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Young Writers Society


NaNoWriMo Pep Talks 2016



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Points: 3850
Reviews: 10
Tue Nov 01, 2016 6:10 pm
Big Brother says...



Hey guys!

If you haven't already subscribed to the NaNoWriMo 2016 club you can do so now, and you'll receive these pep talks and other updates straight to your inbox! But if you prefer to keep your notifications count clean, the pep talks will also be posted below as we go along!

The club is also going to be featuring daily challenges starting right now, so don't be afraid to get involved!
  





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10 Reviews



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Points: 3850
Reviews: 10
Tue Nov 01, 2016 6:11 pm
Big Brother says...



Pep Talk #1: LET'S GO by DrThomas

Dear NaNoers,
WELCOME TO NANOWRIMO 2016!!
You are officially welcome to this month-long, novel-writing extravaganza.
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That’s it! We’re off and away! Out of the starting blocks we come and it’s so deliciously exciting – who’s going to make it to the end?

Whether you start writing on the dot of midnight on the 1st and sprint your way around the track, or you ease yourself into it over a day or two, it doesn’t matter. Whether you write a hundred words a minute for short bursts or you like to slow burn your way through the word count, it doesn’t matter. Whether this is your first NaNo or your fiftieth, it doesn’t matter. Whether you shot straight off and feel like you’re flying, or you feel like you’re already stumbling or you’ve had a false start, it doesn’t matter. The beauty of NaNo is that you just keep going.

The important thing at this point is that we’re all in it together. NaNoWrIMo has forums split by age group and region and genre, but here in our smaller community, we’re just one big team. Feel free to use the club and the forum to share ideas and look for help, and use the rest of our resources like Writing Tips and Writers Corner to seek further assistance. YWS is a massive resource and support, and we are here for you for whatever you need, whether it’s to comiserate over the fact you don’t have a plot (but who does?!) or to congratulate you on that amazing action sequence you just wrote, or to bounce back and forth ideas on dialogue. Even if it’s just because you’ve had a bad day and you sorely need a laugh before you can even think about writing. So use us!

So what are you waiting for? Let’s start weaving together those openings, introducing those secondary characters, coming up with last minute place-names, and let’s make ferocious, wonderful novels together.
You can do it! I believe in you.
With love and affection,
Stella x
  





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Points: 3850
Reviews: 10
Tue Nov 08, 2016 7:07 pm
Big Brother says...



All Amped Up
Nowhere To Go

a pep talk by Lumi


You NaNoers have the OST picked out for your novel. You know the rock anthem, the party anthem, the ballads, the lullabies, the sad songs that play when the credits roll in the rain...

...but are you using them to their fullest? I propose to you an adage:

Time flies when you're having fun.


You're no stranger to listening to music while you write, so grab your fancy outline and attach a youtube playlist to it. Throw some links in that bad boy! Make emotional moments tear-jerking! Make joyful moments blissful! Make awkward moments...really freakin' awkward, kid.

But back to the adage: you will lose yourself in the writing process with music. You will lose your time. Working on my novel at a normal pace using this method, I find myself falling into 3k in a night without feeling like I've blinked.

Here's an article on time perception to put you to sleep if you're low on warm milk.

There's no losing with this method, friends. You're entertained. You're enthralled. You get into the minds and emotions of your characters and the souls of your scenes. You really REALLY just GO IN and DO THE THING and it's glorious.

You're glorious.

You're an absolute knockout, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Lumi
  





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Tue Nov 15, 2016 5:55 pm
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Big Brother says...



Check the date, Wrimos, we’re already half way through the month! When did that happen? Time flies when you're forcing yourself to write daily even though you don't like half of what you're writing having fun!

Put down your pens, minimize your word documents, and take a good hard look at your word count. We should all be around 25k words by now. How close are you? Some of you are on target or even above the target. Some of you are like me and are just trying to catch up. No matter where you are in your NaNo journey, I have a message for you:

Just write.


Image


It’s the easiest piece of advice to give, but a hard one to accept. I'm still trying to accept it myself. Think about the last time you truly sat at your computer and wrote despite all of the distractions, no matter what they might've been. I guarantee you it doesn't happen often. Unless you're super disciplined. And if you're one of those people, I give you a standing ovation and beg you to teach me your ways.

Writing is hard. It always has been and it always will be. The reason not everyone does NaNo is because you have to write through all of the suffering; among other reasons. And by suffering I am of course referring to the dreaded writer's block. Everyone goes through it at some point. You are far from alone. If it's not writer's block it's lack of free time. If it's not lack of free time it's lack of ideas. If it's not lack of ideas...well, you get the point.

But think about this: you only have to write 25k more words the rest of this month. That's it. Compared to the 50k you had to write at the beginning of the month, this is a piece of cake. You're closer to the end than you were earlier. It's all downhill from here.

There are a ton of us behind you and we celebrate every word that you write. So keep writing, Wrimos! You'll reach that word count sooner than you think.
  








It is most unlikely. But - here comes the big "but" - not impossible.
— Roald Dahl