Young Writers Society

Hello, YWSers!

This is the thread for the mid-way NaNoWriMo PepTalks Feature for the third ever YWStival! Check out this thread every day for new pep talks from a bunch of our mods!

The YWStival Team

Link to the YWStival Official Thread

Hello Fellow Sufferers,

Here to give you some motivation is someone who needs it themselves. We're doing NaNoWriMo, a month all about writing novels, but what if we don't succeed? For some of us, that means disappointment in ourselves, for others, it means disappointment from family or friends, but I'd like to point something out.

We could all cheat on this. We could all update our word count every day with the next number we need, and we could all win NaNo according to the site. We could also just copy paste the same 1,666 words again, and again, and again, until we got to our goal of 50,000. Maybe this is depressing, maybe it's enlightening, but I'd like to think of it as a "Get out of Jail" card for those of you who don't feel like you're doing this for yourself, because I would also like to think that NaNo isn't something you do for someone else. It is something personal. It is a concrete accomplishment that you can look back on and say "Yes, I did this" and even though you might not end up with the best novel at the end of November, you ended up with something complete, or at least half complete.

Welcome to the land of too many words per night, and welcome to the middle of the deadlines we're putting for ourselves. Don't freak out. We can do this whether it's through word wars, or reading motivation, but we cannot do this without doing it for ourselves.

I'm not naturally a novel writer. I like to write poems more, but everyone can do NaNo because it's about everyone being aware of the process and the stress to write a certain number of words before a deadline. As someone who has failed, and someone who has succeeded, I know that it is a hard journey and sometimes you're just not up for it. Still, it is a journey worth continuing because when you get to that point where your characters decide they're doing things their way, and you can write easy for a while, it is a glorious experience, and one worth having.

Here's to making it another day saying "I am doing NaNo."

-Aley

I'm not joining you for NaNoWriMo this year because I'm currently editing a past NaNo project. That's right, there is a light at the end of this tunnel and I haven't reached it yet, but different people get there at different times. For some of you, this project will be finished at the end of the month, but for others it might be years down the line before you add that finishing stroke. Maybe years down the line you will hold in front of yourself a weighty, hardback book. Maybe you'll even have been paid for it.

One beast which many of you will feel stands between you and that dream is procrastination. We can all be authors if we put in the hours to write and get better and for some, that will be more hours than others. More days, months and years until the right combination of words spills out of your pen. That partly depends on how many of those hours you spend not writing your novel, but instead allowing yourself to be distracted by all things unimportant and unproductive.

If you must procrastinate though, and sometimes we must, here is a list of 10 things more productive than procrastination. Some of them may even get you writing again:

1. Change your password. Earlier this year I stumbled upon an article about a man who claimed that changing his password changed his life. How it works is you change your password into something which represents your daily goal.

I changed my password to Writ650Tobias where Write was the action I needed to do, 650 was the number of words per day and Tobias was the name of my main character.

Then every day you log on to your computer and type that phrase out and you will be reminded: this is what you have to do.

2. Create a calendar. Most of you will know that the way to win NaNo is to write 1667 words every day. That's not always possible. Some days you'll need to over-write to make up for those days when you under-write.

Grab some paper and make a calendar for the month of November. On day 10 write 16,670 and on day 20 write 33,340 and on day 29 write 48,343. These are your milestones.

Next, take a different colour pen and mark the days you will struggle to make your word count. Then with another colour mark one day for each of these where you will write more.

Don't cross off the days as you pass them. Draw one diagonal line through it, but only make it a cross when you've done the writing. If you get ahead of your calendar, again only draw one diagonal line, but draw it from the top left corner to the bottom right.

3. Write a character bio. If you're struggling to add words to your novel then choose a character who you don't know much about yet and flesh them out. This will be useful for later and may also inspire you to write.

4. Plan ahead. Maybe you're procrastinating because you don't know where your novel's going. If you think this might be the case, try to write a few sentences about what will happen in the next chapter and then the chapter after that. If you struggle with that, try thinking of how you want the book to end or even just scenes you feel need to be included at some point. If Mary has just accused Simon of being selfish, maybe we need to see him do something selfless in the future?

5. Create a setting. Whether it's for the final showdown or a quiet scene where the hero confesses to the sidekick that he's not strong enough, settings are very important. Maybe you're not feeling like writing your novel today, but you could list the details of a setting or if you don't even feel like touching a pen, grab a pencil and draw it. Draw the objects, colour the curtains. Decide where your characters will stand when they are in this scene and what they will see.

6. Find your setting. Take your camera or even just your memory and a notepad and go out and look for your setting. If you're planning a scene at the park then go down and see what your local park looks like. Or get the bus and have a look at the one in the next town. Then think of ways to describe it and enjoy the field trip.

7. Watch something. Choose a film or series where the characters engage you and as you watch it, pay attention to their dialogue. How do the characters speak? What is it about them that makes you like them?

8. Decorate your writing space. Get some blu-tack and paper or card and write out quotes from your novel and sketch character or scenes. Put these up around your writing space and when you find yourself drifting off, look at them, read them and remember why you're there.

9. Rewards and Consequences. Try creating a list of rewards and consequences. On any day you complete your writing, choose something from the rewards list. On any day you don't complete your writing, choose something from the rewards list, but also choose a consequence. These can be anything from one hour of cleaning to giving your favourite game to a friend to hide for a week. Whatever will work on you.

10. Write.

Writer's Block: the Lex Luthor to your Superman of a novel. We all hit it time after time, day in, day out; and let's be honest: it's not going anywhere anytime soon. That said, there is always an exception to any rule. In this case, the rule is that Writer's Block exists and defers us from our writerly goal. The exception, though, is that Writer's Block thinks your writing is a one-way street with no passing lanes or detours.

But that's not true, is it? The way I see it, as an author you have the power to control which set of time you write in your novel. There's no rule saying you must write linearly—and that's a huge advantage. I mean, if you're bogged down in your current setting and can't get the right button combo to make the words come out right, you can just go to another place. Personally, I use this advantage for more than overcoming The Block—as when you know where you're going, you can better decorate the trail. So that's not one, but two advantages of admitting to yourself that, as an author, you're a Time Lord in the best possible sense.

Writer's Block doesn't have to be such a pain in your brain if you allow yourself to step off the beaten path. So I ask you: where are you going? How many roads are there that will lead you to your destination? Is your GPS limiting you? Remove yourself from the highway from time to time—the countryside is amazing.

Getting desperate out there? What, you don’t have the required 21,671 (give or take 1,667 for extra time zone fun) words down yet? What kind of a NaNoer are you?

Let me answer that for you: you’re a better NaNoer than I ever was or ever will be. I have never done NaNo and I don’t plan to do it in the future.

There are a few reasons for that: a) November is never a good time of the year for me to do something consistently and excessively every single day. The end of year is often a very busy time for me anyway (says the one sitting at home in her dressing gown at 3.30 pm on a Wednesday). b) Hey, what about the fact that I haven’t written anything leisurely in ages and have probably completely forgotten even how to a proper sentence? c) I’m just flat out lazy and lack the patience and drive it requires to beat the massive sharp-toothed dragon that is NaNoWriMo.

Then what am I doing here, trying to encourage you to go on? The answer for that, as well, is simple as: you are doing NaNo. You probably thought of all these same excuses as me, and guess what? You don’t care. You’re still doing NaNo. You are showing all these toobusy-tooimpatient-toolazy excuses just who the boss is, and it’s day thirteen and you still haven’t given up.

That alone tells so much about the drive, the patience, the ideas, the creativity, the self-discipline that you possess and need to complete this challenge. You have all the qualities that I so ardently admire and love like Mr Darcy loves Elizabeth. Do you have any idea how important and wonderful that is? If not, have a moment to ponder over that and then use the power of this epiphany to go write some more. If yes, good job… now go write.

Greetings, NaNoers!
I’m going to let you in on a secret: I never finished NaNo.

I started, for sure. November 2011 was known among some members as “The Month of the Shirtless Man” and I am partly to blame for this, with my creation of the handsome, rich, brooding, purple-eyed and almost constantly shirtless Laurie, who sweeps our heroine off our feet (literally, he takes her dancing in zero-gravity). I was kind of proud of my NaNovel, summarised as ‘Princesses in Space’ until I hit a flaw – I didn’t know what the villain’s motivation was. Or why the protagonists were justified in their hatred of him.

I hit The Wall. I hit it hard.

And despite having 35,009 words to the novel Alignment, I stopped writing it. And I started writing something else, and that something else became the novel Chasing Dragons that I am still working on to this day, which features more princesses, less space.

So I never finished NaNo. I failed. But the inspiration that struck me for Chasing Dragons was still born from NaNo. A tiny little idea, that grew and grew as I wrote it. Looking back on November 2011, I’m a little sad that I didn’t finish Alignment. But I’m happy that I found a story I loved even more.

You’re about halfway through now. It’s probably getting tough. You’re probably looking at your words and thinking, “but these don’t make any sense!” You probably think that you’re using certain tropes and phrases and punctuation marks way too much. You probably just want to toss the whole thing in the bin – it’s not worth anything, you’re a terrible writer, you can’t write novels, why would you bother trying?

You’re probably about to hit The Wall. Or maybe you already have.

But there is a world on the other side of that, and I am here to tell you to keep going. Maybe you’ve suddenly realised that this isn’t the story you want to write. Change it. NaNo is all about keeping going, no matter what. Does it matter if it’s awful? No! It’s words. It’s words on a page. Does it matter if it doesn’t connect with the beginning of the novel? Not one bit. It’s words. It’s words on a page. In 2011, the official NaNo peptalk came from someone much better than me, the fabulous Erin Morgenstern who wrote The Night Circus. The novel emerged from a different NaNo project that she hit The Wall with. So she sent her story to the circus and voila!

So that first draft didn’t make any sense. The original story went off-track and became a circus story. But that story grew and grew and became something great.
And first drafts suck. In case you haven’t ever seen it before, (ie. I haven’t thrust it upon you), check out Maureen Johnson’s video on the importance of sucking.

So this is a first draft. It doesn’t matter if the villain doesn’t have a motivation. It doesn’t matter if you’ve realised halfway through you want the plot to go in a totally different direction. None of that matters. What matters about NaNo is getting those first words out, about not being afraid of writing them.

It’s words. It’s words on a page.

Keep going.

-Stella x

So, you, like me, have decided to take on the huge task of writing 50,000 words in November. I'm truly amazed that either of us are crazy enough to do it, but hey, writers are supposed to be crazy, right? By now, we're half way through NaNo, and I can already feel the disappointment of being finished looming. I know what you're thinking "Disappointment? What do you have to be disappointed about?", but it's not what you think. I'm not disappointed about not making it or not writing the best novel on the face of the planet. No, I'm disappointed it's almost over. If you're like me, November gives you a writing purpose. You might not get much done during the rest of the year, but by God, you sure as heck get something done during NaNoWriMo. December can leave you feeling flat, unimportant, and tired.
I'm here to tell you--
THAT IS TOTALLY NORMAL.

But you do have purpose! You're a fantastic writer. You're someone who is so dedicated to their craft you've set an entire month aside just for writing. That's amazing! Who cares if this is the only time you write? You're still writing! I know plenty of people who don't have the determination or the motivation to write, much less write 50,000 words in 30 days. You're amazing.

If that wasn't enough, I've got some more motivational words for you.

It is okay if your novel goes off track at some point

No seriously. This is a first draft. It's not supposed to be good. Stop thinking the opposite. You have plenty of time during the other eleven months of the year to get it perfect. Now? Just enjoy it.

It is totally okay if one of your friends has a higher word count than you.

Don't you dare feel second best because you had a word war with someone during this week and they beat you by a landslide. If you even wrote one word, that's more than the teeming masses. Good job, you deserve a round of applause.

It's okay to take a break.

No seriously. It's completely and totally okay for you to look at your novel, feel disgusted by the idea of writing today and say "Yep, not gonna happen."
I'd even say it's healthy.

It's okay to quit.

I quit last year. I made it to 35,000 words, and I just couldn't do it anymore. There were so many plot holes, I wasn't happy writing it, and it felt like a chore. Do I see that as a failure? Maybe. But people fail all the time. It's okay. If your NaNo is making you unhappy and guilty, it is more than okay to stop. If you don't have time and you're running yourself to the point of exhaustion? Stop. Just take a big breath and say "I can't do it anymore". You'll still have tried. It's not like you didn't work. It's not like you didn't want it. It's just that you're smart enough to let something go when it's not working for you.

So, all in all, it's okay. No matter if you reached 50k on the first day or never reach 50k, it's okay. Just have fun, and remember why you're doing this. Because you love to write.