November is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and around the world, writers will be racing their page-a-day calendars to crank out a 50,000 word book by the 30th of November. The goal is to write, write, and write just to get it down on paper. Don't stop. Don't edit. Don't give yourself time for a crisis. You can edit and cut all you want later-- you should have 50,000 words to chop down into whatever genre standards you require.
I will be doing NaNoWriMo (so don't expect 3 blog posts a week!) and my husband will, as well. Here are the 8 steps I will be taking before October is out to ensure that I have 50,000 words and can be declared a winner at the end of November.
PHASE 1: Setting Up Your Story
Nail down the basics as soon as possible. Writing completely stream of consciousness with no plan will only lead you stuck at 300 words and screaming at your computer screen. Do you have a premise you've always thought about doing? A 50,000 word goal is no place to start a free writing exercise where you start at a cafe and see where your character ends up.
Come up with a premise, a basic plot, and your characters before you go any further. They can be shells to start-- "his best friend who is gay" or "the heroine, who gets accused of murder," but the key roles in your story should be figured out.
Write character bios. Memes and surveys are always helpful launching points. Here are two handy character questionnaires. You need to know the details, that way you don't have to spend time inventing them later and so you can stay consistent.
Filling out these kinds of in-depth surveys really forms a strong voice in your head. A strong voice will often direct dialogue and plot in places you never thought it could go. You can always change these facts as you write if a better idea/voice comes along.
Get images to represent your characters and settings. You can draw pictures if you are artistically inclined or cast models (I use modelmayhem.com all the time). You may think "But I'm a writer. I don't need pictures" and that may be true. They may not be necessary, but they are useful.
Finding pictures helps you jumpstart from writer's block and it helps you define exactly what you are looking for. I find that it's more helpful to go through pages of models going "too brooding, too weak-chinned, too skinny, too beefy" than to actually have perfect images of my characters ready to go.
This goes for places, too. Finding that apartment might help imagine details and color schemes, but it might also help educate you on how to describe that particular design aesthetic.
This is a research phase. If you are doing a period piece, now would also be the time to gather information to maintain historical accuracy.
Outline. Outline your story from start to finish, hitting on all of the key and connecting events that need to happen to accomplish your plot. Now, even when you are stuck, you will be able to follow your recipe and crank out pages. You'd be surprised; some of the chapters I struggle through the most come out the best in my work. Inspiration is a trick of the unskilled.
PHASE 2: Organizing Your Life For Productivity
Organize your computer to make the files accessible. Create a folder on your desktop where all of the chapters and research are kept. You can sort these in your library later, but trust me. The more different folders your resources are kept in and the more deeper-nested they are, the more excuses you will find to procrastinate. Put them on your desktop so you can't possibly forget them. If you run a mac, consider putting that folder in your dashboard!
Set up your social networks to reward productivity and drive progress through peer pressure. Before you start, announce to the whole world exactly what you plan to do. Explain NaNoWriMo to your mom. Post it on your Facebook. Tweet about it with the appropriate #hashtag (#nanowrimo). Now the pressure is on. Now you can't quit so easily. If you're making excuses not to tell people about it before you even start, maybe NaNoWriMo isn't for you.
Bookmark the NaNoWriMo site and be sure to update your progress. As you work you can tweet about your word count. These tweets and Facebook statuses will become your pat on the back and good friends who show interest will encourage you.
Automate nagging yourself. Set up alerts and alarms all over the place to remind you to write. Make a daily alarm on your phone, a weekly alert on iCalendar, and don't turn them off. The more you nag yourself, the less you'll procrastinate or "forget."
Do the math. I know! If you liked math, you wouldn't be a writer! Good thing I do some of the math here for you! Figure out exactly how many words a day add up to 50,000 words (1,666 ⅔). Now get ahead! Set a goal above that number, or split it up if you know you have a conflict that is going to eat your writing time. Have too many classes on Mondays? Write 300 words to stay sharp and set your goal at 1,877 words the other days. Set your goal at 2,000 words a day and take one a week off. However you do it, make sure you are clear any given day of the month how many words you should be up to so that you know when you are falling behind.
HINT: If you set the goal at 2,000 words a day, you'll be done in 25 days and have 5 days to watch Dr. Who reruns on Streaming Netflix while all of your other friends are trying to make up 15,000 words in less than a week.
Happy Writing! Follow me @Nimbuschick for my #NaNoWrimo Updates.
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