Writing - - Page 2

12Nov 2012 by diannagunn

The Week Two Writing Challenge

Nanowrimo, Novels, Workshops, Writing, Writing, Writing: The Process

We're entering the second full week of November, and with any luck, you're almost halfway through your novel. Of course, not everyone is lucky. If you're one of the unlucky ones, you might be sitting three, five, even ten thousand words behind. You might not even have started, or you might be considering throwing your novel away and trying for a completely new one. No matter what the case is, don't despair. Remember that even if you don't reach 50, 000 words, you're still a winner for trying and you've still written more than you would have otherwise. Also keep in mind that it depends more on your dedication than the number of days you have left--I've hit 50, 000 words in three days before and I've met people who…

26Oct 2012 by diannagunn

Getting into the Writing Zone

Nanowrimo, Novels, Prompts, Workshops, Writing, Writing, Writing: The Process

Since you're planning to write a 50, 000 word novel next month--dividing into 1,667 words per day--it's a good idea to get warmed up by doing some writing exercises over the next few days. A good goal would be to write at least 400-500 words every day until Nanowrimo starts, so you're already in the writing groove on November first. This warms up your writing muscles without leading to burn out before Nanowrimo begins. Today I'd like to share three exercises designed to help you do just that. These exercises can be done with your Nanowrimo characters or completely different characters. I usually use them to flesh out the characters and world I've already started creating for my novel, because I find that you discover many things while writing that…

24Oct 2012 by diannagunn

One Cannot Be Ready for Everything by Allison Cosgrove

Guest Post, Nanowrimo, Novels, Workshops, Writing, Writing, Writing: The Process

Today's author is Allison Cosgrove, several time Nanowrimo winner, former word war captain, mother of three, hard worker and recently published author. I've already interviewed her here and am currently reading her mystery novel, Sacrifice of Innocence, which I'll be reviewing sometime in the upcoming months. Today she's decided to do us all the honour of sharing her realization that none of us are ever truly ready for Nanowrimo. * * * * One thing I have come to realize, as a long standing WriMo Veteran, is that in preparing for the wonderful thing that is NaNoWriMo is that we are never truly ready for it. I mean there are things we can prepare. We can plot and outline and make notes for just about everything, pre-cook and freeze meals,…

22Oct 2012 by diannagunn

Final Preparations

Nanowrimo, Novels, Workshops, Writing, Writing, Writing: The Process

As we hurtle towards the first week of November, you should have your main characters figured out, the foundations of your world built, and a basic plot line figured out. If you're one of the lucky ones, you'll have already done all this stuff and be able to spend this week relaxing. If you're scrambling to get ready still, never fear; thousands of Nanowrimo participants don't find their plots until November's already begun. That said, there are some things you should try to do this week. With just a few days left before November 1st, it's important to make sure you're prepared--and not just on a story level either. So what should you do this week? Check out my handy to-do list: 1. Name all important characters. Even if this…

19Oct 2012 by diannagunn

Mapping Your World and Creating a Factsheet

Inspirational, Nanowrimo, Workshops, Writing, Writing

With only twelve days before Nanowrimo start, there isn't much time to finish building your world and planning your novel, so you have to focus on the important details. Creating a map for your world--anywhere from a basic map establishing cities and borders to a complete road map--and a fact sheet to bring together all your knowledge of the world you'll be writing your novel in is a great way to figure out what you need to know to begin your novel without hours of hard labour. The fact sheet also provides you with a place to put notes when you discover new things about your world. Today I'm going to walk you through the process of creating a bare-bones world with these tools. Mapping Mapping is incredibly easy, though…

08Oct 2012 by diannagunn

Character Creation

Nanowrimo, Novels, Workshops, Writing, Writing, Writing: The Process

You might have already gotten a few ideas for characters during your brainstorming last week. Or you might be scrambling to figure out who might fit into the plot you've been trying to plan. Whether you've got a host of characters and are trying to figure out who will be your main character or you're just starting to delve into character, there are a few simple questions you can ask yourself to create the best characters to match your story and your world. But first, a warning. The best characters take on a life of your own, and will do unexpected things, occasionally drastically changing your plot. This can happen even in later drafts. If this starts happening--or you realize during this line of question that the person you thought…

05Oct 2012 by diannagunn

Bringing your Ideas Together

Nanowrimo, Workshops, Writing, Writing

Earlier this week we went over a few ways to find ideas for your Nanowrimo novel. With any luck you successfully used one of the brainstorming techniques I mentioned on Monday and came up with a few ideas or managed to flesh out an idea you already had. Today I'd like to help you organize those ideas. While having a mind map or a right brain left brain list is great and either can be used as a basic guide, a linear list of ideas--or a few lists consisting of different categories of ideas--is sometimes more helpful. Personally, my mind maps tend to be horribly disorganized and messy, so I myself will be doing this exercise as soon as I finish writing this post. First, you need to find a…

02Dec 2011 by diannagunn

Introducing Penumbra

Reading Related, Short Fiction, Writing, Writing

Ordinarily my first post after the end of November would be something about what to do now that you've written your Nanovel, and while that post is coming, this year it's been made to wait. That's because I would like to introduce you to the other project I've been working on all month, the Penumbra eMagazine. Penumbra is the speculative fiction eMagazine run by Musa Publishing, the ebook publisher I've been interning with for the past three months. Since late October, I have been working with a team made up of all of Musa's interns to make December's issue of Penumbra the very best that it can be. It's been an amazing journey from raw story files to a polished and professional emagazine. Throughout the month we worked together to…

18Oct 2011 by diannagunn

5 Short Exercises to Develop Character

Novels, Prompts, Short Fiction, Writing, Writing, Writing: The Process

Character is for many writers the driving force of their fiction. Knowing your characters thoroughly is just as important as knowing your plot. Sometimes, it's even more important. When character comes second to plot, characters often seem stereotypical and dialogue becomes wooden. In order to make your fiction come to life you must bring your characters, especially your main character, come to life for the character. I've compiled a list of exercises to help you develop your characters. You can do one of them or all of them for any and all of your characters. How much work you do to prepare for Nanowrimo is really up to you, but it's good to have a basic grasp of your characters, setting and plot before you begin. It helps to make…

05Oct 2011 by diannagunn

What to do with Your Dear Diary Project

Journalling, Short Fiction, Workshops, Writing, Writing, Writing: The Process

Now that you've finished your Dear Diary Project, there are several things you can do with it. They range from hiding it in a corner in your basement to trying to turn it into something publishable. But before you do anything with the file or manuscript itself, you need to properly extract all the valuable information from it for later use. Extracting Information for your Dear Diary Project Now, I don't know about you, but my character profiles are pretty messy and I usually don't have much room left on the page by the time I've written a Dear Diary Project for that character. So I like to create a fact sheet, which is a simple list of facts about my character. Things like their favourite colour, what kinds of…