So that useful advice won’t get lost, here’s a place you can share your favorite tips and tricks or ask for specific help such as: How do you increase your word count? Keep your characters straight? Come up with names? How do you prepare yourself to withstand the dreaded Second Week Slog?
For general comments, word count announcements, or anything else NaNo-related, proceed to NaNoWriMo 2007, Part 2.
but i’m sure everyone is doing a good job… wait- what is this thread about? oh no. sorry i don’t have any tips/tricks but goodluck!
[Okay, Kagy, rather than zapping your comment for being on the wrong thread, I’m going to be nice and add a tip to make it relevant.
â–ºWhen you’re stuck, go for an all-out sprint: see how many words you can knock out in ten or fifteen minutes. Chances are, you’ll knock something loose that will keep you going. If not, you’ve added to the count. –Rebecca]
Don’t be afraid to change your story. Even if you have a plot all laid out, it might not go exactly how you planned it. don’t try to stick to a schedule or flowchart or anything if it’s not easy to write. just write what you want and the story will figure itself out.
thanks rebecca. i like first posts! which is why i rushed onto the thread to make a popofirtspost. *hangs head in shame*
have only one or two main chactoirs, a couple of major chactoirs ( A.K.A. people that are big in the story,but not the main person. nellive and the older weaslys are a good example) and not to many minor chartors ( people like professer srpot and flitwick. they interact with the main and major, but are not as importent, and the story can go on without them in it.)
How to keep Characters straight
I use the application “Stickies,” which is basically little post-it-notes that come up on the screen of your computer. I have a different Sticky for each character, and I put all of their information on it (for example, their physical description, family background, etc.). It really helps, and then I’m positive I haven’t made any inconsistencies in the character. Most Macs come with the application, but any other document or pencil + paper will do the trick.
How to increase word count
Everyone always says never use contractions. I disagree. Contractions make the piece flow more smoothly (I think so, anyway), and it always seems so formal and weird to read if there are no contractions. My biggest word-count increasing techniques are descriptions. Describe all of your characters head-to-toe, physically. Your reader will want to know what they look like. Also, describe the setting. Say, for example, your character is at school. What does the school look like? How are the desks arranged? Is it a tile floor? What’s written on the chalkboard? Are there posters on the walls? What can you see from the window?
I went back and added several pages of description in the very beginning of my story, and it really helped my word count. It also made the story more complete and probably more interesting.
How to come up with names
Well, usually I use MuseBlogger names for all of my stories. But, I’ve pretty much exhausted all the ones I know of, and I don’t like re-using names I’ve used in the past because I confuse them and it gets all confusing. (Yes, I’m not feeling very creative with words right now). I like baby naming websites. I just browse through the lists, and whenever I see one I like, I’ll write it down. Then I pick the ones I want to use.
I’m terrible with last names, though. Sometimes I’ll look at the map of Antarctica which is taped to the wall next to my bed (where I primarily write), and use names from there. For example, I gave a character the last name “Perry” once, because there is a “Perry Bay” in Antarctica. I also have used “Masson” from “Masson Island,” “Colbeck” from “Cape Colbeck,” and “Larsen” from “Larsen Ice Shelf.”
I haven’t given any of my NaNo characters last names yet. (Except for Robert, Rebecca, Rosanne, and Paul, who are the House Leaders and come with last names already :D). I’m not sure if I ever will, but I might, if I come up with good ones.
How do you prepare yourself to withstand the dreaded Second Week Slog?
I’m afraid I don’t really know. Halloween candy helps, I guess. Although I don’t recommend getting to the habit of waking up, eating Halloween candy for breakfast, staying in bed for hours at the computer writing, and then getting out of bed around 2:00 and feeling quite groggy and strange. I’ve done that the past few days, and it really hasn’t helped me much. Read good books for inspiration, get plenty of sleep (yes, I know, nobody gets sleep. Especially during NaNoWriMo. But I guess it couldn’t hurt to add it). Also, pretend Daylight Savings Time is still in effect. Don’t switch your hours until tomorrow, then you’ll get an extra hour to sleep in the morning before school.
The NaNo site says that you should tell friends and such, so I did, and I convinced my friends Hannah and Anna (no, they’re not twins, that’s a coinkidink that they have rhyming names) to do NaNo too, and Hannah and I are exchanging NaNos when we get to a Quota. Her’s is really good, actually.
bit surprised nobody’s thought of this, but here’s the first pep talk for those who didn’t get it.
Dear NaNoWriMo participant,
When you sit down to begin that novel of yours, the first thing you might want to do is toss a handful of powdered napalm over both shoulders—so as to dispense with any and all of your old writing teachers, the ones whose ghosts surely will be hovering there, saying such things as, “Adverbs should never be…”, or “A novel is supposed to convey…”, et cetera. Enough! Ye literary bureaucrats, vamoose!
Rules such as “Write what you know,” and “Show, don’t tell,” while doubtlessly grounded in good sense, can be ignored with impunity by any novelist nimble enough to get away with it. There is, in fact, only one rule in writing fiction: Whatever works, works.
Ah, but how can you know if it’s working? The truth is, you can’t always know (I nearly burned my first novel a dozen times, and it’s still in print after 35 years), you just have to sense it, feel it, trust it. It’s intu itive, and that peculiar brand of intuition is a gift from the gods. Obviously, most people have received a different package altogether, but until you undo the ribbons you can never be sure.
As the great Nelson Algren once said, “Any writer who knows what he’s doing isn’t doing very much.†Most really good fiction is compelled into being. It comes from a kind of uncalculated innocence. You need not have your ending in mind before you commence. Indeed, you need not be certain of exactly what’s going to transpire on page 2. If you know the whole story in advance, your novel is probably dead before you begin it. Give it some room to breathe, to change direction, to surprise you. Writing a novel is not so much a project as a journey, a voyage, an adventure.
A topic is necessary, of course; a theme, a general sense of the nexus of effects you’d like your narrative to ultimately produce. Beyond that, you simply pack your imagination, your sense of humor, a character or two, and your personal world view into a little canoe, push it out onto the vast dark river, and see where the currents take you. And should you ever think you hear the sound of dangerous rapids around the next bend, hey, hang on, tighten your focus, and keep paddling—because now you’re really writing, baby! This is the best part.
It’s a bit like being out of control and totally in charge, simultaneously. If that seems tricky, well, it’s a tricky business. Try it. It’ll drive you crazy. And you’ll love it.
Tom Robbins
(if you didn’t get it, go to edit profile. down at the bottom of account settings in the account info box, there’s a check box that says “no nanowrimo emails” uncheck it and they’ll send you these spiffy pep talks. you should get them, they’re from actual authors, and neil gaiman and garth nix are doing two of them this year (yes, squees of joy))
What I do is set a limit- eg. When I get to 7000 words that main characters can meet each other, ect.
Don’t go for a long slog. Do it in short bursts and take lots of breaks.
I made a table in Excel, which has a column for the day, date, word count that I should have to win, and actual word count. Every day I enter in what I actually achieved next to what I should have achieved, showing how I’m doing.
Try to beat your target if you have lots of ideas – then if you have writer’s block or less time later it won’t matter so much.
On weekends, alternate between homework, NaNo, and MB.
or, if your lucky, have Mb and your novel in two windows. then, you can work and blog at the same time!
10- I’ve tried that. It’s fun. But it also makes you more liable to lose track of time, which is unwise when you still have HW. *is a procrastinator*
Signing off for another homework bust before the potatoes burn.
11- happily, I have no homework on a regular basis.
Get sick: that way you know you’re going to miss Monday, and you’ll have all tomorrow to become braindead in front of the computer. Except for the fact I spend all of yesterday and the night before that throwing up (and therefore non-noveling).
But I’m feeling better now…
12- What?
with envy
14- we are doing worksheets in math (A.K.A. review) and barely have other homework.
15- I’m in Honors Algebra, and my math teacher is a sadist. 62 problems over this weekend, and we have to graph all of them
16 (PraCan) – Yes, I have a similar teacher. I’m in Algebra 2, and our teacher thinks 6 hours of homework per night is average for an Honors student. So she assigns 2 hours of homework per night. On top of all the homework from my other honors classes…. (I’m taking all honors, and by November things get insane).
Yes, I’d have to agree. Slogging is bad. Unless you are having a mirabilis moment and have nothing else to do, in which case, slog away.
If you really get stuck, use some random and crazy accident to change your story, i.e. one of your characters is walking down the street and gets hit by a car
The second full week of NaNo (two weeks from now)- or the second week, period (next week)- slog?
I set goals for myself, for example, every 1000 words I eat a piece of Halloween candy
21- Hehe, I should do that…
I don;t have a check in the bok that says no NaNoWriMo E-mails box, but I’m still not getting the e-mails. I got the first one, but haven’t gotten anything else
23- Neither have I; they probably haven’t sent another one.
Word Count
As I’ve mentioned before, metaphors are your friend when you’re under quota.
Writer’s Block
As you know, WB is terrible for NaNo. If you do get writer’s block (the horror!) open up a blank document and start typing random stuff. Something that happened at school, work, etc, or whatever happens to pop into your head, anything goes. It should cure the block after twenty minutes or so (sometimes less). Or, rewrite an RRR post. Two almost-sure-fire way of getting rid of block.
Hope that helps
Hmm. I find that confining myself to a room with nothing but a computer and Halloween candy works quite well. After a while you will be so bored and sugar buzzed that you’ll write something.
There was an article that said if you sit in a room and do nothing your brain will try to create a distraction. Candy helps the yearning for a distraction set in faster.
I’m below count so I better go write now!
21-Will dried spaghetti work? Because I pig on halloween kandy.
To survive 2nd Week Slog, one must not stress out. 1000 words per day is plenty, you don’t have to rush.
As I said somewhere, have short chapters, title them, and start each with a quote or saying. I’d probably be best if it was one of your own so there’s no arguments about weither they should count or not.
When I get to 25000 words I’m buying myself a bar of fairtrade chocolate.
When you hit a wall of writer’s block, insert a plot twist that changes your story a little, like a call to the principal’s office, or a sudden declaration of war on Canada. It works. Killing off a few characters gives me a pleasent, anti WB buzz also.
A little while ago I hated my story and my characters so much, and I couldn’t figure out what to write. So I wrote this whole rant where I talked about how much I hated my characters and devised tortures for them. I called that Chapter 8, which I named “Venting”, and then at the end I resurrected them and moved on to Chapter 9. It made me feel a lot better, and it was easier to write the next scene.
*sigh* I only have one tip:
Don’t edit, and ditch your novel because you want to edit it and can’t.
Technically that was two tips squeezed into one, but oh well.
Oh! Here’s one (that I haven’t followed): Spend you lunch hours, time before school, and Independent Reading Time in English to work on your novel.
An exercise mentioned on the NaNo site proved very helpful to me. Ask the question “What do each of my characters want more than anything else in the world?”
The answers may reveal some plot leads as you think about how those aspirations might interact. In my case, they gave me my fastest two thousand words so far, and I’ve only made it through three characters.
(31) Great strategy, MG!
21- I don’t have any more Halloween candy. That’s what happens when you don’t t-o-t.
33- Thanks! That really gave me some insight into characters whom I haven’t introduced yet, as well as some I have.
What is the second week slog anyway?
36 (E2MB) – Usually around the second week of NaNoWriMo you start to lose motivation. Your plot dies, and it’s basically like a wall you can’t pass. Luckily, it usually gets better in the third week. *hopes*
What I did is I moved the quotas back a day. e.g. if the quota for November 6 is 10002, then that’s the quota for November 7. It works wonders! I may do some catching up over the weekends.
If you’re stuck… skip ahead (I use //s to indicate a skip) and write something that you aren’t stuck on. This isn’t a writers block tip, it’s for those really boring to write yet important scenes. A change of scenery for a while can work wonders!
Don’t listen to your favorite music. You’ll want to sing along, or learn the words, or something. Right now I’m listening to a song a friend sent me, it has a good beat and is in another language and I find myself typing to the rythem. It’s helpful, esspecally because I can’t understand what they’re singing so I don’t accedentally type the words I hear. I may try some e nomine (technoish band ebeth sugested on music thread a while back) while I write later, because that would probably have the same effect.
Song I’m listening to now is Called Mezame, by Kajiura Yuki, by the way.
A small SSSS which contains tips. Please don’t snip it!
is the writer who lives inside us all, and 
is Cinnamoon, or another NaNoer.
Stop procrastinating on Museblog, and go get on your thing-you’re-using-to-write and get writing!
But I can’t be bothered!
If you get to 25000 words I’ll buy you a bar of chocolate!
Sounds good, but I still can’t be bothered… I’ll do it tommorow!
Cinnamoon, get Sialena off from Xirandi and Ziquinia, and Pequim to his first challenge, and then you can have a break, OK?
Oh, fine then.
Thank you!
(nb.
Alright, I can take a hint from my own inner writer. Bye peoples!
40-i’m the opposite…i can’t really listen to e nomine while i write because i find myself listening to see if i can figure out what the words mean. if i listen to a song i’m familiar with i can just sing along without really listening to it, and write at the same time.
i’ve found the best music though is quiet songs you’re familiar with where the emphasis is on the music rather than the words. Or there’s always music without words, of course. i’m not big on classical while i’m writing because it’s got so many changes in dynamics so there’s really no good place to leave the volume. i usually listen to mark knopfler, coldplay, dave matthews band, or jazz (wynton marsalis, benny goodman, miles davis, john coltrane, and keaton)
I have another tip: Have a Write-In. If none of your friends are doing NaNo, do it yourself. Give yourself a time (at least an hour) where all you will do is write–don’t go on the internet (unless to do research), or take a break, or anything. See how many words you can write in that amount of time.
I had a write-in with two of my friends yesterday for 6 hours, and it really helped.
Go off on a tangent and start describing something else in that scene. Somebody’s jawline. A chair. The weather. A tree. Anything. It helps and it means you make a wide swooping arc and return to the story with a few hundred more words and a little hook to hang the next few pages on.
I’ve written three novels this year so far. One for English, and two for NaNovember. One thing that helps is to write about something you like and/or know a lot about. Then at least you have good ideas. I also don’t listen to any music with words, because then that is what I type.
43- Oh, that’s a Write-In. I never knew the meaning of that term even after last year. Heh, that’s how I’ve been getting all my wordcount. Shutting down twice each weekend day, for 3-4 hours, just writing. I’d fail miserably without doing that.
If I can’t keep going in one part, I just skip ahead and write a scene I’ve been dying to do. It usually shows me where I want to be with the rest of the plot, so I can work with that.
Oh, and just having fun works too. Put that random, pointless, comic-relief scene in there for no good reason. Have your characters act completely out-of-character just to have a good time. Give them aliases and alter egos and hidden agendas.
Write in something in your life that’s been eating at you lately. If you have your characters mold to it, you’ll get out tonnes of words really fast and also a new perspective on your situation. Have your characters explore your possibilities for you.
Don’t get kicked off the computer for two weeks in the middle of November. That usually puts a damper on things…
So I still don’t have 10K…
Introduce lots of unlikeable minor characters. Make sure each has a personal grudge against your MCs when they leave the scene. Then, when you have WB, you can have one of them turn up to make life difficult for the MCs and give you a thousand words or so.
just keep going, do not give up! this aplys for script feazy as well.
If you have writer’s block, just write stream-of-conciousness. Don’t worry about whether what you’re writing is good, or even if it makes sense.