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.
Saturday, 10 October 2009
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
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:
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."
Monday, 5 October 2009
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.
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.
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.
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