Hello, fellow writers! Like many of you, I'm determined to complete my 50,000-word goal for NaNoWriMo 2016. Also like many of you, I'm a wee bit behind—though I will finish by midnight or death. (I know that didn't work grammatically. Just go with it.)
As I race for the finish line, I want to share a few tips with you to help you complete your own race. We can do this together, fellow writers, and here's how.
Tip Number One: Prepare Your Workstation
Where do you write? A sofa? A desk? A coffee shop? The dining room table? Here's the trick: where it is doesn't matter. What you do with it does.
Make sure your workstation is clear of distractions. If you're working from home, make darn sure you have already done the dishes, or folded the laundry, or at the very least, aren't sitting where you can see either pile. Distractions will pull you from your writing.
Feed the kids before you write.
Lock the cats out if you have to.
Fetch what you want to eat or drink before sitting down. Do you like to have water or tea for sipping? Get it before you sit down. Coffee? Chai? Whiskey? Seriously: get it first.
If you let yourself start writing, then decide you need comfort-mac-and-cheese, you'll lose inertia. Slice that apple ahead of time and save yourself the struggle.
Tip Number Two: Prepare Your Scene
Think about what you intend to write next. Plan your scene—and I say this as a life-long pantser!
You don't have to know everything about it, but you need to at least know the purpose of the next scene. Is it to expand the scene before? To add information? To develop a character? Every scene must have a purpose; if you have some idea what that purpose is going in, you'll have a better chance of completing it.
Ah, but what if you don't know what that purpose is, or even what to write? Read on, my friend. That's next.
Tip Number Three: Prepare Your Heart
Repeat after me: “I have permission to suck.”
That means if you don't know what to write and you're reduced to writing your thoughts about the characters and scene, that's all right.
Repeat after me: “I have permission to suck.”
That means if you find you were wrong about the purpose of this scene and know you're going to have to light a match and burn the whole thing down later, that's all right.
Repeat after me: “I have permission to suck.”
Yes, your finished product must be good. Your first draft does not. Your first draft isn't the one you're sending to agents, fellow writers. It's the one you're taking a chisel to once it's written. Or, to put it another way (for those of who you like logical if-then statements):
If your first draft isn't written, you can't make it good.
Or:
The goal of NaNoWriMo is to get you writing regularly and to help you conquer your inner critic (who, as I am fond of saying, is a jerk). There is only one way to silence that guy: you have to write it in spite of him.
Write your draft even if it's the worst thing you've ever written in your life.
“You can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page.”
―Jodi Picoult
Keep writing that scene even if your inner critic screams that you're wasting your time. You're not. You're practicing. Ever heard someone learning to play an instrument? Terrible practice is required before you can sound good on that flugelhorn.
“It is perfectly okay to write garbage—as long as you edit brilliantly.”
―C.J. Cherryh
This is a good rule for writing in general, but especially for NaNoWriMo: give yourself permission to suck. Ignore your inner critic, jerk that he is. When you're sure your writing is terrible, write it anyway.
Write to the Finish
Prepare your heart so that when you write those last words today, you accept them for whatever they are—and you know that by choosing to write them instead of freezing up, you are becoming a stronger writer, a better writer, and—if you don't quit—a happier writer.
Let's finish NaNoWriMo together, fellow writers. We can do this.
I'll see you at the finish line.
Did you do NaNoWriMo this year? Let us know in the comments.
PRACTICE
Take a deep breath: prepare your workstation, prepare your scene, prepare your heart, and write for fifteen minutes without stopping. Fight your inner critic!
If you're not working on a NaNoWriMo novel or another work in progress right now, take these fifteen minutes to write a story about a frenzied writer rushing to meet a deadline despite obstacles and distractions. The same rules as above apply here, too: prepare your workstation, prepare your scene, prepare your heart, and write without stopping.
When your time is up, post your practice in the comments and don't forget to encourage your fellow writers, too.
Great tips, I need that for tonight! Thanks! and let’s do this thing!
Awesome! 🙂 Good luck!
Good luck on your last minute dashes@ I’m starting mine in a bit as well and this was just the boost I needed! 🙂
Fantastic, Martha! We’ll run for that finish line together.
Great tips, all of them. I didn’t participate in NaNo, and may not have plans to do so in the inmediate future. I did set a goal to write three stories by the end of the month. I was a story short, but gained a lot of insight in how I write. The one thing that helped me in my goal was to write out the draft in a notebook, thus curbing the urge to edit as I write. It worked better than I thought when it came to writing the next draft. I plan on implementing this strategy with all of my stories from now on.
I’m really glad to hear that, George! Handwriting has some major benefits. I love the suggestion. Thanks!
I didn’t win, I already know, but I did write more on my children’s book (which is a family memoir, mystery and lots of fiction) than I had ever written before. I connected, networked, researched, wrote, took notes, and told many people about my premise. Some even asked to read it! The effort was worth it. I am still deciding if I want to be an author (when I grow up) or should I continue on the path of reading, reviewing, judging, editing, and critiquing, which I hear are laudable strengths.
Cannot go a day without suggesting a title to my reading and writing friends. Pick up a copy of Connie Willis’ “Crosstalk.” (2016) It is the funniest novel I have ever read about communication. Millennials and those who are past that age should love it as you will see her authentic, creative writing in you own lives. Enjoy this next month of reading, writing, and editing! P.S. I am listening to the Recorded Books version and, yes, audio books are considered books that you are READING!
I did attempt nano this year, a constant in a year of un-consistency. A divorce, illness death move surgery recovery…. meeting and getting used to a new love. All of these things happened within months never allowing me to regroup from one before another hit. So I barely got up before something else happened.
This year I wanted to try and edit/ rewrite a story I did last year, and while it got to 28,000 or so I did not finish, its at a point where I have no idea where its going to go. So I stepped back and just journal wrote about the characters and what they bring to the story… So now to finish that silly story, or let it set and settle for a while – the thing I needed in my like this last year…
I did participate in NaNoWriMo 2016 and crossed the finished line with 50,719 words. The best push I had was the past 4 days sequestered in my room writing and listening the Celtic music on Pandora.
I did finish, one day early because I was afraid I’d have trouble Technically, at the end, lol, that for some Odd Reason, Nano’s paste screen would not accept my formatting. (It Did, the first time… .)
The advice from here at WP was so helpful: It’s okay to suck; even my inner Whatever got the message and kept ‘saying’ it to me. It made me laugh.
The Sprints on You Tube: “Nanowrimo Virtual Write-ins” were amazingly helpful. So many days when I felt uninspired, their suggestions for writing topics were Coincidentally perfect for Someplace in my novel.
I learned to write out of sequence. I had a light outline of what my novel was to look like, and I jumped around.
And, yes! It was helpful to Crash/Write everyday for a couple of hours, or even an hour. I even posted a small bit in Writer’s Workshop, which I’ve been avoiding posting to for months.
Thank you for the Nano Support from WP; it was nice to check in here, for the reality check.
“Feed the kids before you write.
Lock the cats out if you have to.”
Yes to both of those, whether you’re NaNoWriMo-ing or not. I’d also add, “what until every living creature in the house is sleeping.
Good luck to everyone who is hitting 50K tonight!