Camp NaNoWriMo is an exciting time for writers worldwide to come together and embark on a creative writing adventure. Whether you're a s...
My Camp NaNoWriMo plan for July 2019 is to enjoy writing. Today I'm sharing some tips for my Camp NaNoWriMo plan to keep your writing on track.
National Novel Writing Month is just around the corner! I’ve put together a short checklist to help you get ready to start writing. Use it in combination with my NANOWRIMO Survival Kit from l…
This Camp NaNoWriMo survival guide contains tips to help you get the most out of Camp NaNoWriMo, regardless of what your Camp NaNoWriMo goals are.
I know of people reading my blog who wouldn't necessarily know what NaNoWriMo is, so let me clarify this first: NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Find them here: https://nanowrimo.org/ I'd say it's a movement and it's meant to encourage you to push yourself to write 50,000 words in one month - the minimum (-ish) word count of a novel. Most writer souls participating in NaNoWriMo plan in advance - and far in adance. For me, it was a not-at-all planned very last minute hopping on
Here's a 3 Step Gameplan with the best tools you need to absolutely SMASH your writing goals for this year's Camp NaNoWriMo!
If you are thinking about participating in NaNoWriMo or Camp NaNo anytime soon, these creative writing tips will help you find success.
Are you ready to write a novel in a month this November? This NaNoWriMo planning checklist can help you get there.
National Novel Writing Month is just around the corner again. My original Prep List and Survival Kit from 2018 are still popular so I’ve put together an autumn version to help you get ready t…
Learn how to quickly outline your novel for NaNoWriMo Did you begin NaNo last year and never finished because you didn’t have a mi...
Camp NaNoWriMo Prep Series: Part 1: The Idea Part 2: The Characters Part 3: The World Before we start, here’s a disclaimer: I’m not an outliner. Well, not a hardcore outliner, at least. I do find that I do better when I have some sort of a framework to go off of, though, so…
Trying to write a book during Camp NaNoWriMo? These Camp NaNoWriMo books and supplies will keep you cozy while you work your way through a novel!
Writers Write is a resource for writers. If you want a daily reminder to help you finish NaNoWriMo, use this calendar.
All the WBT Camp NaNoWriMo Packing Lists in one place! From character development to making a writing schedule, these lists will get you ready for camp!
There are NaNoWriMo variations for almost every taste and month. In case November isn't crazy enough for you, let us introduce you to NaNo's cousins.
It's time to talk about the hard NaNoWriMo Truth. National Novel Writing Month is a challenge, but from personal experience, you can reach your word goal.
Camp NaNoWriMo is here, and it can be hard to hit your goals if you don't have a plan. This Camp NaNoWriMo survival kit will keep you productive all month!
It’s that time of year! No, not Hallowe’en. Not Bonfire Night. Not the run-up to Thanksgiving, or even Christmas. It’s October. Which means writers all over the world are getting …
November is a crazy month for writers not just because of midterms, Thanksgiving, and other seasonal preparations, but also because of writing. Do I care to elaborate? Sho’.
Looking for ideas on how to create your own writer's notebook for NaNoWriMo? This inspo post has got you covered with a super simple writing tracker layout.
You’ll also join my weekly newsletter, the Author Alchemy Lab, where each week, I’ll send you tips, tricks, and inspiration. All actionable, all actually
Camp NaNoWriMo 2020 came in the middle of a global pandemic. Luckily, I'm safe and sound at home, so today I'm sharing hwo I've stayed productive.
This Camp NaNoWriMo survival guide contains tips to help you get the most out of Camp NaNoWriMo, regardless of what your Camp NaNoWriMo goals are.
It's Preptober! We'll pick up speed and hit NaNoWriMo in just a matter of days, friends! Are you ready?! How will you research your novel?
Hey, Rebekah here! I updated this post on my new blog with a 2019 NaNoWriMo calendar and everything. View the new guide right here! Looking for something to read? Check out my FREE book, The Runaway House, on Wattpad: When Lee witnesses a murder, her only chance at survival is running. Somewhere along the way she meets a man who takes her to The Runaway House, a safe place for fugitives and runaways. There she begins to find peace, courage, love, and a real family. Check it out here. Hey, there! I'm glad you've stopped by to make your NaNoWriMo experience amazing! This is a two-parted survival guide. Part I consists of tips and tricks I've seen, heard, read, or experienced. Part II consists of supplies I’ve discovered are helpful to have handy. This is here to help you prepare for NaNoWriMo, along with struggling through it. Please, please don't read just summaries. You can do that at first, but click on the links. They're a lot more helpful than the summaries, and they're written by adults with more experience, not some sixteen-year-old girl who's only done NaNoWriMo once before. There’s a lot of information here, and quite a bit of it is repeated. But the more it’s repeated, the more important it probably is. I’ve been accumulating this information since May, so if this isn’t the best survival guide you can find, well…I wouldn’t be surprised. But I did put a lot of time and effort into this, so take a look. Who knows—you might even learn something (I did). Oh, and here's a random thing (that's not so random, really. It fits here). Go check out The Office of Letters and Light's blog. It's quite helpful. Image Courtesy of National Novel Writing Month. Part I: Tips & Tricks 1. Trick Yourself. In The Write Practice's post 7 Tricks to Write More with Less Willpower, Joe Bunting talks about how to trick your subconscious into writing for you (#3). This works, guys. I've tried it. It's very helpful for when you just don't feel like writing in general. (To be honest, this whole post is a great reference for NaNoWriMo AND writing in general.) 2. Write or Die. (No, not literally.) If you haven't heard of Write or Die by Dr. Wicked, I pity you. You need to check it out, especially if you're a NaNoer. I found it last year, at the end of November. Basically, the thoughts running through my head were something like this: WHERE THE HECK HAVE YOU BEEN ALL OF MY LIFE? You set your word goal and a time goal, and then write (you don't have to get the desktop version one. There's an online version, under "apps")! But you can't stop for more than a few seconds without some form of punishment. Dr. Wicked's methods of punishment can be harsh or gentle, depending on the mode you set it on. But be careful! He will start erasing your words if you stop for too long. 3. Backwards NaNoWriMo. I haven't tried this form of NaNoWriMo yet, but I guess it works . Basically, you write a lot on the first day of November, and as the month goes by, you don't have to write as much each day. On Day 30, you actually only have to write one word. That's right. One. Word. 4. Watch People. Whenever you aren't writing, watch people. They'll give you ideas, and as the Write Practice says, they're "free inspiration." 5. Don't Edit. Whenever I read or hear tips about NaNoWriMo, this one is always there. Don't edit. It's a waste of your time until you're done. Right now, just write. You can't afford to edit. You don't have time, and personally I think editing can be very draining and frustrating. So just wait. 6. Have a Plot. Please, oh PLEASE. As Nathan Bransford stresses in his blog post Do You have a Plot?, you need to have a plot. Duh, you might think. But bear with me. If you actually read the post, it is explained that a plot is very different from a theme, and people tend to think of the theme as the plot. So before I get any more confusing, just read the post. Okay? No, seriously. Go read the post, make sure you have a plot, and if you don't, MAKE ONE. And make an outline, too. (I recommend the Snowflake Method, which was recommended to me by Amy Wallace. It's a lot of work, but so worth it.) I didn't have one last year, and it screwed me up. So have one. You'll stray from it, for sure, but you need to have one. That way, when you feel lost, you'll have something to come back to. 7. The Write Practice Again. Here are five tips from The Write Practice (yes, yes, I really do like that website) on how to win NaNoWriMo. They're simple tips, but very effective. 1. Write with friends. 2. Write fast. 3. Don't edit. 4. Use a timer. 5. This isn't just about 50,000 words. 8. Don't Worry About the Names. Last year, I got stuck on names. I wanted them to be right, and it took up a lot of time to find the right ones. But I learned a lesson from that fatal mistake: forget about the names. Either already have the names planned out, or if you come across an unexpected but nameless character, use a random name generator, like this one. Specifically that one because it's more than a name. It gives you an address, an email, phone number, Mother's maiden name, birthday, and a whole bunch of other random information. And don't generate over and over until you get one that you like. Stick with the first one. You can change it all later. But when you're writing for NaNoWriMo, it doesn't matter. 9. Sometimes, You Might Need a Boost in Creativity. Shana Lebowitz compiled a list of 36 ways to boost creativity right over here. Some of these won't work for NaNoWriMo (I think visiting a country is out of the question, plus the whole asking for someone's opinion needs to wait until December. Right now you're just getting the words out, not trying to please someone else). But listening to music, writing by hand (even for a bit), or going to bed can be great options. 10. "Seeing is not Observing." In this article, the power of taking field notes to enhance your observation skills is explained. But to me, I got something for writing out of it. Whenever you aren't writing, have a notebook. Always. Even by your bed at night (we all know that's when the best ideas come to us). Notice everything going on around you. Write down how the little boy's smile turned into a laugh when his mom started tickling him. See that rose? Describe everything about it. Take a picture of it if you have a camera with you. Just remember this: always be observing, and find a way to put those observations into your novel. It'll boost your word count and give your scene a bit more depth. Besides, who doesn't like pretending to be Sherlock Holmes? 11. Reward Yourself. I got this one from over here. They'll give you links to other articles that explain why and stuff. The point of the post: reward yourself when you do something significant. Not after every sentence. If you finish your word count for the day, celebrate. Get more done? Celebrate. You're halfway? Celebrate. But do NOT celebrate by not writing. As it says in the article, "never reward writing with not writing. Rewarding writing by abandoning your schedule is like rewarding yourself for quitting smoking by having a cigarette." -Paul J. Silvia 12. Know How to Defeat the Two Types of Writer's Block. One of the NaNo pep talkers from last year (for the YWP), Ally Carter, wrote a post that helped me a lot. It's about the two types of Writer's Block, how to recognize them, and what to do about them. (Also, here are all of the pep talks from the YWP, and here are all of the ones for the "normal" NaNoWriMo. 13. Writer's Relief Comes to the Rescue! (Yet another great writing website!) Over at Writer's Relief, their staff have given seven very helpful tips for NaNoWriMo. They are: prepare mentally, clear your calendar, create an outline, have draft notes, stock the fridge (healthy food, guys), exercise, and set rewards. Go read the post. They get more in depth, and they're probably some of the best tips I've found while putting this thing together. 14. Timers are Great. You know they are. Don't deny it. They help keep you on track. Write or Die is a great one with a goal all set in, but if you don't like that, here's another one. 15. Make a Long Playlist and Don't Stop Until it Does. Don't stop for anything. No food. No internet. No messing around. Nothing. (Okay, you can get up to pee, but that's it.) 16. SURVIVAL. From The Office of Letters and Light, I show you eight tips they provide for surviving Camp NaNoWriMo, that are still very useful for NaNoWriMo. Or real life. S-Size up to the situation. (You can do it.) U-Use all your senses, Undue Haste Makes Waste. (Don't write so fast that your story is confusing, but don't write so slow that you can't finish in time.) R-Remember Where You Are. (You're among friends, it's okay to suck, and you're at the beginning of the rest of your writing life.) V-Vanquish Fear and Panic. (Forget about fear. It's pointless. Instead, have a plan, stick with it, and stop worrying.) I-Improvise. (An acronymn.) Ideas Mayday Option Punting the Critic Reinventions Open Doors Volume Interaction Sidestepping Experimentation V-Value Living. (People, experiences, etc. are our inspiration. We need them, and we can't shut them out. No piece of artwork is worth losing someone over.) A-Act Like the Natives. (Learn from the professionals, but don't be mislead by fallacies. Basically, writers write. So write. A lot.) L-Live by Your Wits, But for Now, Learn Basic Skills. (Make the story exciting while still improving on alliteration, metaphors, dialogue, etc.) 17. No Plot? No Problem! The Office of Letters and Light has come up with three things to keep in mind while brainstorming for your plot. 1. Ideas are like celebrities. 2. Document everything. 3. Two stormy brains are better than one. 18. Just Write. Sometimes, that's all you need to do. Just write, write, and write some more! 19. Forget Everything You've Just Read. I've read over and over again that, when it comes to writing, the rules are optional. There's almost always some exception (including exceptions to this rule). So if something isn't working for you, maybe you can break that rule. You're a person. I'm a person. We have different opinions, lifestyles, methods, etc. Some rules work for me, some don't work for you. Part II: Supplies 1. Healthy food. Don't let yourself go completely unhealthy while you're going through NaNoWriMo. Writer's Relief suggests over here that "maintaining a healthy diet will keep you focused and alert for the long writing journey ahead of you." 2. Notebook, Pens, Pencils, etc. Always carry these. ALWAYS. As mentioned earlier, if you decide to take field notes, you'll need these. Besides, you never know when a brilliant idea will pop into your head. And, as I have often experienced, I forget that idea if I don't write it down. (Especially at night. That's why I have a special notebook that I keep on my nightstand.) 3. Your Favorite Movies. Yes, movies. And TV shows. Whatever you need to help you get over your problems, whether it's Type 2 Writer's Block (as mentioned here) or a lack of inspiration. Compile a list of your favorite movies/episodes and keep it handy. But don't watch one EVERY time you feel tired. Sometimes you just have to push through, because sometimes what you're feeling is Type 1 Writer's Block being sneaky. Watch out for him. That little bugger wants to ruin your November. Don't let him. 4. An Awesome Mug. Picture this: you're writing away on a cold November night, wrapped up in a blanket with a mug of tea or hot chocolate or coffee or whatever you prefer. And what mug are you sipping your hot beverage from? It could be this fantastic Writer Mug, designed by yours truly. I worked hard on this and lovelovelove it, and you should too! Buy it (or browse other products!) here. 5. Your Brain. Please don't forget this. Just...please. While it might be quite amusing for others to watch you try to write 50,000 words in thirty days without your brain, you'd be in a lot of pain. 6. NaNoWriMo Calendar. It’s helpful to have your goals written down. Even if it’s just your normal calendar with the wordcount goals written on every day, do it. I have one at the end of this post that you can use. You can set it as your desktop background or print it off or whatever. It has the number day, the wordcount goal, and an inspiring quote/note, along with a couple challenges and prompts. (Don't like mine? Google search for one and you'll probably find one you like.) 7. Character Profiles. These will come in handy, I've heard. What color were your character's eyes? Refer to the character profile instead of searching for it. Stuck on not knowing how your character would react to a certain situation? Look at their personality in their character profile. Of course, these should be made before November 1st. You can find the Official NaNoWriMo Character Questionnaire right here. The Write Practice has the 35 Questions to Ask Your Character From Marcel Proust. Both are wonderful. 8. An Outline. Outlining probably isn't your favorite thing. I get that. It's not my favorite either. But it must be done. The Snowflake Method is the long way around. But there are others. Even if you just write the beginning, middle, and end of the story—it's something. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800x607 1024x777 1280x971 1600x1214 EDIT: Here's a 2015 NaNoWriMo calendar for you all! Good luck this year! 2016's Calendar: Unfortunately, I didn't get around to making a 2016 calendar for NaNoWriMo. But I found this lovely one by Kiriska on DeviantArt! Have any tips or tricks I didn't mention that you love to use? Post them in the comments! I am also planning on posting a series of reminders, bits and pieces of encouragement, and possibly some interviews during November, so stay tuned! (Edit: you can find those in the 2013 archives.)
Decided to join Camp NaNoWriMo and flex your writing muscles? Check out these CampNaNoWriMo prompts and ideas!
Preparing for NaNoWriMo? Need Prompts To Guide Your NaNoWriMo Prep? Here Are 30 Story Structure and Character Questions To Help Your Craft Your Novel.
Once you've discovered a general idea of your plot, you can use these three steps to figure out how to structure your story's outline.
I know of people reading my blog who wouldn't necessarily know what NaNoWriMo is, so let me clarify this first: NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Find them here: https://nanowrimo.org/ I'd say it's a movement and it's meant to encourage you to push yourself to write 50,000 words in one month - the minimum (-ish) word count of a novel. Most writer souls participating in NaNoWriMo plan in advance - and far in adance. For me, it was a not-at-all planned very last minute hopping on
Camp NaNoWriMo is just right around the corner and if you saw my March Monthly Plan With Me you would have read that it is one of my goals for this month to prep for it and what it holds. Even though for the past couple of months I’ve included creative writing tasks in my monthly bullet journal plan, I have not found myself completing them. Also, for the ones who don’t know what Camp NaNoWriMo is I recommend you check out the post I mentioned of me talking all about it or check out the official NaNoWriMo website. As I said, I haven’t done much regarding my book series and I think that Camp NaNoWriMo is the perfect opportunity to change that and for that reason, I decided to create Camp NaNoWriMo Planning and Tracking Pages in my writing journal you may have already seen in my 2020 planner and journal line up.
It’s that time of year again when writers around the world prepare for NaNoWriMo – otherwise known as “National Novel Writing Month.” Taking place in November, NaNoWriMo challenges writers of all experiences to write an entire novel (or novella) in one month’s time, averaging about 1,667 words per
GET EXCITED about NaNoWriMo! You're embarking on one of the most exciting writing adventures ever. These are the veteran resources you need...
Happy #writerwednesday campers! This week’s post is all about outlining. This is the time...
Did you take part in NaNoWriMo in November? Join us in April for more of the same!
Tools Needed Coffee Diary to track word count and action plan Dictionary or Thesaurus Computer Visual Writing Aids – Posters for motivation Baby name book or Street Directory (roads make great last...
Does it feel like your project has fallen to the side of your busy life? Need to rededicate yourself to the writing habit? Then give Camp NaNoWriMo a go!
NaNoWriMo starts in just a couple of days. Are you ready? No? Well, here are some tips for last minute NaNoWriMo prep to get you ready.
My Zettelkasten workflow is the basic Zettelkasten method, but modified to work for me as a fiction writer.
I know of people reading my blog who wouldn't necessarily know what NaNoWriMo is, so let me clarify this first: NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Find them here: https://nanowrimo.org/ I'd say it's a movement and it's meant to encourage you to push yourself to write 50,000 words in one month - the minimum (-ish) word count of a novel. Most writer souls participating in NaNoWriMo plan in advance - and far in adance. For me, it was a not-at-all planned very last minute hopping on
Happy #writerwednesday campers! This week’s post is all about outlining. This is the time...
It's hard being a perfectionist writer. No joke. You all who fit the qualifications know what I mean. The urge to edit everything. The desire to make it right the first time. The need for every chapter, every scene, every word to be perfect. That doesn't fly come NaNo time. It's easy to read the rules and learn the guidelines. Easy to tell yourself "just write." And way, way easier said than done. After six years of NaNo and seven attempted novels, I've learned a few things about NaNo, first drafts, and not pulling your hair out when all you want to do is Make. It. Perfect. 1. Redefine Perfect on a Draft-by-Draft Basis I think we can all come to a near-consensus on when our first draft perfection streak started: the first time a teacher, probably in middle or high school said, "This is a big project, so I want you guys to turn your first draft into me by next Friday." First draft? What's that nonsense? We'd been writing essays start to finish since our very first one. We'd perfected the last-minute, overnighter A+. Our first drafts are our only drafts. So we'd write up our turn-in-ready essay and make a few changes to dumb it down, give the teacher something to review. It really shouldn't have worked, but it did, and it ingrained in us the confidence that we don't really need to worry about drafts. We'll get it right the first time. HahahahahHahahHAAHAHaaaaa Thing is, though, a novel isn't an essay. There's a lot more room for error in 50,000 words than there is in 5,000. And when you realize 30k in that you have to completely redo everything because of a plothole you left in the third chapter, it's easy to give up. It's a failure, and we don't want to fail. Nothing less than an A, right? The trick is to redefine "perfect" to the individual draft, to move the goalposts of perfection one draft at a time. Author Jane Smiley said, "Every first draft is perfect, because all a first draft has to do is exist." Accept this as the gospel truth. The first draft's goalpost isn't "ready to publish," it's just "written." It doesn't matter if there's giant gaping plot holes. "No plot holes" is the goalpost for draft two. Or "no typos" or "no atrocious grammar" or whatever you want that second draft goalpost to be. Not "perfect perfect" though. That's at LEAST third draft, if not fourth or fifth. 2. Just Because You Wrote It Doesn't Mean You Have To See It So you just wrote a 2,000 word scene and realize "this isn't working." You have to scrap it all. A whole day's writing, down the recycle bin. But before you hit that delete key, stop! You wrote that. And maybe part of it is salvageable or belongs in a different scene. Don't shortchange your wordcount or do something you may regret. Just hide it. You've got a number of options to make the bad text go away without actually going away forever. Make the text white or use black highlight on black text. Change the font to an unreadable one, like Wingdings. Move the text to the bottom of the document, several pages down, or if you're using a program like Scrivner, to a separate file. You may be able to think of other tricks to make your mistakes disappear. Whatever you choose to do, implement it, from single sentences to whole chapters. During the first draft, and especially during NaNo, don't just delete haphazardly. That's part of draft two. Write that on your goalpost. 3. It's Okay To Skip Around or Come Back Later If you're anything like me, you like your perfect drafts to be written in one long swoop, start to finish, Chapter 1 to The End. You write a book just like you read a book. Maybe the thought of breaking it up gives you cold sweats. After all, how can you accurately write the scene where the hero finally meets the villain if you don't know if the love interest is there or not, or if there's a mentor figure the villain's supposed to kill that you haven't introduced yet so you don't even know his personality! This is me telling you, it's okay. It's okay to skip that awkward conversation if you don't know how to write it yet. It's okay to jump forward to the end when you too happy to write the death scene. It's okay to come back later, whether it's a huge event or a name for a minor character. Leave yourself a note, highlighted yellow and surrounded by attention-grabbing symbols (I like to do [ADD ____]). You don't need the paragraph or scene or chapter to be perfect now, only complete later. And I'll tell you why. You don't complete puzzles by doing one row at a time, in order, right? You get the pieces and parts you can figure out first (the outer frame, the obvious, odd colored pieces, etc) and then use those to fill in the rest. You can do that with your novel. It's just a puzzle where you decide what the picture is. 4. You're Always A Winner It can feel like if you don't get that purple verified bar, you've failed. You'll want to pretend you never even tried, to make November and NaNo have just not happened for us. We're perfectionists because we don't like failure. But sometimes, despite our best efforts, even if we do everything right, we just can't win. Maybe life got in the way, or maybe you lost your drive. Whatever the reason, you lost. But you've also won. Whether you finish November with 100 words or 49,999, those are words you didn't have before. You WROTE. You created something that didn't exist before, and you have the road paved to keep going. There is nothing stopping you from keeping going beyond November. You don't have to put down the story and never look at it again just because you didn't finish it in the course of one month. The "victory" goal of NaNo is 50,000 words, but the real goal of NaNo is to just write. Did you write? Congrats. You've won. What did you win? The right to call yourself a writer. Heck yeah, that's awesome. And what are a few colored pixels compared to that? ******** So, perfectionists, let go of your hair. November is coming, and you're going to write, and it's going to be just fine. Self-inflicted bald spots only lead to more stress. Scientific fact.
