Writer's Resources - reaching 50K

There were three things said last night that have really stuck with me!

• Every writer is different - The presenter, Mr RL Copple, emphasized that each writer is different and works differently, and a lot of his presentation was geared towards planning techniques to help people figure out what works for them. This will be seventh NaNo and I know a lot us fall into the trap of thinking that this specific method is how you plan for or write your NaNo, and hearing a published Wrimo remind us of that was good to hear!
• Write what you're excited about - All four of the panelists agreed on this one! Write what you're excited about, because your excitement will carry you through the month. If you stop being excited about what you're writing - change it! Make your previous words a dream or hallucination or even a character writing their own story, but find and write what keeps you excited!
• Don't worry - This seems like obvious advice for NaNo, but we all kinda forget it and get caught up in everything. Don't worry about writing well or writing poorly; don't worry about writing a 'serious' story or a 'silly' story; don't worry about trying something new or sticking to the tried and true. Just write your story - run with what comes to mind and see where it takes you.

  It was a great presentation - many thanks to the Pflugerville Community Library for being so supportive of NaNo and many thanks to the great presenter and panelists!

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  ~alan m rogers

Learned about this through News 8 last night. Have not had the chance to use it yet but it looks interesting. Supposedly it a graphical dictionary and thesaurus.

http://www.visuwords.com/

He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.-Douglas Adams

I remembered something else - we talked about how, if you have a certain method you always use in creating a story, it's worthwhile to try something else. You might explore index cards or spreadsheets or? If you always work in the same way, you might miss out on finding an approach that works even better.

ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison

High-point writing--

The concept is simple. Most of us start with a smashingly awesome beginning, and we usually have a really spectacular awesome ending. It's the middle what kills us.

So: come up with 10-12 "high points." They're small things, with good action and decent plot advantage. They don't need to be major. A fireworks show. A rampaging buffalo herd. One of your hitherto unknown chracters getting run over by an out-of-control pushmi-pullyu. A freak snowfall with a snowball fight. You get the idea.

See, when you lose your groove, you skip ahead to a high point. You expand. You use far too many words to describe the scenery and waaaay too much detail to explain impending doom or heroic rescue. And you'll find (if your experiences are similar to mine) that you will get around 2500-3500 words per high point.

Add in the 10K from your beginning and the 5 K from your end, that's your 50K. Stringing all that together? That's too much like work. Save it for NaNoEdMo.

Word Wars--

Tracking software for the NaNoWriMo Word Wars, along with personal challenges, will be up and running by Oct 26, unless code breaks kill me first.

Writing for time --

I found last year that there was time to write I never even considered possible. I wrote at traffic lights, in meetings, while sitting upon my throne...you name it. If you fixate on "any time is time to write" eventually you'll be scooping up the notebook without thinking twice.

Two of the links I gave in my presentation I'll post here for those who weren't able to attend:

For help on planning your novel, get ideas on how to organize, etc., check out Randy Ingermanson's explanation of the Snowflake Method. This is a method I adjusted for my own personal use to meet my needs. Others may find the info there helpful.

I've also used a tree-structured database for not only planning my novels, but keeping track of things like character details, location details, etc. Best of all, it's free! It's called Treeline.

I tend to keep that open as I write, and switch over to it as needed to either record info, or look up a detail I should have recorded, name of a town, person, color of hair, eyes, etc.

And here's an extra bonus preparation tip. This is to prepare for those times when you need ideas.

Have a brainstorm session. By definition, a brainstorm session means you don't reject any idea you come up with, no matter how bad it is, how crazy it sounds, or anything. Write each one down on a scrap of paper and put them into a container of some kind.

So, for instance, you might have a basket of events: alien ends up being waiter, character gets drunk on Koolaid, penguins invade Austin (oh, wait, that really happens, never mind), Edward's Aquafer overflows, new boss ends up being your high school teacher...you get the idea. Whatever pops into your head, write it down and throw it in the basket.

Then when you need an idea during November, reach in and pull one out. Whatever it is, incorporate it into your story. You can always come back and fix it later, but it will keep you going for word counts, and could make for an...interesting novel. ;)

Looking forward to the fun!

R. L. Copple
http://www.rlcopple.com
Infinite Realties
Transforming Realities

As a note, a Write or Die desktop edition has just been released. The download is, if I remember right, $10, and it is supposed to save in order to prevent losing words--except, of course, in kamikaze mode, which will automatically delete anything you've written in reverse, one letter at a time. It also has a built-in word wars function which looks kind of cool.

I haven't gotten around to downloading and testing it myself, yet, but it's out there. You should be able to find it by googling 'write or die'.

Sydney Australia's mighty fine ML, Maxtac, has updated the NaNoProgress Excel word tracking spreadsheet for 2009.

Maxtac says"This Excel spreadsheet is designed to help give you an idea of your progress without forcing you to spend all of your time with a calculator when you should be working on your novel.

Mouse over yellow cells to see what you should be putting in them. You can set any total target for the month, and any daily target also. This will change all the calculations and graphs to match. On the second page tab you can keep track of your progress in a 'big graph,' the third page gives you stats galore, and the last page is where you can track personal challenges. Just put your writing buddies name and their current word count in, and the page will tell you how you are going compared to them.

The file has many little surprises in it, like a NaNoHealth message in the blue bar.

Hope you and your NaNo's find it useful."

Thank you, Maxtac!

ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison

How did Maxtac know I'm completely obsessed with calculating my wordcount? This so speaks to my OCD tendencies. Maxtac is a genius!!

If you're trying to fill time before the first (and not into novel-planning), the NaNo Technology forum has a bunch of posts about word counters. It's a big forum! If anyone finds anything useful in those threads and would like to - report back to us here - with links!

ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison

The NaNoHelper website (our word war tracking software) has re-launched for the 2009 season. It's had a few cosmetic changes and a round dozen system upgrades, which should make it more reliable and a lot more fun. Additional functionality will be showing up on the site over the next four days.

Also, the site moved to a more robust server.

Check it out: http://www.fearingisland.net

*Note: final site archiving is still in progress and will be completed by Oct 31. You will also get to see some of the word wars from past years. Go technodweebs!

Some peeps have mentioned feeling stuck. For what it's worth, here's something I found useful last year:

Take a character, any character, and in your novel, make a list of ten things you know about them. This could be anything from physical description to psychological quirks, to motivations, to childhood memories, to what they are up to now. Chances are that you won't know ten things about them at this point, so you're forced to make things up. And this moves your story forward.

Then pick another character, and do the same thing. Before you know it, the characters will be interacting - right there on your lists. You may not need the lists anymore. But if you do, sit down and write ten more things. Try other characters, locations, anything. Just keep writing and the story will come.

ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison

Hi! I got a PM yesterday from a Wrimo feelin' stuck and wondering how to get un...

Here are a few suggestions:

• You could resurect this Personal Challenges thread. - post a challenge on it and it will jump from the back pages up to the front where others will see it.
• Write-ins, if you can make one, can be helpful. I usually write more on my own, but this year just going somewhere else with the express purpose of writing has really worked for me. Plus, you can get help from other writers with plot issues and strange questions.
• If you can’t make it in person, try our online chat - they are doing word wars there every night - a timed writing to see who can write the most words. When you don't have time, you don't have time to be stuck! Chat info. is here.

Since I answered the PM, I thought of another one - it's the strategy of the "ings." Harness those gerunds - do something in RL that ends in -ing: showering, vacuuming, walking, etc. Get busy physically and let your mind wander. Give it time, and your creative mind will come up with answers for you. Just make sure there's a notepad and pen handy. These epiphanies can fade as quickly as they come.

ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison

Writing my latest chapter, I suddenly realized that I had no idea what a goshawk sounds like! Fortunately, Google came to my rescue with this handy doodad, and I thought I'd toss it up here for anyone else who might need it. I managed to scratch an extra fifty-ish words out of bird call sounds.

http://www.enature.com/birding/audio.asp

I answer to mcrog, mark, rook, markie, markiemark, marcus, marcuscus, cuscus, marco, marco polo, maestro, oh tall one, senor tanaka, senor fantastico, but I prefer mark or rook.

Flight of the "ings"? ;)

"The ships hung in the air in much the same way that bricks don't." --HHGttG
"Does this game have a safe word?" --Rob Balder

Oh! Oh! This is too cool! Now I know what a Limpkin sounds like. It is really annoying! I wonder if there's a way to make these into ringtones....... Nope.... but you can get a wild turkey or a mockingbird...

ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison

Yes, it's almost Thanksgiving. Here are a few tips for making it through the weekend with your sanity relatively intact and your novel moving forward:

1. Head into the holidays with a stockpile of extra words. If you have to take a day (or days) off, you'll still be able to finish your novel.
2. Write something every day, even if it's just jotting down ideas to fill in later. Losing momentum during the holidays can be the end of your novel.
3. Carry a pen and a notebook everywhere, so you can write in the car, the airport, a closet, or a bathroom.
4. Get up early and stay up late, and carry a booklight for those late-night shared-room emergencies.
5. Eat and drink in moderation. When everyone else is lying like beached whales in front of the TV, you can steal away and write.
6. Word war! There's nothing like some competitive writing sprints to get your novel moving again. You'll find friendly encouragement in our our nightly chat, or go to NaNoBrumo where every thousand words is celebrated with chimes and grand huzzahs.
7. Reassure your family and friends. You'll prove you love them with heroic appearances in your novel and on the dedication page when it's published. It's just one holiday after all!.

ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison