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NaNoWriMo Day 13: Go ahead; write those flashbacks
One way I’m building up my word count for NaNoWriMo is by using flashbacks. My main characters have a complex backstory (don’t they always?) and I’m finding it’s a great way to keep me on top of my daily statistics. But using flashbacks can help in other ways. They can move the story forward. They…
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NaNoWriMo Day 12: High Stakes
I have a lot of action scenes in my NaNo project this year. By action, I mean fight scenes, high stakes drama. I’m trying to balance them with reflective scenes where the characters are trying to figure out how what’s happening around them affects their mind and emotions. And, even more important, when the characters…
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NaNoWriMo Day 11: I Scene It
One thing that keeps happening to me as I write is a scene needs to become two scenes. Or even three scenes. If only one thing happens in a scene then cut. When a new setting starts or a new event happens then it’s time to write break into a new scene. For example I…
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NaNoWriMo Day 10: Death and Oops
Even though I outlined in Preptober, I decided to kill off one of my characters. Rather violently. I think I had a bad day at work and I was taking it out on this poor fictional being. But later I realized that character was needed for a couple of functions in the story. Oops. No…
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NaNoWriMo Day 9: Inside and Outside Action
As I plan and write scenes, one thing I do is what I call the ‘outside’ action and also the ‘inside’ action. During Preptober, I created an Excel spreadsheet and wrote the point of view from each character in that scene. This point of view plans out the physical action each character performs (outside action).…
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NaNoWriMo Day 8: Word Sprints
One practice I’ve put into play with NaNo 22 is writing sprints. I’ve done them in the past, but I pretty much use them exclusively to get my word count done. I do one or two before work and about two or three after work. Word Sprint: a short period of time in which a…
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NaNoWriMo Day 7: Life goes on, even during NaNoWriMo
Life must go on, even during NaNoWriMo. Some participants have kids. Some have spouses. Some have full time jobs. Some have hobbies they put on hold. Hobbies and other interests. I, for example, haven’t’ been reading much this first week of NaNoWriMo. To be honest, I’ve sort of slacked off on reading all year. I’m…
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NaNoWriMo Day 6: the 4th step
My writing process for NaNoWriMo 2022: I am working on two novellas for NaNoWriMo 2022, but to be honest, I will only get through one of them. I will reach 50,000 words by the end of November, but I will probably only end up with a rough draft of one of them which is called…
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NaNoWriMo Day 5: the 3rd step
Just to review, here’s my NaNoWriMo plan: Step 1: Write one complete sentence summarizing each scene Step 2: Turn each sentence into a five sentence paragraph. Step 3: Turn each paragraph into five paragraphs. (I’m writing step 3 in red to help it stick out) Step 4: Turn the five paragraphs into a narrative (Not…
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