what time is it? nanowrimo time!
Oct. 18th, 2019 05:46 am(Or rather, that enjoyable period right *before* nanowrimo, when I'm excited and think this will be great. But just because I know something won't last doesn't mean I'm not going to enjoy the heck out of it while it's here!)
This post by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
starandrea is an amazing nano primer:
Don’t be afraid to do things that don’t make sense or aren’t explained. If it feels so awkward you can’t ignore it, just have a character say, “Well, that didn’t make any sense.” If they’re not talking to themselves, you can get another hundred words out of everyone agreeing with them before you move on.
What is it the kids say these days? I feel called out! (In a good way!) Because I do that all the time in my nano novels, and yes, it is super effective! Also, whenever I'm really stuck on what a character should say, they tend to say, "I wish I knew what to say."
I'm terrible at giving advice, so here are three totally random bits of my nanowrimo plan:
*First they think it, then they say it! (ie: She had no idea how to respond to that. "I have no idea what to say," she said finally.) More words! Plus, it's funny.
*Most of my stories are pretty short compared to 50,000 words. I've had some luck breaking the story down into smaller sections -- it's easier to convince myself I can write three 15,000 word arcs than one 50,000 word story. (And each 15,000 words is broken into three 5,000 word sections!)
*My favorite advice from Chris Baty's 'No Plot, No Problem' book (okay, the only advice I remember) is to make a list of things you like reading about, and then write those. This year I created nanowrimo trope bingo card for myself that's basically 'AO3 tags that make me want to read a story' -- it's got 30 squares, and I'm going to try to squash 'em all in there. Just a festival of stuff I like, all month long.
This post by
starandrea is an amazing nano primer:Don’t be afraid to do things that don’t make sense or aren’t explained. If it feels so awkward you can’t ignore it, just have a character say, “Well, that didn’t make any sense.” If they’re not talking to themselves, you can get another hundred words out of everyone agreeing with them before you move on.
What is it the kids say these days? I feel called out! (In a good way!) Because I do that all the time in my nano novels, and yes, it is super effective! Also, whenever I'm really stuck on what a character should say, they tend to say, "I wish I knew what to say."
I'm terrible at giving advice, so here are three totally random bits of my nanowrimo plan:
*First they think it, then they say it! (ie: She had no idea how to respond to that. "I have no idea what to say," she said finally.) More words! Plus, it's funny.
*Most of my stories are pretty short compared to 50,000 words. I've had some luck breaking the story down into smaller sections -- it's easier to convince myself I can write three 15,000 word arcs than one 50,000 word story. (And each 15,000 words is broken into three 5,000 word sections!)
*My favorite advice from Chris Baty's 'No Plot, No Problem' book (okay, the only advice I remember) is to make a list of things you like reading about, and then write those. This year I created nanowrimo trope bingo card for myself that's basically 'AO3 tags that make me want to read a story' -- it's got 30 squares, and I'm going to try to squash 'em all in there. Just a festival of stuff I like, all month long.
