Danika Dinsmore

Author / Educator / Activist

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo Day 16 – Down the Other Side (aka Tips, Tricks, Inspiration to Get Through the 2nd Half of NaNo)

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Today’s Goal: 2,000 words
Actual Words: 2,568 words
Total Words to Date: 36,142

I have two NaNo friends who chose to quit last week because they were too far behind. I’m not going to give them a hard time b/c I know life gets in the way, we all have different priorities and responsibilities, and sometimes it’s not the right time. That doesn’t mean it was in vain, though, because 6 or 8 or 10,000 words on a new novel is a great start.

If you are on the cusp of deciding whether to continue or not, I encourage you to stick with it. If you’re having procrastination issues, time management issues, focus issues, perhaps there’s a tip or word of encouragement in here to see you through.

Tip #1) Your Timer is Your Friend


I have had my Pillsbury Dough-boy Timer for almost 15 years. I use it in my writing classes for timed writing exercises and to keep my classes running according to my agenda for the day. I also use it as an anti-procrastination device and a way to stay focused.

Here are some of my own personal timer tricks.

+ If I’m feeling really unmotivated, I give myself a timed writing warm-up to get my mind going.

+ If I’m really dragging myself to the page/computer, I tell myself to just write for 20 or 30 minutes and see how it goes. I set my timer and GO. (usually after 20 or 30 minutes I’m so into the story I don’t want to stop). Setting the timer helps me to start and focus. I have no idea how PBD tricks me into writing every time. I must be very gullible.

+ Even if I’m totally motivated to get to the page, I set it for 30 minutes anyway so I’ll remember to get up and stretch or do some yoga sun salutations.

+ If I really feel like checking my Facebook or email after breakfast, I give myself permission to do so, but set my timer for 20 minutes and when the time is up, I stop. That way it’s a conscious choice and I don’t feel guilty afterwards.

+ Say my daily goals are to work on my novel, clean the kitchen, do some marketing, and write a blog post – I set my timer for each task. I can take 60 minutes to clean the kitchen if I’m not timing it. 20 minutes if I am. It makes a huge difference.

IMPORTANT: USE A TIMER and not a clock. Clock-watching is distracting. Timers go off when you tell them to. Do not use the one on your cell phone. I keep all phones away from my cottage when writing.

Tip #2) Don’t watch your word count

I’m typing my NaNo into a Word Doc. At the bottom of the page is the Word Count. It’s so easy to get obsessed with those little numbers down there, so I always scoot my Doc down enough so that the word count is off screen. I find that I go faster when I can’t see it and usually by the time I do check it, I’ve surpassed my goal.

Tip #3 ) Go for a WALK

If you are stuck, frustrated, foggy, unfocused then reread your last several pages and take a walk. Think about what just happened, what needs to happen in the next sequence, and where you want to go. Play out different scenarios in your mind. Run through some “what ifs.” It’s so safe when it’s all happening in your head.

Tip #4) Put Another Obstacle in the Way

At 20,000 words I panicked a little because I thought I was almost done with my story. What? I know I’m an economic writer, but that’s not even a novelette. But idoLL and Jettison had already reached their final destination, where I had imagined my profound climax. Oops. What did I do? I figured out a reason they had to leave the planet, then threw a new monkey wrench into their plans.

When you’re looking to make your story more interesting, throw something else in the MC’s way. Make their goal harder to attain. Never make it easy for them.

Tip #5) The Final Quarter Beat Sheet

When I’m about 2/3 or 3/4 into the story and closing in on the climax, I write a new beat sheet. Generally by this time my old one is useless anyway, b/c the story has taken a left turn at Albuquerque.

This is a great way to see what’s left to do and gets you out of overwhelm. It puts the end in sight and a map to get there.

I will go into this more on my Friday Weekend Workout (and guess what your weekend workout will be?)

INSPIRATION and TIPS from OTHERS

If you haven’t noticed it yet, there are writers out there who have published their NaNo novels. Some of them give pep talks on the NaNo website.

Erin Morgenstern, author of The Night Circus, which she wrote, yes, for NaNoWriMo, gave this little pep talk I enjoyed.

Author Deb Olin Unferth adds THESE TIPS.

Lastly, even though I know I’m in danger of giving you too many tips as to distract you from your writing, one of my favourite YA authors, Scott Westerfeld, reposted his NaNo Tips from 2009 if you’d like to check them out.

Weekend NaNo Workout: Here Sloggy! Goooood Sloggy!

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Today’s Goal: 3,000 words
Actual Words: 3,114
Total Actual Words To Date: 26,481

All writers hit it. That point when you realize your characters have been crawling through air ducts for 20 pages or that the 5-page circular conversation you just wrote brought nothing new to the table. With no dramatic tension in sight, you’re starting to get bored of your own story.

That’s right. You’ve entered THE SLOG!

I definitely hit it last night, but for NaNo word count sake, I just kept going. It was mighty painful.

When I’m tired, like I was last night, I tend to slip into screenwriting mode and just start typing straight dialogue. I hit my goal, but felt completely unfocused and uninspired by my characters’ lackluster conversation.

After wallowing in the slog, I find it best to take a break, get a good night’s sleep if possible, then apply the following tools to rev things up again:

I go BACK to the idea of sequence and scene.

Approaching the story in bite-size chunks helps to keep from getting overwhelmed. Refocusing on the purpose of your current sequence and scenes will help it flow faster.

I know some people at NaNo would say “Who cares, just keep writing! It’s quantity, not quality.” But I actually think that when your story gets sloggy, if you step back and re-enter your story you’ll actually write stronger AND faster. You’ll see where you need to go, how to get there, and be more motivated to make it happen.

Here’s exactly what I did this morning when I re-entered my story after a slog session.

1)   I asked myself, What is this whole sequence about? What has to happen in this sequence?

Well, I told myself, idoLL and Jettison explore the space station, come to the conclusion they are alone, and through some series of small events they open up to each other, share a beautiful moment, and basically see each other differently than they ever had before.

2)   Perfect. Okay, then I asked myself, At the end of this sequence, what happens? What reversal upsets the status quo?

At the end of this sequence, just when idoLL and Jettison are forming some kind of new friendship, they are interrupted by Doctor Baybee. The only other sentient life-form on the space station. The status quo changes because they are no longer alone and they have no idea if they can trust Doctor Baybee or not, but they need his help.

3)   Great. I know where this sequence of scenes is going, and I know what’s going to happen at the end of it. So . . .

I set my timer for 7 minutes and I freewrote using my favourite startline: The scene that needs to be written is . . . and off I went. (I actually figured out what I wanted to do in five minutes and switched to the computer when I was inspired enough.)

Personally, I think you should do all three steps, but if you are pressed for time, at least do the first two. It will only take a few minutes and it’s guaranteed to make you feel better.

YOUR NaNo Inspired WORKOUT

Wherever you are in your story, take a step back and see where you are in your sequence. Remember, a sequence is like a mini movie. There is a beginning, middle, and end and its strung together by scenes that have beginnings, middles, and endings.

My sequence starts as soon as idoLL and Jettison (separated from their crew/bandmates), land on the TREND space station. There is a series of scenes where they explore the station and decide they are alone. They share a moment in the atrium where we see a softer side to them both. The sequence ends as soon as Doctor Baybee interrupts their bonding session.

Set your timer for 5 minutes for the first two writing sessions and for 7-10 minutes for the 3rd one:

In this sequence, Character A discovers . . .

At the end of this sequence, Character A is surprised when  . . .

The scene that needs to be written is . . .

And for another approach to getting out of the SLOG, CLICK HERE.

Have a great weekend!

NaNoWriMo Day 8 – Are we having fun yet?

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NaNo Writing Goal Today:  1,800 words
Actual Words Today: 2,145
Total Words to Date: 19,248

One of my promises to myself this month during NaNo was that I was going to have fun doing it. I was not going to stress, I was not going to whine about the quality of my work, I was just going to write and have a good time. So far, it’s working. I’ve only had a few moments of, What the hell am I writing? This is awful!

As my GBF always says, “That’s the little you talking. Have big you tell little you, Thanks for sharing.”

I really wanted to jump into the NaNo community, rah, rah, rah, but I was overwhelmed by all the different forums and the sheer magnitude of participants, so I parked myself over at a friendly little thread in the “Age Group: 30’s and 40’s” forum called Blogging NaNo. It’s been a treat poking through all the NaNo Bloggers. There’s a HUGE list of them posted over at Knots and Anchors.

I think finding a manageable community is helpful. Participating in too many threads can be distracting.

In the vein of having a good time, I know it’s only a week into NaNo, but does anyone have any funny stories or want share a few favorite lines?

My story is silly. Very, very silly. There have been days where I think it’s only purpose is to entertain me personally. I was cracking myself up in a cafe today and the students studying around me must have thought I was a complete dork. I was seriously busting a gut. Coffee out the nose.

Here are a few of my favourite lines so far from my NaNo Intergalactic: a Pop Space Opera:

~~~

IdoLL wonders how much it would hurt to punch a robot.

~~~

“There was a princess in the trunk?” asks Monkey.

“Just a small one.”

~~~

“If we give the princess up and the Rethulans find out, they will destroy us. If we don’t give the princess up, the Burtuisites will destroy us.”

Monkey stands there for a moment waiting for a response from idoLL.

“AND?” she finally asks.

“Which way would you prefer to be destroyed?”

~~~

“Why do I get the feeling I will regret going along with this.”

“Don’t worry, you wont,” idoLL pats him on the head. “Robots don’t have feelings.”

~~~

(conversation between 2 robots)

“The ship is playing very loud music.”

“Why?”

“For no apparent reason. No one is inside.”

“Perhaps it just likes to listen to music.”

The both stare at the ship and then look around the empty shuttle bay.

“It is a catchy song.”

~~~

“You know what I think?” idoLL asks the princess.

“Ooh, is this a guessing game?”

“I think this whole H.O.F.F.A. thing is a private collection of Madam C’s.”

“Oh, that’s not what I was going to guess. I was going to guess you were thinking that your knees were getting sore.”

“They are.” IdoLL stops for a moment and rubs them.

“Do I get a partial score for that?”

~~~

“Greetings,” he says to idoLL, Tara, and Ari. “I am custom diplo-synth data AIP #P29751H. I will be your cultural liaison, pop synthesizer,

and general information kiosk.”

“See?” idoLL says to Tara. “What’d I tell you?”

“You may call me Liam.”

“You look like a chimpanzee,” says idoLL. “Can I call you Monkey instead?”

“All right.”

~~~

“Is that our ship, idoLL?” asks the rebooted Monkey.

“It is the ship of pop star Jettison Prix,” responds Ari.

“Where is pop star Jettison Prix?”

“She has been captured by the Curator and the rainbow AIP’s.” Off idoLL’s look he says, “That is what they call themselves on the com. I am Captain Pink.”

“You’re not Captain Pink, you’re Ari spying on the rainbots disguised as Captain Pink. Now get the princess on board and I’ll put Monkey in a box.”

~~~

“Monkey!” idoLL tries desperately not to wring his neck. “Listen, we are in danger. Life-threatening danger. Pre-rebooted Monkey, let’s call him Awesome Monkey, the opposite of you, would do anything to save the Intergalactics and the tour. He was loyal. He was supportive. And he was much, much more fun.”

Middle Grade NaNoWriMo

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Current NaNo Word Count:  15,072
Today’s Goal: 1,800 words

Actual Words Written: 2,031
Total Actual Words: 17,103

lol. I’m double dutying it today because I want to post about both NaNo and Middle Grade Lit.

I’ve seen several NaNo writers puzzling over whether their novel is middle grade or YA. I blogged about some of those differences in a post called Middle Grade Lit, What is it?

I also blogged about the difference between upper and lower middle grade HERE. Middle Grade has a lot of grey area because at that time in a young reader’s life, their reading, social, mental, and other skills are changing and growing so quickly.

I’ve been reading a range of middle grade and YA books geared towards different ages lately and here’s a sampling of how I’d categorize them, presented in ascending age level:

The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz: younger middle grade – good and bad are more black and white, simple story and simple character arc, no sophisticated problem solving. I’d say for 7-9 year olds. Maybe some precocious 6 year olds, but the spider scene might be a bit scary.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik: middle, middle grade. lol. 8-12 year olds. More challenging than Night Fairy because of more mature themes. More complex story. Requires being able to visualize more.

Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck: slightly above the middle, middle grade. 9 – 12 year olds. There’s more subtlety here. A reader would have to be sophisticated enough to read between the lines an understand a more challenging POV, one of someone from the early 20th century.


Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix: upper middle grade (11-14) – School Library Journal says grades 4-8 but I disagree. The time travel elements are probably too much for younger kids to wrap their heads around and some of the ideas are pretty sophisticated. There’s a lot more to puzzle out. (side note: this book classification actually confused me because it felt like it should have been a YA novel – I’ll review this later in the month)

~  ~  ~

One thing people tend to fall back on is the age of the protagonist. Kids tend to read about characters who are slightly older than they are.

But this is not always the case. I am currently reading John Connolly’s Book of Lost Things (marvelous and disturbing). The protagonist is a 12-year-old boy and it’s definitely not a kids book. The writing is luxurious, sophisticated, and part fairy tale, part psychological study.

As far as NaNo goes, if you don’t know yet what age your target market is, just write the story and see what you have. You can decide then, or ask for help from fellow writers, and make any necessary changes in the rewrite.

Have a great week NaNoBots!

Weekend Writing Workout: Creating Undeserved Misfortune

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NaNo Goal Today: 2,000 words
Words Actually Completed Today: 1,870
Total Words to Date: 10,617

Aristotle says the most sympathetic characters are those who bring about their own undeserved misfortune.

Let’s start with your sympathetic characters.

I believe characters should be messy (wounded and imperfect). So our protagonist should start out as a loveable mess. He’s a misogynist. She’s shallow. He’s an alcoholic. She works too hard. These are things we can relate to. They’re “human.” (this works even if your character is an animal, vegetable, or alien)

But how do we make our readers care about them if they are, say, JERKS to those around them? They are imperfect, yes, but there’s something about them. They’re smart or funny or talented (we like those things). Or we show them acting in a humane way to demonstrate they have heart. He helps an old lady across the street. She feeds the alley cats. He stands up for a boy who’s being picked on. She cries in her office when she hear her little girl needs counseling.

That’s how we know that when misfortune falls on them, they don’t deserve it, because they are essentially good at heart (and striving towards goodness). If they create their own misfortune because of their “fatal flaw” then we sympathize even more and it means something when they redeem themselves.

In my NaNo novel Intergalactic my main character is moody, self-absorbed, and insulting to her crew. But underneath it all we know she’s scared of her waning popularity. There are little moments where this shows up. But eventually, her selfish choices are going to land her in a heap of trouble: stranded in the middle of an interplanetary war without the people (well, robots and aliens) she has taken for granted.

If you’re working on your NaNo novel, or anything else for that matter, take a moment out to think about whether you’ve made your character a loveable mess. Now, how can the mess that they are contribute to their downfall and the reversal of that lead to their redemption?

Your Workout:

Set your timer for 5-7 minutes and free write (you know the drill, no crossing out, no editing, no judging) using the following startlines:

My protagonist’s wound looks like . . .

My protagonist wants forgiveness for . . .

The cage my protagonist lives in was formed when  . . .

My protagonist thinks if only . . . then . . .

When my protagonist reaches his/her lowest point, redemption lies in . . .

Have a great weekend!

NaNoWriMo Day 3: Have You Written Your Synopsis?

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NaNo Goal Today: 2,000 words
NaNo Total Goal: 8,644
Actual Words Today: 2,103
Total Words To Date: 8,747

I know, I know. Not many writers usually like to write loglines, summaries, treatments, or synopses. However, I firmly believe that writing these things will help you focus your story. Once when I was struggling with a screenplay, I just stopped and wrote the logline over and over again until it clicked. My story literally gelled at that moment and I knew what to do.

Loglines are the hardest. They are basically one or two sentence summaries of a story. One thing that can really help in creating a logline is to think in terms of Who must do what before /or else this happens. It’s important to know the stakes. Once you’ve figured this out, you know where to point your story.

Here’s mine for Intergalactic:

IdoLL, a fading 17-year-old intergalactic pop star, inadvertently starts an interplanetary war when the princess of one planet stows away on her tour ship. She must get the princess home and set things right before her musical career ends up in the toilet.

I extended it and wrote this summary:

When 17-year-old fading intergalactic pop star idoLL starts her 12-planet tour, her biggest worries are that rising star Jettison Prix has overtaken her on the T.R.E.N.D. charts and that her manager has booked her some lame gigs. But when Princess Tarantella of the planet Rethula stows away on her tour ship, she finds herself stranded in the middle of an interplanetary war without her bandmates: Monkey, the cultural liaison and synth robot, and Debop, the enigmatic alien percussion wiz. Lost without her crew, the high-maintenance diva must come down a notch in order to save the princess, stop the war, and track down her scumbag manager who has disappeared with all her money.

~  ~  ~

Don’t get too nervous about these. They are not set in stone. I often find myself refining my loglines and summaries months after I’ve written the work when I start to pitch the projects. They are extremely useful on that end of things, too.

NaNoWriMo Day One: Don’t Panic!

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NaNo Goal Today:  2,500 words
ACTUAL words as of 5:30 pm: 4,591

So you were all set to get up bright and early and write for two hours before you had to go to work / take the kids to school / fly to San Francisco, but you overslept / your kid had the flu / you opened Facebook and lost track of time.

Stay calm. There’s lots of time and you’re going to manage it better from now on (or not, but you’ll forgive yourself for it).

My philosophy is that it’s best to immerse yourself in your story as much as possible. Writing every day, even if it’s just a little bit, will help. The more immersed you are in your story, the less time you will need to review it when you do write.

You don’t have to have 4 hours to do some actual writing. If you can “get yourself to the page” you can make great progress in 30 minutes. (I’ll blog about tips for getting to the page next week) Getting to the page is 1/2 the battle. Just do it and make the most of the short time you might have.

Can you:

get up 1/2 hour earlier /  stay up 1/2 hour later?
make meals simpler with less prep time?
sacrifice your favourite TV show?
sacrifice your social media time?
ride the bus instead of drive (I get tons of reading and writing done on public transit)
bring a lunch instead of go out and write during your lunch break?
stay after work for 1/2 hr to write just so you won’t be disturbed?
send your kids to a friends or relatives at least once a week for a few hours?

Even if you can’t do any actual writing, here are some ways to stay IN your story during the month (and let your family and friends know you may be a space cadet for the month because your mind will be preoccupied):

-if you need to get somewhere and it’s not too far, walk instead of drive. Walking and thinking about your story is a great way to develop it without distraction. Thinking about it while driving is not as easy and probably unsafe.

-think about it in the shower or bath. I kid you not, I use this all the time. Say I don’t have much time to write before going to work, I do some writing then immediately jump in the shower and go over the next scene in my head. It has the same affect as walking, but even more focused. Of course, it’s important to write these thoughts down, so then – –

-bring a small notebook with you wherever you go! or index cards. I use both. they ALWAYS come with me so I can jot ideas and actions down during the day.

-talk your story out with anyone who will listen. sometimes I go on walks with Baby and tell him that he doesn’t even have to pay attention to me, I just want to talk my story out loud. this is a technique suggested by Alex Epstein of Crafty Screenwriting fame and it’s extremely helpful.

For some of you this last suggestion may be very challenging, but you can do it.

STAY OFFLINE IN THE MORNING

If you check your email / facebook / blog / twitter / goodreads / etc before you start writing, chances are you will get sucked into a black hole of time and your thoughts will scatter to the ethers. WRITE FIRST.

If you have to, disable your internet connection in the morning. Create an auto alert or change your facebook status if you must let people know why you haven’t responded to them in 30 seconds.

I guarantee you the world will not end in the hour you are unconnected.

Prepping for NaNoWriMo: The Sequence and Beat Sheet!

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I love my sequence and beat sheet. Love, love, love it. It’s basically a form of outline I use for getting a story down, but because of my screenwriting background, I tend to think of stories in sequences, beats, scenes, etc.

In this outline approach, the “beats” are the main steps of the story. Each beat is supported by one or more scenes. For example:

Anna gets a horse for her birthday.
Anna’s father loses his job
Parents can’t afford to keep the horse.
Anna gets a job at the stables to support her horse-riding.
Anna falls from a loft and breaks her leg.
ETC.

After I’ve done copious amounts of prewriting (i.e. I basically know what the story is about and where I want to go), I write my first beat sheet. Sometimes I know exactly what’s going to happen in a sequence and my beats are more detailed. Other times I get to the middle of a sequence and I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but I know something must happen, so I’m just vague and add in some questions:

Anna meets someone at the hospital (male/female? a love interest?)

SEQUENCES are generally used in screenwriting (a sequence equals about 8-15 minutes of screentime), but I’ve discovered they work just as effectively for novels. Sequences are a series of scenes that act as kind of a mini-movie. They have set up and pay off and end in a change in status quo. Large “reversals” and “reveals” can happen at the end of a sequence.

Sequences help to break a story down into manageable “chunks.”  In novels, those chunks usually turn into chapters, although you don’t really have to worry about that just yet. Beats are the smaller steps inside each sequence that get you from the beginning and end.

For a much more detailed post about the Sequence Approach, CLICK HERE

When writing out my sequences and beats, the first thing I think about is how the “status quo” is going to change at the end of the sequence, then I write out the beats it will take to get there.

Here’s my real live process for the first sequence of Intergalactic (the YA Sci Fi story I’m writing for NaNoWriMo).

SEQUENCE 1 – Set up of characters and world

I knew idoLL was about to set off on her intergalactic tour and that (at 17), her music career was already waning. I wanted to demonstrate that her manager has been cutting corners financially. At the end of the first sequence, I wanted to have a “Houston, we have a problem” status quo change and a reveal that her manager has not exactly been up front with her.

I came up with six main beats for this opening sequence:

*idoLL has a pre-tour video chat with her manager
*idoLL has a pre-tour interview with an amateur
*idoLL discovers that her tour ship has been replaced with an older model and most of her crew let go
*She learns that the planet they are about to visit is on the brink of war
*They land, she meets the queen, and is treated bruskly
*She learns that she playing a private birthday party for the princess, and she’s not even the main act (her nemesis is)

After I had the main beats in this sequence, I went back and filled in a few details (bitty beats), to make sure that each scene had TENSION (as well as set up and foreshadowing). For instance, in the opening scene – her video conference with her manager – I added the following smaller beats:

*idoLL has a vid chat with Garrison:
-G is evasive about tour
-idoLL worries about her activist parents being out of communication
-G can’t make first tour date because he will be in court dealing with lawsuit
-G assures idoLL low #’s are only a reflection of current political climate
-idoLL worries about her nemesis Jettison Prix passing her on the T.R.E.N.D. charts

Within this one scene I’ve created the set-up for the story and the current status quo: Garrison is her somewhat fishy manager, idoLL feels abandoned by her parents and resents their cause, idoLL is worried about her waning popularity, Jettison is her nemesis and is passing her on the charts.

Because the status quo is clear, the reveal at the end of the sequence makes us empathize with her. Garrison and her parents HAVE abandoned her, the gig stinks, and Jettison is the star of the weekend. All her fears have manifested, and it’s only the first stop on her tour.

Does this sound like a lot of work? It can be. But when I’m writing the story next month, I’m going to be SO glad I have my beat sheet to follow. Even if there are some blank spaces and vague ideas. I can always fill them in when I get to that sequence. As well, I usually rewrite my beat sheet after the first draft to assist with the rewrite.

Let me know if you have any questions about any of this! And let me know if you try your own beat sheet and, if so, how it goes.

Weekend Workout: PrepWork, NaNoWriMo, and an Invite to Join the Insanity

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As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’m starting a new novel and have been doing prepwork/writing exercises for the past month. The start of this project just HAPPENS to coincide with NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), an annual experiment to write an entire novel (well, at least a 50,000 word one) during the month of Nov.

I have participated in many time-constrained writing projects, but never this one. I love the idea because it supports my philosophy of writing from start to finish in the shortest amount of time possible. But I DO think you’ll have a much more successful go at it if you do preparation exercises in advance. If you know what your story is about, and you know where you’re going, you’ll have more fun getting there.

From NaNoWriMo’s Facebook Page:

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

Yes, creation is messy. And allowing yourself to have (and leave!) the mess and get to the end is important.

SO

With all this in mind, if you, too, are at the beginning of a new novel, I am inviting you to take a risk and join NaNoWriMo. The worst that could happen is you don’t finish. The best that could happen is you do. In either case, you’ll be farther along than you were on Nov 1.

If you are working on a novel and are not interested in NaNoWriMo, I invite you to participate here on my blog as I (we) go from start to finish.

For the next several Weekend Workouts, I will focus on the task of writing a novel (my third). I’ll guide you through some of my personal writing exercises, how to write a beat sheet, and offer other goodies and support. I will demonstrate my process – not that my process must be your process – simply to show that step-by-step, it can be done. You can do it.

To kick it off, I will share with you how I prepared.

Starting with: The Notebook.

I think it is vital to do writing exercises by hand. I am as picky about my notebooks as I am about my pens. Find what works for you. I like ink pens, for instance, and not fine-point ones. I like the thick coloured uni-ball pens. I won’t write with ball-point unless I have no ink pen option in sight.

Love your writing implements! If it feels right and good, you’re more likely to enjoy the process.

My favourite notebook so far is this red deal I got at Staples:

Why do I like it? Because it’s red, and not too heavy, and inside it has these stickers and tabs you can add to the pages:

          

My tabs say: Exercises, Beat Sheet, Novel, Songs (songs because my two main characters are pop stars)

I generally start with my characters. The first writing exercise I did was to write the answer to “Who is idoLL?” (the protag). I began to write about her nemesis, too (Jettison Prix), so I drew pictures of them both. Trust me, you don’t have to be a talented artist to draw pictures in your exercise notebook.

The next writing exercise I did was “This is a story about . . .” (for the whole process and some alternate start line CLICK HERE). I always set a timer and simply write without editing or judgement. My notebook is messy.

The next exercises I did were the ones I listed on my Starting Something New post.

After I’m done with my writing exercises, I READ THEM, marking/circling passages, checking or starring areas I want to come back to, and TYPING up significant information that I know will go into the story. I try to put the typed notes chronologically as they will appear in the story, so as I’m writing or editing I can review them as I go along.

It doesn’t matter if you’re going for the NaNoWriMo or eking out your manuscript on the weekends, pre-writing exercises will not only uncover the story for you, they will ultimately inspire the work.

Your workout:

Find that notebook and the pen that feels right (but don’t use a lack of the “perfect” implements as an excuse not to write). Punk it out with a title label and OWN IT. Start with a few timed writing exercises about your story and protag. If you need some start lines, cruise through my old weekend writing workouts. The exercises I used for writing screenplays apply just as well. Some of the poetry writing ones will also. The point is to WRITE.