Young Writers Society

I'm not a NaNoWriMo whiz or anything; this is my first year, but I found some things that help me, and thought I'd share.

-Don't listen to music with words. It really makes it hard to concentrate on writing. (Unless it's Enya or something else really soft and slurred.) Try something cool with out words. I'm listening to the Pirates of the Carribean sound track. Probably most soundtracks are great for this.

-Draw (or find) a picture of your character, and put it by your computer. My story is about an Egyptian girl, so I looked through my Egyptology books, found a statue that looks like she does, made a photocopy of it, colored it in and added hair, and taped it to my moniter. Then every time I start to give up, she looks at me angrily, and I keep going. Maybe that only works for crazy people like me though.

-Don't try to write for five hors at a time. For me, it's easier to tell myself I'm going to write for thirty minutes, and then take a break, and start up again later. Otherwise, I end up getting distracted and losing interest.

-Write down your word count, then write as fast as you can for ten minutes, then check again. For me, it's really cool to see the number get bigger in a short amount of time. Like a writing sprint. Also, often, I forget to time and just keep going.

-Save a lot. This isn't quite as relevant as my other tips, but I just lost a bit because the power went out for a second. It could have been worse, though.


If anyone has anything to add, that would be cool. I hope these are useful.

-Don't listen to music with words. It really makes it hard to concentrate on writing. (Unless it's Enya or something else really soft and slurred.) Try something cool with out words. I'm listening to the Pirates of the Carribean sound track. Probably most soundtracks are great for this.

That is exactly what I do, I prefer my classical CD collection, it has my favourite pieces in it.

Soundtracks are wonderful.

Also, a lot of people on the NaNoWriMo forums participate in word wars. Basically you write as much as you can for a set amount of time. I get distracted VERY easily when I'm on the computer (for instance, I'm supposed to be writing a three page paper right now that's due tomorrow), so I tend to go for the 10-minute wars. I can concentrate for that small amount of time, and on a good day I can get about 500 words in that time. Then I take a break, play solitaire or whatever, and do another war to get 500 more words. It's amazing how much you really end up writing.

I'm very obsessive when it comes to numbers. If I'm at, say, 11800 words, I can't just leave it there. I have to get to 12000 to be happy with it. So I try to write enough to make me want to get to the next number level, if that makes any sense.

Also, going back to the soundtracks, I suggest picking one that deals with your genre. For instance, I play Pirates when I'm writing really intense scenes and my armies are heading toward the battlefield. I play Lord of the Rings when I'm writing softer scenes or as they actually reach the battlefield.

Something that really helps me is to have a writing buddy/rival, someone who will yell at me for not writing and will keep things competitive for me so I'll be inspired to write more.

Ah, see I'm slightly contrary...I like something that's got a nice beat and cool lyrics to it, just to be inspiring (and to keep you awake..) Sufjan Stevens works perfectly.

I love Word Wars- even throughout the year, they're pretty cool.

Perhaps, with the classical CD thing, I just don't listen to enough- any recommendations?

Hehe. I am also contrary!

I like music with lyrics. It just works for me. I don't really know it's there, I sort of stop using my ears because I'm so into typing, but it is there and sometimes I finish a section and pause to save and admire my work and I suddenly realise I'm singing or something.

Anyway, it's just NaNo so I'm not worried about lyrics sneaking into my work.

I also prefer to listen to music with words - I actually listen to Trivium's Crusades whilst writing my story.

However, I do do the 'check your wordcount every now and then' thing. It generally goes up by about 100 words each time I check .


My tip would be: Don't care (at all) about the quality of writing. Repeat words till they're beyond redundant, give your characters poor dialouge, use cliches when describing the scene. It doesn't matter - you can go back and inject quality once you're done, but for now just concentrate on getting the plot down. Write a sentance, and don't look back at it, just carry on going.

I can't listen to music with words while writing. I'll start singing to my favorite songs or something. Although, if it's quiet enough to be background noise I can handle it. As for some Cd's to listen to, it's not exactly classical... well, I don't know what it is exactly, but Yanni is really good. It's really pretty piano music. I love it.

But yes, Word Wars are my savior! I would just die without them. Meh! And I do find that ten minute Word Wars are easier and more rewarding. I can usualyl write about 200 words in ten minutes, chat a bit with fellow NaNoers, then do another ten minute sprint. It works very well and the time seems to fly by when you're with friends.

Good tips though. Always save. ^_^ I save at least every 400 words. Most times even more often. Occasionally I'll get so obsessive that I'll save every sentence. Hehe.

I haven't found any good music to write to yet, which is depressing...

Maybe I could get some help??

I write to Dave Matthew's almost exclusively. I find something very fascinating about their music. It's colored wonderfully. Plus, its neutral enough that I don't get too caught up in it.

I don't listen to any music when I write. It distracts me waaay too much.

Candy is good, though. If you give yourself an M&M, Reese's Pieces, Smarties, Milk Duds, something every time you write 100 words, it keeps you motivated. When writing itself itsn't enough of a motivator, chocolate is!

And then, just sit down and write. Tell yourself, "Okay, I'm not going to get up until I've written 500 words." Then follow through. Sometimes you just have to drag yourself to your writing and force yourself to stay there until you get it done.

Sam and Galatea>>I <3 Sufjan Stevens/DMB.

It seems that my musical muses for this novel are Tracy Bonham (especially her albums "Blink the Brightest" and "Down Here") and Ben Harper (album: "Diamonds on the Inside"). Also, a little Beatles, Keane, Joni Mitchell thrown in for good measure.

One thing that keeps me motivated is to keep the wordcount toolbar up, and every few paragraphs click the "Recount" button. Seeing the numbers go up definitely gives me a boost, and spurs me to write more.

Fand >> I just saw Tracy perform with the blue man group Friday night She's pretty cool.