Interesting

Yesterday I experienced a new thing in my Nanowrimo career - a complete, catastrophic collapse in confidence. It was very, very weird. I suddenly realised there were several important things in my plot I wasn't happy with, and it seemed that if I tried to change one, it would make the others worse.

It was really horrible, to be honest, and if I hadn't been sanding down a wall, and hence too dusty to venture into the CLEAN part of the house, I might have done something rash. I was contemplating abandoning my whole work to date - 9000 words - and starting fresh. With a new investigator, new setting and new mystery, because I was sick of what I had.

Thankfully, I didn't. Instead, I wrote a list of things that were causing me pain. One thing that was freaking me out was the fact that Donna (my amateur sleuth) was probing a 'live' case - a body had been hauled out of the river a couple of days before - and the police were still investigating. I HATE stories in which bumbling amateurs get in the way of the professionals, nor amateurs who put themselves in danger when the police are justdoing their job, ma'am.

Another thing was the flatness of what I was writing - it is a first person narrative and damn Donna seemed to have no character or spark. This was a big problem because it was affecting her interactions with other characters. When she was meant to be subtly grilling suspects, or trying to bend someone to her will, I was coming up dry.

And so on. It was a rap sheet for my novel so far. Then I wrote down solutions - and I realised a lot of them were things I knew, but had forgotten to do in the nanorush. I'd intended that the police would 'close' the case as an accidental death, for example, which would prompt Donna to carry on her own investigation. And instead of focusing on plot stuff I let Donna relax with a friend - which was fair enough, as she'd just been bashed on the head the night before - and do trivial girl stuff for a little while.

And it worked. The story feels like it is back on track. In plot terms, I'm not very much further than I was 2000 words ago, but I feel a bit more comfortable with who I am dealing with, and why they are doing it. And I think what I wrote tonight was almost readable, unlike every other night of whacking the sludgebeast to see what falls off ...

So if you are struggling, draw up the rap sheet. If you like, you can sling it in my direction and I'll try to offer solutions. Because we're almost into Week 2, which is a whole different ball game.

Emergency plot surgery II

When all else fails, write a murder mystery. These can be set in absolutely any genre, and can be as bloody, grimly serious or sickly funny as you like.

Choose a genre and a setting. You want pirates? You got 'em. you'd rather be writing high fantasy about The Knights of the round table? That's good too. Vampires and werewolves? Grow up. That's so six months ago. But you can still have a murder mystery peopled with vampires and lycanthropes, if you must.

Concoct six characters. They can be pretty cliched, that doesn't matter. They'll develop as you write. Then create a victim. Randomly assign the character's a motive for killing him/her (money, lust, jealousy, revenge and so on ...). Make one of your characters your investigator. Have them start by explaining why they would have killed the victim. Then have the MC casually admit that somone beat them to it, but (here's the clever bit) everyone thinks the MC did it. So the MC has to clear his or her name ...

Emergency plot surgery

I've been really nervous the last day or so. Ditching a plan and deciding to wing it - AGAIN - suddenly seems like a really bad idea. But there's no going back. Whatever is going on will have to work itself out over the next thirty days, as I write. Or not. That might have to wait until editing. Doesn't matter.

So if I'm nervous, some of you must be panicking. Please, don't. Take a breathe. Write. If you don't know what to write about, invent a couple of characters - A BARBARIAN WARRIOR and a SLEEK ELVEN ARCHER (or equivalents appropriate to your genre) and put them in an odd situation. Perhaps the BARBARIAN mistakes the ELF for a woman and propositions him. If that isn't enough, send in a DWARF, who picks a fight with the ELF, only to have the BARBARIAN throw him out the window for harrassing the BARBARIAN'S girl. You see how this works?

It doesn't matter if whatever you are writing falls to pieces. The important thing is to be writing - we can always fix the pieces, later. We can't fix something that isn't there. Once you finish writing for the night, take a few minutes to think about what you want to cover tommorrow. That way, your unconcious mind can start putting ideas together over night.

Eeep! Plot munchies!

This ... happpens ... every ... single ... year.

About 48 hours out from Nano, I suddenly felt my plot is not only the most boring and ill conceived plot ever, and my characters the least interesting or original, but I'm writing in entirely the wrong genre. Suddenly, I want to write about Dragons. And Elves. And Cthulhu. And romance. On Mars. And pretty much everything except Donna and her bloody half assed attempts at solving mysteries.

I've got the plot munchies, in other words.

Plot munchies stem from two sources. Either, you're losing confidence in your story and yourself, which is perfectly natural and the way it should be. In which case you have to stick to it with bloody minded determination. Or, your creative imagination is prompting you to address some problem you haven't identified. In which case, you need to work out what it is and sort it, otherwise you'll get blocked.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to tell which type of plot munchies you're experiencing.

I think I've managed to sate mine for now. I gave some serious thought to my plot (such as it is - being on holiday has meant nil planning has been done in the last week ... oh, well) and decided I didn't like it anymore. So I chanaged it. In my original version, my victim was a fairly anonymous person called Victor.

Problem was, I didn't see poor Victor as a real person. People could have killed him all day and I wouldn't have cared. He was just a corpse for the other characters to have a mystery about. So I'm changing focus and instead of dead victor in a warehouse, it'll be the killing of a school girl that Donna is called on to investigate. And even though Lucy dies before the start of the story, I care, and I want to find out why and who killed her.

Interestingly, a lot of my planning for the murder of Victor can be transferred straight over to the new conception of the story - a hint that my original version wasn't right. But now it all seems a better fit.

Still, 24 hours to go, for me. Plenty of time to change my mind again.

My sorry example

I first did Nanowrimo back in 2004. That, my friends, seems a long time ago now. I've done it every year since then, and always managed to hit 50K. One thing I know for sure - reaching 50k is the least of your worries.

In my first Nanowrimo, I set out to write a murder-mystery. I had a vague plot and one scene in my head - someone standing on a beach at night, coming back to their senses after a drunken blackout. My idea was that the character - named Bob, after a friend - would be framed for a series of grisly murders. In trying to clear his name, Bob would discover that he was, infact, a killer, though perhaps not the killer.

It didn't work out like that. A couple of days in, I introduced a character called Angie, simply to boost the word count. She and Bob proceeded to spend a lot of time having sex, travelling to Amsterdam and smuggling drugs. None of this was foreseen or planned.

Ultimately, I was about to reveal that Bob was a mass murderer when I realised something was Very Wrong. I'd forgotten to include any murders. Not even one. Bob and Angie had been so busy with all the other stuff, I'd forgotten what I'd originally intended to write about. It was a fantastic ride, however, starting two weeks into November and writing 4000 words a day, without time to think ahead or plan. Inevitably, I learned a lot of tricks to keep the narrative going in these circumstances.

In 2005, I started out with a main character who bore some resembleance to myself - a grumpy 30 something school teacher. He would investigate a killing at the school where he taught. After a few thousand words, I realised my narrator was dull and I hated him. I introduced a co-narrator, a female student with miles of attitude. She was good fun to write, and eventually I abandoned the luckless teacher completely. Ultimately, lack of plot was my undoing - I couldn't decide who was behind the killing, and so I simply set pieces all the way to 50,000 words, hoping one of them would spark something. It never happened. I realised that perhaps - just perhaps - some forethought might be helpful.

So in 2006, I wrote a brief plan, just a couple of paragraphs. It was a hardboiled murder-mystery that started well, but as the story evolved, I became uncomfortable. I couldn't see how I could reconcile the two plot strands that were developing - and they had to be reconciled, otherwise the story would make no sense. I didn't manage this reconciliation. Post nano, I seperated them completely into two stories. I expanded one of them into a full length, 62,000 word story. While still very imperfect, it had a begining, a middle and an end, a satisfactoy number of people were killed, I knew (by the end) who did it and eventually solved the mystery.

2007 saw me revisit the hardboiled genre, and my long sufferring Private Detective, Jack Callaghan. I sent him to a small Southern town to investigate the killing of one of his old army buddies. There was racism, murder, a gun fight in a blazing house and then (because you can never have too much of a good thing) a fist fight in a blazing house, a gorgeous and evil woman (you need those), a noble and lovely woman (you need those also) and of course thwarted love - for my one golden rule is Jack Can Never Be Happy.

I slogged away at it through November, December and into January, eventually reaching 92,000 words, some of which weren't bad. There were still flaws. Most noteably, I forgot to introduce my killer until the scene where he was unmasked - once again I'd followed too many interesting diversions and lost track of where I was - but nothing that couldn't be fixed with editing.

Last year's nano, on the other hand, was a horrible, mishapen thing, that lurched and blundered hopelessly about until I reached 50,ooo words, at which point I wrote the most unconvincing wrap-up in the history of detective fiction, and tried to forget the whole thing.

LESSONS TO LEARN FROM THIS:

First, and most important - Keep trying. I had to do three nanos before I managed to come out with something like a real narrative, and that was after extensive reworking of a botched nano effort.

Second - Don't get bogged down in details or too hung up on your plot. If there is something that you really want to explore and it is going to take yo away from your plot, go with it. This is you unconscious mind feeding you new ideas. If it doesn't work out, you can always have a character wake up, yawn, and say "I've just had the strangest dream ..."

Third - Remember that Nanowrimo is more about fun, practice, learning writing tricks and good writing habits than it is about producing a great novel. You might get lucky and produce something that can be hanmmered into shape, though perhaps not first time.

Fourth - Don't write about characters who are very dear to you. Some people carry characters around in their hearts and can't bear to see them sullied in the dirty scrum of Nano. If Tarquin, Prince of Arongier is a character you deeply love, have been developing for years and want to write great book around, don't bring him into Nano. Find someone you don't care too much about, who can take a few knocks. Believe me, by the end of Nano, you'll care for him or her a lot more than that simpering fool, Tarquin.

Planning versus winging it

In the final analysis, there are two types of people - those who, if they were trying to write a novel in a month, would plan it carefully, and those who wouldn't.

I've never been a planner. Every year, I try. I am full of good intentions. Each October I dutifully start trying to think about what I will write in November. I write murder-mysteries, and the received wisdom is that a mystery should be planned. You have to figure out the clues and red-herrings, the intricacies of the murders, the unravelling leading to a satisfying denouement. Most of all, you need to know who killed who, and why.

Perhaps. So far, however, that hasn't been my experience. I find the openess of making up a situation, throwing in complications and then trying to work out some sort of feasible solution to be far more fun and creative than plodding my way through a dull outline, prepared weeks before and that I am already bored of.

Still, each to his or her own. I do some rudimentary outlining in the latter stages of writing, once I've created a horribly complicated mess and need to start making sense of it. Usually, 2/3 to 3/4 of my way through a story, I'll look back at what I've got and work out where I want to be at the end of it. It is only at this stage that I'll decide who my killer is, and the crucial evidence needed to convict him or her. Often, this involves pretending that I've written stuff that isn't in the story at all - whole characters have to be magically incorporated, events recalled that will only occur in subsequent drafts. It is messy, but it works for me.

Usually, I set out 20 steps to get me to this stagem, and aim to write at least a thousand words for each step. They are very generall, i.e. "Jack follows Letitia to the secret house and confronts her." Though vague, I could cheerfully write about that for a couple of thousand words.

This should not be confused with the outlining method known as Phasing - where the story is broken down into literally hundreds of little steps, and you aim to write about 250-500 words for each step. I find this idea fascinating, but alien. How can you plan out a novel in advance like that, whe you don't know what the characters will actually do when they are confronted by the situations and dangers in the plot? Because you'll find your characters do start to do odd things that you don't expect.

I think a lot of the people who find themselves in trouble during nano are the ones who have planned out their novels in detail, and then find the story they want to write no longer matches the one they planned. Because they've invested so much in the plan, they don't have the confidence to wing it, become fustrated or bored, and quit.

Also, bluntly, I can't imagine spending so much time planning something out like that - no wonder people get fustrated waiting for the 1st of November starting pistol only to find they've completely lost interest. Their story has become old and stale to them before they even start to write it. Also - and this is a particular risk - they's had too much time to see the holes in their plot and this has discouraged them. It is a lot easier to look back at 50,000 words of semi-sensible novel and identify the bits that need to be fixed, than it is to set out to write something you know in advance will be flawed.

So, don't be afraid to plan in big strokes rather than intimate detail. And don't be afraid to follow your wild whims. And, if you are one of these people who likes to plan everything out in advance, don't be afraid to ignore the whole of this message.

Discipline

I've suggested you need to be selfish. Alas, there is more to it than that. You need discipline. After all, if you don't write 50,000 words, you'll have alienated you family and friends, neglected you pets and jeopardized your health for nothing.

The image of writers as louche dandies who spend their time making witty retorts and sleeping with attractive members of the opposite sex is a myth. When I'm not writing, my time is spent talking to a three year old who thinks singing "Heads, shoulders, knees and toes ... and poo!" is witty. The only person I get to sleep with is my wife and she's generally asleep, as in actually asleep, by the time I've finished writing for the night.

Writing is a skill and you needs to practise regularly to develop it. Some atheletes might be born with stupendous ability, but won't achieve their full potential without training. Thus it is with writers. Damn few get published without slogging through mundane, fustrating, demoralising and often seemingly pointless tasks. Nanowrimo will probably turn out to be one of these training exercises.

What sort of habits do you need to develop? I think the most important is regularity. Make sure you write same time, same place. This will train your creative imagination to 'turn on' at the right time. Ever had a great idea at 3am and not been able to remember it in the morning? That's creativity running amok. Often, I might have only a vague idea of what I'll going to write. After a hundred words or so, something comes to me, apparently out of nowhere, and it's great. That's because my creativity knows not to waste its time giving me dazzling insights at 3am - it knows that it will have an opportunity to reveal them later on. I've also found that regualr writing means my writing time is used efficiently - on a very good night, I can hammer out 2,000 words in an hour. Again, this because my creativity knows when to move from neutral to high gear.

I recommend you make a point of setting aside your writing time now, though nano is three weeks away. Get into the habit of sitting down and writing something - even if it is just a journal, a short story, or planning for nano - to get your creativity trained. This will also help you physically accustom to a writing routine - nowadays I skip lunch and have a big supper to give me the late evening energy burst I need. It will also allow those around you to get used to the idea that you'll be hogging the computer and really want to be left alone at certain times.

Another discipline issue - ration your time on the Nanowrimo forum. It is addictive. It is easy to squander an entire month procrastinating with other procrastinators, telling each other that you can do it and you'll start soon and your ideas are all good. They might be, but if they don't get written down, they're worthless. Don't spend your precious time telling other people how hard it is. Complaining and commiserating won't make writing easier or your word count bigger. If you are hooked, use it as a reward for hitting a goal: "1,000 words by 9 o'clock, then half an hour on the website." But stick to that, otherwise you'll find you've lost a whole day without writing anything.

Initial advice for Nano newbies

First thing you have to come to terms with is that Nanowrimo doesn't last one month. Not unless your some sort of agraphobic freak on a drip with a colostomy bag. When you think about the amount of time you will actually spend writing, tt probably lasts between 60 and 120 hours, depending on how long you can actually commit to writing. So that's between two and a bit and five days. So during your actual writing time, you're looking at about 400-800 words an hour.

That, I hope, makes you somewhat nervous.

Of course, there are crazy people who spend ten hours at a time typing away but I don't think you want to be like them. Not only must they literally have NO LIFE, but it must be excruiating spending so much time with your novel. By the end of the month, your novel will be like a party, full of people you hate. You won't be able to leave soon enough. One of my big motivations for writing quickly is Getting It Over With.

Every year, I get newbies who say they can maybe write for 15 minutes, twice a week, and ask if I think that will be enough ... No. You need to work out how much time you will need, and make sure you can find it in the day. Doesn't matter if it is 11pm-1am, or 1pm-3pm when the child is having his afternoon nap. For me, it usually 9pm-Midnight. Hopefully, at that time, the children are in bed. My wife is very understanding and just leaves me alone.

So the first batch of questions I want you to answer are:

- When you are going to write? I'm a creature of habit, and I think you can train your creativity to switch on, if you develop good work habits.

- Are you being realistic about how much you will be able to write in that time? If you are going to amble along at 200 words an hour, you're going to need to set aside a lot more time. And you need to know this in advance.

- How will you make sure you aren't going to be disturbed? Family and friends often think 'support' means annoying you and distracting you. Children will demmand attention if they know you're trying to focus on something other than them. I can't see any hope for someone who says "I'll write 1667 words in half an hour while the children are watching Blue's Clues."

Selfishness

Nanowrimo means you have to be selfish.

The most important thing you have is time. November is thirty days. You won't believe how many demands will be made on your time in that month. People will badger you, organisations pester you, employers require stuff of you. The army will try to draft you, government departments will mix you up with someone totally unlike you in every aspect, who isn't doing nanowrimo but who is committing tax fraud, and the police will try to arrest you. Pirates - for where there is nanowrimo, there are sure to be pirates - will try and pressgang you into their crew and take you off on exotic, swashbuckling adventures. But you have to be selfish, and learn to say no to everyone.

November is your month. Make sure people know it. They won't listen, and will try and pester you anyway with their petty concerns, but if you tell people in advance, then you can say "I did warn him your honour, that I needed to be left alone in November but he didn't listen," when you're in court for punching your (ex) friend for disturbing you on the 29th of November. So tell people. Then, insulate yourself.

Insulating yourself is making sure the people who are too selfish to heed your selfish demands for privacy, don't get near you. Borrow a friends big, ugly dog so that people won't come knocking at you door, switch the ringer on your phone to off, uninstall Messenger and close your facebook account so that your friends can't bother you with their useless lives.

Yes, your best friend may have spilt up with X (though you aren't sure who X is, you can't put a face to the name, because they've only been going out a week, and all her boyfriends are bland and interchangeable, anyway), and she might want you to comfort her and pamper her and tell her that she's a worthwhile human being and all men are swine. But she's got the rest of her life to get over her broken heart (and it isn't like she hasn't had practice), and you've only got one short month to complete Nano. Don't let anyone spoil it, no matter how much they want to.

So be prepared to be as selfish as it takes. Writers aren't necessarily nice people, but they are writers.

Rewards

Okay, I know I come across as a bit heavy and negative _ I prefer to call it realistic - but it isn't all bad.

I want you to plan a series of rewards for yourself through out the month. Work out how many words you need to have written by certain key dates (taking into account days where you may be unavoidably away from the keyboard) and work out a schedule of rewards for when (not if) you achieve the targets on schedule.

Typically, rewards are weekly treats and ased on the standard 1667 words per day. So if you hit 11669 words by the end of Day 7, you get your first reward. Obviosuly, it you are aiming for more words per day, or if you're going to miss the first week of writing, your reward chart has to refelect that.

Perhaps you can decide that if you're still on target after the first week, you can buy yourself a book, CD or DVD, or see a movie, or have a relaxing bath with your beloved (if he/she wants anything to do with you after being ignored for a week), or whatever works for you. But make it something fairly substantial and special, so it is a genuine reward, not something you'd do anyway.

If you are so minded, you could make up a cute little race-track style game with 30 steps on it, the rewards marked out, and move a little token representing yourself along it as you progress.

BUT (and this is the important part) you can't just give yourself the rewards if you don't hit your targets. If you don't stay on schedule, you don't get the CD. Not ever. Well, at least not until next year. Otherwise, where is the motivation?

So no "Boo-hoo-hoo, I feel so sorry for myself I'll buy it for me anyway." This is about motivating yourself to achieve, and rewarding achievement. If you're going to give yourself the treat regardless, there is no motivation.

The tipping point

Sometime within the next few hours, you'll reach two important milestones.

First, you'll find you're suddenly in Week Three. The nightmare of Week Two is over. You (probably) survived, and if you're readng this you are (probably) thinking about continuing. Week Three is when people realise that Nano is Hell.

In Week One, enthusiasm and the giddy excitement of madcap excitement carries most nano-ers along. Before they know it, it is over. Yup, a few run into difficulties straight away, but Week One is a time of wild optimism. "So what, I've only got 500 words, and I've just had both hands amputated. I can so do this!"

Week Two is usually pretty tough. Dismal reality sets in. What had seemed like a flurry of plot ideas turns out to have been a plot unravelling. Characters that seemed 'mysterious' in Week One are now just stubborn. Those foolish enough to credit muses for their inspiration, generally discover that muses are fickle, work-shy slackers who bolt at the first sign of trouble.

Week Three is different and yet the same. Some are horrified to find that the problems of Week Two don't magically disappear in Week Three. Others realise just how bloody big a task they've set themselves. Others start to feel the effects of nano's pressure cooker environment - they get stressed, they get sick, they give up.

Some people hang on, bitterly punching out words, because somewhere in Week Three, they will reach 25K - the half way stage. And when they do, they think, they'll feel better. Half way! Wheeee!

That's the other milestone you'll reach today. Halfway. That didn't take very long, did it? Like childhood, the first two weeks take forever, but suddenly hey are all over and you're left blinking and thinking, "Where did all that time go? How come I didn't manage to do anything more with it?"

Still, if you're on target, you should be halfway to 50K by now. So it's all downhill (in a good way) form here, isn't it? Wrong. Halfway is just that. When you hit 25K, you'll feel like a train wreck. You'll be tired, sick, depressed, confused, saddled with a plot that you have no faith in and characters you hate. And you'll be acutely aware that once you reach 25K, you have another 25K to go. And you won't be sure that you want to do it. And you won't know if you can to do it. Because doing it once hurt like Hell. So doing it twice will hurt like two Hells. And that can't be good.

That's when you need to keep on going. 25K isn't anything special. Everytime I've reached it, I've found it to be an anti-climax. But somewhere between 25K and 35K (usually 28K to 32K), I reach what I call the tipping point. Suddenly I realise - really properly realise - that I've written a whole lot more than I still have to write. If all the words I'd written were piled up, and another pile of the words I still have to write was put beside it, the first pile would be much bigger than the second pile.

And suddenly, you realise that you're going to damn well do this thing, no matter what. Up until now, you might have said you're going to do it, but it's always been with a little sliver of doubt. But now you know you can, and you will. And this time you really mean it. And that's the tipping point. From there on, it isn't easy. But it is easier. The last 20K or so can still be painful, but somehow you know you're going to get there.

So ... um ... yeah. Just keep going. No matter how much it hurts. There isn't much more to say. If you're behind, you need to catch up, this weekend, otherwise you won't make it - simple as that. If you're on target, you need to keep plugging away, because falling behind now can be fatal. So blink helplessly at the computer screen, contemplate the impossibility of writing another 25K in two weeks, and start doing it, anyway.

The importance of found objects

Belopw is ann email I sent out to m 2007 newbies, descrining the miserable situation I was in at ... gosh ... just about this time last year!

I've included it because, first of all, I want to emphasise how typical it is to feel anguished at this stage. The email that I sent out in 07 was simply titled 'Ugh' because that was how I felt. You'll notice that I complain about endless recapping and rehashing stuff I already know, in the hope of finding something new in it. I am in exactly the same situation this year - Jack is trailing about, talking to people, waiting for someone to say something remarkable that opens up the nxt avenue.

Second, note the comment about the drunk in the field and the mysteriously absent wife. That was thrown in as a bit of filler to help me reach my word count one night. I didn't plan on it being important in any way, shape or form. It was just something I found and decided to chuck in for the Hell of it. But it did, in fact, turn out to be absolutely essential. The killing of Effie Burden cracked the case. So don't be afraid to explore random little avenues that you notice - you never know where they will lead, but it will PROBABLY (I promise nothing) be somewhere good.

Here's the original email from 07:

It had to happen. After three or four nights (why does it feel like November has already been going on for weeks?) where ideas had been bouncing out onto the page, I found myslef stuggling tonight.

The problem is that up until now I've been setting up - introducing the setting, characters and backstory. This can be done in a pretty random manner, which is what I thrive on. But now - after 16K - my detective has to start detecting stuff, making connections and uncovering clues, motives and DARK SECRETS. And winging that can be dicey.

So tonight I sent him to talk to the journalist who puts out the local paper. I figured that the journalist would be a good source of information. Perhaps some inspiration
would strike and I'd be able to run with it. Didn't happen tonight. So I spent 2,000 words recapping and recounting as the journalist and the 'tec discussed one of the murders (there have been three so far, all taking place before the narrative started). It didn't take long to write, but it was infuriating to find myself baffled. Tommorrow, they'll carry on talking. If they don't find something else out, I'll have to try something else.

If all else fails, I've got an ace up my sleeve - the other night I improvised a scene where the detective stumbles upon a drunk in the fields. They swapped some dialogue, and the drunk quoted ominous verses from the books of Job and Revelation. All pretty cliched. But when the tec helped the drunk back to his shack, I didn't get the sense that his woman - importantly, not his wife - was there. So I didn't write her in. I implied she was next door, ignoring her drunken lover. But it struck me after writing that there might be a much more sinister reason why she didn't come out.

So if the current killings don't inspire, maybe I'll introduce another one. Sounds silly? Yes, it is. But since thisI'm using nano to explore ideas, rather than flesh out a pre-plkanned plot, I can always cut out the other killings. Heck, I'm even thinking about cutting out my main character and replacing him with a local. But not until December.

Incidentally, the whole novel turned out to hinge on that one random encounter, and a second diversion I employed, where I sent Jack to a Wild Party at a backwoods speakeasy. There he met lots of people, alll of whom would try to do terrible things to him later on. It is a GOOD SIGN, I thin, that I'm sending Jack to another party now, in 2008.

Feeling the burn

Week Two is definately upon me. I can tell because I'm exhausted, dispirited, lost in a plot I don't understand and which doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I'm aware that nano is having a knock on to my 'real' life, because tiredness and confusion don't go away just because you click 'Save' and update your word count. I'm aware of IMPORTANT STUFF not getting done at work, chronic exhaustion affecting my alertness and decision-making, and a creeping depression tainting my life. This is what Week two does to you.

Little voices are starting to whisper in my head, "It's not worth it." More serious voices are question if I shouldn't re-prioritise, take some of the strain off myself. And Nano is the only thing that can go. I tell you this so you know, if you are feeling the same, that it is normal. Every year, round about this stage, thousands of people just give up and walk away, because they decide it is too tough. In all probability, you've got at least 30K to go, and it is natural to wonder if it is possible. Fir 15-20K has taken this much out of you, how will you feel after another 30?

It is natural, but false. 10K to 30K is the worst part, in my experience. Every year, between these two points, I feel like giving up, because it just seems too hard. But if I can carry on slogging to 30K, suddenly it gets a lot more 'do-able,' as the amount written suddenly seems a lot bigger than the amount left to write. So just hang in there, if you are stuggling. Keep on posting the 1667, if that is all you can manage. This is what I am doing at the moment - the bare minimum. If you are behind, stop the rot, try to write a bit extra and catch up. But don't not write up. Keep going. Fail better.

Week Two Cometh

I reached my first Nano 08 milestone, reaching 15,000 words (15,021 to be exactm, thank you very much) by the end of Week One.

Right now, I'm on the up-swing. SO far, I've managed to keep myself focused on my mainplot line (albeit, I don't know what it is yet) and some ideas are starting to emerge. ALso, I'm taking my time and not lunging wildly at ideas. It actually feels, kinda like the opening sequence of a novel should do. Though really badly written.

Week Two is traditionally Hell Week for nanoer. A lot of writers burn out in Week Two. Reality kicks in as the giddy thrill of Week One wears off. "Woo-Hoo! I'm writing!" is replaced by "I've got to keep on writing for how much longer?" The build-up of fustrations, mistakes and general disgust at your owen immense uselessness reaches a critical point. Suddenly every little chore that you've been avoiding for months becomes much more interesting.

So eek Two is often where you will win or lose. If you can stay on target through out Week Two, you will probably win - by the end, you'll be on almost halfway. From there on, you can stagger to the winning line. But if you do fall behind, you might find there just isn't time left to catch up.

So it's important to keep focused, turn up, write, hit your targets. Keep on top of things. Continue to be selfish. Slog on.

Diversion #6 - recapping

This is a useful tool when you need a few hundred words somewhere, which can also help you untangle sticky plot problems and develop character. I've only realised how I've been using it this year. It is a new thing for 2008.

A recap is very simple and exactly what the name suggests. Someone says, "What the Hell is going on here?" and another character fills him/her in on the action to date. A summary of some key plot points of the novel. Depending ont he characters, this could be a coupel of sentences, or it could be a couple of pages. If the latter, you'll probably need to trim it down in editing, but don't worry about that now - let the characters talk.

This doesn't just eat up some words, but it can also help you work things out for yourself. THis is especially good if you are winging it. It is also useful if you have noticed an inconsistency in your plot that is bugging you - you have a quick recap, writing it the way you now want it to be, and the nagging feeling of writing incoherent mince should vanish. I've already done this a couple of times this year, as I'm winging it and my plot is veering around all over the place. Having Jack recap what he knows with other characters allows me to keep what is gonig on, and what Jack knows, straight in my head.

Of course, you have to be careful how you stage the recap - characters aren't just going to spill everything they know to everyone. Logical points will suggest themselves to you - when they meet someone they can trust, or someone on whom they will have to rely, or someone who can give them useful information or resources.

The last category is important, particularly in the genre I'm writing in, detective fiction. When Jack does a recap, it is a chance for another character to add a bit of information to the puzzle. I've developed a couple of useful leads this way, which are helping me build some sort of semblance of a plot. r if you are writing traditional fantasy, with a Band of Heros, when they recruit a new member, it is a fine time for a quick recap - "So, why are we seeking the amulet of Thurg?"

Another cool thing about recapping is it can help you develop character. Think about it. How would different characters describe their experiences? Honestly, or with exaggeration? Eloquently, or mumbling almost incoherently? Would they speak, or write?

(Joseph Conrad, the Greatest Novelist Who Ever Lived, used recapping extensively in The Greatest Novel He Ever Wrote, Nostromo - the story was such a mess of shifting time frames it was essential to help the reader keep track of what was going on! Sometimes it took the form of people talking, another occasion saw a character writing a letter effectively summarizing the first part of the book)

Some recapping may turn out to be redundant and vanish in the editing process - having the daughters recap how they went to a Wild Party, which occurred only a few pages before, might no tbe necessary, but writing it in just now might help you keep going. ALso, of course, you could have fun with that idea - why not have the girls recap what happened to their father, first of all, and then to their friends? Think of the divergent versions you'd get to write. ANd because it is giving useful information to you and the reader about characters, it isn't simply word-vomit.

Remember rewards (& backing up)

Two important points.

Remember to reward yourself. If you've hit a milestones, go out and buy yourself the reward you promised yourself. If you didn't set any rewards, or you're one of the newbies that joined at the last minute (or after the last minute), then set youself some now. It might be hitting 11669 by the end of Day 7 (that's where you should be if you've been writing 1667 per day), or whatever target you think is both reasonable and challenging.

For the record, if I can hit 15K by Friday night, I'll be buying my first reward on Saturday. I'm thinking of taking a hour to myself to browse a second hand bookshop and find something bizarre and delightful - the sort of thing you can't get in a mainstream bookshop. That means I need to keep slogging away. If it seems I'm going wild wioth the word count just now, remember I am front loading like a fiend - Junior Exams are coming up at the end of this week and that may knock me out for a night or two, and then in Week Two I'll have a night off when I have to attend Honours Awards for the seniors. So I'm trying to insulate myself against those imminent calamities.

The other important thing is remember to back up your writing! If you don't you're almost sure to suffer some miserable disaster which results in you losing everything you've writen. And that is the WORST THING in the ENTIRE WORLD. So back up. I simply email my novel to my hotmail acocunt. That way. it is safe in cyberspace if something happens to this computer.

Third thing (Yeah, I know, I only said two things - but I lied) - can you update me on your word count and your morale? Rate morale on the following scale:

1 - I'm taking up residence in the Nanowrimo Ate My Soul Forum
2 - I'm suffering, but I'm ploughing on.
3 - I'm doing okay, I guess. I'm not exactly enjoying this, but I'm still doing it.
4 - I'm doing good.
5 - I post joyous messages in the This is Going Better Than Expected Forum.

For the record, I'm probably a 3 or perhaps even a 4. So far, things are going really well. I'm hurting, physically, with flu and tiredness, and so on, but I'm enjoying the writing. I don't know what I'm writing about - I literally have to cast my mind back and screw up my forehead to remember what is happening in the story - but it is flowing easily enough, and it also makes some sort sense. You can not ask for any more than that during Nano.

Also can you see any major obstacles coming up or things that are worrying you?

DAY THREE

Day Three is a milestone in Nanowrimo, official or otherwise. By the end of Day Three, you should have completed 5,000 words, if you are writing even the bare minimum every night. Any less than 5,000 words by the end of Day Three, and you are in trouble. Nano is short and brutal - you don''t have much time to make up words, most of your time is simply spent getting the nightly quota down. So if you miss a little here, a little there, it is easyto find yourself falling further behind, even though you're showing up every nigh. Think about what you're planning on writing tonight - if it isn't going to get you to 5,000, you need to rethink.

(n.b. If you've previously indicated you're pursuing some idiosyncratic schedule and perhaps won't be writing much in the first week, or whatever, that's fine - as long as you know what is going on and have a realistic plan to complete by the end of the month.)

Whether or not you're on target, you will shortly start to feel the effects of fatigue. If you are on a roll, you might get another couple of days of good writing in before you start to feel weary, but it will almost certainly happen this week. For those of you who have strggled from Day One, you'll already be wracked by physical and spiritual exhaustion. You have to be tough, and keep forcing yourself to plough on. It will get better. Maybe not for another 25 days, but it will.

Usually Day three sees the first signs of freinds and family starting to seriously impinge. Until now, they may have been unhelpful, unsupportive or annoying, but Day Three or Day Four is when they start to really irk. This is because they are starting to feel the effects of your commitment to Nano, and they dislike it. ALso, perhaps unconsciously, you are starting to miss them a bit as well. Be strong. Make sure they know the rules. Be blunt. Relationships can be saved in December. You warned them. They need to listen. This won't be the last time you do this, so they'd better work it out now.

Beware burnout and disillusion

The first days of Nanowrimo are always hectic. Either you whirl away at a mad rate and write a huge number of words, or you plod along at a painfully slow rate and no matter how many words you write, the target for the day just seems impossibly far away ...

On top of that, I got nanoflu on Saturday, which made writing a fairly miserable affair. This is usual - looking abck over my notes from last year, I got the flu at the start of Nano 07 and 08 as well. Mostl likely you'll get it this week, also. It is one of the Nanobeast's ploys. Don't let it work.

Some other things to watch out.

First, burn out. If you make a great start, that's great. But it is early days. Burnout is a killer - people decide they can't be bothered anf give up. They might have great plots and characters and all that, but they get tired of staring at the screen and pounding out words, night after night.

There are more interesting things out there, to be sure. Compared to sex, drugs and rock and roll, or even a good book that someone else has written, Nano is a pretty dull way to spend your free time. Or maybe giving up that free time makes people realise how much they love their partner/child/cat and they'd rather spend their time with them.

Just remember why you're doing this. You want to be a writer, right?

Second, disillusion. It is okay to get sick of your plot and characters. I realised I was going to have a very long Novemeber after only a couple of hundred words. My nicely planned out plot seemed silly and it really hurt writing even just 200 words to cover thos plot points ... Again, this is typical. Looking back at what I've said before, I thought that I was writing the worst guff I'd ever written and was hating the whole sorry experience.And now in 2009, I'm pretty sure that this is the weakest nano I've ever written.

Novemeber is not the time to make judgement calls. Just carry on with it. When you revist thiwhat you write this month, you'll be amazed at how not-rubbish it is.

There's a long way to go yet. And though the first 3 weeks of nano can be unmitigated Hell, the last fortnight is a rush like nothing you've ever experienced. So keep going, no matter how much you don't want to.

DAY ONE

You absolutely have to hit your word count for Day One. Even if it means staying up to 3am you have to get that 1667 words (or whatever targetyou set) nailed. Otherwise, you'll go to bed miserable and guilty, instead of warmed by the glow of having faced the Nanobeast and survived the first round.

By now you should have worked out your daily word quota. I'm going for 2000 words a day. I have a vague plan - a lot vaguer than it was, after yesterday's attack of plot munchies - but it doesn't amount to much. How the Hell am I going to write 2000 words?

My first step is "Donna is asked to try to find out what happened to a missing schoolgirl." That's got to be spun out to 2000 words. I'm breaking that down into five chunks, each of about 400 words.

1. PROLOGUE. A spooky opening where Donna experiences the final moments of an unidentified victim.
2. CHAPTER ONE. Donna is contacted by the mother of a missing schoolgirl, Judy, and is asked to help.
3. Donna goes to the mother's house and meets her.
4. The mother specifies she wants Donna to use a Ouija board to communicate with the spirit world.
5. Donna, reluctantly, complies and receives a garbled message suggesting murder.

So, that's 5x400 words, and looking pretty do-able. And each part has a purpose. But I could break it down even further.

1. PROLOGUE. A description of the final moments of an unidentified victim, from their point of view. Purpose - a dramatic opening, setting the appropriate menacing tone.
   
2. We discover this is actually being expereinced by Donna, the MC. Purpose - to establish that Donna believes her psychic powers are genuine. Also, a bit of misdirection, as the reader should assume this is what happened to the missing schoolgirl we are about to meet. Which is not, infact, the case.
3. CHAPTER ONE. Donna receives a phone call from the mother of a missing school girl.
4. The mother explains she wants Donna to try to contact her daughter, who she believes is dead.
5. Donna travels to the mother's house, and meets the mother. She observes the mother is morbidly obese and either too ashamed, or incapable, of coming to vsit Donna's house.
6. Donna observes the living room of the mother's house, noting various items. Purpose is to establish that Donna is observant and intuitive - there is a concurrent rational explanation for her deductions f you don't like the psychic option.
7. The mother drags out a Ouija board and asks Donna to use it.
8. Donna reacts with disgust, though she doesn't show it. Purpose it to show, again, that Donna is genuine in her intentions if not in her gift - she dsislike parlour tricks and showmanship, and regards the Ouija Board as silly.
9. She uses the Ouija board, concentrating on a photograph on the mother's mantelpiece - the missing girl playing soccer with her school team. This will allow Donna to identify the girl when she encounters her, as she'll have a clear idea what she looks like. A lso allows her to unconsciously register her involvement with sports.
10. After completing the seance, the board has spelled out a garbled message that might indicate murder - though crucially the time frame is lacking. The mother takes this as meaning her daughter has been murdered. Donna is surprised by the strange satidsfaction she seems to take in this.

So now I'm looking at 10x200 words to complete this 'step.'

There is a trade off, because you can focus so much on breaking down the action into chunks that you lose more time than you gain, and it may also lead to a feeling of trundling along the steps of a pre-planned route with no scope left for flair or creativity. So you'll have to decide how much preplanning you do, and how far aherad. I'm aiming to 'map out' each night's work, but some of you, I know, already have the whole novel planned out. Some of you have nothing at all. I salute you all!

Oops, I did it again

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.