November 2017 - NaNo Week 3

So here we are, on the precipice, astride the top of the hill. If you're on track, 25,000 words by day's end.
It's all downhill from here.

Though it's going to feel like slogging through a swamp with waders full of cement.

My latest advice is the long told advice I received when I did NaNo. Things to get you unstuck:
1) Add a character (Kinda a plot bunny type idea. Add someone new and write their reactions.)
2) Kill a character (This gives you reactions to the death, or reshuffling of characters because of why the character died.)
3) Write a sex scene (Not all stories warrant it, but remember, it can come out later.)
4) Don't use contractions! Yes things feel stilted with the do not, can not, would not, I am verbiage but that's what editing is for. :)

So take a moment to give us your best power pose and let us rejoice in your numbers.
Allow us to marvel at your Captain Morgan.

Then start that snowball rolling down that hill. (Even if you trip to start it.)

Good advice. I went back through what I've written so far and changed all the contractions (except "can't," which becomes "cannot" so why bother). In addition to a couple of added sentences that seemed to write themselves, I added 554 words. I'm going to get rid of all my hyphens too, tho I don't think there are that many in the draft.

Rather than a sex scene, last time I was stuck (Tuesday) I wrote a scene of dialogue between the demon and the protagonist. It was silly in the extreme, except it led to a new plot point. I would probably take it out if I planned to submit the book for publication, but it does move the story forward and show a different side to the demon.

I'm still way behind (19k instead of 25k *sigh*), but I've been in worse situations halfway through NaNo and managed to make it to 50k on time. Of course, next week is Thanksgiving week, and I'll be driving a few hours to a family dinner that day, plus I'll be at a high altitude which always knocks me out, so I better make up as much time this weekend as possible. But I've had fun so far and met some great WriMos at our Tuesday night write-in, so it's all good.

I have not written one word of fiction this month (still), but I'm still here cheering everyone else on!

If you are writing in the first-person a good way to increase word count is to get into that character's head. No matter what it is that just happened in the story, detail how your character feels about it, what their thought process is, how they respond to the situation. Maybe the situation even brings up flashbacks, which you can then write out in detail. If there is any sort of conflict where the character has to make a decision, write out the process of making that decision, going through the pros and cons, trying to determine what may happen as a consequence of that decision, etc etc.

It's a little harder to get inside a character's head if you are writing third-person, but it can be done, for example by having them talk to themselves or write a diary entry or letter to someone.

My 2010 NaNo novel had at *least* 20k of that sort of thing, in large part because I didn't really have much of a plot and was just kind of taking shots in the dark as to what the heck was happening.

Oh! Talking to a coworker who's attempting NaNo reminded me of another bit of advice:

If you have more than one Main Character moving as a group, find a way to split them up. Then work to bring them back together. Now you have writing where you can alternate points of view, and the adventures of each Main Character. This can create all sorts of writing opportunities.

Spent three hours writing yesterday for a paltry 800 words. Very sad.

I will admit - there are extenuating circumstances to that. I was in a theatre watching the dress rehearsal for my daughters ballet show (she is only in once dance and we were in there for 3 and a half frickin hours!). Anyway, ample time to write - except it was pitch black in there and whilst my screen is lit my keyboard is not. Turns out my touch typing is not too hot...