Nanowrimo - - Page 7

05Oct 2012 by diannagunn

Bringing your Ideas Together

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…

03Oct 2012 by diannagunn

Plotting in Three Parts

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

Today I'd like to introduce Anne Marie, author of La Dame a La Licorne, brought to you by Musa Publishing. This will be her ninth year participating in Nanowrimo. Lucky for those of you scrambling for ideas and trying to figure out how you're going to outline a novel before November first, Anne's got some ideas of her own about outlining which I hope you'll enjoy. For the past eight years I’ve participated in National Novel Writing Month (aka: NaNoWriMo or NaNo). Every year I’ve tried a different approach to writing. I wanted to prove to myself that there isn’t one way to tell a story, and the methods outside my comfort zone might actually work better. Besides, what’s comfortable about writing 50,000 words in one month? Answer: everything when…

01Oct 2012 by diannagunn

Methods of Idea Creation

Inspirational, Nanowrimo, Novels, Writing, Writing: The Process

Ideas come easily to some. In fact, many writers have a difficult time choosing which idea they're going to write about at what time. Many have notebooks full of ideas they might never get a chance to use--because they're always coming up with new ones! For others, it's not that easy. Many writers have one great idea, but when it comes to book two, they spend years puttering around, trying to find a second idea. Others have always wanted to write a book, but haven't really come up with what they feel is a book worthy idea. Still others are constantly coming up with ideas but always decide they're bad ideas halfway through. First off, stop discrediting your own ideas, folks. You never know whether or not something is book…

28Sep 2012 by diannagunn

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Blog Stuff, Nanowrimo, Writing

Fall is upon us and September is drawing to a close. Students are settled back into the routine of school and the leaves are slowly changing colours. Thousands of Canadians are already moaning about the coming winter. And yet with each passing day I get more excited, because fall to me is about more than going back to school and preparing for winter: fall is Nanowrimo season. For anyone who doesn't know, Nanowrimo is National Novel Writing Month, an annual challenge drawing people from all walks of life together to reach for a common goal: to write 50, 000 words of fiction in the month of November, or one completed novel. It's a great way to stretch yourself as a writer and to buckle down and actually finish that novel…

05Dec 2011 by diannagunn

Finishing Our Novels

Goal setting, Inspirational, Nanowrimo, Novels, Writing, Writing: The Process

Some of you folks are very lucky and managed to complete your novel with at least 50, 000 words in the month of November. Others either didn't win at all, or like me, did win and didn't finish their novel anyway. To tell you the truth, the mammoth size of this year's Nanovel scares me. I've written up to 300, 000 words before, but that was made up of several different novels. For those of you with similarly terrifying novels, it's a good idea to try to keep some of the momentum going from Nanowrimo and to try to finish your novel in December. That said, do allow yourself to take a one day break to celebrate everything you've accomplished and pat yourself on the back. If you've fallen seriously…

30Nov 2011 by diannagunn

On This Last Day

Inspirational, Nanowrimo, Novels, Writing, Writing: The Process

Today, my friends, is November thirtieth. It is the last day of the great National Novel Writing Month challenge. There are less than twenty-four hours in which to hit your word count goal and pop it in the validator. Some of you already have, some of you are almost there, a couple of you might have given up, and the rest of you are probably biting your nails nervously checking the clock every other sentence. Today I'm not going to tell you to slow down or relax. Today it's time to finish your novel or at least hit your word count goal, or at least get as close as you can to your goal. Today it's time to write five or ten thousand words. Today it's time to write until…

25Nov 2011 by diannagunn

Nobody Expects you to Win

Inspirational, Nanowrimo, Novels, Writing, Writing: The Process

Apparently, I suck at technology. I spent most of this week at my boyfriend's house, where the internet decided that the second last week of November is a GREAT time to stop working. When I sucked it up and went to a cafe with wireless--where there also happened to be a Nanowrimo event--and attempted to create a post on Wednesday, it didn't go through and ended up in drafts. So, this will hopefully be my last attempt(read: I hope this works) at posting this wonderful little thing I wrote up. Here goes nothing. November has gone past in a blur of too much caffeine, too little sleep and a race of words. It's the twenty-fifth now and many of us Nano novelists are feeling burnt out, uninspired or behind. People…

11Nov 2011 by diannagunn

Three Dares

Inspirational, Nanowrimo, Novels, Writing, Writing: The Process

Today I'm sitting at 35, 000 words with a lofty goal of 50, 000 by midnight (although I won't put myself down if I don't make it tonight) and I'm rather tired, so my post is just a couple of dares, one of which I've already posted on the Toronto regional forum. Dare Number One: I dare you to include a squirrel eating a packet of ketchup in your novel. *Bonus points if the squirrel finishes the ketchup, disappears, and returns at some point with yet another packet of ketchup. **Double bonus points if this happens at a very crucial moment in your novel. Dare Number Two: Have all the plants in your world suddenly turn purple. *Bonus points if everyone except the main character thinks this is absolutely normal.…