'narti's NaNo tips
Mon, Nov. 5th, 2007 01:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annarti
Because I've been trying to rope people into doing NaNoWriMo this year and the excuse is always 'but I don't have any ideas D:' which is ridiculous because you're all bloody creative people and you DO have ideas, you just need to get at them =D And so I give you my tips for coming up with a story idea that can not only last for 50,000 words, but keep you interested and motivated enough to write all 50k in a single month. You've lost four days, but hey, so have I, and I still plan on winning again =P And if you're still whining by the end of this, screw you, you've got a year til the next NaNo rolls around =3
Number one~ Get a character!
I really don't need to pad this one out. You all know how to make a character with flaws and virtues and a past and family and all the rest of it. Make them really interesting, someone you fall in love with and won't want to throw in a ditch for the crows to peck at after the first three pages.
What are you good at? What always flows really well when you're writing it? Are you good at writing friendship between two people who've been friends since kindergarten? Write that! Are you good at writing small children? Write a small child! There's no need to challenge yourself to come up with something SOORIGINALOMG that nobody's ever seen it before. Writing 50k in a month is challenge enough in itself.
That said, detail is good. It gives you stuff to pad with and expand on and generally keep your interest =3
Number two~ Give him/her/it a goal
THIS is the big one. This is what gives you your idea. What drives your character? Why does he/she/it go on living? Does he want to become a famous chef? Does she want to kill the tyranic emperor? Is it a warrior set on rising in the ranks, or would it rather win the girl?
Number three~ Bugger them up
What would completely stuff the chances of finding the treasure? Throw a spanner in the works, something that might even completely change their goal. Maybe ninjas come and take his family hostage, and how he gets them back becomes the goal of the story, completely ignoring how he initally wanted to rob an art gallery.
Sort of a part of three, if you feel like it~ Antagonist
An entirely different character who you'll love just as much as the protagonist. They could be something to do with that inital goal we were talking about (want too knock the captain from his pedestal? Introduce the captain!) or the one buggering up all chances of reaching it, or just someone who's really, really annoying, whatever works. What's to stop you from writing half the story from the antagonist's point of view? Switch characters every chapter or two. It's like telling two entirely different stories at the same time, which is good for word count, your own interest as you're writing it, and everyone else's as they're reading it.
Honestly, this was one of the best bits of writing Bouquet last year. While technically~ it's all the same person, she had her different characters that I could play with, so it wasn't so much like slogging through an entire novel in a month, rather picking at little bits of story that all fitted together. Honestly, I think that's the key, just to break it up a bit and not try and bog yourself down in the one single storyline.
Part four~ Outline
May or may not work for you, but it was an absolute gold mine for me on Bouquet and has been so far on the rewrite of SH. Chapter-by-chapter outline, make it a nice round 30 so you can keep a handle on it, and go from there. Try not to have a chapter outlined with little more than "travels from Green Valley to Windy Point" because once you get there you'll stare at it wondering what the crap you were on about. Something has to happen. Maybe she's set upon by bandits on that trip to Windy Point. Maybe the horse breaks a leg. Maybe it's the first time he's been out on his own, and he has to build his campfire, shoot his rabbit, skin it, cook it, pitch a tent, shiver in the dark and do all that fun stuff for the first time. Include it in the outline. The more detailed you are there, the easier it'll be by the time you get to that chapter.
OH. ALSO. Outline stuff you can't wait to write. As you're writing the outline, you should be grinning and thinking how fun that chase will be to write, or how adorable he's going to be when he meets that person, or how much fun you'll have tormenting her when she finally returns home with nothing to show for it. If every chapter looks fun to write on the outline, then you're sweet =D
Part four~ Begin!
If you're not enthused by now, well, sucks to be you. Best thing I can think of is to start out with a scene that perfectly introduces your character (or, just for something wildly different, introduce the antagonist first, ooh) and the setting. Is your character a gifted swordsman, but you suck at writing fight scenes and are scared to start with that? Screw it, then. Show what he's like just after he's won a swordfight.
Introduce the various elements bit by bit and you'll get there.
You're all brilliantly creative people, I know that. I know you all have a hundred characters sitting on couches in the living room of your brain, admiring the artwork on the walls, flipping idly through the tv guide and generally sitting there bored out of their skulls. Give 'em something to do. The hard part's over. You've got your cast. Give 'em a goal, a purpose in life, some sort of obstacle, and you've got your story. All you have to do is write it >D
Number one~ Get a character!
I really don't need to pad this one out. You all know how to make a character with flaws and virtues and a past and family and all the rest of it. Make them really interesting, someone you fall in love with and won't want to throw in a ditch for the crows to peck at after the first three pages.
What are you good at? What always flows really well when you're writing it? Are you good at writing friendship between two people who've been friends since kindergarten? Write that! Are you good at writing small children? Write a small child! There's no need to challenge yourself to come up with something SOORIGINALOMG that nobody's ever seen it before. Writing 50k in a month is challenge enough in itself.
That said, detail is good. It gives you stuff to pad with and expand on and generally keep your interest =3
Number two~ Give him/her/it a goal
THIS is the big one. This is what gives you your idea. What drives your character? Why does he/she/it go on living? Does he want to become a famous chef? Does she want to kill the tyranic emperor? Is it a warrior set on rising in the ranks, or would it rather win the girl?
Number three~ Bugger them up
What would completely stuff the chances of finding the treasure? Throw a spanner in the works, something that might even completely change their goal. Maybe ninjas come and take his family hostage, and how he gets them back becomes the goal of the story, completely ignoring how he initally wanted to rob an art gallery.
Sort of a part of three, if you feel like it~ Antagonist
An entirely different character who you'll love just as much as the protagonist. They could be something to do with that inital goal we were talking about (want too knock the captain from his pedestal? Introduce the captain!) or the one buggering up all chances of reaching it, or just someone who's really, really annoying, whatever works. What's to stop you from writing half the story from the antagonist's point of view? Switch characters every chapter or two. It's like telling two entirely different stories at the same time, which is good for word count, your own interest as you're writing it, and everyone else's as they're reading it.
Honestly, this was one of the best bits of writing Bouquet last year. While technically~ it's all the same person, she had her different characters that I could play with, so it wasn't so much like slogging through an entire novel in a month, rather picking at little bits of story that all fitted together. Honestly, I think that's the key, just to break it up a bit and not try and bog yourself down in the one single storyline.
Part four~ Outline
May or may not work for you, but it was an absolute gold mine for me on Bouquet and has been so far on the rewrite of SH. Chapter-by-chapter outline, make it a nice round 30 so you can keep a handle on it, and go from there. Try not to have a chapter outlined with little more than "travels from Green Valley to Windy Point" because once you get there you'll stare at it wondering what the crap you were on about. Something has to happen. Maybe she's set upon by bandits on that trip to Windy Point. Maybe the horse breaks a leg. Maybe it's the first time he's been out on his own, and he has to build his campfire, shoot his rabbit, skin it, cook it, pitch a tent, shiver in the dark and do all that fun stuff for the first time. Include it in the outline. The more detailed you are there, the easier it'll be by the time you get to that chapter.
OH. ALSO. Outline stuff you can't wait to write. As you're writing the outline, you should be grinning and thinking how fun that chase will be to write, or how adorable he's going to be when he meets that person, or how much fun you'll have tormenting her when she finally returns home with nothing to show for it. If every chapter looks fun to write on the outline, then you're sweet =D
Part four~ Begin!
If you're not enthused by now, well, sucks to be you. Best thing I can think of is to start out with a scene that perfectly introduces your character (or, just for something wildly different, introduce the antagonist first, ooh) and the setting. Is your character a gifted swordsman, but you suck at writing fight scenes and are scared to start with that? Screw it, then. Show what he's like just after he's won a swordfight.
Introduce the various elements bit by bit and you'll get there.
You're all brilliantly creative people, I know that. I know you all have a hundred characters sitting on couches in the living room of your brain, admiring the artwork on the walls, flipping idly through the tv guide and generally sitting there bored out of their skulls. Give 'em something to do. The hard part's over. You've got your cast. Give 'em a goal, a purpose in life, some sort of obstacle, and you've got your story. All you have to do is write it >D
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no subject
Date: Sun, Nov. 4th, 2007 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sun, Nov. 4th, 2007 10:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Mon, Nov. 5th, 2007 10:06 am (UTC)Personally I hate planning my writing, and find when I do I never actually get to writing the thing. I kinda perfer to et the characters write themselves as it were - but i'm aware that this is a very strange way to do things and most people work beytter the opposite way. Whats more my way of doing it means shedloads more editing when you've finished it.