemporary YA novel, but it is a huge goal to reach whether you’re actually writing a 50k novel, or a 100k novel. My book isn’t done yet, I’m missing abut 10-20k words before I can confidently say it’s done. But I don’t think you need to have it completed by 50k. You just have to reach that goal. 

You can do it. It’s a doable goal. 

Hopefully this helps you all with your writing! Sometimes I also think it would be a good idea to practice during the year. Set goals for yourself daily and within reason, and try to meet them! 

Happy reading!