Member pep talks (fourth quarter edition)!

[Siana Blackwood]

I've been meaning to do pep talks on a regular basis all year, but ironically I'm not motivated enough. So... time for the first one.

(By the way, this thread is for everyone to post motivational advice and/or messages. I'm sure we've all got things we'd like to say

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Well, it's week one of NaNoWriMo and we're all sitting down to our brand-new story ideas. We've got writer treats, word count charts, motivational aids...

I have Leroy, a rubber chicken that's supposed to be a dog chew toy. When I'm feeling particularly down, I squeeze him and make him squeak. It scares the living daylights out of any cats in the vicinity, but I'm sure they'll get over it eventually.

Anyway, we have these shiny new ideas and whether you're planning or pantsing I'd be willing to bet your story has already thrown up at least one or two unexpected and fascinating twists. Possibly in the first couple of paragraphs. That's what this month is all about - writing fast and getting ideas on paper (okay, paper or screen) with no regard for grammar or spelling. We just write and let the characters come alive.

Hmm... what else do I need to add to this right now? Yes, you'll need the following things:

* writer treats for yourself
* carrots for the plot bunny
* an iron-clad backup policy
* a really good cage for inner editors, editorial foxes and other assorted editing-related entities
* motivational objects
* tea, coffee or your other beverage of choice

Motivation is also available here or on the NaNoWriMo site. Leroy doesn't mind being used to smack people to encourage them to write faster, so beware the rubber chicken.

That's probably about all. Just remember that your idea is awesome! It deserves to be written, so go write!

[Siana Blackwood]

Dear fellow Ink-Slingers,

Take risks! Let yourself be surprised!

I know we've all been participating in writing months for a while now (in my case, since last year's NaNoWriMo) so you probably already know this awesome pearl of wisdom I'm about to point out in the strange, slimy oyster of life, but here it is anyway:

Writing months are great. The individual days of writing months are sometimes great and sometimes a bit of a slog. Almost without exception, though, the actual writing minutes are just hard graft. Every now and then you'll hit a patch of awesomeness when the ideas really get up and run and you're typing like hell just to get the bones on the page, but those minutes are rarer than you might hope.

But... bit by bit you actually come up with a story and when you come back to read it at the end of the month you realise that you've created something that's pretty cool. It's not the wonderful masterpiece you dreamed of before the month started, but it's actually kind of nice and you can see loads of potential for improving it so that it really is a masterpiece. With a bit of rewriting, it's going to be okay.

Then we get to the second pearl of writing wisdom: writing months never get easier. Your hundredth NaNoWriMo will be just as hard as your first. You'll go through the same periods of excitement, apathy, downright hatred of your novel, resignation and then finally the little lift when you realise that you actually know how to end it. WriMo participants go through exactly the same things as regular writers, only we get them out of the way a lot faster.

Take this quote from Neil Gaiman:

The last novel I wrote (it was ANANSI BOYS, in case you were wondering) when I got three-quarters of the way through I called my agent. I told her how stupid I felt writing something no-one would ever want to read, how thin the characters were, how pointless the plot. I strongly suggested that I was ready to abandon this book and write something else instead, or perhaps I could abandon the book and take up a new life as a landscape gardener, bank-robber, short-order cook or marine biologist. And instead of sympathising or agreeing with me, or blasting me forward with a wave of enthusiasm—or even arguing with me—she simply said, suspiciously cheerfully, “Oh, you’re at that part of the book, are you?”

I was shocked. “You mean I’ve done this before?”

“You don’t remember?”

“Not really.”

“Oh yes,” she said. “You do this every time you write a novel. But so do all my other clients.”

I didn’t even get to feel unique in my despair.

Now, I doubt this pep taks is actually turning out how I expected, but that's okay. All I really want to do is remind all of you that it's okay to take risks, that just because you've done this before doesn't mean there's any pressure to be able to do it again and most of all that while you might be hating the minutes, the month is going to turn out to be fantastic.

Write on!

[wolfyone]

Great insights and advice Siana. Every day of writing is different. Sometimes you soar, most times you crawl. The ones who win are the ones who keep on showing up, the ones who lose are the ones that get discouraged and give up. Self doubt is part of the package. So slog on fellow writers. I wish you all a day of soaring! (Or the courage to keep on crawling.) Good luck! See you at the finish line.

[SaronaNalia]

I wrote out a whole pep talk to myself. Most of it is extremely specific to me, but I'd like to share the last couple of lines of it, because I think they apply to all of you:

I believe in you. I believe in your voice, your characters, your story, the power of your words. You can do this.

[Siana Blackwood]

It's week 2.

You've probably heard a lot of bad things about Week 2 of NaNoWriMo - how everything grinds to a halt as the excitement wears off, how the whole story feels pointless and horrible, how... well, you get the picture. If you're starting to feel any or all of that, you might be tempted to stop writing in favour of outdoor activities, housework, restarting the novel or even changing to a new idea.

Doing any of those things at this point is a mistake, though, so don't do it. Instead, listen to the characters and make a few notes about things that should be different in the start of the story and then keep going. If the characters won't talk, do something with water.

No, that wasn't a joke and I'm not suggesting any kind of character torture. The affinity between writers and water is well-documented and probably stems from the distant past when our ancestors went to sit by the lake/stream/river and pretended to be fishing while thinking up a story to tell over the campfire that night.

Everyone knows that you can get ideas in the shower, while doing the dishes or even washing the car. Even walking somewhere that you can see water can help. If you go for a walk you can take a notepad or book, but make sure you have to sit down and dig through your bag or a tight pocket or something to get it. It needs to be difficult (but not impossible) to record the idea. That's why the shower is so good - to write something you have to get out, get dry, walk all the way to a piece of paper or your computer and then finally actually write down what you were thinking.

Things will come. Trust me.

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Oh, I also wanted to clarify something from my last attempt at pep. I said that writing months never get any easier, that isn't meant to be discouraging. Writing months also never get any less rewarding - 5k in your hundredth wrimo is just as awesome as 5k in your first or your tenth. If you write anything in a month, it's more than you would have written otherwise. Even a single sentence of a story will always be a wonderful thing.

Now, go and write! You've got awesome ideas to record!

[Siana Blackwood]

Because I feel in need of a pep talk myself, I'm not writing today's attempt. It comes from Justine Larbalestier's blog and is part of a series of NaNoWriMo tips by Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalastier. The complete list is here.

NaNo Tip no. 4: Word Count is Not Everything

I know that NaNoWriMo is set up with a specific word count in mind. And word counts are, indeed, a useful way to keep track of you progress. However, do not get obsessed with them. The world will not end if you don’t meet your daily word count. Nor will it end if you don’t have 50,000 words at the end of November.

I’m seeing too many people stressing out about word counts and beating up on themselves when they fall short of them. Cut yourself some slack!

Here’s why:

NaNoWriMo is meant to be a fun, companionable way to try your hand at novel writing. That means that over the month you’re going to start to learn what kind of writer you are. One of the things you might learn is that you are not a fast writer. There is no shame in that. Lots of very fine writers are slow. Nalo Hopkinson rarely writes more than 500 words a day. Doesn’t get in the way of her producing many wonderful books.

You may also discover that you’re a very fast writer. No shame in that either. I swear I’ve seen Maureen Johnson bang out 20,000 words in a single sitting. That would kill me. She continues to live and breathe and write more wickedly funny words.

Give yourself permission to enjoy NaNoWriMo. So if at the end of the day you’ve only written 150 words, celebrate those words. Do a 150-word dance! Same if it was a one-word day or a six-thousand word day.

Some of you won’t get anywhere near 50,000 words in the month. Perhaps you’ll spend a lot of time thinking about your novel. That’s writing too. There are many writers who need to nut the whole novel out first in their heads before they can start writing. Could be you’re one of those.

Like I said, use the month of November to explore. Whatever you wind up with—on paper or in your head—you’ll know more about yourself as a writer.

Have fun!

[Siana Blackwood]

When Nano eats your soul, reach down Nano's throat and GET YOUR SOUL BACK. (said by MaverickKnight on the NaNo forums here: www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/38345

[Siana Blackwood]

The end of NaNoWriMo is almost upon us. Can you believe you've been plugging away at your novel for almost 30 days?

If you're nowhere near 50k, don't be disheartened. Even if you only have 1,000 words or even 100 words, it's more than you had on October the 31st.

Right now, though, there are only two days to go and the adrenalin is pumping! Keep writing! Keep pushing on, page by page and word by word! Every word you add is one more than you had at the start of the month!

You can do it. I know you can. All you have to do is keep putting words together for two more days. Just keep writing.

Then the month will have been over. NaNoWriMo will be over. Even if you don't have 50,000 words, you will have learnt a lot about writing and about how you write. You will have become a NaNoWriMo survivor.


Keep writing!

[Siana Blackwood]

NaNoFiMo pep talk #1

I always feel in need of moral support when I'm at this stage in the book. Okay, maybe at 22k I've hit the rough spot a bit earlier than I do sometimes, but the fact remains that it's nearly 5pm and for the second day in a row I haven't written anything.

So, I went looking for a pep talk. There weren't any, so I took refuge in Twitter where I and all my friends seem to be depressed. It helped, though, because I found this:

www.seanferrell.com/2011/12/pathetic_email.html

To slightly paraphrase one particular section of the post:

We are all trying to hollow out a part of ourselves to give a home to people who don't exist in a physical sense but really do exist in a very hard and uncomfortable emotional sense. It's not easy giving them a home, a safe place to be themselves, and it will often destroy us in the process. The author of this post thinks it's supposed to and I believe him. After completing our books, we won't be the people we were before trying to write it.

Write on, my friends .