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NaNoWriMo Pep Talks & Writing Guides



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Fri Nov 03, 2017 10:31 pm
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Brigadier says...



The title say most everything you will need to know about this thread but just a quick explanation.

We all get stuck in our writing at some point and unfortunately NaNo doesn't give you too much time to work out that Writer's Block. There's barely any time for writing at all and 50k words may seem impossible at first. The key wording here is "at first", because eventually you find your groove where you can write out all 49k words that you have been putting off since day one. Or maybe you have been following your everyday goal but just need some encouragement and friendly words, as you're coming down the home stretch.
No matter your reason for finding yourself in this thread, these short guides and bursts of inspiration should help you out.
Last edited by Brigadier on Thu Oct 07, 2021 8:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Fri Nov 10, 2017 2:45 pm
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ExOmelas says...



Hey everyone, figured I'd kick this off with a guide for what to do if you fall behind. This is one of the most common issues I see around NaNo-time (aside for maybe losing interest but hopefully it's a bit early in the month for that) so I figured I'd see what I could do to help. Alrighty, if you fall massively behind, here's some steps you can take:

Decide if you definitely want to follow through on this.
My guess is that you probably do, given that you decided to undertake this task that you probably already knew the magnitude of. The whole point of NaNo is that it's enormous, otherwise it wouldn't be worth having a whole event for. But if you hadn't realised just how much this was going to get in the way of your life, decide if you really, really want to keep doing this.

Decide if you definitely want to reach 50k.
I realise it's not Camp NaNo and you don't actually get to set your own goals, but other than the certificates and badges they give you, NaNo is only for you anyway. 30k would still be huge, and worth it if it means you get to do NaNo at all, so do take that into consideration. However, assuming you do want to make it to 50k...

Massive sprint one day or bigger chunks consistently?
You'll have noticed that NaNo tells you how many words per day you have to do to in order to make it to 50k by the end of the month. But you don't have to do it this way. If you know the weekend is coming up when you don't have class/work, try letting people know that you're going to be disappearing for a while as you churn out 5k or so. You don't have to catch all the way up, but with enough weekends you'll probably be able to get back on track.

For writing consistently more, trying doing Word Wars with yourself. WWs are great, but sometimes you can't find someone to WW with. Instead, keep track of your highscore and compete against yourself as the month goes on.

Screw advice, maybe you just need a digital hug.
If this task is scaring you, if you don't think you can do this - *flicks* stop that! You have a community here that will support you through this. You have a mind cool enough to imagine people and settings and worlds. You are brave enough that you have already decided to try this, rather than just shaking your head and saying it's not for you.

NaNoWriMo is the time every year where people surprise themselves and everyone around them. There is absolutely no reason why you can't do this. You are all amazing and I can't wait to read what you create this month.

Good luck everyone!

What fools these mortals be!
William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night's Dream


Who cares if one more light goes out?
Well I do.

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Wed Nov 15, 2017 4:55 pm
Brigadier says...



Writer's Block


We've reached the halfway point for NaNo and chances are the Writer's Block illness has already started to hurt you. No matter how good the October planning goes, there will come a point when you get stuck on some little matter. Might have everything going exactly to plan but then you try and remember what kind of muffins this character likes.

The point is there will be little hang-ups and major plotholes along the way, but you can't let any of them stop you. One of the things I like most about NaNo, is that you can write your novel out of order, any order you want, it just needs to add up to 50k words. So this will give you some buffer space for doing this and you can bounce around to minor plot points or end of the world ones.
People always recommend something along the lines of "don't fight it." And personally I wouldn't, I just work around it and move onto a scene that I've been really wanting to write.

Take my novel for instance. I got stuck on the main character's childhood but as soon as I switched up to one of the last scenes, 3k words got written in an hour. Now obviously I haven't made that sort of good progress since then, because I'm here huddling with y'all trying to find a way out of it.

One thing you can take from this ramble is choose a scene that you have been plotting (and you're looking forward to it), because then it's easy to get the words down. The reason you might be getting stuck on those minor parts is the amount of attention that they received in the beginning, focus on what you know for now, and fill them in later.

And once again decide where you want your goals to be, because if you choose a lesser amount than 50k, that takes away some of the panic. If you haven't begun at all due to some factors, you will now need to do about 3500 words a day to win.

Most of all, throw all caution into the wind and write whatever you want to write. Have your character spend 3k words in a cafe talking to another character about the quality of muffins. I know that on the last day when I need way too many words, I'll end up having lots of conversations about food, one of the easiest ways to pass the time. Write those kind scenes and those tender moments if you want to, have the camera turn to focus on the more cautious things over the heroic acts.

Bottom line: If things are going too slow, shake them up. Change your plans and the words should follow you through to a good ending. Most people would say stay the course and power through it, but I say, do whatever is best for you to get it done.

As always my inbox and discord are open to NaNo rants, so consider that the next time you need to scream.
Good luck folks.
  








Death is only the end if you assume the story is about you.
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