Tips To Help Get You Through NaNoWriMo

This is the BIG week, and I don't mean Halloween! But that is a GREAT reason to celebrate!!

I'm talking about the 1st of November. Do you know what that means to THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND of authors?

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH

NaNoWriMo....

Every year, thousands of writers make a commit to get at least 50k words completed on their manuscript. That comes out to be a little under 1700 words a day.

1700 words? Easy!

Not so much! It's actually harder than you think. But I have some tips that might help get you through. After all, I'm a three time winner, full time mom of three-teenage boys, wife, full time day job, mom to three four-legged creatures, and friend to many, so I might know a few tips to help you out.

1) Tell everyone you interact with that you are participating!

I mean EVERYONE! This way they know that you are so busy with your free time that you don't have time to go to Macy's for that after Thanksgiving day sale. You have to treat this like it's a work project.

Head on over to the NaNoWriMo website and sign up! This is a peer pressure month for writers who are participating and having peers that you can rely on is a great way to make it through!

I have a few local writer friends who do participate and we have a meet at 9 pm meeting at an all night dinner where we hang out and write, write, write. It's great to have the support.

On the home front I have all planned meals. It doesn't take me long to write 1700 words, so I do have some free time, but it sure makes it easier to have the meals planned ahead. If you have a family and obligations like I do, make sure you have a supportive significant other that will run the kids here and there when need be.

2) Manuscript!

This is why you are here! Now....we only have a few days, so you should know your story/plot.  This is really a pansting activity for me, which means that I have a general story line, and characters, but I have no idea where they are going to take me. So I'm not so strict on an outline, but it's great to have an idea of the beginning, middle, and end.

3) Goals!

If you are like me and have other commitments, you have to manage your time! That is the biggest hurdle I have to overcome. I do this by making a daily realistic goal and this includes the weekends. I might make my daily goal 1500 words, but weekends I might do 2k a day. This is an example so I'm not even sure if the math adds up to 50k, but you get the picture.

4) Write, write, write!

You have to be flexible with your attitude. You might be one of those writers who have to edit as you go....DO NOT DO THIS WITH NANOWRIMO!

Write! Get the story on the page. If you have gotten to the end of your story, go back and add a twist. Don't worry if it doesn't flow because you are going to go back and edit anyways. This is the time to just write what your heart desires. You have to freedom! Isn't it great and doesn't it feel good to have that freedom???

5) Use the NaNoWriMo Website!

Go into the forums. Give support to others that are struggling! Take advantage of adding the words you have completed to your word count ticker!

There is nothing more motivating to getting to your goal then seeing that ticker closer and  closer to 50k! It really sings to my muse!

So what do you say? LET'S DO THIS!! Together!! Come on over to NaNoWriMo and friend me! I will support you!!

Find me on Facebook too! I'm going to be posting inspirational photos daily to help get us through it!!

A Writer's Greatest Learning Tool

OBSERVATION is A Writer's Greatest Learning Tool


Train yourself to observe

Whether your a writer, artist, or storyteller in other media, one of the greatest skills you can develop is keen observation. There are many who see, but who lack vision, and there are still others who have vision but lack the ability to constructively communicate that vision to others. If you are to become a good or even great storyeller, you must be able to observe, and observe in detail.

Observing is more than just looking

Ever meet someone who can glance at a scene for a few moments and then tell you a great number of details? Some people do this naturally, but most have developed this ability, deliberately or not, over time. It's one thing to look, it's another to really SEE. One way to develop this ability is to spend some time at an ordinary place and start keeping track of what's going on. An intersection or a bus stop can be useful.At first, keep it simple, like getting a good image of what the place looks like, then start counting how many people/animals/cars pass through. As time goes by, start paying attention to the various details, e.g., appearance of people, the kinds of cars going by, and so on. Over time you will start to notice differences in how people talk, walk, and gesture, types of shoes, etc. It can also help to take a snapshot once every so often, perhaps even from different angles.

If you're an artist, you better carry a sketchpad of some sort with you everywhere you go. You don't have to sit and create the world's greatest life drawing, but it will help to use your sketchbook to train yourself to catch the details and subtleties of movement, mood, lighting, etc. I know of one artist who spent a whole year drawing stick figures to train his figure composition skills to great effect.

Become a people watcher. Try not to be creepy about it, some people won't react well to what they think is some leering perv staring at their every move, and some may like it too much. Start with individuals, just focus on a few details at first, like movement or mannerisms, and soon the other details will become easier to retain and capture.

Watch movies, particularly some of the classics, like the Hitchcock thrillers. Use your pause button and you will find yourself learning a lot about setting a scene, mood, etc just through camera angles, establishing shots, and composition.

What is the sound of a captive audience?

Another, very overlooked aspect of observation training when it comes to comics (and a good deal of other kinds of literature) is listening. It is entirely possible to depict very distinct dialects and 'voices' without making your work look like it was written by someone with very bad grammar and spelling. In some cases bad grammar might be necessary, But it is usually overdone. Don't just listen to sounds, but observe the actions connected to and resulting from those sounds... the way a pickup's bed sways and the cargo rattles as it goes over some rocks, or the way a person flinches when there's a sudden noise. These can be used to create be dstinct, defining scenes that will give your stories more gravity in your reader/viewer's mind.

These principles can be applied to all the senses, and while your readers will probably never smell or taste your work, being conscious of the involvement of all the senses and emotions in the common and every day will better enable you to weave tales that will draw your readers in and capture their attention.



Sam Medina is an American writer from New Jersey. He is the creator of the popular award-winning webcomic series Jake the Evil Hare, and Darkfell: The Fetters of Wizardry. He received his BA from Princeton, and afterward served in the United States Marine Corps before going on to work as a stockbroker for a number of years, after which he founded started a wireless ISP company, and then opened a consulting firm which he operated until 2009, when he went began writing full-time with Jake the Evil Hare.

http://darkfell.com/
www.jaketheevilhare.com
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When to KILL A Character!

When to Kill ... A Character

During my current WIP, I've come to the conclusion that I may have to kill off one of my characters. This truth is something I have struggled with. I've poured hours into building him, researching his qualities, and now it could be that the next chapter is his last. 

Maybe you too are in the same predicament. Are you struggling with whether a character should perish? Before you hit the delete button, there are several things to consider. Here are my 5 tips:

1. Kill off a character to advance the plot. Sometimes for a story to increase in depth and complexity, someone has to die. Death requires an emotional reaction. By inputting  a "kill" or "death" scene into your story, it provides the reader with a better understanding of your surviving characters, especially your hero and heroine.
2. Kill off a character to increase elements of suspense and mystery. No mystery is complete without a dead body appearing. If your character has been well-developed, then your reader can't help but ask "who did it?" This will potentially keep the reader engaged and turning the pages in hopes of solving the mystery.
3. Kill off a character due to writing yourself in a corner. Sometimes when we write and allow the story to naturally develop, it could end up with a character going no where. Instead of trashing those 200 pages, you could kill the character off and still continue your story. This is good when it comes to a major battle scene. Let him play the hero...and go out with a bang.
4. Kill off your character because he is too unlikeable or too bland. If your character is unsalvageable, whereby editing him is still not making him 3- dimensional, and he has no purpose, then kill him off.  There is nothing worse than reading  a story with uninteresting characters. This could potentially make a reader stop reading your book. Don't give your reader a chance to become bored; instead, kill the character and bring new life to your story.
5. Merge the problem character with another character. Often, during rewrites, we notice how some characters are very alike- too much alike. In this case, take the stronger of the two and combine them into one character. Not only will it lower your character count, but it will prove less confusing for your reader.

However, disregard all of the tips above if your story needs for that character, i.e it can't progress without him in story, plot or complexity. If this is the case, then it is a good time to "almost" kill him. What would Harry Potter be if he'd died? And how great of a moment was it, when he lived?

Writing is about bringing imaginary people to life; sharing their stories and conflict. Sometimes that conflict can be all reaching and other times it circles a particular character like flies. By knowing when to rid your manuscript of characters that are weighing it down, you gain a more enjoyable read and a story that keeps the reader wanting more.

What would you add to the list? 

Tina Glasneck is the author of the suspense novel, THOU SHALL NOT, the first book in the /EKS/series. A criminal paralegal by day, she enjoys creating three-dimensional characters and coming up with new ways to kill people. She resides in central Virginia and is always looking for fodder in her everyday life.

If you would like to connect with Tina Glasneck, you can find her all over the web:

Author Blog: http://www.tinaglasneck.com

Blog: http://www.tanglemagazine.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TinaGlasneck

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/TinaGlasneck  (username @TinaGlasneck)

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I also wanted to give a quick shout-out to Digital Book Today for featuring A CHARMING CRIME! I had not idea and I'm so honored!!! Thank you!!

Fall back in LOVE with writing

Over the past week I have been on vacation at the beach. I try to go a couple of times a year when I know it's my hardest time to get words written on a page. Those times of the year include the dead middle of summer (now) and the deep middle of winter (January/February).

Writing a novel is like being in a relationship/marriage. You have to put into it to get something out of it. Some days we wonder if it's worth it, while other days we know we can't live without it.

What about the bickering?

Oh yes, we bicker with our characters, the direction they want to go is sometimes the direction we don't want them to go. So it's about compromise...just like a marriage. You say you aren't the marrying kind? Well I'm here to tell you that if you are writing a novel. . .you are the marrying kind!

What about the cheating?

Yes! WE all cheat on our novel when we hop over to the edits of the last novel or start to work on that new idea. But then the guilt settles in and you go back to the novel where you bicker with your characters, or don't invest in it, spend time with it.

Think back about the times that the idea of the novel was new and exciting. Think about the history you took in creating those characters. Visit the places the inspired you to write those novels. Just spend a little time in that novel and let the creative flow take you away to the world only you can create.

FALL BACK IN LOVE!

Ray Bradbury on writing

“Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for. (…)

If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories — science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”

— Ray Bradbury

It only takes going to the beach a couple times a year, where nothing stresses me out~not the day ins and outs of negative people, negative reviews, naysayers, or the daily grind of work, to find that true love of writing that I have in my heart. 

(Me writing the second novel, A Charming Cure, in the Magical Cure Series)

How do you fall back in love all over again with your writing?