What I Learned this NaNoWriMo: Death of a Pantser

I participated in NaNoWriMo last month, for the fourth time; as you can see from the widget in my sidebar, I ‘won’—I hit 50,000 words on November 16th. I purposefully tried to finish ahead of schedule because I had my own personal goal of 75,000 words for the month, and I knew the second half of November was going to be a bear; I made it to 75,002 words on the evening of November 30th. Huzzah!


Since then I’ve worked on it in between coughing fits and bursts of unconsciousness (I promptly got sick shortly after NaNo ended); I have two scenes left to write, and then my first draft of Accidental Revelation, the second book in my tarot mystery series, will be done. Huzzah again!


So NaNoWriMo was a success for me in terms of output, for sure. But, I’ve come to look forward to NaNoWriMo as a conduit for learning about my writing process as well. And this year I learned that I’m not quite the pantser I thought I was. Or maybe, at all.


I’ve never been 100% pantser—I’ve always had some basic structure in mind with every novel I’ve written, even if it was just knowing the premise, the conflict, and how the book would end. Last year during NaNo I took a completely new idea and self-scaffolded it as I went along; I used a blend of discovery writing mixed with pauses to reconceptualize and insert blank scenes into Scrivener where I knew I would need them (I’ve previously described this process as ‘Pl-antsing’, here). 


This year, I went into NaNoWriMo as an accidental plotter. I came up with the idea for the book back in June, and put it into my queue of goals as the manuscript I’d write during NaNo. I went on an overnight trip to the location that inspired my setting, partly as research for the first book, and partly to gather ideas for the second. As time passed, I continued to be excited about the book and so did a few brainstorming sessions to come up with ideas about how the plot would unfold; I created a Scrivener project so I could write down research information and create blank scenes for the plot points I would need. There were only a few at first, and they had only basic titles with nothing written—I’m talking stuff like ’Murder occurs’, ‘Semarra investigates clue’, and ‘Murderer comes after X’. As ideas percolated out of my brain, I added to the scenes, and by the time NaNoWriMo rolled around, I had four major divisions in the book with several important plot points in each one. 


Without realizing it, I’d created a basic outline for my novel. Before I’d ever written a word. Whaaa??


During each of my three previous NaNos, I had difficult days where I hated what I was writing, or was at a loss for what to write next. I was ready for that to happen again this time when I started on November 1st. I started at the beginning (I hear that’s a very good place to start), and it felt good to sink my teeth in. Then I switched to the end, and wrote out the scene where my protagonist explains who the murderer is and why the murder occurred; that helped me work out the remaining questions I had in my head about everything. And then I wrote the rest of the novel, jumping around where inspiration took me, adding scenes as needed. And those days where I hated what I was writing and had no idea what to write next never came.


Yes, there were days where I knew what I was writing wasn’t my best work, and would need to be heavily revised. But I knew where it was going, and I knew what section I was excited to work on next. And the next thing I knew, I had 75,000 words in the bag.


I was surprised to find that the magic of discovery writing still showed up, in spades. While writing a scene for my intended purpose, an additional possibility would rear its head, and poof, I had a deeper, richer story. I never knew what I’d stumble onto with each new writing session; every bit of the fun was still there, with the security of having an overall plan.  


So, it’s official. I’ve been pulled over to the plotting side. Who knows, for my next novel, I might even write out a full, complete outline…


*GASP*

Happy Writing,
M.  

Review: Write-A-Thon: Write Your Book in 26 Days by Rochelle Melander

Today I’m back with the final NaNoWriMo-related book review I’ll be doing this year; if you missed the first two you can find my review of Fast Fiction by Denise Jaden here, and Book in a Month by Victoria Lynn Schmidt here. Today we’re going to look at Write-A-Thon by Rochelle Melander; this book is a better fit for the ‘pantsers’ or ‘discovery writers’ out there among you. 


If you’re new to NaNoWriMo, you may not yet have heard the terms ‘pantsers’ and ‘plotters’ yet. ‘Plotters’ is fairly intuitive—it refers to people who like to plot at least the basics out before they begin writing. ‘Pantsers’, on the other hand, are people who like to just dive in, or write by the seat of their pants. Another term for this (one I prefer) is ‘discovery writers’, because you’re discovering where your story will go as you write.


So if you’re a just-dive-in kind of person, there’s not really much prep to do, right, and what help can a book be? First of all, wrong. There’s all sorts of prep you can do, but it’s more along the lines of getting past your writing demons and making sure you schedule your life to set yourself up for success during NaNoWriMo. There are also lots of tricks and tips that can help you keep going while you’re writing your book, so you’ll successfully reach the end. These are the kinds of help you’ll find in this book. 


Write-A-Thon has three parts. The first takes you through some training: attitude training, writing training, course training (plotting your book—don’t worry, this is in a very basic, pantser-friendly way), and life training. Each of these will help you find the time, energy and head space to help you succeed when you do sit down to write your book. The writing training session will also introduce you to some basics about writing a book, with the assumption that you’re fairly new to this. 


The second part of the book is designed to be a companion during the writing process; Melander suggests you use it as a ‘writing coach’ of sorts. It’s broken up into 32 vignettes with different tips; you can read them all before you start, read one or more a day to get your mojo flowing, or she suggests you can even just flip at random when you need an extra push and see what you get. If you have an ereader this part is a bit hard, but you can always use a random number generator as a way of flipping through. There’s a lot of good wisdom in these sections, from avoiding ‘monkey mind’ to overcoming perfection, to ways to get past writer’s block. 


The final part, ‘Recovery’, focuses mostly on why you should revise what you’ve written during your write-a-thon, and gives some basic suggestions for beginning that process. It also talks a little bit about editors and queries. 


This book is particularly well-suited for people who’ve never tried to write a book before, and are thinking of getting their toes wet in the NaNoWriMo pool. It’s very user-friendly and terminology-friendly for people who haven’t really thought about doing something like this before, and for whom the thought of plotting or outlining an entire book makes them break out in a cold sweat. It’s also a good resource for people who have tried NaNoWriMo before but had a hard time seeing it through—it gets to the root of a lot of those problems that can derail you. I wish I’d had something like this my first year to use as a daily mojo-stoker. 


Another thing this book has going for it is that it's designed to help writers of all sorts. It has a dedicated section on non-fiction books, and the advice it gives applies to all. Increasing numbers of people are using NaNoWriMo to write books other than novels (even dissertations and short-story collections), and this book is a good resource for all, not just the fiction writers among us. 


So, if you’re a NaNoWriMo newbie, a pantser/discovery writer, or someone who needs a little extra something to help them win this year, go have a look at this book. It might be just the thing to help you get through those 50,000 words, and beyond. 


Happy writing!  
M.

NaNoWriMo Review: Book in a Month by Victoria Lynn Schmidt

(Purchased by me; affiliate link)

I’m back with my second NaNoWriMo-relevant book review, this time Book in a Month by Victoria Lynn Schmidt. If the thought of 'pantsing' it gives you night terrors and you’re looking for something that can help you write a book with structure, direction, and developed characters all in a month, this may be the book for you. If you like order, exercises and worksheets, this book is definitely for you!


Book in a Month has a clear structure designed to guide you part by part, and even day-by-day, through the construction of your novel. There are two main parts to the book; the first section is designed to help you break through mental barriers you might have, such as problems with resistance and time management. It’s broken down like this:

Introduction
The five secrets of BiaM
Time management
Resistance
Setting and keeping goals
The Book in a Month system (an overview of the rest of the book)

 I personally have watched lots of very well-intentioned writers set out to write their book (both inside and outside of NaNo), only to be side-lined by fears they aren’t even aware they have, and time-management issues that can easily be overcome (that are probably also related to those fears!). In psychological circles, we call these issues self-sabotage and self-fulfilling prophecy, and they’re deadly. This section talks you through common pitfalls and gives you strategies & worksheets to help you deal with those pitfalls. For example, many people allow their fears to manifest in a need for perfection—they’ll go back and rewrite or rework a section over and over trying to make it perfect, and never make any actual progress on the novel. BiaM provides you with a worksheet that allows you to write down everything you need to go back and fix/research/build on later, so you don’t have to obsess about it now. This is a strategy that the successful writers I know use in one form or another to help keep their minds clear and their work moving forward. 


The second part of the book tackles the structure and content of the novel itself, in four sections: 

Week 1: The outline and Act I
Week 2: Act II, part 1
Week 3: Act II, part 2
Week 4: Act III

In each of these sections, Schmidt guides you through structuring your book with daily exercises and worksheets. You start small and build to big during week one; on day one you write a one-sentence summary, and put your raw story ideas into a ‘story idea map’ worksheet that helps you figure out the stakes, how your character and setting fit in, and what your inciting incidents and turning points are. As you progress, you will develop scenes for your ideas, and finally, an outline. You’ll then turn your attention to your characters development and backstory. By the end of week one, you’ll have fleshed-out characters and a basic outline to put them into. And yes, during this time, you write, so you aren’t falling behind on your daily word-count for NaNo. 


During weeks 2-4, you will continued to write as you buttress your story. You’ll fill out that outline with exercises that help you hone your theme, craft excellent cliffhangers and reversals, spice up your story, continue to improve your characters’ motivations and arcs, and identify plot holes.


I love the questions and worksheets in this book; the worksheets aren’t crazy complicated or overwhelming, yet they have power. In fact, I have a manuscript I’ve put on the back burner to so I can get some distance on it; when I’m finished with my current projects, I’m going to pull it out and use all the steps in this book on it. Yes, it’s already written and it doesn’t map on to the typical three-act structure, but I believe the questions this book asks will help me get to the heart of what isn’t quite working right with it. 


So if you’re looking for guidance, especially if plotting is a must for you, check this book out and let me know what you think! I’ll be back next time with another option to help with NaNoWriMo that’s a little more free-flowing. 


Happy prepping!

It's beginning to look a lot like NaNoWriMo...

That’s right, my favorite time of year is rapidly approaching—National Novel Writing Month, aka, NaNoWriMo. This will be my fourth NaNoWriMo; I made it to about 25,000 words on my first attempt, and then ‘won’ the next two. I’ll be trying my hardest to make this my third win in a row. 


Why do I love it so much? I wrote a blog post answering that question last year, which you can find by clicking here; if you’re still deciding to give it a try, check that post out. The quick summary is, NaNoWriMo gave me permission to just let my hair down and write, no judgments, no inner critics, just me and whatever my muse sent me. And along the way I learned a lot about my writing process, and gained a lot of confidence. I ensconced myself in writing habits that serve me to this day, and for that reason alone, I highly recommend the experience.


But today I’m going to assume you’ve already decided to take the leap, and share with you a few things I’ve learned the last three years about prepping beforehand. 


“But wait!” I hear you say. “You’re not supposed to start before Nov. 1st! Isn’t that cheating?”


Not at all. Yes, you do the actual writing between Nov. 1st and 30th. But there’s plenty more you can, and should, do well before Nov. 1st rolls around. Some involve time management planning, and some involve novel planning.

Time-management/mental preparations

• Decide on a basic ‘ritual’ for your plan of attack. 

By this I mean something like ‘I’ll set the alarm 20 minutes earlier so I can write first thing everyday.’. Be honest with yourself here. Are you a morning person or an evening person? I know that if I set my alarm clock earlier, I’ll just throw the clock across the room and go back to sleep; my extra writing time needs to come at the end of the day, not at the beginning. 

Can you take advantage of times when your energy peaks? If you know you’re most creative at lunchtime, plan to scarf that lunch down and pound out some words during your lunch break. Are your weeks jam-packed, but your weekends more leisurely? Find small bits of time to keep your momentum going during the week, and plan longer stretches on the weekend. Figure it out now instead of thinking that writing time is going to plop into your lap when the time comes. 

• Find some stuff to cut. 

Can you DVR your second-favorite show and use that time to write (and then look forward to a mini-binge on Dec. 1st to celebrate your win)? Will your house seize up if you go an extra day or two between vacuuming? Maybe half as much Candy Crush? It’s not forever…but who knows, maybe you’ll find you don’t miss those extra games of CC as much as you thought you would.   

• Evaluate your obligations for the month, and plan around them. 

For Americans, Thanksgiving is one of the biggies here, especially if you host it. Don't think it will take care of itself--putting your metaphorical fingers in your ears and singing ‘I’m not listening’ isn’t going to do anything other than derail you once it gets here. If you know you’re going to lose 2-3 days to family time during that week, and still only plan to do 1,667 words a day, you’re going to find yourself behind. Take it into account ahead of time; write a little more each day, or give yourself an extra couple of hours one afternoon to bust some word count out. And whatever you do, don't rely on making it up after--the psychological weight of that word deficit is heavier than you think. 

For me, one big obligation I can't ignore is my nail art blog. I'm making sure I have posts scheduled throughout the month so I don't have to worry about that content when I need to be focusing on my book. I've also planned out the product reviews I've agreed to do, so I can finish them before NaNoWriMo begins.

• Plan extra time in the beginning of the month. 

Nothing will keep your mental momentum better than having a word-count cushion. Unexpected things happen, and rarely do they create extra time. Being behind the word count can be disheartening; finding out that even though you had to spend the whole day replacing your kamikaze microwave you’re still 1,000 words ahead of the game is divine.  I personally stay up on Halloween, and at the stroke of midnight I start writing—I’m so excited to begin and have so many ideas swirling around my head that I have no problem busting out 1,000-2,000 words before bed. And I wake up on Nov. 1st ahead of the game, which is exciting…and on it goes.

• Investigate some support options. 

If you have friends doing NaNoWriMo, you’re already golden: set up times to write together in person or virtually, and set out some solid ways you’ll keep each other accountable. But if you don’t know any other NaNoers, never fear! There are many options for building a community of support for yourself. One of my favorites is the virtual write-ins that NaNoWriMo holds on their YouTube channel—they talk about writing, do sprints, give prompts, and more. If you watch them in real time, you can chat with other people watching. But you don’t have to watch them as they happen—the videos stay on the channel, and you can watch them anytime; you can even find the videos from previous years. NaNoWriMo also holds twitter ‘parties’ and sprints, and of course, check out the forums. 

Writing preparations

• Buy a notebook to carry during November. 

Claim those wasted moments in your day. Scribble while you’re in line at the grocery store or the pharmacy or whenever—you know, all those times you’d normally spend checking Facebook on your phone. Those minutes = words, and those words add up. They also keep your brain working on your manuscript even when you aren’t. Choose one you can’t wait to write in and you’ll be excited to seek out those moments whenever you can.  

• Do some very basic (or more!) outlining. 

Are you a pantser who loves to set out with nothing but an idea and a cup of coffee, blissfully following wherever the muse leads you? Awesome, I’ve done it that way and love it. But I’ve also come to understand the value of having some sort of very basic skeleton in place, even if it’s just a general idea of what you want to happen in the beginning, middle, and end (basic three-act structure) of your book. This year I’ll be starting out with a basic plot idea fortified with the main divisions I know I’ll need. I’m writing a mystery, so I know I’m going to need a set-up, an initial murder, etc., and I’ve worked out the basic structure I want for those events. Calling it an outline would be optimistic; I’ve created empty chapter folders for each of these in Scrivener, but it gives me some pegs to hang my metaphorical hats on when I hit those roadblocks.

• Get to know your characters. 

Even if you just have a glimmer of an idea, you know of at least one character that’s going to be present in your book, probably more. Spend a little time with them. Do character interviews, ask yourself questions about who they are and why. Most importantly, what’s the goal that’s driving them in this book? What do you want them to learn? When it comes time to write your book on Nov. 1, you’ll have developed characters to take charge of that plot. 

• Start some basic research. 

Do you know your book is going to be set in 1600s Spain? Are you writing a murder mystery that involves poisons? You can do a little reading about the relevant topics and have that information ready to go when it comes time to actually write. And it’ll probably get you all jazzed to get going, so that when Nov. 1st rolls around, you’ll have a surge of momentum that’ll get you off to an awesome start. 

• Check out some resources that can help you on your journey. 

I’ve already reviewed Fast Fiction by Denise Jaden (you can find that review here); I will be reviewing two more books designed to help with the book-in-thirty-days concept. The pros at NaNoWriMo itself have also put out several items that can help you. If this is your first time doing NaNoWriMo and you have no idea where to start, check out No Plot No Problem; it answers a lot of questions about how to make NanoWriMo work for you. If you’re more the plotter sort, Ready, Set, Novel! is for those who want to set up some structure, but aren’t quite sure how. 


No matter what, remember this: Any word you write is one more word than you had when you started. Even if you don’t come anywhere near to the 50,000 word mark, NaNoWriMo is a great way to get yourself writing. Never let your word count discourage you—focus on how much you’re accomplishing rather than fret over how much more you have to go. Write what you can. Revel in what you’ve written. 

And have fun! 

Now what?!: How I revise my manuscripts

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Yes, I did it!!

So you wrote a novel during NaNoWriMo or CampNaNoWriMo or whenever, and now you need to revise it. Confused? Overwhelmed? Unsure where to start? 


Yeah, I know how you feel. Revision still strikes fear in my heart, but I’ve revised a few novels now, and I’ve learned a few things that might help you out. Here’s how I revise, with a few tips along the way. 

My first draft

I'm the sort of writer who needs a lot of revision, because I write my first drafts most effectively when I lock my internal editor in the trunk at the back of my closet, trussed and gagged. Once she’s dealt with, I usually start with an idea, and build in my structure as I go (you can see an explanation of my pl-antsing approach here); I don’t write in a linear fashion. When I realize I’m going to need a scene or a set of scenes, I create pages in Scrivener as a placeholder for them; I give all my scenes names/descriptions and assign them Scrivener ‘labels’ to indicate which scenes are finished and which are still in progress. As I finish the draft, I check my labels to make sure I’ve gone back and written all the scenes I was supposed to write.

I change my label when I finish the scene...

In corkboard view, the color of the pins quickly tells me which scenes are done (yellow). 

Then, I set the manuscript aside for six weeks; nary an eyeball nor a fingertip shall molest it during that time.

First revision pass

My first pass consists of three parts: read-through, prep, and revision.


Read-through: The first thing I do is read through the manuscript as though it were any other book. I print it out with font, spacing and formatting that gets it as close to a printed paperback as I can get it, grab myself a cup of coffee, and read. I keep a pencil at my side, but not in my hand because I don’t let myself edit; I only make broad notes at this point. I’ll mark where the pacing it too slow or too fast, where I need more introduction, where I need to mention some crucial point earlier in the plot; I’ll note where characters are coming across flat or inconsistent, when I need additional scenes, or when I need to move scenes or cut them completely.


Speaking of, there's an excellent tip I’ve seen several places, including K.M. Weiland's podcast: know what your weaknesses as a writer are, and focus on them during revision. One of mine is too much narrative summary, and this is where I call myself on that tendency; you’ll find ‘NS’ generously decorating the pages of my first read-through everywhere I find summary that needs to be developed into an action scene. If you don’t know yet what your weaknesses as a writer are, keep your eye open as you do your first read-through, and/or ask your beta readers if they can identify any when they read your manuscript. This will helping you knock out some problems quickly the next time around.


Prep: Now I pull up my manuscript in Scrivener, and create an associated spreadsheet in excel. For each scene I’ve written, I create a row in the spreadsheet with columns for the name, description, and revision goals. I consult the notes I made during my read-through, and add any new scenes I decided I needed, both into Scrivener and into the spreadsheet. I will use this to track each of the changes I need to make, and to track my future revision passes:

For each of these in Scrivener...

I create a row in my spreadsheet.

Revision: Now I'm ready to go through and make all of the changes I noted during my read-through; I do this in order, so I can keep track of information flow and pacing as much as possible as I go.

Second revision pass

This pass consists of three parts: read-through, pacing, and revision


I do another read-through at this point to verify that the changes I made in my first revision pass did what I hoped they would do, and that my basic structure and storytelling is sound. I make notes as needed; hopefully there are far fewer of them this time.  


Now that I'm pretty sure I have my basics organized, I check my pacing. I check my overall pacing in my spreadsheet; I note where I have action, backstory, climax and resolution scenes, and rate them on a 0-9 scale for tension:

I track the individual story arcs for any sub-plots directly in Scrivener. This was particularly important for my first book, Hazel-Green, a family saga; each generation had its own story arc in addition to the over-riding arc for the book. Scrivener allows me to pull out all scenes that have a given character (or anything else you want to select for), so this is easier to track and work on directly in the program.

If I feel my pacing is off anywhere, I will tinker with my order or add/remove what I need. Once I’m satisfied with that, it’s time for more revision; this time I’ll revise for several specific problem areas. I generally do this mostly scene by scene, and track what I’ve done in my spreadsheet (see above). I go through and make sure my characters are consistent and distinct. I do a setting check, to make sure I’ve adequately set the scene as needed (place, time, and any other relevant aspect). I check my dialogue to make sure it reads authentically.


Why use a spreadsheet for this? When I'm checking my characters, for example, I go through and work on one character at a time; this means I'm not working in a strictly linear manner. The spreadsheet lets me mark off each scene as it's finished for each character, etc., so I know where I need to go back and do what.

Third revision pass

At this point, I polish the writing itself; here’s where I go through and do my line-editing, tighten the writing, and make it as beautiful and compelling as I can. Why not before? I find it's much easier to cut a scene when I need to if I haven't spend days and days polishing it to perfection, so I leave this part for when I'm fairly certain what I'm polishing is going to stay in the book. In my spreadsheet, I highlight the name of each scene in one of five shades of purple, dark for scenes I think are well-written, light for those that need lots of work, with shades in between as needed. I keep working until all the scenes are the darkest shade.

Also at this point I print out a calendar for the time period covered by my book, and track out the exact timing of everything that happens. This lets me make sure I haven't made any stupid errors that will undermine my plot (like having a full-term baby appear only four months after the couple consummates). 

Final pre-beta revision polish 

Why do I need another polish if I’m happy with all my scenes? Because I can’t trust my own eyes, that’s why. This pass is for silly little things I know I shouldn’t do, but still manage to miss, like passive voice, weak verbs (‘walk’, ‘go’) annoying constructions like ‘started to’ and ‘began to’, and unneeded adverbs. I compile my manuscript so it’s all in one document, and use the search function to pull up all instances of these trouble makers, then I fix them directly in Scrivener. 


Last but most certainly not least, I read my entire manuscript out loud to myself to catch typos and anything else that doesn’t read right. In one of K.M. Weiland’s podcasts, she mentions that if you have a kindle, you can also have it read your manuscript to you; Scrivener can compile into a .mobi file for you, so I’m definitely going to try this with my current work-in-progress.

Off to beta readers!

This is where I’ll send the manuscript off to beta readers. I’ll certainly need to revise more, but at this point I'll need their help to show me the way. So for now, my revision is done, and I can go and do my double-chocolate happy dance!



So there you have it. I hope some of this has been helpful for you. Stay tuned, in the next few weeks I hope to review a few of my favorite revision advice books. In the meantime, if you have any revision tips, I'd love to hear about them!

Happy revising, 

M.

Writing a first draft in 30 days? Fast Fiction by Denise Jaden can help.

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Writing a first draft in 30 days? I have something that will help you do it effectively: 


Fast Fiction: A Guide to Outlining and Writing a First-Draft Novel in Thirty Days

I picked up this book just before NaNoWriMo this past November, along with several other books designed to help people who were diving into the NaNoWriMo pool without a life jacket. But, while invaluable for NaNoWriMo purposes, this book isn’t just about plunking yourself down for thirty days and coming up at the end with a draft; it will help you prep and revise, as well. And, it doesn't lie to you and lead you to think you'll have a ready-to-be-published book in that time; as the title itself makes clear, this is about getting you through your first draft, and then working to improve what you have. So this book is an awesome find anytime you're writing a novel, no matter your time frame. 


The book is divided up into three sections. The first, 'Before the Draft', takes you through the process of preparing to write the novel; it covers everything from ideas to setting to characters to point-of-view to themes to the three-act structure. Each topic within the section defines terms, explains key concepts, and gives clear, concise advice on the topic; there are also questions and/or exercises to help you explore each topic as it relates to the specific book you want to write. The section finishes with several action-oriented chapters that take all of the concepts you’ve been exploring in the previous sections and helps you turn them into a list of scenes, along with a story plan. 


There is an immense amount of information in this first section; if you’re a beginning writer, it will introduce you to all of the basics you need to think about when writing your book. If you’re a more experienced writer, it will remind you to think about things you may be glossing over, give you tips for problem areas, or just help you think about things in a new way. One of the things I love about the book is the linked compare/contrast character charts, and her character interview lists; these replaced a bunch of others exercises I've been using but never found fully satisfying.  


Once armed with your characters, your list of scenes, and your story plan, you’re ready for section two, ‘During the draft’. Here you’ll find short daily readings designed to focus your thinking and your writing, along with a daily task. The task is a loose, general prompt designed to tune you in to some aspect of novel-building, and often includes more specific prompts or probes to get you going. The order of the prompts is designed to guide you through the novel gently: week one is 'Launching in', week two is 'A New Direction', week three is 'Deepen the plot' and week four is 'Race to the finish'. 


There is even a ‘cheat sheet’ that reduces the daily prompt exercises down to their bare bones to help guide you through the novel creation process.


This section kept me jazzed and motivated during last NaNoWriMo. It allowed me to keep firm contact with the forest during an event that can easily mire you in the trees. In fact, I bought this book only a few days before NaNoWriMo started, and didn’t have time to use the first section beforehand at all; I started each writing day with the short reading and the prompt, and finished each writing day by reading a little bit from the first section of the book. 


I like that the prompts were general enough in most cases to fit with wherever I found myself on a given day; there were no overly specific prompts like ‘Your main character finds a note in his backpack—write!’. What I mean by this is, most of the prompts can be used at any point in your novel-writing; for example, a prompt that reminds you to be aware of genre expectations is a good one to have in the back of your mind on any given day, no matter if you’re writing the beginning, middle, or end of your book. 


The final section, 'After the Draft', is short, and gives you some basic advice (along with suggested resources) for revising your novel. The first piece of advice is to put the novel (and the book!) aside for at least two weeks, and come back with fresh eyes; when you return, the book discusses several important issues to keep in mind while doing your read-through and revision.


When a single book covers most of the major elements of writing a novel AND gives you a targeted lesson for each of thirty days, there is a limit to how in-depth the information can be. Entire books have been written, for example, about developing characters, or how to use the three-act structure. But despite the limited space available for each, Jaden gives thoughtful, effective treatment to each. There is more than enough information to get the most novice writer prepped and ready to hit the ground running. 


In my last post I mentioned I’m neither a pure plotter or a pure pantser. I also don't write my novels in order. So how does a book like this work for me? I didn't find the book restrictive in any respect; it's not the sort of book that's going to make you write your first page on day one and your last page on day 30; I was all over the place while reading it during NaNoWriMo. I’ve also been reading it as I revise MMORPG; it reminds me of all the elements I need to be sure are in place as I’m doing my revision passes, and helps me deal with the bumps I find there. In one example, during my second read-through I realized I need to add two more witness characters, and I need them to be distinct from those I already have. The sections on character development and the compare-contrast charts have been very helpful as I work those parameters out.   


So, who is this book for? I think it's useful for anyone doing NaNoWriMo, anyone writing their first novel, and anyone who ever finds themselves banging their head on their keyboard wishing someone would just write a darn manual on how to write a book already. If any of these are you, Fast Fiction is worth a look, whether you’re hoping to write your book in thirty days or thirty weeks.

Happy writing!
M. 

Plotter nor Pantser: The evolution of a Pl-antser

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Hello, my name is Michelle, and I have a dark secret. 

I am neither a Plotter, nor a Pantser.

In case you've never heard these terms, a ‘Pantser’ is a person who writes their novel by the seat of their pants, with no preparation or pre-planning. They have an idea, maybe even sometimes only a character, and nothing more; on November 1st (these terms were originated with NaNoWriMo, or at least that's where I've experienced them), they sit down and start writing. On the other side, a ‘Plotter’ is a writer who does extensive preparation before putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard—outlines, character sketches and interviews, volumes of research. On November first, they surround themselves with their prep-work, and then write, write, write.

I’ve discovered I’m neither of these, but rather a hybrid of the two. And I suspect there are more out there like me, who don’t fit neatly into either category, and who aren’t quite sure where they belong. So I’m here today to stand up for all us Pl-antsers out there by describing for you how I pl-ants my novels.

My first novel: Discovering my twisted hybrid nature

Although I didn't know the approach had an official label then (I had no idea what ‘Pantsing’, ‘Plotting’, or even NaNoWriMo was), I started work on my first novel, Hazel-Green, in the ultimate Pantser way. I had an idea nugget and no clue where it would take me. I’d been researching my family tree and kept discovering intriguing ancestors in incredible situations; as a writer’s mind is wont to do, I started making up stories in my head about what their lives were like, and what characteristics and knowledge might have passed down from them to me. Then little bells went off in my head: that would be a cool book! Protagonist finds out about ancestors and it turns out that events in their lives, back to 300 years ago, are relevant to protagonist’s current life in a useful way.

That was all I had.

I started writing scenes based on a few of the ancestors I’d learned about, one in particular who was hanged for two murders. At first, I had a single Word file, with the story I was writing for that character. Then I added a second Word file dedicated to her great-great-great grandmother’s story, based on ancestors I had who immigrated from France to Quebec in the 1600s. At that point I was still firmly ‘pantsing’, and if I had Scrivener then (which I did not), my project would have looked like this:

As I wrote about the second character, I was inundated with ideas about how her experiences could plant seeds that would eventually lead to what my first character had done, and what the in-between generations would need to look like for that to work. The issues got complicated, and I decided I needed organization—time for some ‘plotting’, apparently. I pulled out a notebook, and put together what could (very generously) be called an outline, along with an exploration of the changes that would need to take place over the generations and the characters. In Scrivener terms (which I still didn’t have), it would have looked like this:  

Luckily, shortly after that point, I got Scrivener (and it completely blew my mind—but that’s another blog post). As I transferred what I had written into Scrivener, the ‘outline’ I’d put together in my notebook naturally came to live in the binder. And I was so excited playing with my new toy that I started creating scenes in different parts just because I could. I was ‘plotting’ and didn’t even know it. BUT. My outline was nowhere near complete, and there were whole sections that I had no idea what to do with. Yet, I went forward.

Enter my discovery of NaNoWriMo. That put me right back in pantsing mode—writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, despite the huge holes in my outline and in my thinking about the novel.

The more I wrote, the more ideas came to me about what I wanted to do with the current chapter, or the next chapter, or the themes I wanted to hit on in the book, or even new characters I needed. As I had these ideas, I’d create scenes or chapters or character descriptions in Scrivener as placeholders—sometimes with a sentence or two to capture my ideas on where to go, sometimes completely empty.

And when I’d finish with the current scene or chapter, or got bored or stuck, I’d go write whichever of those other scenes/chapters were calling to me. And as I wrote them, I’d have new inspiration for plot points and themes, and how to work out problems and holes. So I’d create more placeholders. Or I’d reorganize, because I realized a different order would work better. And then I’d write more.

And so it went; lather, rinse, repeat as needed until the first draft of my first novel was complete.  

Novels 2 & 3: Adapting my discovery

My second novel, MMORPG, about a serial killer who finds and seduces his victims in World of Warcraft, went essentially the same way; the one difference was that I had a tiny bit more organization to start with. And when I say ‘tiny’, I mean tiny: I knew there would be at least two murders, some police investigation, and an ending. When I started, my Scrivener binder looked about like this:

Then I started writing, and the same creative process unfolded. As I wrote, I’d get inspiration, which I’d build into my Scrivener binder; when a given scene called to me, I wrote it, which lead to more inspiration, which led to more structure in my Scrivener binder. Novel #3 (Accidental Divination) followed the path of her older siblings. 

And finally: Celebrating my process

I currently have the idea for my fourth novel waiting on deck; I’ve created a Scrivener project for it to record my thoughts until I have time to write it. Because it’s a sequel to Accidental Divination, I'm already aware of some of the elements it will need; the basic structure of the book will be similar and there are some plot points that follow up the first book. I have more than double the amount of pre-pants plotting than I’ve ever had before; there does seem to be variation for me depending on the project. But I know that the true development of the novel will come when I write, and my pantsing and plotting begin their delightful duet.


So am I recommending you try it my way? No, although you certainly can if you like. What I'm saying is, not everyone is a pantser or a plotter, and that’s okay. For me, my ‘plotting’ and ‘pantsing’ work together in tiramisu-like layers where luscious coffee-flavored pantsing seeps into rich ladyfinger plotting. For you, who knows? Try things out. See what works. Adapt. Go with your gut. And put the kabosh on anything that doesn’t work, including general conceptions of process that work for other people.

I’m going to end there, because for some reason I’m really craving an Italian dessert right now...

Happy Writing!

M.

Need a writers' support system? There's a social media community for that!

I may have mentioned that I'm the sort of person who can write in my little cave without emerging to see the sun for days on end. This is true for many writers, I think. We can be solitary creatures, and writing tends to be a solitary activity.


That's all well and good, until we need some support. Someone to hold us accountable for our stated goals. Someone to pat our shoulder when we get that story rejected--for the twentieth time. Someone to remind us that the best way out of any snafu we encounter as a writer is to keep writing. Someone to show us a video of babies dancing to bring the good feels back when all we can think about is how our writing is complete crap.

Our non-writing friends are great, but they often don't  understand what it is we do (or why the heck we do it), and not all of us are blessed with a bevy of writing friends. That's when it's nice to have a virtual writing community to support us.


As I've been working to learn more about social media for the purposes of my 'platform', I've discovered fun new ways to surround myself with others who are as obsessed with writing as I am. There are tons and tons, within genres, across genres, for different purposes. Here are a few of my current favorites:




1) #WriteClub: I'm not sure who originated the hashtag, but every Friday, the lovely people at @FriNightWrites on twitter put on a series of writing sprints under that hashtag. This technically only happens for a few hours in a given time-zone, but different people oversee the sprints in different time zones from all around the world, so the hashtag ends up being active all through the day. When the admin calls time, everyone reports how many words they were able to write during the sprint, and there's even one dedicated admin who has been tracking those numbers since the inception of the project, and reports how many cumulative words have been written. @TheSprintShack also runs sprints under this hashtag throughout the week, and people use it to connect through the week as well. This is a great way to get yourself motivated and get some words on that page!

2) #WritingChallenge: This is a group of writers who encourage each other to write 500 words per day for a month. There is at least one Facebook group associated with it, and you can always use the general hashtag (#WritingChallenge), but the actual hashtag changes each month (e.g., #MarWritingChallenge). Even if you're not a twitter person, you can check out the Facebook group for support that way.

3) Pinterest writing boards: This one is probably obvious but I have to mention it because I love visiting boards where people store writing advice and inspirational quotes. And the great thing about boards like this is there will inevitably be a quote that says something along the lines of 'Shouldn't you be writing right now? Go write!' Sort of like a built-in timer that reminds me I've spent enough time on Pinterest for now.








4) #AmWriting/#AmRevising: Search these hashtags for an instant community of folks who are pouring their blood, sweat and tears into their current work in progress (#WIP, btw). You'll find encouragement, solidarity, great quotes, and witty banter.








5) #PitchMadness, Pitchapalooza, #PitchWars: Each of these is an event that gives you an opportunity to have your work seen by an agent. Pitch Madness happens in February; writers submit a 35-word pitch for their novel, and agents fight over the best ones for a chance to read more from the author. Pitchapalooza is going on right now, and it's a NaNoWriMo-based event that can help you get some important feedback on your pitch. Pitch Wars happens in August, and mentors fight over which authors they get to mentor, to help you put together the best set of materials you can produce. In each case, a writing community springs up around the event to help one another produce the best work they can.





This is just the surface of the cool stuff you can find to help keep you writing out there on social media--there are thousands. Start following those hashtags and see where they lead you. Follow a few of the accounts, and twitter will suggest more--one is bound to suit your needs. And you can take advantage of it all from your couch, in your jammies.

You'll see me hanging out in these communities as @mishka824 on Twitter, Mishka824m on Pinterest (where I have my own writing board, of course!), and Michelle Chouinard on Google+.

Do you have any favorites virtual writing communties or secrets? Please share them with me!

Happy writing,
M.

My 2014 NaNoWriMo experience

Hello!

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I took time off this November to focus on NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month); about a year ago I had an idea for a book about an enchanted tarot deck. The idea had been knocking around my brain for a while, so after I sent out my first novel to beta readers in September, I figured, "Hey, why not? NaNoWriMo is the perfect time to see what I can make of that idea." So I went for it.

I spent most of October getting excited about the new book, and worked hard to restrain myself from plotting any of it out--while I'm a firm believer in seat-of-the-pantsing (the NaNoWriMo term for people who like to let the muse take them where it might without any pre-plotting), my self-doubt tends to creep in. What if the muse doesn't come this time, and I end up repeatedly writing "this is stupid, I am lame" to fill up my blank screen? But I held firm, and had faith in the process, and banished my self-doubter to the same realm where I lock up my self-editor during NaNoWriMo.


Armed with the bare bones of my idea, I started writing literally at 12:01 am on Nov. 1st after removing my Halloween make-up. I wrote a chunk, and then woke up the next morning and wrote another chunk. The words flew out with a will of their own; my fingers channeled some force beyond my understanding. Oh happy day! Huzzah! The writing muse is here!! Right?

(Source)

Until Day 4. I woke that morning to the 'realization' that everything I'd written was complete crap, and I was fooling myself to think I could ever be a writer. Nobody, I was convinced, had ever written such drivel since mankind had scratched out the first words onto the walls of caves.


But I held firm. I reminded myself that every writer has moments where they feel this way, and reminded myself that first drafts are never good. I told myself to just keep writing.


I decided to check out some of the virtual write-ins on the  NaNoWriMo YouTube channel to keep myself motivated; they archive their past write-ins and you can watch them anytime you need that push. So helpful! It's just as good as watching them live--they give you prompts and timed writing sprints, and even if you don't do the prompts (I didn't) it's an awesome way to get yourself focused and writing. And, there is silliness and joking to keep you in a good state of mind. I highly recommend checking them out anytime you feel you just can't get your writing mojo flowing.


I was so impressed with the write-ins that I decided to sit in on a live one, on 'double-up day'; this is a day where they encourage you to double your daily word count for the day, and your donation, if you are able. They had several virtual write-ins that day, and I sat in on as many as I could. It spurred me on to not only double my word count that day, but to triple it.


And with that, I was off and running. I finished my 50,000 words in 17 days, and had the rest of the month to get the novel up to my personal target of 60,000.


By November 30th, I had a mostly finished novel; I finally finished the draft completely yesterday, coming in at 68,900 words. Along the way I changed from third person to first person, wrote several scenes with characters and backstory that I had to completely revamp, changed names and job descriptions of characters so many times I thought I'd go crazy, and ended up with a fully-formed plot and a draft that I am mostly very proud of. I know it's going to need a lot of revision when it comes out of hibernation, but I have an excellent foundation to build from. And that can only be a good thing.


So here's what I re-learned about it all:

1) Self-doubt doesn't stop after the first novel. My brain likes to feed me fear, but now I know how to overcome it. Just put my head down and write anyway.


2) Persistence is everything. Keep writing. Think what you just wrote is crap? Worry about it later, when you have a clear head. Don't delete and start over, and don't quit. Just keep writing.


3) The muse WILL come. If you write, your  neurons will fire and your neural networks will begin churning out stuff, and ideas will come. If you have an idea and a plot to start with, great! But if you don't, that's okay. The act of writing itself gets you thinking, and your mind will kick in.


4) You should bust tushie to get ahead of your word count/goal, because you never know what's going to happen next week that will throw you off. Easier said than done, I know. But true nonetheless. Thank goodness I got as far as I did early on and by November 30, before my jury duty kicked in and derailed my 'I'll get it up to 65,000 words in December' goal!


So there you have it--and I hope your NaNoWriMo experience was just as amazing. :)


Keep writing, my friends!!