NaNoWriMo - To Panic or Not To Panic

I see you out there. Sneaking into the Halloween candy with furtive motions as you contemplate tomorrow. Tomorrow. November 1st. All Saint's Day. El Dia de los Muertos. National Bison Day.

Great big scary, ain't it?

Whether you're new at it or a veteran, Day one is one of the worst days. Whatever time you sit down to start the next Great Novel, you all have to face the same thing. 

That first blank page.

How do you start? You type Chapter One. Your word count is now a rocking two. Your mind starts to swirl and cramp. Where to start. How to craft that first sentence that hooks the reader. 


BUZZZZZZTTT!!!!!!


Now that you've wasted a couple hours of your life along with inhaling several pounds of leftover Halloween candy, take a step back. Take a deep breath. There, that's better.

The advice you'll hear about how to start will go along the lines of: Just write something. It doesn't matter what. That kind of advice tends to not to be much help to me. I need more help than that. If you're reading this then, like me you'll need a little more help too.

So, how to start. 

Tip #1: You've been thinking about this book for a while. Scenes have been swirling around your head all through the month of October. Stop worrying about where your novel starts. Write the scene that has been in your head. Start there. You can worry about where it goes in December.

Tip#2: The first words you write are: It was a dark and stormy night.
Now write why your character is thinking that. Is it a dark and stormy night or a bright and sunny day? Are they on a planet or out in space? Why would they think that line. As you write you'll find the ideas start to flow and you can transition to where you want your story to go.

Example:

      "It was a dark and stormy day. Hunter Reid glanced up at the cloudy sky and frowned. It would be darkfall soon and he was no where near where he had planned to camp for the night. Thanks to a landslide that had blocked part of the sixfor, Hunter would now have to find another route to Orange. And it didn’t look as if he would be making his usual overnight spot before the mists started. There was nothing more miserable than trying to sleep in the mists. It seeped into everything and made everything colder. "

Excerpt from Orpheus Rising

That was how I started NaNoWriMo 2005. It's my usual go to when stuck.

So what are your tricks for starting a new novel? Let me know in the comments below.

NaNoWriMo Tips & Tricks

So, it's halfway through November and you've been banging away at your story. Your words flow, the story unfolds, your word count is on target and then..... nothing.

Writer's Block. There are those who say Writer's Block doesn't really exist, but I disagree. The imaginary voices in your head stop talking. Your characters are sitting around staring at you, waiting for you to tell them what to do.

You're stuck. You need to keep writing. The advice from others is... write. It doesn't matter what you write. Write anything.

I have always found that little bit of advice useless. How many times can you write "All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy" without beating your head on the wall.

These little tricks I've used are for when you've stopped banging your head and you've stepped outside and taking a deep breath. These little tips are also wonderful for word count.

Last but not least, these are suggestions you are free to ignore once you finish reading this post. I won't be offended. Really. I promise.

1. The Coffee/Tea Ruse: Chose your primary or secondary character for this. Have them make coffee/tea the same way you do. Detail every single step of the process. Pour the water. Measure the grounds/tea leaves. How much water. How much coffee/tea. What do they think about while it brews? Coffee/tea done? They pour it into a cup. How do they take it? Black? Cream and sugar? How much of each? They take it to the kitchen table? Or do they go outside? Do they sit on a chair or on the top step of the porch?They sit down and take a sip.

The above was 100 words. Now image how many words you'd get if you filled in the blanks. When I do this, the character is thinking during the process of either what happened or what is going to happen. I often get sparked with an idea for another scene or other interaction and I'm off again.

2. The Song & Dance Routine: Chose a character at random. Then pick your favorite song. It can be a current pop song you've been humming the last couple days. Don't stress on which song. If you're stuck on that, turn on the radio and chose whatever song is playing.

Now, your character has to sing. It doesn't matter how badly or how well they sing. Not only do they sing it, but they have to act it out. If you chose more than one character, they they have to dance together for the duration of the song. When they are done, the bow to the applause of the Ninja Hamsters. Where did the Ninja Hamsters come from? Let your characters ask that question. You don't have to give them a valid answer.

I've used the second method myself. In one of my earlier science fiction NaNo attempts. I had the characters break into a rendition of "I'm Just A Sweet Transvestite" from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. In a world where women are rare, that wasn't completely out of place. I got almost 1,000 words out of that scene.

3. The Sex Scene: I include this because I know a lot of writers will use this when they are stuck. It doesn't matter if it's appropriate or not. Just detail it out.I don't use this method myself since sex scenes are as hard for me to write as action scenes.


These are just a few ideas to help you along with NaNoWriMo. It doesn't matter if you need these scenes or not. It's your word count that matters. It is Quantity, not Quality we want during November. Quality is for the editing process in December.

Now, gag your internal Editor and prepare to Write Your Novel!

Do you have any tricks you use to keep you writing? Share in the comments below.

Writing Preparation

So here we are in October. The month has a lot of meaning for me. It is my favorite time of the year.

It is the first full month of Autumn. The air is turning cool, the sky is a different shade of blue. And the trees. Oh, the trees. Changing out of their summer dresses and into their lavish fall gowns. Scarlet shades of red. Golden yellow, bright and waving. Warm orange, standing tall between the reds and yellows. Even the rustic browns stand out like accessories against the vivid shades of their peers.

In other words, I love Autumn. At the end of the month we have Halloween, All Hallow's Eve, Samhain. It is also the most stressful day of my year.

The reason for my stress is that October 31st is also the day before the start of NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo aka National Novel Writing Month is an annual event where writers around the world sit down with their laptops or tablets or notebooks & pens and attempt to write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days.

I've been doing this event since 2004. I wrote about 2000 words of a paranormal romance and promptly crashed and burned. Unmotivated and no real idea what to do with it.

2005 on the other hand I slammed out a fully fledged apocalyptic science fiction novel. A fantasy in 2006. 2007 was another science fiction novel. 2008... and so on. I've succeeded seven times in the last 11 years which isn't too bad.

So now begins the planning stage. Though I'm more of a Pantser than a Planner. But I do like to have a basic idea of what I'm going to do and I've start doing research that I use while writing.

So are you going to sign up for NaNoWriMo this year? Let me know in the comments below.