I Have Been Writernapped

Posted by 4amWriter

Writer at Work

My apologies to all of my blogging pals out there. I have been writernapped by an accidental pirate, an evil spirit, and a defective fortuneteller.

This means that I am likely missing your blog posts. I expect to be back in full blogging mode come December 1. At that point I will try my best to catch up to what everyone else has been doing.

My writernappers have demanded that I turn off the commenting feature for this post. However, feel free to ‘like’ it. That way I know that you know that I’m sailing the high seas on a ghost ship.

Writers, Start Your Engines

Posted by 4amWriter

Who’s in?

Starting November 1st writers across the globe will be hunkering down at their laptops, desktops, paper, what-have-you, and crafting a brand-new story for National Novel Writing Month. We get 30 days to write 50,000 words. It will be a writing frenzy that will require loads of caffeine, creativity, and perseverence.

I participated two years ago for the first time. I actually stumbled upon NaNoWriMo five days into November. I had never heard of it before until I was messing around in the blogging world and reading posts by writers already deeply immersed in their NaNoWriMo novels. I was immediately intrigued. That very day I began writing off of two words that had been bouncing around my head for a while.

NaNoWriMo has no constraints, no structure, no rules (other than writing 50,000 words from scratch). In my experience, the writing emerges organically and sails off in an unchartered direction. Stories like this become their own masquerade party. Characters come out of the woodwork. They behave unexpectedly. Setting changes abruptly. Secrets that weren’t part of the plot on page 11 are suddenly unveiled by page 64. The plot veers into a different direction without warning. The author likely has no idea how things will turn out once the clock strikes twelve.

Of course, organic writing is only one way to get through NaNoWriMo. There are some writers who actually prepare for this event, where they know how things are going to end first. They follow a structured path. It can still be a twisty path with bumps and storm damage and predators along the way, but where the finish line is clear and definite. Where they know how to proceed from one moment to the next.

Because I didn’t know about NaNoWriMo until 5 days into the event, I had to write on the fly. “Pantsing” is the term many people use for this writing style. And for me it’s great fun because writing freely meant that I wrote from the gut. Anything could happen, and it would be okay. Imagine that. Writing without structure and under a deadline also meant I couldn’t revise as I went along. At one point I was feeling that the story was hurtling into orbit and if I had a prayer of getting it back in my rational, organized world then I had better do some editing. Then I remembered the objective was to get down words. Any words. 50,000 words. In under 30 days.

I stopped editing. And I just wrote.

It is a freeing experience, to write without censoring yourself. Without worrying if your scenes transition well. Without worrying if the dialogue is snappy or witty. And, gasp! without fussing over punctuation or grammar. In fact, such organic writing helped me overcome one of my biggest storytelling flaws–I protect my characters too much. I let them dance dirty for a while, but I tend to pull them off the stage when they start behaving dangerously. I practically had to shut my eyes to their erratic, shameful behavior because, well, I needed 50,000 words. By the end of the month I wrote a daring story that any other time I never would have imagined writing.

So. Are you in?

My NaNoWriMo username is madrye. Feel free to buddy me, and we can brave the whirlwind together.

Final NaNo Update

Posted by 4amWriter

Well, I just heard from my friend, Kady, who gave herself a NaNoWriMo challenge for the month of February. If you missed my posts on this, you can check them out here and here.

She wrapped up her 50,000 words this past week, on the 29th. She is excited about the story, and she wants to complete it. That’s a great thing, and that doesn’t always happen.

I know of many writers who start, falter, and abandon their work. Reasons vary, but I think the biggest reason I hear is that the story was boring to write. Either they couldn’t think of anything to make happen, or what was happening wasn’t compelling enough. Another common reason I hear is that it got too overwhelming, too random, too unweildy, and they lost control.

Kady says that over the next few months she plans to complete the novel, re-read, and revise. She is contemplating about finding a local writing group to help her in this endeavor, so it sounds like she is really serious about this. And that’s the next biggest commitment after completion. Whether or not she can follow through on revisions.

Feeling excited after a first draft is common. It is easy to get swept away with the high of creating something new and original. Going back to revise can be the ultimate downer, especially if you don’t know how to revise. All writers have their own special methods, I don’t think there is any one special way to revise. However, having said that, if you don’t know what works best for you, then you will revise inefficiently.

The gap between rough draft and second draft (or first draft, if your rough is reallllly rough, like outline form-rough) is a good time to take a writing workshop. Get a feel for what a story is supposed to do from one stage to the next. There are plenty of workshops on structure, plot development, world building, characters, or some other key element. Perhaps telling yourself to take three months to learn some of the mechanics of story building might be helpful to get a stronger feel for your story.

Taking the time out for a workshop is also beneficial in that you are taking time away from your story. It is much easier to revise your drafts with fresh eyes and a fresh perspective.

Personally, I love revising. I love getting down and dirty with individual scenes and dialogue exchanges and intricate detail. I love turning something bland into something explosive. But it takes practice, it takes time, it takes energy, it takes a love for the story. And I never get it right on the first try. I can’t think of a single sentence that I wrote for the first time that didn’t undergo some sort of change at some point.

So, I applaud Kady for doing what a lot of people find impossible. I know that she’s proud of herself and her accomplishment. As a stay-at-home mom of 3 boys under the age of 8, finding time to write is a job in itself.

She sums up the gig of writing the same way I see it: This NaNoWriMo challenge “definitely showed me that if I REALLY want to do something then I can find the time.”

Amen.

NaNo Update

Posted by 4amWriter

I just wanted to give a brief update on my friend Kady who is doing NaNoWriMo this month. If you missed my post announcing it, check it out HERE.

Kady reported that by her first day she wrote a little over 2,000 words. In one sense that felt great, but she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to keep that up for the whole month. I suggested that she should cut back on her daily word count. She might be jumping out of the gates too fast, and she is going to severely burn out!

Kady’s strategy was that by writing over her word count on some days she would be diverting a disaster on days when she couldn’t make the word count. ”I’m already panicking about not knowing what’s going to happen in my story! I feel like it should be a short story, over…done.”

But by the end of her first week she said she’s feeling better. “I got a little panicked that I was going to be done with all the ideas in my head but it seems like when I actually sit down to write it takes me longer (more words) to get through a scene or conversation than I thought. So that’s been good. In my head I’m still a little worried about the middle…how to get there and then how to start moving on to the ending.”

She said she’s now aiming for the traditional 1667 per day. But she’s about 800 words behind because the weekend was really tough to accomplish her daily goal.

In closing she said, “Ok, off to the gym. That’s the one thing I did NOT give up for this. Must make it to the gym every morning.”

NaNoWriMo–in February?

Posted by 4amWriter

My friend, Kady, is embarking on a solo journey for 31 days. She is doing her own NaNoWriMo from February 1 – March 2.

Kady told me, “Since February has 29 days this year I’m giving myself until March 2nd because 1) This is my first time damn it, I’m going to need that 31st day and 2) The kids start vacation on the 27th and that may seriously cut into my writing time!”

Kady is a married mother of three boys (all under the age of 8) and has been wanting to do something writing related for years now. It wasn’t until she read “No Plot, No Problem!” by Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo, that she decided to write something.

Baty pushes quantity over quality, he believes that writers get tripped up trying to write perfectly the first time around, and that everyone needs a deadline. But what struck a chord the most with Kady is Baty’s advice against being a ‘one day’ writer, as in “One day I want to write a novel.” Kady says, “I say that to myself ALL THE TIME. I thought after I read that, Why not let today be the day!! and decided to do the Nano in February. Simple as that. I’m at a point where I’m getting anxious to figure out what I want to do with my life.”

First order of business was to make sure she had someone pick up the slack when she’s immersed in her writing. She says, “I mostly needed to have Eric [hubby] back me up on this. I needed to know he was going to take the kids out for the day if it’s week 3 and I’m seriously behind on my word count. Otherwise, I’ve told a handful of people about it. I’m hoping having people know about it and ask about it will give me the drive to keep going!! I just hope they don’t want to read it when I’m done!”

Kady is one of the most organized people I know. For instance, she is preparing her tax documents, putting all her CDs on Itunes, and cleaning out her fridge in preparation for her writing frenzy. She explains, “so that I won’t be tempted to do mundane things just to avoid writing.”

As a writer who also waited so long to get “serious” about snagging her dream, I asked Kady where she finds her motivation. “I’m mostly motivated by the curiosity to see if this writing thing is for me. Plus I like a good challenge. I’m a creative person at heart so something like running a marathon isn’t a challenge that appeals to me but writing 50,000 words in one month seemed like a good idea! It’s something I want to do even if it doesn’t turn out great.”

Is she terrified about any of this? Feeling confident? Yes, and yes! She admits, “I’m terrified that I think I have a lot to write about and that on Day 2 I’ve already written it all! I’m nervous about getting stuck, about having characters that fall flat, and about what people might think! Having said that though, I’m pretty confident that no matter what I’ll reach 50,000 words by my deadline (March 2).”

With Kady’s personal NaNoWriMo right around the bend, it’s ironic that her 5-year-old son, Ben, asked her, “Who are you?”

Kady said, “What?”

“You know, are you a teacher? A policeman?”

“Well, mostly I’ve just been your mom because you guys need a lot of taking care of but I’d like to be a writer so I’m going to start doing that soon.”

Ben said, “Yeah, I like that.”