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48 articles tagged as Writing

And so it begins – Journey through NaNoWriMo

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My original plan for today’s post was to continue with my website redesign series. But I’ve decided to push that off until later in the week. Instead, I’m going to continue writing about NaNoWriMo.

And so it begins

As many of you know, National Novel Writing Month is officially upon us. In celebration, I took the day off from work. In my humble opinion, it really should be a national holiday, but so far I have been unable to convince any of the higher ups.

I’ve got to say, taking the day off was a great idea. And no, it wasn’t great because I didn’t have to go to work or because I was able to stay in my PJs all day and sleep in until 8 (I’m usually up at 6, so 8 is a big deal). Naturally those things contributed to the greatness of today, but the true greatness stems from what NaNoWriMo taught me about myself.

Failures of Years Past

This is my 4th year participating. The first year I jumped into a brilliant story idea only to change my mind 50 pages in. I then threw myself into the next brilliant idea, writing an additional 50 pages. Only to realize that the execution was far from brilliant. In short, I failed.

Year 2 I decided to use NaNo to push myself to finish my book, which was my story from year 1 fully resuscitated and fixed up through the help of tons of plastic surgery and duct tape. Again, I failed.

Year 3 I may as well not have participated. Not only was I extremely ill, but I attended a wedding in Thailand halfway through November. Needless to say I didn’t even come close to completing the challenge.

NaNoWriMo – Finding Your Zen

This year, my 4th year, is the first year I have gone into NaNo with a solid plan. And today I saw the benefit of this. Because I was not distracted trying to think up a plan on the fly, I was able to really focus on the writing. I also learned some things about myself.

1. NaNoWriMo teaches discipline

Ok, in a perfect world we could teach ourselves discipline. But NaNoWriMo gives that finally push to those of us struggling with the whole discipline thing. Through the act of participating in NaNo, I am able to see that I can be a disciplined writer. I can sit at my computer and write on command. I can reach daily word goals. Today, I saw that discipline in action and it was the most productive I’ve felt in a long time.

2. NaNoWriMo reinforces a schedule

Since finishing school, I’ve found it difficult to properly organize my personal life. I spend all day at work organizing my time. By the time I get home, I’m exhausted. I don’t want to think about the order. NaNo reminds us that order is not so hard to achieve, if you are willing to let it happen.

Today, I was willing to let it happen. Before getting out of bed, I had a plan. I decided I would reach 5,000 words by lunchtime. Then I would do the many other things on my list, like going to the gym, updating my blog, cleaning the house, etc. Once those things were done, I could sit down and write some more.

Because I had a set plan, I was not trying to do a million things at once. I knew I had to reach my word count for the day or I would not do the other things I needed to do. And you know what? Not only did I accomplish everything on my list, but I finished ahead of schedule.

3. NaNoWriMo stretches my limits and shows me what’s possible

Following along the same lines as the previous point, by focusing, I was able to get a really good sense of how much content I can produce in a set amount of time, and I don’t think the quality suffered more than it suffers in any first draft. Seeing how easy it is to write 5,000 words in 1 day gives me renewed hope in my ability to actually complete a project. The massive rewrite I’m undertaking with my original WIP (yes, I am currently working on 2 projects) has been disheartening to say the least. Now that I see how much I can produce in a day, I feel like it is possible to finish project 1 and all future projects. I stretched my limits today, at it feels great.

And the Conclusion is…

So what is the point of this extremely long post? I’m not saying every writer should participate in NaNo. But if you are like me and having problems figuring out the time management, discipline, reaching your full potential etc. craziness that is all part of being a successful writer, especially one working a full-time job on top of writing, maybe you should think about participating. It’s not too late to sign up.

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What's Your Genre? Countdown to NaNoWriMo – Part 3

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To continue the NaNoWriMo countdown, let’s talk about genre.

Know Your Genre

There are many reasons why genre is important. From a business perspective, you need to know your genre so bookstores know where to shelve it. As a reminder to YA writers, Barnes and Noble is now dividing YA based on genre (check out this blog too), just like they do with adult books, so genre really is important to consider.

From the perspective of a writer just looking to write, genre is important because it can help guide you in the development of your plot. If you are writing high fantasy, you better include a quest, because that is what your readers will expect. For definitions of some common genres, check out this post from Jennifer Represents…

Knowing your genre can help provide a mini-blueprint. If you get stuck, you can think about what elements you need to include in your book and then try to figure out how to include those elements. Of course, you don’t have to follow a formula, but you should be mindful of what readers of a particular genre will expect to read.

And finally, for NaNoWriMo participants, genre is important in that it helps you to meet other writers. By including your genre on your profile page, writers can find you by genre. There are also forums set up by genre. The forums are a great place to chat with other writers about any and everything related to NaNoWriMo, your book, writing, etc.. By browsing forums for your genre, you are sure to encounter people who know about your genre and can offer genre specific advice.

So, do you know your genre?

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Are You Ready? Countdown to NaNoWriMo – Part 1

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With NaNoWriMo 2010 fast approaching, I’ve got one question for you. Are you ready?

For first-time participants, you may be thinking, ‘but isn’t preparation against the rules?’ Having an idea, an outline, character sketches, etc. is not cheating. You are only cheating if you add words to your word count that you did not actually write during NaNoWriMo.

As a 3-time failure, I will let you in on the secret to my lack of success. I was unprepared.

If you do nothing else…

Have at least a general idea about your story. My first year, I wasted valuable time day 1 trying to figure out what in the world I was going to write. As I’m sure many of you have noticed, November 1 inconveniently falls on a Monday this year. Unless you are taking the day off of work or school (which I am considering), you will have precious few hours on day 1 to add some progress to your progress bar. All the more reason to come in with a plan.

Your NaNoWriMo Story Plan

Having a plan does not mean you need to have a fully developed, beautifully outlined plan. For many, that would take the fun out of NaNoWriMo. A plan can be as simple as knowing your general plot and the name of you MC. This year, I have decided to go with a slightly more detailed plan, but it is by no means the fully sketched out plan suggested by Karen Wiesner in her book First Draft in 30 Days (a great book, by the way).

Because everyone loves an example

To help get your juices flowing, I thought an example was in order. One way I get ideas is through pictures. A picture really can say a thousand words, or in this case, 50,000, if you know how to look at it. Look at the photo and let you imagination flow. Think of some stories you could create from it. The scene in the photo does not even need to be included in your story. You could base it off of the emotion you get from looking at the photo or what the photo makes you think of. Post your ideas and come back tomorrow for an example of a short plot sketch I created based off of this photo.

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Story Arc – The Life or Death of a Novel

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As it turns out, I am having a harder time giving up on my WIP than I thought I would. Even though I’m ready to put it aside and ignore all of its problems, I can’t let it rest. Instead of working out the details for my next project as I lie in bed at night, willing myself to sleep, my mind keeps wandering back to my WIP. How can I fix it? How can I make the story I know is in there work?

Story Arc

The other day I was browsing the blogosphere and I came across a post by Alexis Grant titled Learning by doing (or the importance of story arc).  This post got me thinking. It’s not that my story is a bad idea. I think the concept is there. The characters, with a little bit of editing, have the potential to be quite lovable. The problem lies within the story arc.

Now this is something I’ve sort of known. Every time I sit down to work on my WIP, I find myself stuck on the flow of action. But it isn’t the flow so much as it is my inability to pick my inciting incidents. I have thrown so much in there, the reader doesn’t know where to look.

In researching story arc after reading Alexis’ post, I came across this very familiar diagram. You may recognize it from middle school English classes. I know I used to sit and stare at it, wondering how this was going to help me to dissect Lord of the Flies or get the lead in Antigone. As a reader, it didn’t seem too useful. As a writer, though, it is quite useful.

If you are not much of a graphs person, the explanation of story structure that goes with the graph was pretty clear and concise. Between the graph and the explanation, I feel like I now have a pretty solid grasp about what makes a successful story arc.  And that brings me back to my WIP, which pretty much lacks a story arc.

And so, I am picking my WIP back up and working out the story arc. I’m sure there will be a lot of shifting and deleting, but if it leads to a book that people are excited about reading, isn’t it worth it in the end?

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Handwriting and Creativity

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On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled How Handwriting Trains the Brain. According to a study, children write more words faster and express more ideas when writing by hand as opposed to typing. This raises an interesting question. Does a writer’s reliance on typing as opposed to writing by hand limit the writer’s creativity?

Writing by Hand

I’ve always been drawn to writing by hand, but you can’t easily share your work if it’s written on paper. Such is the nature of our digital society. Despite my preference for handwriting, typing things into a computer seems to save time. Or does it?

If writing by hand engages the mind more than typing, are we really saving time when we turn to the computer for our first drafts? If we are engaging our creativity to a higher degree by hand than on the computer, writing things first by hand should lead to less editing, thus saving more time while helping us to produce better content.

Engaging our Creative Juices

I’ve always found that my ideas flow better when I am outlining by hand. The same is true for putting pen to paper. I don’t know if it’s because I feel like each word needs to count for more if I don’t want my paper to be covered with scribbles, or if, as the artlice from the WSJ claims, the actual act of creating the letters engages my brain. If your brain is already engaged, it seems to follow that it would be easier to tap into your creativity.

A Dying Art

Sadly, kids are spending less time practicing their penmanship. They are more and more often using computers in class. It’s practically unheard of to submit a handwritten essay in college or high school and I would guess the same is true for middle school. So what does this mean for our content? Will our society start producing less interesting content? Will our words become mundane and our stories sub-par?

What do you think? Which do you prefer? Do you write everything by hand? 50/50? Or are you a die hard technology fan? Do you think technology limits our creativity? Our productivity? Should we be concerned by the dying art of writing by hand?

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Deadline Schmedline

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Courtesy of Paul Foot

Alright. So September is almost over and I am not done. Life did, indeed, get in the way. In particular, my chronic headaches. And let me tell you, chronic headaches make writing near impossible. But it was more than just my excuses. It’s also feeling like I’m sprinting a marathon instead of pacing myself. Instead of really thinking about the scenes, I feel like I have been creating skeletons of scenes. But you know what, apparently I’m not alone.

Rushing to the finish line

I was reading a blog post from The Literary Lab called Don’t Rush to the Finish Line, and I realized that this is a common problem when there is a deadline involved. In reading the responses to the post, I realized that it isn’t necessarily a bad thing to have merely sketches of scenes. After all, my deadline is more so that I can get the ideas all out there, see how the story will play out, and then start sketching my new story idea before I come back to the serious work of editing. So maybe rushing to the finish line isn’t so bad in this situation.

What do you think? Are you guilty of this? How rushed can your story be to still count as a first draft? Is rushing a bad thing?

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Lost…

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I’m feeling lost. The ending is so close. I know what it is, but I cannot decide which path to take to get there. I know I need to just suck it up and write something, anything, so I can finish the first draft and then hammer out the details that either do or don’t work in the edits to follow, but I’m lost.

Part of the problem is my writing schedule does not coincide with my ideas schedule. Every morning I bike to work. I leave early enough that there’s no traffic or noise. It’s peaceful. And in this peace, I develop these wonderful ideas. I get to work and try so hard to keep them all in tact. By the time lunch rolls around and I go to pen them in, they’ve flown away.

The other part of the problem is the evolution of the story. It has been on-going for so long, there are plot elements that I want to hold on to despite the fact that they don’t really fit with the story anymore. But it’s more than that. I’ve had too much time to let the ideas simmer. Some simmering is good. Too much can become toxic. And now I cannot commit and I grow more and more lost as I try to work through the maze that has become my WIP.

This morning I forced myself to get up early and write. I told myself I was not allowed to think about all the problems, about all the possible things that could happen leading up to the end. I just needed to sit and write whatever logically followed the sentence before it. And you know what? I’m still lost, but I at least feel like I recognize my surroundings, like I can find my way out. Taking the time to sit down and write left me feeling refreshed. Even when you feel lost, just write. You will feel so much better getting it all out of your head. I know I do.

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New York, New York

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If you didn’t guess from the title, I’m in New York for the week. Sadly I’m here for work, not pleasure, but being a work trip and all, at least it’s a free trip. As a writer, you can never go wrong with free things.

New York is Where it’s at

I’ve read a lot of things recently, including an article in the newest Writer’s Digest, that New York is the place to be for writers. Of course, the plethora of publishing houses in New York is a big contributor is this notion, but walking around the city, I stumbled upon something else. New York is a great place for writers because there are so many characters. You step onto the street and you are surrounded by people from every walk of life. Not only that, but the ‘settings’ are equally as varied. Example: last night I ate dinner in an authentic southern BBQ place. Tonight I went to a very French fondue restaurant. In both cases, I felt like I had been transported out of New York to a southern town and a Paris restaurant respectively. Not only did the food leave me feeling this way, but the decor and overall ambiance also contributed. What better inspiration could you want?

Of course, that being said, when the Internet in my hotel was down for several hours today, I took a walk and then watched t.v. instead of writing. But that’s an entirely different issue.

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The ficklest of the fickle

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I’m fickle. There, I’ve admitted it. I’ve come clean. Of course, I am sure readers of this blog have already surmised this by the simple fact that I cannot seem to stick to a theme. For those of you not up to speed with the technology lingo, that means the background and overall design of my blog. But my fickleness translates itself into other aspects of my life as well. Most importantly, into my writing.

I’m a fickle writer. I can’t make up my mind about anything. It’s really a big problem. I can’t even make up my mind about which concepts to follow, let alone which paths to take once I’ve started working on something.

This is probably also the time to mention that, with the exception of undergrad and grad school, I’ve never finished anything. I mean, ANYTHING. I’ve never even beaten a video game. I stopped doing TaeKwonDo 1 stripe away from reaching black belt. I only made it through 3 chapters of a self-taught web design course. You name it, I haven’t finished it.

You may be asking yourself, as the boyfriend has been asking me for 3 years now, how I think I’m going to finish writing a book. Simple. Writing means more to me than anything else in my life. It always has. And, in my defense, I did write a 100 page thesis to get my master’s degree and I have stuck with the same overall concept for my WIP for 3 years. Certainly that must count for something, right?

So how is the fickle writer supposed to commit to an idea, commit to the various paths that evolve out of a book and finish the darn thing? The simple answer: sheer willpower.

I’m sure this isn’t the answer you were hoping for. I’m sure you were looking for some grand scheme. Sadly, there is no grand scheme that will get one over the hurdle of being fickle other than pushing through it and forcing yourself to make a decision. Another way is to try not to over-analyze, to go with your gut. I’ve more or less mastered the first solution by reminding myself that the only way to finish a book is to suck it up and make a decision. The second solution is something I work on everyday, and I think once I’ve mastered that, I will be a much more efficient writer.

Of course, I could just blame my fickleness on being a perfectionist and pretend I don’t have a problem.

How do you overcome fickle tendencies?

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Dreaming of NaNoWriMo…Literally

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I had a crazy dream last night. I blame it on my obsession with finishing my current book and the fact that I am still being haunted by The Hunger Games every time I close my eyes. So in the dream, you won NaNoWriMo by racing up these twisty, windy stairs. There could only be three winners. The winners would finish their books. The only challenge was that the person behind you could throw a knife in your back so they could move up in the ranks. At the beginning of the stairwell, I joined ranks with 3 other contestants. Only problem was, I was in 4th place. But in my dream, that was fine. I didn’t mind helping them get to the top. As we ran, I heard people dropping dead all around me, until finally I was almost at the top and someone came up behind me. The 3 winners had already made it. I convinced the person behind me not to stab me in the back. What was the point? Then I turned and left. The game was over. I did not win, but my teammates had.

I woke up at 3 in the morning and thought this was a pretty interesting dream. At 3 am, I ignored its connection to life in general and only saw the connection in regards to writing. There will always be people looking to stab you in the back to take what you potentially have. The struggle to the top will be long and exhausting. Getting to the top is not something you can do on your own. You need help. A support group goes a long way.

I guess my sub-conscious is trying to tell me its time to find a support group. To all you writers out there, how did you find your support group? Are you still looking for one? Do you think a support group is essential to success?

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