Hello Monterey Wrimos,
Welcome to the end of week2/beginning of week 3. I’ve got good news and bad news for you. We’ve made it half way through NaNo now, which means it is all down hill from here. That’s the good news. Now for the bad.
Historically, this is the worst portion of the novel writing process. You’ve started your story and up until now, your characters have probably been pretty interesting, if not cooperative. So far, there has been a general excitement in taking part in the novel writing process. You’ve seen your characters grow into real people, your world come alive on paper. Now, you are about to hit a brick wall.
Those characters you’ve fallen in love with will start to seem bland. You’ll be certain your story has holes that can never be stitched up. Worse yet, that 50k mark looks further and further away as you fight to make yourself sit down and write.
Cheer up though, it really isn’t that bad. We’ve made it to the hump part of nano where you need to buckle down and put words on paper. Between now and about 35,000 words, each word will likely feel like a chore to write. The good news is that on the other side of that hump, it is all down hill. I promise you if you dredge through this week that next week it will get easier. Your stories will start to come together, and fifteen days from now, you will have a new manuscript on your hard drive.
The main thing to focus on now is sitting down and forcing yourself to write. I promise you it will all come together. I promise you that we all can make it through this.
Now, to help you through this week, I have a bit of a suggestion. Take all of your anger and your frustrations out on your characters. Put obstacles in front of everything they want to achieve. In short, make their lives hell. Not only will this revenge brighten your spirits and make slogging through this a bit easier, but it will also make your story more interesting. Good stories are built around conflict, and conflict is created by strife and tribulation. Have your main character’s love interest abandon your MC. Kill off your MC’s mother. Have the MC’s car blow up on the way to deliver money to the kidnappers. It’ll all pay off a week from now.
For those who are feeling the strain of Nano, I encourage you to come out and join us for a write-in. We officially meet every Wednesday night at 7:30pm at Bad Ass Coffee in Seaside. If you can’t make the regular write-in, pot a note in the forums. More than likely there are wrimos who are looking for an excuse to get together with someone to write. Even if no one can make it out, we can provide plenty of encouragement and support.
Have a good week,
Al (yangnome)
ML Monterey, CA
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Metaphors be with you
yangnome
Municipal Liaison
Monterey, CA
