Even More Long-Winded (But Practical) Writing Advice. Heh. This is just great. I love #5. The only "busy" place I take my laptop is the library. (This also reminds me--I actually got to read someone's novel draft where the main character went to a coffee shop and scored. I remember thinking that it sounded too much like a fantasy which should have never been put to paper in the first place.)
NaNo Reflections. Somebody's take on participating in Nanowrimo. Everyone who's ever done this before always suggests doing extensive prewrites before jumping into it. Newbies almost never take this advice.
So I spent most of yesterday in the southern half of the state. In the afternoon, I meandered through Elm Street which is supposedly the heart of downtown Manchester. I was surprised that it was so empty--one would think people would be up and about doing some manic shopping sprees.
In the evening, I went to one of the Thank God It's Over parties for NaNoWriMo which was held at a participant's house in Hudson. Very fun.
I think the worst part was the traveling bit. I really don't like riding on buses, especially when I get motion sick. So even though I'm most likely going to do Nano again next year, I'm probably not going to any meetings/parties unless its within walking distance.
I may complain and moan and threaten to do various things, but I have never thought about quitting Nano when I have started. Here are some "tips" that I have figured out myself. This will by no means work for everyone; most people have temperaments that are very different from my own and will probably think my advice is stupid.
* Plan ahead. If I don't plan ahead--which goes for most things--I tend to wait until the last minute to do things. Being unprepared doesn't work for writing an entire novel, especially if you're typically more staid than spontaneous. If you know about Nano ahead of time, start thinking of ideas and keep them in a notebook. Do research, world building, and outlining as necessary.
* Set aside time. Maybe you can write during the morning or during your lunch break or right before bed. The important thing is to make some time which you can sit down, get your thoughts in order, and just write. Try not to waste your time doing something unnecessary. This year, my schedule was basically: wake up, go to lab, come back home to write on average 1000 words, and go to sleep. On weekends, I scrapped anything that might have been fun and either went to lab or binge wrote.
* Write something. On the days that you plan to write, write something, anything. If you can't force anything other than one word, don't beat yourself over it--the next day will be better. I had originally planned to not write during my birthday, but I wrote anyway because I was feeling better than the previous day which I had only eked out one sentence.
* Reverse psychology. Believe it or not, I found the "I Hate Myself and Want to Die" forum on the Nano site one of the few lounges I read with any frequency. It's all about purging all these negative feelings and doubts and once all of that is gone, you can sit down with a fresh mind and write. All the smugness and self-congratulatory tone of the "This is Working Far Better Than I Had Hoped" forum completely backfired on me.
* Competition. Idealistically, one should always write for oneself first and foremost. But it also helps to have a little competition. I didn't find an "enemy" to do Nano with (it's very hard to gauge the pacing and dedication of a stranger) but I did often compare my word count with others in my state.
Well, that's basically what I did this year. Oh, and don't forget the many, many cans of Mountain Dew.
(Another note: I got a Nano sticker in the mail today. I was expecting four instead of one since I donated, but whatever. Maybe I'm feeling too nice today.)
If you want to read all of The Reflecting Eye on one file you can download it here (rtf, 374 kb). This is also located on the novel page itself. I could have just put it in plain text, but what the heck, the file wasn't much smaller.
Ugh. I have finally finished writing the novel for Nanowrimo. At 57,181 words. This is more (and earlier) than what I did the previous two years. Not that anyone cares. Most people are just like this one man who asked me what one of my short stories was about and then cut me off before I could even say one word of explanation.
If you are brave enough to read a first, rough draft, here's The Reflecting Eye.
(And for those of you who want to know what the plot is before reading it, or want to know about the plot without reading it: It's basically about a woman who moves to a new city where strange things happen. It's like a cross between urban fantasy and Lovecraftian horror except it's less on the fantasy--actually no fantasy if you want to get technical--and horror bit and more on the character development.)
