Post by Siana Blackwood on Sept 5, 2011 23:11:33 GMT -5
No, this is not intended to be (entirely) a serious thread.
1. Wear pants!
What? Pants are for squares, man!
I said, 1. Wear pants.
If you want to write by the seat of your pants, you must have pants.
2. Your characters are real!
Not only that, they are in your brain, so every little bit of planning you do on paper/computer will be seen by them! So will anything you try to store in your memory! It's a good idea to write as much as possible to keep those characters occupied so they can't find out what's in store for them until it's too late.
3. Get an industrial-strength stainless steel vault with a luxury interior for stopping your characters from taking over your life!
Characters are annoying and interrupt all the time and the ear plugs don't working because have a microphone. SO we put them in a little jail cell. But the cell was made out of cookies, and they ate through it and came back with a vengeance. We then had to build a luxury steel vault with cookies on the inside, but the actual vault made out of steel.
4. If the pants fit, write by the seat of them!
I randomly came up with this and it sounds funny, so it will live on. What I mean is this: if you like pantsing, do it anyway. Don't listen to all those planners, snowflakers or phase-whatevers. They all like planning the whole thing, but we like surprises! For example:
Writer: Aaahhh! Some random guy just popped up and stabbed my favourite guy! Is he going to be okay? What do I do now?
5. If you don't know what happens next, ask the characters.
THEY'RE IN YOUR BRAIN! THEY KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!
... and this thread is starting to sound paranoid.
6. Wrimos, word wars, timers and friendly word count charts with stickers are your friends!
If you're pantsing, you'll feel all the pain of writer's block, plot holes big enough to drown you entirely and worst of all - family commitments. There is no better way to combat this than a little friendly competition. Knowing you don't get a sticker if you don't write another 500 words might be the way out of that continent-sized plot hole. Also, the 'write it anyway so long as it adds to your word count' attitude of Wrimos might be just the kick in the pants you need.
7. If in doubt, kill someone!
Just make sure it's a character rather than a real person. Seriously, if you can't find a way to work with a character, get rid of them. If you regret it later, don't worry. Either work your way out of the problem by writing more or just replace the character with someone similar.
8. You can always fix it in the rewrite.
You will be editing at some point, so don't worry about spelling mistakes or bad grammar or plot holes until then. Don't worry if a scene seems a little weak, either. You've got time to fix it later.
Source: janno.ymakadomain.com/forum/index.php?topic=993.0
Originally posted by Siana Blackwood, EileenK98, hanafan36, marsbareater12, butterflywings and elizabeth-of-rohan on the JanNoWriMo forum in early 2011.
Anyone interested in making up a similar 'Advice for Planners' thread?
1. Wear pants!
What? Pants are for squares, man!
I said, 1. Wear pants.
If you want to write by the seat of your pants, you must have pants.
2. Your characters are real!
Not only that, they are in your brain, so every little bit of planning you do on paper/computer will be seen by them! So will anything you try to store in your memory! It's a good idea to write as much as possible to keep those characters occupied so they can't find out what's in store for them until it's too late.
3. Get an industrial-strength stainless steel vault with a luxury interior for stopping your characters from taking over your life!
Characters are annoying and interrupt all the time and the ear plugs don't working because have a microphone. SO we put them in a little jail cell. But the cell was made out of cookies, and they ate through it and came back with a vengeance. We then had to build a luxury steel vault with cookies on the inside, but the actual vault made out of steel.
4. If the pants fit, write by the seat of them!
I randomly came up with this and it sounds funny, so it will live on. What I mean is this: if you like pantsing, do it anyway. Don't listen to all those planners, snowflakers or phase-whatevers. They all like planning the whole thing, but we like surprises! For example:
Writer: Aaahhh! Some random guy just popped up and stabbed my favourite guy! Is he going to be okay? What do I do now?
5. If you don't know what happens next, ask the characters.
THEY'RE IN YOUR BRAIN! THEY KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!
... and this thread is starting to sound paranoid.
6. Wrimos, word wars, timers and friendly word count charts with stickers are your friends!
If you're pantsing, you'll feel all the pain of writer's block, plot holes big enough to drown you entirely and worst of all - family commitments. There is no better way to combat this than a little friendly competition. Knowing you don't get a sticker if you don't write another 500 words might be the way out of that continent-sized plot hole. Also, the 'write it anyway so long as it adds to your word count' attitude of Wrimos might be just the kick in the pants you need.
7. If in doubt, kill someone!
Just make sure it's a character rather than a real person. Seriously, if you can't find a way to work with a character, get rid of them. If you regret it later, don't worry. Either work your way out of the problem by writing more or just replace the character with someone similar.
8. You can always fix it in the rewrite.
You will be editing at some point, so don't worry about spelling mistakes or bad grammar or plot holes until then. Don't worry if a scene seems a little weak, either. You've got time to fix it later.
Source: janno.ymakadomain.com/forum/index.php?topic=993.0
Originally posted by Siana Blackwood, EileenK98, hanafan36, marsbareater12, butterflywings and elizabeth-of-rohan on the JanNoWriMo forum in early 2011.
Anyone interested in making up a similar 'Advice for Planners' thread?
