Does anyone have their own personal rules for writing during NaNo, and if so, would you like to share them?
I'll start. Mine are still developing, mostly aimed at keeping myself focused and on-task.
1. Two hours of writing each day, minimum. Each hour has to be completely uninterrupted time – so it can be 1 hour in the morning, 1 hour in the evening, but nothing smaller.
2. Write nonstop during that time – no research or plot planning, just writing.
3. No self-censoring, deleting or editing. No editing at all until the book is finished. Write whatever stuff spills out of your fingertips, no matter how bad or ugly it sounds.
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38,010 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2009 - 22 54
Write write write.
Focus on your writing as much as possible, having a minimum time is great, but dont set yourself a maximum.
Write until you're finished for the moment. If you get stuck at some point and you're under two hours, don't try to force it.
When you do have to stop, stop mid-sentence. Don't finish the thought. If you stop mid-thought/mid-sentence then when you come back to it, it's easier to pick up and feels less disjointed.
Brainstorm. Even while you are writing, do not be afraid to find a buddy (that's what the writing buddies are there for, personally) and bounce ideas off of them. Accept their feedback.
Do not try and force situations. If the story isn't going in the direction you expect it to go, just flow with it. Your characters know more about the situation than you do, let them push the story. Never ever fight with your characters, or they will fight back. Oftentimes by shutting down, and then you're stuck.
----------2006: The Chronicles of Ahlterra: Medari (winner)
2007: The Chronicles of Ahlterra: Kyrin(winner)
2008: The Chronicles of Ahlterra: The Devoted (winner)
2009: The Chronicles of Ahlterra: The Wandering
0 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2009 - 16 46
Write as much as you can, whenever you can, ESPECIALLY if an idea hits you. In a notebook, before you do ANYTHING else, so it's harder to go back and edit yourself. I set a page goal - around five to eight front-and-back pages, more if I can. Type it when the entire chapter is finished (or the 1,667 word count for NaNo is reached), and then go back and fix stuff. Repeat daily until you hit 50K.
Don't force the writing, but use Write-Or-Die on Kamikaze mode if you're having trouble focusing.
Listen to your muses and your characters. They know what THEY want to happen, they know how THEY would react, and they know how YOU want the story, and will probably mess with you if you get too out of control.
Bounce ideas you're skeptical about off of friends or writing buddies first! Listen to their feedback and be willing to scrap what (more than one) someone deems unusable or bad for the particular piece.
Schoolwork and previous engagements come first - don't blow them off even if you know you'll miss your goal (or not write at all). Just double up the next day, if you can.
38,010 / 50,000
Oct 30, 2009 - 13 06
Oh, another important rule.
BACK UP YOUR WORK!!!!
e-mail it to yourself at the end of every night (use gmail or yahoo or anything really), use mozy, use googledocs.
Anything, The last two years, somebody I was novelling with up in Maine has lost their novel due to their computers blowing up or dying. Do NOT let this depressing and horrifying and heartbreaking situation happen to you.
Back up Everything!!!!
----------2006: The Chronicles of Ahlterra: Medari (winner)
2007: The Chronicles of Ahlterra: Kyrin(winner)
2008: The Chronicles of Ahlterra: The Devoted (winner)
2009: The Chronicles of Ahlterra: The Wandering
39,273 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2009 - 17 33
I agree with lonelyahava; BACK UP ALL YOUR WRITING!
I have a MySpace blog, so not only do I save a copy on my computer, I post my writing on there--just in case. But I should consider emailing my novel to my secondary address.
Otherwise, I have no set rules--except one: MUST LISTEN TO MUSIC WHILE WRITING! I can't concentrate otherwise.
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2005: The Pig Woman (6K words)
2006: Truth or Dare (14K words)
2007: -----
2008: The Chocolate Festival Murders (50,270 words)