I think this happens to me every year.
In October, I make some plans. Usually, they are pretty vague. I'm terrified of over-planning and killing my enthusiasm for a project - I love the sense of exploring a storyline, feeling my way around and tryingto work out what is going on.
The, every year, I tear it up and decide to wing it. ANd once agian, this year, this has been my experience.
I had an idea, and it was a pretty cool one, I thought. I was gonig to write a murder mystery where the fact that there has been a murder would be concealed from the reader until the end. The main character wouldn't mention it, and the other characters would either not know, not care or be actively trying to conceal the fact. The point, ultimately, was that the person was a nobody in the eyes of all the other characters, so his disappearance went unnoticed. Only the main character realises what has happened and sets out to expose the killing. Twist being that the killing isn't referred to directly, so the reader wil be surprised by its revelation.
I still think this is a great idea, only it is not one I can write just now.
So, three days out, I am left without a plot. I'll stick with my seasoned sidekick, Jack Callaghan, but unless the mother of all plot bunnies dashes out from under my feet, I'll be winging it again - with all the horror and confusion that entails.
My only idea so far is to put my money where my mouth is, and start of with a diversion. Jack will attend a party. A wild party, where he'll be very much an outsider. Why he's there, I don't know. What will happen, I don't know. But I'll find out.
Tuesday 28 October 2008
Saturday 25 October 2008
What are you going to write about on Day One?
It is almost upon us. Bet you didn't think it would roll round so quickly. bet you can't wait to get started. Bet you'd do anything for another day. Welcome to nanoland. It's a confusing place.
Day One is hugely important. It is, in fact, the most important day of the lot - apart from Day Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and so on, right up to Day Thirty.
But Day One is special. It isn't like any other day in Nanowrimo, because if you screw up on Day One, while the impact on your daily word count might not be that great (assuming you wrote nothing at all, your daily target for the rest of the month would be 1725 - 60 words extra a night), but the psychological impact is huge.
Missing the target on any day is bad, because it immediately increases the volume of all those little voices of doubt. Suddenly the "You're going to fail ... why bother ... it's too much," muttered sotto voce, but a bellowing howl of "FAILURE! I TOLD YOU SO! YOU ... CAN'T DO IT! YOU SCREWED UP! ON THE VERY FIRST DAY!"
And they won't go away, even if you catch up. And that is a very heavy weight to carry about all month long.
So, best not to stuff up on the first day, eh?
As mentioned previously, I'm not a big planner. What plans I make, I tend to put aside at the last moment, in favour of some madcap scheme. Even so, I like to think things out before I start writing. So while I might not know what is going to happen in my novel, I usually come up with the bones of what I'll be writing about in the first scene, which should get me through the first couple of days. It isn't much more than a bunch of bullet points, but it will be enough for me to build on. I'll also know what my first line is going to be. I'll repeat it over to myself, savouring it, looking forward to getting the damn thing out of my head and onto the page. the scene around it can visualise, even if I don't know precisely how I'm going to describe it.
Whether or not you've got a clear plan, it is time to start visualizing that first scene. Explore it in your head, Give your narrator a voice and let him describe it. Play it in your mind like the perfect film that the greatest director of all time would make of your book.
Rehearse your opening lines - nothing is more satisfying than sitting down to write on day one, tapping away at the keyboard and (in your head) crying out, "Fifty words in a minute! Take that, Nanobeast! At this rate, I'll be finished in 5,000 minutes, which is only 83.33 hours! Which is less than three and a half days!" Of course, it doesn't work like that, because after those first fifty words everything becomes more difficult, but it is satisfying to get some little black marks marching across the deadly whiteness of the screen ...
Day One is hugely important. It is, in fact, the most important day of the lot - apart from Day Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and so on, right up to Day Thirty.
But Day One is special. It isn't like any other day in Nanowrimo, because if you screw up on Day One, while the impact on your daily word count might not be that great (assuming you wrote nothing at all, your daily target for the rest of the month would be 1725 - 60 words extra a night), but the psychological impact is huge.
Missing the target on any day is bad, because it immediately increases the volume of all those little voices of doubt. Suddenly the "You're going to fail ... why bother ... it's too much," muttered sotto voce, but a bellowing howl of "FAILURE! I TOLD YOU SO! YOU ... CAN'T DO IT! YOU SCREWED UP! ON THE VERY FIRST DAY!"
And they won't go away, even if you catch up. And that is a very heavy weight to carry about all month long.
So, best not to stuff up on the first day, eh?
As mentioned previously, I'm not a big planner. What plans I make, I tend to put aside at the last moment, in favour of some madcap scheme. Even so, I like to think things out before I start writing. So while I might not know what is going to happen in my novel, I usually come up with the bones of what I'll be writing about in the first scene, which should get me through the first couple of days. It isn't much more than a bunch of bullet points, but it will be enough for me to build on. I'll also know what my first line is going to be. I'll repeat it over to myself, savouring it, looking forward to getting the damn thing out of my head and onto the page. the scene around it can visualise, even if I don't know precisely how I'm going to describe it.
Whether or not you've got a clear plan, it is time to start visualizing that first scene. Explore it in your head, Give your narrator a voice and let him describe it. Play it in your mind like the perfect film that the greatest director of all time would make of your book.
Rehearse your opening lines - nothing is more satisfying than sitting down to write on day one, tapping away at the keyboard and (in your head) crying out, "Fifty words in a minute! Take that, Nanobeast! At this rate, I'll be finished in 5,000 minutes, which is only 83.33 hours! Which is less than three and a half days!" Of course, it doesn't work like that, because after those first fifty words everything becomes more difficult, but it is satisfying to get some little black marks marching across the deadly whiteness of the screen ...
Front loading
Front loading is the only way you can legitimately take a night off during Nanowrimo.
The concept is very, very simple, but very important - you write more words than your daily quota. Eventually, they add up to an extra day's quota, making one less day you have to write.
If you do it the other way round, you are just creating problems for yourself. If you skip a day, leaving yourself behind, you can - IN THEORY - catch up. But it is a difficultprocess, andthe likelihood of falling further behind, and eventually abandoning the project, is increased. Don't do it.
This year, Nano starts on a weekend. This has big implications for front loading, as you will have the chance to go hard out for the first Saturday and Sunday and build up a good 'bank.' In fact, I am contemplating something i usually recommend against - starting writing at the stroke of midnight, to get some extra words in.
Normally I recommend against it because I think writing should be a routine activity, something you do every day. Staying up late to take part in some made jamboree of words doesn't foster that impression, so it is normally something I recommend against.
(You always get some people in the 'Nanowrimo ate my soul' forum wailing, "I was here at midnight and I sat for three hours staring at my screen waiting for some words to come, but they didn't, I'm giving up!" Of course they won't come. Put that much pressure on your magination and no wonder it reacts like a startled rabbit.)
But this time, I might try it. My goal for the weekend is 7.5k. I'm thinking of breaking that down into five sessions of 1.5K - one at midnight, the a morning and evening session on each day of the weekend. I need to do some major front loading because I know I'll be struggling to write every day in Week One - I'll have exams to mark, which will probably take up two nights, and in Week Two I have toattend the school's honours awards. So I aim to get ahead of my word count, allowing me to take these nights off without falling behind.
I don't recommend you do the whole 'Start at the stroke of midnight' thing just for the Hell of it. But it is an option, given this year we get a weekend start. Whether or not you do start at midnight, or at some saner hour, try to use the blessed hours of the first weekend to get ahead. You'll thank yourself for it further down the line.
The concept is very, very simple, but very important - you write more words than your daily quota. Eventually, they add up to an extra day's quota, making one less day you have to write.
If you do it the other way round, you are just creating problems for yourself. If you skip a day, leaving yourself behind, you can - IN THEORY - catch up. But it is a difficultprocess, andthe likelihood of falling further behind, and eventually abandoning the project, is increased. Don't do it.
This year, Nano starts on a weekend. This has big implications for front loading, as you will have the chance to go hard out for the first Saturday and Sunday and build up a good 'bank.' In fact, I am contemplating something i usually recommend against - starting writing at the stroke of midnight, to get some extra words in.
Normally I recommend against it because I think writing should be a routine activity, something you do every day. Staying up late to take part in some made jamboree of words doesn't foster that impression, so it is normally something I recommend against.
(You always get some people in the 'Nanowrimo ate my soul' forum wailing, "I was here at midnight and I sat for three hours staring at my screen waiting for some words to come, but they didn't, I'm giving up!" Of course they won't come. Put that much pressure on your magination and no wonder it reacts like a startled rabbit.)
But this time, I might try it. My goal for the weekend is 7.5k. I'm thinking of breaking that down into five sessions of 1.5K - one at midnight, the a morning and evening session on each day of the weekend. I need to do some major front loading because I know I'll be struggling to write every day in Week One - I'll have exams to mark, which will probably take up two nights, and in Week Two I have toattend the school's honours awards. So I aim to get ahead of my word count, allowing me to take these nights off without falling behind.
I don't recommend you do the whole 'Start at the stroke of midnight' thing just for the Hell of it. But it is an option, given this year we get a weekend start. Whether or not you do start at midnight, or at some saner hour, try to use the blessed hours of the first weekend to get ahead. You'll thank yourself for it further down the line.
Milestones and rewards
Look, it doesn't all have to be bad. For every mile of stick, there can be a little bit of carrot.
I want you to work out a series of Nano milestones - word count targets that you are going to aspire to reach, on schedule. The idea is that these are bigger than the daily grind, but more manageable than the full 50K. As long as you are hitting these milestones on schedule, you are doing okay. You also get a treat for doing so (see below).
Typically, these will be every ten thousand words, but depending on experience, you might vary them. If you're feeling particularly nervous, you might want to schedule the first one at 5K, to give yourself a manageable target for the first three days (1667 x 3 = 5001 words. We won't fight about that one extra word). It is important to work out what day you are meant to hit that total on, as well. SO if you are doing the standard 1667 words per day, with a milestone every 10K, these are your milestones and the date you need to reach them on:
10K - Day 6
20K - Day 12
30K - Day 18
40K - Day 24
50K - Day 30
It is important to remember real word commitments when scheduling milestones - if you are going to be away from the keyboard, unavoidably, in the first few days of November, you need to reflect that in your word counts and due dates.
As an experienced Nano-er, I'm only placing three milestones - one at 15K, one at 30K and one at 50K. And I should be reaching them on or before Day 9, Day 18 and Day 30, at 1667 per day.
Here's the nice part - If you hit your milestones on schedule, you get a reward. This is something prearranged and isn't anything too flash - no new cars or $500 shoes. Just a little treat to acknowledge your achievement - a book or a CD or similar. Unless you are so madly rich that $500 shoes count as a tiny treat.
I'll treat myself to a book at 15K, a CD at 30K and a DVD at 50K. I'm not specifying what book or CD, because most of the pleasure lies in choosing. The DVD will be Hurly Burly - I remember seeing it in the cinema, years ago, and was really impressed by the dialogue and acting, and I'd like to see it again.
Nights off are NOT a reward. You can't work for ten days, hitting your word count, and then give yourself a night off - you'll simply put yourself behind. The only way to earn a reward is by front loading - getting ahead of the writing schedule, e.g. writing 10 days of words in 9 days. ANd even then, I recommend you only do this when you are trying to cover for a real world commitment you can't wriggle out of. The risk with giving yourself a day off as a reward sis, bluntly, they taste too good. Take a day off from the keyboard, and it will be very difficult to make yourself come back.
Please emal me what your milestones are and what day you expect to hit them on. Specifying rewards are optional.
I want you to work out a series of Nano milestones - word count targets that you are going to aspire to reach, on schedule. The idea is that these are bigger than the daily grind, but more manageable than the full 50K. As long as you are hitting these milestones on schedule, you are doing okay. You also get a treat for doing so (see below).
Typically, these will be every ten thousand words, but depending on experience, you might vary them. If you're feeling particularly nervous, you might want to schedule the first one at 5K, to give yourself a manageable target for the first three days (1667 x 3 = 5001 words. We won't fight about that one extra word). It is important to work out what day you are meant to hit that total on, as well. SO if you are doing the standard 1667 words per day, with a milestone every 10K, these are your milestones and the date you need to reach them on:
10K - Day 6
20K - Day 12
30K - Day 18
40K - Day 24
50K - Day 30
It is important to remember real word commitments when scheduling milestones - if you are going to be away from the keyboard, unavoidably, in the first few days of November, you need to reflect that in your word counts and due dates.
As an experienced Nano-er, I'm only placing three milestones - one at 15K, one at 30K and one at 50K. And I should be reaching them on or before Day 9, Day 18 and Day 30, at 1667 per day.
Here's the nice part - If you hit your milestones on schedule, you get a reward. This is something prearranged and isn't anything too flash - no new cars or $500 shoes. Just a little treat to acknowledge your achievement - a book or a CD or similar. Unless you are so madly rich that $500 shoes count as a tiny treat.
I'll treat myself to a book at 15K, a CD at 30K and a DVD at 50K. I'm not specifying what book or CD, because most of the pleasure lies in choosing. The DVD will be Hurly Burly - I remember seeing it in the cinema, years ago, and was really impressed by the dialogue and acting, and I'd like to see it again.
Nights off are NOT a reward. You can't work for ten days, hitting your word count, and then give yourself a night off - you'll simply put yourself behind. The only way to earn a reward is by front loading - getting ahead of the writing schedule, e.g. writing 10 days of words in 9 days. ANd even then, I recommend you only do this when you are trying to cover for a real world commitment you can't wriggle out of. The risk with giving yourself a day off as a reward sis, bluntly, they taste too good. Take a day off from the keyboard, and it will be very difficult to make yourself come back.
Please emal me what your milestones are and what day you expect to hit them on. Specifying rewards are optional.
Friday 24 October 2008
One week out
It's one week to the start of Nanowrimo 08, which means it is time to start thinking seriously about How You Are Going To Write This Thing.
Somethings to think about. Some of this might seem repetitive, but it is important that yoou've thought about this stuff. Having beautiful characters and a wondrous plot is all very well, but if you haven't organised time to actually write, you'll find November very unpleasant. So, once more, with feeling, is some of the essential prep you really need to be thinkng of.
There is a time and a place for everything. But have you organised yours? Are you giving yourself a realistic amount of time when you'll be able to write? Ideally, this should be the same time every night, same place. That way, your sub- or unconcious mind will become habituated and will start producing ideas on cue. There are some people who thrive on chaos and find writing in the middle of a sea of screaming children while the dog is gnawing on their leg helps their creativity, but these people are, I think, far rarer that they think they are. Most of us would like to think we are like that, but aren't. Remember what I said about insulation - you HAVE to be selfish here.
So get accustomed to the idea that 8pm-10pm (or whatever) is novelling time. Make sure you're somewhere away from your nearest and dearest, lovely distractions like the TV, and start settling into your routine. Settle yourself down with a cup of your Nano beverage of choice, put on the music you'll be listening to for writing. During Nano I listen to the same few albums, over and over - now as soon as I here those songs, I can write (Tom Waits and an obscure British band called Gene, mostly). Get into the habit of doing some literary pottering about for a while, each night - write a short story, or a journal, or plan for nano. But make sure you're getting into a comfortable, workable routine.
As remarked previously, this is also fairer on other people, who will come to recognise it will happen. Of course, I'm not thinking of their feelings - but if they are acclimatized to you sealing yourself away every evening NOW, they won't complain so much in November. AND the last thing you want is resentful spouses demmanding some attention in November. Family are great, but in November they are often just another pawn of the Nanobeast, in its war to stop you reaching 50K.
Somethings to think about. Some of this might seem repetitive, but it is important that yoou've thought about this stuff. Having beautiful characters and a wondrous plot is all very well, but if you haven't organised time to actually write, you'll find November very unpleasant. So, once more, with feeling, is some of the essential prep you really need to be thinkng of.
There is a time and a place for everything. But have you organised yours? Are you giving yourself a realistic amount of time when you'll be able to write? Ideally, this should be the same time every night, same place. That way, your sub- or unconcious mind will become habituated and will start producing ideas on cue. There are some people who thrive on chaos and find writing in the middle of a sea of screaming children while the dog is gnawing on their leg helps their creativity, but these people are, I think, far rarer that they think they are. Most of us would like to think we are like that, but aren't. Remember what I said about insulation - you HAVE to be selfish here.
So get accustomed to the idea that 8pm-10pm (or whatever) is novelling time. Make sure you're somewhere away from your nearest and dearest, lovely distractions like the TV, and start settling into your routine. Settle yourself down with a cup of your Nano beverage of choice, put on the music you'll be listening to for writing. During Nano I listen to the same few albums, over and over - now as soon as I here those songs, I can write (Tom Waits and an obscure British band called Gene, mostly). Get into the habit of doing some literary pottering about for a while, each night - write a short story, or a journal, or plan for nano. But make sure you're getting into a comfortable, workable routine.
As remarked previously, this is also fairer on other people, who will come to recognise it will happen. Of course, I'm not thinking of their feelings - but if they are acclimatized to you sealing yourself away every evening NOW, they won't complain so much in November. AND the last thing you want is resentful spouses demmanding some attention in November. Family are great, but in November they are often just another pawn of the Nanobeast, in its war to stop you reaching 50K.
Friday 10 October 2008
Wrestling with the Nanobeast
My first Nano was 2004. I found out about Nano two weeks into November. I signed up, with no plan and 16 days to write 50,000 words. That meant I had to write 4,000 words a day.
All I had was an idea for a first scene - a young man, coming to his senses after a drinking binge, with no idea what happened while he was blacked out. I had a hangover that day, which might be why I found the idea interesting. Beyond that, I thought he would be implicated in a series of murders and have to investigate them to prove his innocence, only to discover that he is actually the killer. But it was all very vague.
I wrote furiously. Whatever I could think of, I crammed in there somehow. I introduced all sorts of characters who did all sorts of stuff. There was a lot of sex. Finally, I reached the point where Bob would discover that he was the killer. Only then did I realise there was a gaping hole in the heart of my murder-mystery - I'd forgotten to kill anyone.
Still, I learned a lot from that experience. First, I should kill people kill people, frequently, and worry about who did it and why later. Second, I could do this writing thing quite well. There are some scenes in that story which I still rate among the best things I've ever written. Also, I learned a lot of dirty tricks to help me write when I didn't know what I was going to write about. Not like having characters sit about singing "American Pie," or describing the plots of films they've seen. I mean stuff that actually helps you develop characters and conflicts, introduce new events and ideas into your story, or at least write entertaining diversions.
Second attempt at Nano saw me screw up in a different way. After 50,000 words, I'd killed someone but wasn't able to work out who did it. The problem was my narrator. I'd started off using a narrator based on myself. I discovered I was a boring person to write about, and the least likely person to solve a mystery. In the end I made another character punch my fictional alter ego, and simply introduced a new narrator - a gutsy, loud mouthed school girl. She was fun to write, but there were too many structural issues with the story. After after hitting 50,000 I put it to rest. Lesson learned from all this - do what you have to do. If you find your original idea sucks, find a way of abandoning it and moving onto a better one.
Third nano was my first attempt at hardboiled murder mystery - think Humphrey Bogart, 1920s, cool cars and tough guys, Prohibition. I had a rough idea, but as I wrote I found two plot lines developing. I wanted to knit them together but in the end they diverged too much. So I seperated them and re-wrote one into a full story in its own right. Hey presto! A rough draft of a not completely rubbish story, 62,044 words long.
The next year, 2007, I revisited the pulp genre and my long sufferring PI. I sent him down to Mississippi to investigate a killing there. My goal was to write 50,000 words in November, and then carry on until the damn thing was done - the year before I'd taken a few months off before completing the story. Mission accomplished! I wrote through November, December and into January, completing the rough draft. It was very far from perfect, but it wasn't disasterous. And at 89,238 words, it was the longest thing I'd ever written.
So it took me four attempts to get it anywhere near right. It isn't an instant process. Don't be disappointed if you make a mess of it the first time. The Irish playwright Samuel Beckett described his work as a series of attempts to 'Fail better.' And he won the Nobel Prize for Literature with his failures. Keep trying, keep failing, fail better.
All I had was an idea for a first scene - a young man, coming to his senses after a drinking binge, with no idea what happened while he was blacked out. I had a hangover that day, which might be why I found the idea interesting. Beyond that, I thought he would be implicated in a series of murders and have to investigate them to prove his innocence, only to discover that he is actually the killer. But it was all very vague.
I wrote furiously. Whatever I could think of, I crammed in there somehow. I introduced all sorts of characters who did all sorts of stuff. There was a lot of sex. Finally, I reached the point where Bob would discover that he was the killer. Only then did I realise there was a gaping hole in the heart of my murder-mystery - I'd forgotten to kill anyone.
Still, I learned a lot from that experience. First, I should kill people kill people, frequently, and worry about who did it and why later. Second, I could do this writing thing quite well. There are some scenes in that story which I still rate among the best things I've ever written. Also, I learned a lot of dirty tricks to help me write when I didn't know what I was going to write about. Not like having characters sit about singing "American Pie," or describing the plots of films they've seen. I mean stuff that actually helps you develop characters and conflicts, introduce new events and ideas into your story, or at least write entertaining diversions.
Second attempt at Nano saw me screw up in a different way. After 50,000 words, I'd killed someone but wasn't able to work out who did it. The problem was my narrator. I'd started off using a narrator based on myself. I discovered I was a boring person to write about, and the least likely person to solve a mystery. In the end I made another character punch my fictional alter ego, and simply introduced a new narrator - a gutsy, loud mouthed school girl. She was fun to write, but there were too many structural issues with the story. After after hitting 50,000 I put it to rest. Lesson learned from all this - do what you have to do. If you find your original idea sucks, find a way of abandoning it and moving onto a better one.
Third nano was my first attempt at hardboiled murder mystery - think Humphrey Bogart, 1920s, cool cars and tough guys, Prohibition. I had a rough idea, but as I wrote I found two plot lines developing. I wanted to knit them together but in the end they diverged too much. So I seperated them and re-wrote one into a full story in its own right. Hey presto! A rough draft of a not completely rubbish story, 62,044 words long.
The next year, 2007, I revisited the pulp genre and my long sufferring PI. I sent him down to Mississippi to investigate a killing there. My goal was to write 50,000 words in November, and then carry on until the damn thing was done - the year before I'd taken a few months off before completing the story. Mission accomplished! I wrote through November, December and into January, completing the rough draft. It was very far from perfect, but it wasn't disasterous. And at 89,238 words, it was the longest thing I'd ever written.
So it took me four attempts to get it anywhere near right. It isn't an instant process. Don't be disappointed if you make a mess of it the first time. The Irish playwright Samuel Beckett described his work as a series of attempts to 'Fail better.' And he won the Nobel Prize for Literature with his failures. Keep trying, keep failing, fail better.
Wednesday 8 October 2008
Are you experienced?
Nanowrimo is a strange experience. Writing in itself is an odd thing to do and probably not as glamorous or interesting as it is made out to be. In the movies, characters who are supposed to be writers never actually seem to spend much time writing. Instead, they are forever investigating slayings, being very witty or getting seduced.
Based on my own Nano experience, you won't have time for any of that. You won't have tim for anything much, other that writing and tearing your hair. part of my pre-nano ritual is that I go skinhead, to avoid this.
With this in mind, it is important that you know what you are getting yourself into. Think about the following:
If you haven't written anything longer than a few hundred words before, you need to have a trial run. Try to write a short story, 1,500-2,000 words, just so you know what it feels like, and how long it takes you. And then try to do it three nights in a row - doesn't matter if it is three different stories, or one big story. The point is to find out how long it will take you to reach that nightly target of 1667 words per night.
(I usually aim for 2,000, as I like to finish early and have 'emergency cover.')
Try to find a tim slot that you can write in. It should be a habit - same time, every night. I always write after the children are put to bed, between 9pm and 11pm. Some people prefer to write in the morning, when they are fresh and energized, before the troubles of the day spoil their mood. I'm not a morning person, and I write gruesome violent pulp fiction, so I find it better to write AFTER the day's troubles have had a go at me. Then I take out all my stress and tension on my luckless hero, Jack. So find out what works for you.
BE SELFISH. You have to make time for yourself, and other people have to be told to leave you alone. On the first day of Nano last year, I was getting myslef set up and my wife was pottering about and talking to me. I told her she I needed her to leave me alone now. She gave me a wounded look and barely talked to me for the rest of the month. Which was pretty mean of me, but was also necessary. Incidentally, setting aside the same block of time easch day is slightly less selfish, becuase other people will get accustomed to it and learn to leave you alone. But they'll get very fustrated if you are writing in unpredicatable 15 minute bursts at all sorts of times of the day.
BE REALISTIC. You need to know how long it takes you to write your word count, and allow yourself that time. I've had newbies who have said they really want to do Nano, but when I ask them how much time they are going to set aside, they say half an hour a day. If you want to succeed, you need to back it up with concrete decisions and actions, not good intentions and vague hopes. Incidentally, the other advantage I find of writing in the evening is that you can force yourself to carry on into the wee hours if necessary. If you write in the mornings, you soon have to stop because kids need breakfast or you have to go to work. Again, it is a case of finding what works for you, but try not to fool yourself into choosing an option that is going to make it harder. God knows, Nanowrimo is hard enough without self-sabotage.
Based on my own Nano experience, you won't have time for any of that. You won't have tim for anything much, other that writing and tearing your hair. part of my pre-nano ritual is that I go skinhead, to avoid this.
With this in mind, it is important that you know what you are getting yourself into. Think about the following:
- What is the longest piece of writing you have ever written?
- Are you in the habit of sitting down to write every day?
- How long does it take you to write a thousand words?
- Do you have twice that amount of time to set aside, every day, for writing?
- When is that time going to be?
- Have you warned all your friends and family that you aren't going to be able to see them between now and the end of November?
- Have you warned yourself that you aren't goingt to be able to see your friends and family between now and the end of November?
If you haven't written anything longer than a few hundred words before, you need to have a trial run. Try to write a short story, 1,500-2,000 words, just so you know what it feels like, and how long it takes you. And then try to do it three nights in a row - doesn't matter if it is three different stories, or one big story. The point is to find out how long it will take you to reach that nightly target of 1667 words per night.
(I usually aim for 2,000, as I like to finish early and have 'emergency cover.')
Try to find a tim slot that you can write in. It should be a habit - same time, every night. I always write after the children are put to bed, between 9pm and 11pm. Some people prefer to write in the morning, when they are fresh and energized, before the troubles of the day spoil their mood. I'm not a morning person, and I write gruesome violent pulp fiction, so I find it better to write AFTER the day's troubles have had a go at me. Then I take out all my stress and tension on my luckless hero, Jack. So find out what works for you.
BE SELFISH. You have to make time for yourself, and other people have to be told to leave you alone. On the first day of Nano last year, I was getting myslef set up and my wife was pottering about and talking to me. I told her she I needed her to leave me alone now. She gave me a wounded look and barely talked to me for the rest of the month. Which was pretty mean of me, but was also necessary. Incidentally, setting aside the same block of time easch day is slightly less selfish, becuase other people will get accustomed to it and learn to leave you alone. But they'll get very fustrated if you are writing in unpredicatable 15 minute bursts at all sorts of times of the day.
BE REALISTIC. You need to know how long it takes you to write your word count, and allow yourself that time. I've had newbies who have said they really want to do Nano, but when I ask them how much time they are going to set aside, they say half an hour a day. If you want to succeed, you need to back it up with concrete decisions and actions, not good intentions and vague hopes. Incidentally, the other advantage I find of writing in the evening is that you can force yourself to carry on into the wee hours if necessary. If you write in the mornings, you soon have to stop because kids need breakfast or you have to go to work. Again, it is a case of finding what works for you, but try not to fool yourself into choosing an option that is going to make it harder. God knows, Nanowrimo is hard enough without self-sabotage.
Accept that you will fail
The first thing you have to understand about naowrimo is that you will fail. This doesn't mean that you won't write 50,000 words. During the month, you'll discover that just writing 50,000 words is nothing to do with success. No matter how many words we write, we all lose.
You'll fail because whatever beautiful idea you had in your head, or whatever hopes you had of writing something beautiful, will be torn to pieces. Nanowrimo is not about writing something beautiful. It is about writing in its more brutal and ugly form, night after night. After a month of this, you'll feel horrible, like you've completely ruined whatever hopes you had, and you'll be questioning you ability as a writer and your worth as a human being.
Repeat to yourself, over and over, "I am going to fail. I'm going to screw up. I will hate what I am writing, but I'm going to write it anyway." This is the truth, get used to it. Befriend it. Invite it into your home. Hug it to you every night. Failure is something you'll become very accustomed to over the next few weeks.
This is how it will be: even if you manage to stay on top of your word count, you won't write anything like you want to write. The necessity of producing 1667, or 2000, or however many, words per day ensures you'll spend a lot of your time writing stuff you think is sludge. After a few days of continuously writing sludge, you'll want to quit. I'm telling you this now because it is impossible to keep a sense perspective in the broil of Nano.
Writing every day for a big target is intense and you tend to become slightly demented - you're either exhilarated ("I wrote words! I am the greatest!") or despondent and full of self- and novel- loathing. Either state is perfectly natural. Unfortunately, its a lot easier to slip into despondency than it is to maintain manic exhilaration. There are just too many ways you can slip up - falling behind your word count, writing sludge, losing track of your plot, exhaustion, stuff happening in the rest of your life ... all these things can convince you that you're wasting your time, that you're a failure.
Failure is what writing is all about. No writer manages to realize their vision perfectly, not in the first draft or in the fiftieth. The Nobel Prize winner, Samuel Beckett, wrote, "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." He was probably thinking about his own experience as a writer, each new work an attempt to capture the ideas he sensed, but always which always eluded him. He kept trying, is the important thing.
Put a mirror above your work station and a sign above it saying, "This is a picture of failure." If you can see yourself in that mirror, you're in the right place. At least you're where you should be, trying to fail better. If the mirror reflects an empty chair, only then are you failing, irredeemably.
You'll fail because whatever beautiful idea you had in your head, or whatever hopes you had of writing something beautiful, will be torn to pieces. Nanowrimo is not about writing something beautiful. It is about writing in its more brutal and ugly form, night after night. After a month of this, you'll feel horrible, like you've completely ruined whatever hopes you had, and you'll be questioning you ability as a writer and your worth as a human being.
Repeat to yourself, over and over, "I am going to fail. I'm going to screw up. I will hate what I am writing, but I'm going to write it anyway." This is the truth, get used to it. Befriend it. Invite it into your home. Hug it to you every night. Failure is something you'll become very accustomed to over the next few weeks.
This is how it will be: even if you manage to stay on top of your word count, you won't write anything like you want to write. The necessity of producing 1667, or 2000, or however many, words per day ensures you'll spend a lot of your time writing stuff you think is sludge. After a few days of continuously writing sludge, you'll want to quit. I'm telling you this now because it is impossible to keep a sense perspective in the broil of Nano.
Writing every day for a big target is intense and you tend to become slightly demented - you're either exhilarated ("I wrote words! I am the greatest!") or despondent and full of self- and novel- loathing. Either state is perfectly natural. Unfortunately, its a lot easier to slip into despondency than it is to maintain manic exhilaration. There are just too many ways you can slip up - falling behind your word count, writing sludge, losing track of your plot, exhaustion, stuff happening in the rest of your life ... all these things can convince you that you're wasting your time, that you're a failure.
Failure is what writing is all about. No writer manages to realize their vision perfectly, not in the first draft or in the fiftieth. The Nobel Prize winner, Samuel Beckett, wrote, "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." He was probably thinking about his own experience as a writer, each new work an attempt to capture the ideas he sensed, but always which always eluded him. He kept trying, is the important thing.
Put a mirror above your work station and a sign above it saying, "This is a picture of failure." If you can see yourself in that mirror, you're in the right place. At least you're where you should be, trying to fail better. If the mirror reflects an empty chair, only then are you failing, irredeemably.
Monday 6 October 2008
'Egad, the Nanomonster is almost upon us
Is it October again, already?
Does this mean I'll be doing nanowrimo. No. Then again, maybe ... I've logged on to the website, advertised my services to newbies, attended pre-nano meet ups, resolved to PLAN and PLOT this time ... even though I'm officially NOT DOING IT. Who am I kidding? I'm doing it, I just don't have a clue what I'm doing. As bloody usual.
I started footering about with one of my stagnant stories, last week - the one about the NZ psychic detective climbing a hill. To resolve the plot difficuties that stymied me earlier in the year, I've moved forwards several scenes and I'm writing a party sequence. I have no idea who the people at the party are, how Donna got there, or what might happen, but what the Hell, at least I've put down a couple of thousand words that weren't there before.
Mistakes can be corrected, wild inconsistencies ironed out. But you can't do anything unless you write something, no matter how bad.
Does this mean I'll be doing nanowrimo. No. Then again, maybe ... I've logged on to the website, advertised my services to newbies, attended pre-nano meet ups, resolved to PLAN and PLOT this time ... even though I'm officially NOT DOING IT. Who am I kidding? I'm doing it, I just don't have a clue what I'm doing. As bloody usual.
I started footering about with one of my stagnant stories, last week - the one about the NZ psychic detective climbing a hill. To resolve the plot difficuties that stymied me earlier in the year, I've moved forwards several scenes and I'm writing a party sequence. I have no idea who the people at the party are, how Donna got there, or what might happen, but what the Hell, at least I've put down a couple of thousand words that weren't there before.
Mistakes can be corrected, wild inconsistencies ironed out. But you can't do anything unless you write something, no matter how bad.
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