When is Getting Stuck the Best Thing?

I tend to write the way I live (or maybe I live the way I write), a sometimes-awkward hybrid between planning and winging it.

Writers often define themselves as either  plotter (planner) or pantser (that sometimes flaky person who considers herself spontaneous). While I’m no longer a die-hard pantser, I’m also not entirely a plotter. I’m somewhere between. A plantser, if you will.

Ooookay. Now where do I go?

Sometimes I plan well but I rarely plan thoroughly and even the best laid plans…well, you know how that one goes. In life, this not-infrequently leads to sitcom worthy snafus and a flurry of apologies on my end. In writing, it often leads to that monumentally unpleasant stuck place (what some might call “writers block”).

Of course, if you’ve got a plan, you can usually find your way out of that stuck place with all your limbs intact (more or less).

And some of the most beautiful places can only be found if you stray far from the path.

My current work-in-progress is the first novel I thoroughly plotted and I expected to breeze through it as I hadn’t my previous pantsed novels (now sitting in a drawer, hoping against hope to be revived someday). I knew I’d want to throw out the outline from time to time and explore the possibilities but I thought I’d simply come back, rework the outline and get on with my brilliant story.

You know you’re in trouble when you expect to “breeze” through anything.

In reality, the story plan kept me grounded. I was free to explore but I had all the landmarks in sight. But, the closer I pushed to “The End,” the more lost I felt. I felt like the path I had planned would take me home but it also felt shrouded in fog. The further I went, the heavier the fog got until…

I got stuck.

The ending felt right. The events leading up to the end felt mostly right. But still I needed something more.  So I wrestled with that something more until I started to think my plantsing had gotten me in more trouble than my pantsing. And I asked myself why, why, why?

Turns out the why was what I needed. The events leading up to the end of my novel needed a better why. Actually, they needed a why, period.

Once I started asking why those penultimate events had to be, I discovered my story lacked just one more character (contrary to the usual writing advice to pare down characters when possible). I needed someone who could provide the why for those final events and give the main characters a chance to (inadvertently) help set those events in motion.

Plus, said additional character stands a good chance of being a nasty thorn in the side in the next book(s).

In the end, getting stuck saved my story. If I hadn’t gotten stuck, I wouldn’t have asked why and I wouldn’t have a story that feels like a whole.

Could it be that getting stuck is a blessing in disguise, an opportunity to ask questions you never would have asked and go places you never could have imagined? Not just in writing, but in life? Maybe getting stuck is how we recognize the opportunity to change ourselves and our world.

What do you think? Has getting stuck ever turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to you?

What’s the Hardest Part of Writing?

“It was a dark and stormy night….” Yeah, that’s the stuff. This is gonna be a best-seller for sure.
Image by SuziJane (Suzi Duke) on Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0

Recently, I’ve come across a few discussions that touch on, in one way or another, the hardest part of writing.

So what is the hardest part of writing?

Well now, that varies from writer to writer.

For me, the hardest part of writing is the actual writing. Allow me to explain…

When an idea really gets its teeth into me, I burn up the page, writing notes and scenes as fast as I can get them out.

In my die-hard pantser days, this was a haphazard process. I wrote the story until I got stuck or had ideas I couldn’t use yet, then switched to taking notes about plot, character, setting etc.

Now that I’m (mostly) a plotter, I try to work out the story in short form/outline before I start the bulk of the story. Sometimes, I just have to write a scene before I’m done with the outline (or my head will explode…you know how it goes).

So it sounds like I shouldn’t have any problem with the story writing stuff. After all, I’m a writer. The actual writing should be the easy part, right?

Wrong.

Even when I was attempting to pants my way through a novel, I often fled to the “safety” of my notes. I used them to think my way around snarls in the story line, work out character motivations, plan future plot  twists and so on. Whenever I felt stuck in the story, I’d talk myself through it in my notes. Which is exactly what I do now.

Problem is, sometimes I keep right on taking notes, even detailing scenes I’ll write, instead of actually writing the scenes.

As I near the end of my novel-in-progress, I find myself spending more and more time writing about what I will write about. While this is probably more productive, writing wise, than catching up on Fringe, it still doesn’t get me to “The End.”

The obvious solution is just to make myself write, embrace the Crappy First Draft with NaNoWriMoesque abandon.

But first I think I might have to make a few notes…

What’s the hardest part about writing for you? How do you get around it?

Related articles

• Panster versus Plotter (studiomothers.com)
• Writing Inside the (Out)Lines – Redux: A Creative Departure (occupiedandpreoccupied.wordpress.com)
• The Hardest Part About Writing (dailygallen.com)
• The Hardest Part about Writing & Blogging (allisonvesterfelt.com)

What’s Missing from the For Dummies Collection?

You’ve almost certainly seen these books in the bookstore (yes, the mythic bookstore does still exist…but it’s sort of like tracking down Bigfoot), library or on your friend’s bookshelf. More than likely, you own or have read at least one.

I’m talking, of course, about the For Dummies series.

My personal collection includes Writing Fiction for Dummies (by Randy Ingermanson, the Snowflake guy), Piano for Dummies (because I will learn to play the piano, darnit) and Web Marketing for Dummies (which I’m pretty sure isn’t even mine because I don’t remember buying it and I’ve never opened it).

Even though that whole “For Dummies” bit never fails to make me snicker and some of the titles give me pause:

• Being a Great Dad For Dummies
• Flirting For Dummies
• Confidence for Dummies
• Building Your Own Home For Dummies

Not that any of these wouldn’t be great books. I’m sure they’re super helpful…it’s just the the idea of any of those titles.

Know what I mean?

Perusing the ginormous catalog of For Dummies titles, you might think they have a For Dummies for everything. However, I discovered they are shockingly remiss in some areas.

Mittens takes his first steps towards world domination, thanks to World Domination For Dummies.

Did you know they don’t have a World Domination For Dummies? Taking over the world is a challenging endeavor. If you want to be the next king/queen of the world, you’re gonna need all the help you can get.

Also, there’s no Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse For Dummies. Oh sure, Max Brooks has The Zombie Survival Guide and you can probably pick up quite a few good tips from a Romero flick or any of Jonathan Maberry‘s books. But wouldn’t it useful to have a survival guide with For Dummies’s trademark tips, warnings and exercises?

Neither is there a Having a Complete Meltdown For Dummies. I don’t know about you but I’ve been on the verge of more than one of these. A few tips and tricks would have helped a lot.

I am NOT sleeping. I’m just closing my eyes so I can meditate on what you said.

And what about Embarrassing Your Children For Dummies? Pretending to Not Be Asleep While Falling Asleep in Class/Church/the Big Meeting For Dummies? Getting Fit Without Having to Exercise or Stop Snarfing Contraband Twinkies Little Debbie Cakes For Dummies?

Surely there are markets for any of these and more. All we need are the books.

What about you? What title do you think really, really needs to be on the For Dummies list?

Image Attribution (In Order of Appearance):
Image via For Dummies series (fair use)

Bengal tiger out for a hunt. by Someguy of the Outerworld and Afar, on Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0

eyes closed. by Corinna A. Carlson, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0*

Novel Wishes and NaNoWriMo Dreams

Baby Stepping Through NaNoWriMo

NaNo’s over. Time to Party!

National Novel Writing Month is over for 2012.

Whether you rocketed past the finish line or were miles away, you wrote words that didn’t exist before November 1.

Even if you never got past the first sentence, you made something happen. Seriously. Pat yourself on the back.

Celebrating even a tiny success can motivate you to succeed further.

I’m a huge believer in baby steps. Some people get jazzed by lofty goals. The mere idea makes me want to puke in my mouth a little.

Sure, I have lots of lofty goals (*cough* NYT Bestselling Author *cough*) but I get along only with lots of constructive denial.

Me staring down a big goal.

Constructive Denial: Willfully ignoring how far you have left to go and just seeing the next tiny step ahead of you.

When writing a novel, that means setting any goal that seems truly doable to you. 10 words or 1000+. 5 minutes or 15. The key is to set a non-threatening goal so that you can tell yourself “I only have to write __.”

You may end up writing more. Once your butt is in the seat, it’s easier to just keep going.

However, if you just do the minimum, you’ve still reached a goal. You’ve kept a promise to yourself. When you keep your promises to yourself, you gain confidence in your ability to do it again and again.

If you fail, don’t beat yourself up. Use those failures to motivate your future success.

Once you’re comfortable with that pace, bump it up another notch. Every time you do, tell yourself, “Just a little further.”

You may find yourself zooming along at finger-breaking speed in no time.

Then again, maybe you won’t. Maybe you (like me) will take a little longer to start busting out word counts in the thousands. Maybe you’ll take a lot longer.

The KT Bomber at Mach Fur.

In any case, know that, if you keep putting one word after the other, you will get to your lofty goal. Once you’re there, it doesn’t really matter how long it took you.

So what does this have to do with NaNoWriMo?

When I first heard about NaNo a couple of years ago, it scared the stuffing out of me. I had all sorts of reasons why I couldn’t join (I’m in the middle of a novel, in the middle of moving, in the middle of watching a Lost marathon). While some of those reason were certainly good ones, the deeper reason was fear.

50k in 30 days seemed like too much when my cruising speed was around 500, a horrible affront to my baby steps philosophy.

When NaNo rolled around again this year, I put on my big girl panties and joined up (as a rebel because I planned to add to my work-in-progress).

Going in, I had hopes and doubts. Lots of doubts.

I hoped to add 50k words and finish the first draft but I didn’t think I really would. I had a family vacation coming up after Thanksgiving and would not have internet during the last week of November.  And I still couldn’t fathom writing 1667 words every single day, let alone the 2000 I’d need to finish before I went internet free.

But…the writing nearly every day, regardless of my “slow” pace had worked some kinda magic deep in my brain.

When NaNo kicked off, I sat down at the computer and told myself I only had to write 500 at a time. Just 500. Then I could take a break and have a cookie. Once I started, 500 words didn’t seem like such a big deal. Even 1000 didn’t seem so bad (okay, so I used a few “tricks” to keep my word count up…mostly in the beginning).

That’s right. I’m a NaNo superstar.

At the end of the first day, when I’d actually passed 2K, I was stunned. I wasn’t convinced I could do it again.

But I did.

I marched my way to the 50k mark on last night before I left for vacation. I did it. I won NaNoWriMo (rebel status be darned). And not because I’m a turbo writer but only because all those itty bitty baby steps I’d been taking finally added up to something big.

So what if it took me a couple of years to get around to it.

Now, I’d like to say I got to type “The End” on my first draft at the end of NaNo. I didn’t. I’ve still a few miles to go but I now know that I can. I can reach my lofty goals and without freaking out over how far I still have to go.

I just have to keep going.

Wherever you ended up when the curtain fell November 30th and however far you have to go, you will get there if you just keep putting one word after the other.

I think I can…I think I can…

How did NaNo go for you? For those of you who didn’t join NaNo, are you going to give it a try next year?

Image Attribution (In Order of Appearance):
Upside-down yawn by twolittlemoos, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Scary Pepper by zane.hollingsworth, on Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0
Jump! by ehisforadam (Adam Minter), on Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
funny animal by didbygraham, on Flickr CC BY 2.0
Acrobat by Vicki & Chuck Rogers, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

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• NaNoWriMo Novel is Done! (rachelleharp.com)
• You Survived NaNoWriMo….Now What? (diamondpublicationz.wordpress.com)
• Post NaNoWriMo: Day 3 – WINNER!!! (thegrownupya.wordpress.com)
• What Comes After NaNoWriMo? (fulltimewritermom.com)
• NaNoWriMo 2012: How’d I Do? (jabwriter.com)

Fattening Up Your Word Count for NaNoWriMo

Is it Cheating to Use Tricks to Get to 50K?

I have to write how many words a day?!

50,000 words in 30ish days. That’s the NaNoWriMo goal and it breaks down to about 1667 words a day.

For some, word counts in the thousands a day is routine. For others (*cough cough* like me), this is no small feat.

Prior to NaNo, I averaged about 5-600 words a day. 750 was a pretty good day. And 100o was cause for a parade and statue erected in my honor (in my head, anyway).

Of course, I was also hand writing all those words. So that may have played a big part.

Coming up on November, the idea of hitting 1667 daily was nothing short of terrifying.

But then I remembered reading a post on padding your word count for NaNoWriMo and 750Words.com. At the time, I ignored the advice. Sounded like a good idea but I didn’t think I needed it.

And I didn’t need it for 750 words but for 1600-2K?

Well…maybe.

Right here, it might help to tell you a little about my writing style. I tend to write sparely and flesh out the work in revisions. Even then, I favor lean-ish writing (for my fiction, anyway) in the finished product and I hate to have to clip out a bunch of nonsense to get there.

Lean won’t cut it for NaNo.

I’m a m-model and you know what I mean…

My word count has got to get fat. Fast.

Oh yeah, baby. There’s so much of me to love.

Except, how could I possibly use sneaky, dirty tricks for reaching 50K? That’s cheating, right?

Still, I was willing to give it a try. After all, NaNoWriMo is about quantity, not quality.

Quality is for rewrites.

I picked three tricks and settled into my first day. 2400+ words later, I was sold on word count tricks.

The idea that I had a little help with word count  eased my anxiety about writing.

Take that, inner critic.

And, it put a gag on my inner editor.  Putting in material I know I’ll cut out later actually made me feel free to just write whatever popped into my head. I can just cut it out later too, I told myself. It worked like magic. My inner editor was too busy gaping at all those ridiculous tricks to pay attention to the story experimentation.

Yet another unexpected benefit of all word count obesity was deep insight into my story. As I piled on the description, inner monologue and musings, I started to see connections between the characters that I hadn’t seen before. I found backstory that sizzled. I even discovered a couple of new characters who brought with them suitcases fully of subplot possibilities.

In short, those word count tricks which were just intended to soften the blow of 1667 words a day actually made me write completely non-tricked out words. And the more I write, the less heavily I’m relying on the tricks because the story’s starting to flow all by itself.

Here are my favorite word count tricks so far:

• No contractions: Do not instead of don’t. She is instead of she’s. And so on. You get two words instead of one. This is likely to lead to relatively smaller gains but sometimes even one extra word makes a huge difference. I only use this one in narrative. When I tried it with dialogue (except for some of my more uptight characters), it came off sounding too stiff and killed the flow.  Word Count Calorie Rating: Fun Size Milky Way.
• Always use full names, titles, etc: If your character’s name is Bucky Ball, make sure you always refer to him as Bucky Ball and not just Bucky. You can also add a title such as Bucky Ball, Ruler of the Known Universe and Prince of Underpants. Or you can go with a genealogy element: Bucky Ball, son of Basket and Base Ball. This can lead to substantial gains, depending on how often you mention characters by name. Again, I only use this in narrative as it feels way to heavy in dialogue. Word Count Calorie Rating: Hot Fudge Sundae.
• Loads of description, inner monologues, musings, etc: Describe everything, from what people look like to what they’re wearing. Describe every detail of the location. Make the characters do a lot of thinking and soul-searching. Have them ramble to themselves and each other about the situation. Potentially massive gains plus the chance to realize new aspects of your story. I use more or less of this depending on how fast the scene is coming to me. Word Count Calorie Rating: Two Extra Large Doughnut Burger Combos with  Extra Cheese, Super Size Soft Drink and a Hot Fudge Sundae.

Nom nom nom.

Here are more word count fattening ideas from around the web:

• Suggestions from NaNoWriMo participants.
• 5 Completely and Utterly Ridiculous Ways to Boost Your NaNo Word Count
• Top 10 Ways to Increase Your NaNoWriMo Word Count

Do you pad your word count or is that cheating? What are your favorite tricks?

Image Attribution (In Order of Appearance):
Cat (05) – 20Jul10, Phaistos (Grece) by philippe leroyer, on Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Dancepuss by brandoncripps, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
fat cat by kalavinka, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Hostage by Knee Deep Photography, on Flickr  CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
doughnut burger by roboppy, on Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

How to be a NaNoWriMo Rebel

NaNoWriMo is in the air. Can you smell it?

Sure, right now that’s the smell of excitement, stockpiles of chocolate and coffee, and possibly disinfectant, as writers furiously clean their houses one last time before NaNo sets in.

Later on, it’ll be the smell of madness and unwashed people.

You get the picture.

Folks are signed up and raring to go.

For those of you that haven’t signed up yet, fear not, there’s still time. Head on over to NaNoWriMo and get it done.

Some folks have their outlines all ready and some are just brimming with ideas.

Come on. When this thang gonna start already?!

Other folks, having thrown caution to the wind and signed up without the slightest clue to how they’re actually gonna finish, are now feeling the winds change and are frantically wondering if they can unsign up.

Still others are sneaking in the back door of NaNo because they’re breaking the first rule of NaNoWriMo.

You know the first rule of NaNoWriMo, right?

The first rule of NaNoWriMo is: don’t talk about NaNoWriMo.

No…wait…that’s another club.

The first rule of NaNoWriMo is: you may only begin writing your novel on Nov 1. You may not add to a pre-existing manuscript.

Okay, it’s not really the first rule. It’s something like the 4th. The rules aren’t actually numbered. Anyway…

The idea is that a partly finished novel could hold you back:

This sounds like a dumb, arbitrary rule, we know. But bringing a half-finished manuscript into NaNoWriMo all but guarantees a miserable month. You’ll care about the characters and story too much to write with the gleeful, anything-goes approach that makes NaNoWriMo such a creative rush. Give yourself the gift of a clean slate, and you’ll tap into realms of imagination and intuition that are out-of-reach when working on pre-existing manuscripts.

Read more here.

Of course, the minute you make a rule, somebody’s just gotta break it.

And one of those somebodies is me.

Yep.

As I may have mentioned before, I’m hip deep in my post-apocalyptic  pre-megabestselling novel. While I’m fully aware that joining NaNo with said novel could be a total disaster (especially since I’m a NaNewbie). I might be too attached to the existing outline to really get into the NaNo psychosis spirit.

 Blah blah blah.

Please oh please, let me finish this novel. Oh, and send some chocolate fishies too. Amen.

However, I determined to finish this beast book by the end of the year. At least the first draft part. And since it feels like snails on quaaludes could finish faster than I could at my current pace, the unique frenzy that is National Novel Writing Month could be just the kick in the pants I need.

Hey.

Stop it.

I said NaNo could be the kick in the pants I need. You don’t need to kick me.

Sheesh.

My starting November with a work-in-progress really isn’t all that unusual. In fact, there’s a whole forum on the site for folks like me.

So, if you think you can’t do NaNoWriMo because you’re working on something you don’t want to put aside for the next 30ish days, despair not.  Come join me and the other rule-breakers and get your NaNo on.

How are you doing NaNo this year?

Image Attribution (In Order of Appearance):
Image via NaNoWriMo.org
The smile of the cheetah by Tambako the Jaguar, on Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0
Grady Prays by ornoth, on Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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• NaNoWriMo Writers Rock! (rachelleharp.com)
• NaNoWriMo and Publishing . . . (nfaa.wordpress.com)
• Stumbling Towards NaNoWriMo (doingthewritething.wordpress.com)
• I am ready for NaNoWriMo (cindydejager.wordpress.com)
• NaNoWriMo Rebel (cultofajracewood.wordpress.com)

Every Word Counts When You’re Writing a Novel

Word Count Trackers for NaNoWriMo and Beyond

Writers everywhere, newbies and old hands, are staring down the barrel of NaNoWriMo. *cue tense theme music*

At the moment, I’m wading hip deep the first draft muck of my work-in-progress. I don’t know if I’ll be joining the ranks of psychotic intrepid ink-slingers in November but I am learning the value of a monthly deadline, even a self-imposed one.

My goals are considerably more modest than the 50,000 words in 30 days NaNoWriMo goal. I’m aiming for 13,000 words monthly which works out to 500 words daily for 26 days of the month. Though I’d ideally write more, this allows me a doable goal and the option for a day off when I need it.

In September, I added 16,900 words and used three of my four allotted days off. To keep myself both encouraged and honest, I’m keeping track with two word count tools.

StoryToolz
StoryToolz offers several resources for authors, such as a readability analyzer, cliché buster and random conflict generator as well as the word count meter. Once you create your word count meter, you can copy the HTML code and paste it into your blog’s sidebar or a post.

 

.

The meter updates automatically when you add words and you can also see your word count history with the progress chart.

.

WriteChain
WriteChain is an iPhone app which can also be used on the iPad. As far as I know, it’s not currently available for Android OS. WriteChain allows you to set your daily writing goals and ”coast days,” the number of consecutive days off you can take without breaking your “chain.” You create links in your writing chain for every day you write.

I love that this app lets you set unique goals, whether it’s a personal goal of 50 words or a NaNoWriMo goal of 1667 words. Adding words is extremely simple and you can edit your session history to correct any days you forgot to add. The coast days feature lets you decide how many days off you will take in a row (be careful, more than two can result in a loss of momentum) so that you don’t have to feel overwhelmed by a nonstop work schedule but the chain, much like the badges on the 750 Words site, gives you incentive to not let too many days slide by.

NaNoWriMo, of course, offers fantastic tools for keeping track of writing stats but WriteChain and StoryToolz can be used anytime. Whether you take the NaNoWriMo plunge or not, having a fun way to track your writing sessions may keep you motivated to hit those word count goals, whatever they may be.

Are you gearing up for NaNoWriMo? How do you like to keep track of your daily word count? What’s your favorite way to get motivated for writing sessions?

Image Attribution (In Order of Appearance):
Typewriter by toastytreat87, on Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Word Count (mine)
Progress Chart (mine)

What Do We Do When We Miss the Mark?

Sherry Isaac is over at the Life List Club talking about what happens when we miss our goals. Head on over and check it out!

1999. The year the artist formerly known as Prince asked that we party like.

That summer, chauffeur to soccer games, school dances and babysitting jobs, a familiar beat reverberated in this mother’s minivan. ‘Steal My Sunshine’, a one-hit wonder released by Toronto-based band, Len.

Click here to read more.

Also be sure to check out Jess Witkins’s post on fast drafting and Lara Schiffbauer’s post on not wasting energy on negativity (I know I need to be reminded of that over and over again).

Stay tuned. The Life List Club Milestone Party is coming up in two weeks! And it’s gonna be a whopper because the Life List Club is turning one year old.

How Does Creativity Really Work?

Gary Gauthier is at the Life List Club today talking about creativity…

All you need for an excellent exercise that stimulates a young child’s imagination is a blank sheet of paper and a few crayons of different colors. A creative spirit and busy little hands will do the rest. It’s not so easy for us adults! While creativity can be as easy as child’s play, for an artist or a craftsman, creativity can mean painstaking work.

Read more here.

Head on over and join the conversation.

The Get Tossed Mashup, Volume 1

As I sit here on this fine Tuesday, I realize it’s high time for another Tuesday Toss-Up Blog Mashup. However, since that’s a lot of “ups” in one title, I decree that the mashup will henceforth be called the Get Tossed Mashup.

So there.

Welcome to the first Get Tossed Mashup. I hope you’ll enjoy the following selections as much as I did…

Sometimes it’s “out of sight, out of mind” and sometimes it’s “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” But which is it when it’s your writing project that you’ve been away from? Natasha McNeely asks, “How Do You Return to a Project After a Break?“

Writing an ensemble can sometimes feel like a case of too many cooks in the kitchen. Jen J. Danna takes a lesson from Joss Whedon and explains How to Write an Ensemble.

The world seems to move faster everyday…maybe too fast. In another Avengers-inspired piece, Marcy Kennedy asks us “Do We Need to be a Little More Old-Fashioned?”

The mighty Bearded One, Chuck Wendig, shares another of his stellar “25 Things” with us in 25 Ways to Earn Your Audience.

Got Dark Tower? Anthony R. Schultz reviews Wizard and Glass by Stephen King.

A great teacher can inspire us to reach for incredible heights. But every once in a (hopefully) rare while, there’s a teacher that makes us want to fake a fever to get out of school. Cynthia Herron shares a difficult experience with a difficult teacher and asks “Can Great Leadership be Faked?“

What can humor do for readers? Margie Lawson guest posts at Jenny Hansen’s, telling us how Humor Hits Hook Readers.

Share the love: Do you have any favorite links or blog posts? Share them in the comments.