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Believe it or not, NaNoWriMo is still on my mind...
If I know my fellow NaNo nerds (and I'm sure I do), then I know what you're all doing right now. You're going to Sam's Club to stock up on snacks for the month, you're saying goodbye to your loved ones, you're constructing contraptions that'll take care of your day-to-day for you (including eating bathing and sleeping). You're just now realizing that you don't want to write about zombies, you want to bunnies, so you're throwing out all of the prep work you've done up to this point and crunch-time outlining your bunny novel. All-in-all, you're putting the finishing touches on your NaNo preparations, and by the end of this sentence you've already scrapped your bunny idea and are now drafting the outline for your awesome new werewolf 5SOS fanfic.
If you'll allow me, I'd like to give you some advice. If we're both lucky, you'll come out of this experience with your novel front work in hand, your pets adequately fed, and no bloody corpses littering the ground you tread. (No promises on that last one.)
1) Outlining
Have I mentioned them before? No? Well, shame on me. To put it simply, OUTLINES ARE MY LIFE. I have extensively outlined every big project I've taken on and never ever regretted doing so. Have I strayed from my outlines? Heck. Yes. But they've always kept me focused. You'd be surprised how easy writing is when you know what your next step is. "But NikMac," I hear you say, "I write better when I'm spontaneous." I respect that, I really do. (No I don't.) But we're not taking just any old writing day. We're talking freaking NaNoWriMo. Let me be the first to tell you that if you don't know what it is you're writing, if you don't know how it ends, NANOWRIMO WILL EAT YOU. ALL FEAR THE GREAT AND POWERFUL NANOWRIMO.
Get that outline straightened out friend, lest you become a Scooby Snack.
2) Music
3) Take One Word At A Time
Get this in your head before you start, or else you might find yourself paralyzed at the keyboard. You are not writing a novel in a month. You are writing a novel like you anything else you would write, word by word. You're just trying to do so a little faster. It's okay if you don't hit your word count everyday, it's okay if at the end of it all you're short by a hundred words (give or take). It's even okay if you give up in the middle and don't end up finishing. What counts is what you take away from the try, not whether or not you succeed. So don't worry about things. Just sit down and write. Remember to have fun. ;)
What are some tips to share with your fellow NaNo-er's? Any sure-fire ways to come out of the Dreaded November alive?
'Til next time nerds.
If I know my fellow NaNo nerds (and I'm sure I do), then I know what you're all doing right now. You're going to Sam's Club to stock up on snacks for the month, you're saying goodbye to your loved ones, you're constructing contraptions that'll take care of your day-to-day for you (including eating bathing and sleeping). You're just now realizing that you don't want to write about zombies, you want to bunnies, so you're throwing out all of the prep work you've done up to this point and crunch-time outlining your bunny novel. All-in-all, you're putting the finishing touches on your NaNo preparations, and by the end of this sentence you've already scrapped your bunny idea and are now drafting the outline for your awesome new werewolf 5SOS fanfic.
If you'll allow me, I'd like to give you some advice. If we're both lucky, you'll come out of this experience with your novel front work in hand, your pets adequately fed, and no bloody corpses littering the ground you tread. (No promises on that last one.)
Have I mentioned them before? No? Well, shame on me. To put it simply, OUTLINES ARE MY LIFE. I have extensively outlined every big project I've taken on and never ever regretted doing so. Have I strayed from my outlines? Heck. Yes. But they've always kept me focused. You'd be surprised how easy writing is when you know what your next step is. "But NikMac," I hear you say, "I write better when I'm spontaneous." I respect that, I really do. (No I don't.) But we're not taking just any old writing day. We're talking freaking NaNoWriMo. Let me be the first to tell you that if you don't know what it is you're writing, if you don't know how it ends, NANOWRIMO WILL EAT YOU. ALL FEAR THE GREAT AND POWERFUL NANOWRIMO.Get that outline straightened out friend, lest you become a Scooby Snack.
2) Music
This one's not as necessary but it'll help in the long run. Plus, it's a much better way to pass the time waiting for midnight to hit then throwing things at you siblings/spouse/elderly parents. And it's fun. Start a soundtrack for that masterpiece of yours, try to find the vein of every scene you make. Who knows, you might know more about your piece because of it.
My personal preference, when it comes to writing, is lyricless playlists. And for that I recommend Lindsey Stirling, Sam Cushion, High Five Spaceship, and anything on ocremix.org (ocremix offers all their music for free, by the way.)
Get this in your head before you start, or else you might find yourself paralyzed at the keyboard. You are not writing a novel in a month. You are writing a novel like you anything else you would write, word by word. You're just trying to do so a little faster. It's okay if you don't hit your word count everyday, it's okay if at the end of it all you're short by a hundred words (give or take). It's even okay if you give up in the middle and don't end up finishing. What counts is what you take away from the try, not whether or not you succeed. So don't worry about things. Just sit down and write. Remember to have fun. ;)
What are some tips to share with your fellow NaNo-er's? Any sure-fire ways to come out of the Dreaded November alive?
'Til next time nerds.
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