Advice from Africa
I completed a novel the first time and totally failed the second time. Mr. Samuel has kindly pointed out why I failed the second time. So here's some advice. From a girl who can waste a month on 50,000 useless words too.
And I am writing from Africa, by the way - this is the last few minutes of my last day at work before I wing back to the winter wonderland that is Edmonton. Haven't decided if I'm going to sign up this year (because if I do commit, I'm finishing, dammit).
On motivation
This is the most important part of the NaNoWriMo puzzle. Absolute, fanatical, insomnia-inducing drive to succeed at a hopelessly inane task.
This absolutely is a competition, and don't let anyone tell you differently.
A much better way to motivate yourself to continue than the silly self-motivational tools that Steve advocates is to choose someone arbitrary (preferably someone who will write THOUSANDS of words in the first 10 days). And resolve to beat them.
Once that person quits (and he/she will) you will have invested far too much misery to give up without wasting part of your soul.
You can also use such rivalries as plot points. Just add a zeppelin and give your opponent a moustache. That worked in my first novel (only it was a spaceship and a very, very painstakingly described and painstakingly boring physical description), but not in my second (see 'On Characters').
On Plot
Have one. Deviate from it often. If it doesn't work, invite god into the machine by having something catastrophic happen and then spend some time fixing it. That will be interesting for you (as you won't know what happens next and will actually have to explore causality) and will help your word count. The wilder the tangent, the faster 50,000 words becomes possible.
On Tangents
Having them seems to be universal NaNoWriMo advice (UofA style, anyway), but I don't see much helpful about what a good tangent looks like.
Actually, that's not true, I see all kinds of great advice - it's just not called 'tangents'
Basically, if you seem to be grinding to a halt, switch gears.
Write a character inventory. Invent a new system of magic. Invent a backstory for a character that was lacking one up to then and flash back to it. Leap sideways into a totally unrelated (and torrid - it's better if it's torrid) love affair.
Pick up the life story of a stock character (like the taxi driver or the guy selling wands or the drug dealer who just walked past you) and run with it for a while (that's one of my favorites - I use it with annoying verve).
Describe the scenery or the contents of some woman's wardrobe. If you're not committed enough to do that, insert italic asides about how some other book that you are rumoured to have abridged did that, complete with smartass remarks on how "satire" and "boring" were apparently the same thing 'back in the day.'
Introduce a Monty Python-esque narrator and fill pages with witty commentary on what's happened so far.
Or an action scene. These can, of course, be related to the plot, but even if they're not, Dan's right. Nothing wastes words like having two guys swing swords at each other (at least I think it was Dan...).
You know, whatever. No one said it had to be a good book.
On Characters
Do not love your characters. Use them. If you grow attached to your characters, it becomes difficult to do interesting things to them, and your word count slowly diminishes as you begin to realize that your characters are either boring or interesting enough that you have ethical qualms about screwing up their all-too-fictional lives.
On Writing Mechanics
They simply don't exist. Run-on sentences, frequent-tense switching and accidental non-sequitors are all part of the fun. Don't sweat it. Just let the words pour forth.
NaNoWriMo 2.0
I don't doubt that annoying your friends via facebook status updates is a great motivator (see 'On motivation' and Chris's advice. Setting yourself up for shame and loss works).
I boldly predict that twitter will work better. While you'll need to ride the fine line between wasting 140 characters that could have been in your novel and making use of this latest social media innovation, I say it's a line worth riding. You might just be inspired - and thousands of people can mock you in real time.
On Gloating
If you do finish, make sure Steve notices. pfft.
And I am writing from Africa, by the way - this is the last few minutes of my last day at work before I wing back to the winter wonderland that is Edmonton. Haven't decided if I'm going to sign up this year (because if I do commit, I'm finishing, dammit).
On motivation
This is the most important part of the NaNoWriMo puzzle. Absolute, fanatical, insomnia-inducing drive to succeed at a hopelessly inane task.
This absolutely is a competition, and don't let anyone tell you differently.
A much better way to motivate yourself to continue than the silly self-motivational tools that Steve advocates is to choose someone arbitrary (preferably someone who will write THOUSANDS of words in the first 10 days). And resolve to beat them.
Once that person quits (and he/she will) you will have invested far too much misery to give up without wasting part of your soul.
You can also use such rivalries as plot points. Just add a zeppelin and give your opponent a moustache. That worked in my first novel (only it was a spaceship and a very, very painstakingly described and painstakingly boring physical description), but not in my second (see 'On Characters').
On Plot
Have one. Deviate from it often. If it doesn't work, invite god into the machine by having something catastrophic happen and then spend some time fixing it. That will be interesting for you (as you won't know what happens next and will actually have to explore causality) and will help your word count. The wilder the tangent, the faster 50,000 words becomes possible.
On Tangents
Having them seems to be universal NaNoWriMo advice (UofA style, anyway), but I don't see much helpful about what a good tangent looks like.
Actually, that's not true, I see all kinds of great advice - it's just not called 'tangents'
Basically, if you seem to be grinding to a halt, switch gears.
Write a character inventory. Invent a new system of magic. Invent a backstory for a character that was lacking one up to then and flash back to it. Leap sideways into a totally unrelated (and torrid - it's better if it's torrid) love affair.
Pick up the life story of a stock character (like the taxi driver or the guy selling wands or the drug dealer who just walked past you) and run with it for a while (that's one of my favorites - I use it with annoying verve).
Describe the scenery or the contents of some woman's wardrobe. If you're not committed enough to do that, insert italic asides about how some other book that you are rumoured to have abridged did that, complete with smartass remarks on how "satire" and "boring" were apparently the same thing 'back in the day.'
Introduce a Monty Python-esque narrator and fill pages with witty commentary on what's happened so far.
Or an action scene. These can, of course, be related to the plot, but even if they're not, Dan's right. Nothing wastes words like having two guys swing swords at each other (at least I think it was Dan...).
You know, whatever. No one said it had to be a good book.
On Characters
Do not love your characters. Use them. If you grow attached to your characters, it becomes difficult to do interesting things to them, and your word count slowly diminishes as you begin to realize that your characters are either boring or interesting enough that you have ethical qualms about screwing up their all-too-fictional lives.
On Writing Mechanics
They simply don't exist. Run-on sentences, frequent-tense switching and accidental non-sequitors are all part of the fun. Don't sweat it. Just let the words pour forth.
NaNoWriMo 2.0
I don't doubt that annoying your friends via facebook status updates is a great motivator (see 'On motivation' and Chris's advice. Setting yourself up for shame and loss works).
I boldly predict that twitter will work better. While you'll need to ride the fine line between wasting 140 characters that could have been in your novel and making use of this latest social media innovation, I say it's a line worth riding. You might just be inspired - and thousands of people can mock you in real time.
On Gloating
If you do finish, make sure Steve notices. pfft.
posted by A at 8:32 AM
2 Comments:
Wait, you failed last time? I was totally crediting you as having succeeded. So does this make Demaniuk our only two-time champion?
That's beyond funny.
Last time I quit 12 days in at 5578 words (the thing is still saved somewhere as NaNoWriMo2). May 12 was, incidentally, around the time I flew to Toronto for my final interview with my current employer.
So yes, Adam's the only one with that peculiar honour.
Which tempts me to try this again. Kind of.
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