It's Official-- I Should be Committed

[not_hathor]

I have signed up for NaNoWriMo 2008.

Darned good thing it begins on a weekend; that will (theoretically) give me time to 'head start' and hopefully sock away a couple of thousand words before the RL work week raises it's ugly head.

Does anyone have any advice for a newbie?

me (aka Ms.MacChow)

Comments

[apollymi]

Whenever the NaNo site comes back up, I'll friend you. I'm writing under "Katherine Bell" there. ^__^

♥

[apollymi]

As for advice, stock up on the stuff that helps you stay up and do stuff; I keep Dr. Pepper in the house by the case.

It's okay to skip around in scenes, I'm told. (Even if I can't manage to do it.)

A great way to get a scene rolling if you get stuck is to either (1) introduce a new character or (2) kill off an established character.

When all else fails, bring in the plot ninjas.

[edmondia.livejournal.com]

Set yourself a word limit for every day, and do your best to meet it. If they suit the story, sex scenes are good padding, and getting up and running around can help when you get stuck. And I do mean the last one literally.

[imagines.livejournal.com]

1. Don't panic. It IS possible to do this.

2. Do not skip a day, no matter what. Even if you only write 100 words, write something every day or you'll risk losing your momentum.

3. When they say don't backspace, they mean it. Sure, if you've just made a minor typo, you can fix that. But if you've misspelled something earlier on, or created a plot hole, do not delete it! Just keep writing. Something like "What I actually meant to write was..." tends to help me.

4. Bribe yourself. Want something, anything? Force yourself to hit a certain wordcount before you let yourself have it. For instance, there is currently a bar of 80% cacao dark chocolate in my refrigerator. For every 1,000 words I write, I can have one square of it. That should get me to 10,000 words. I'll figure out something else from there. :p If I get behind, I won't let myself watch Supernatural on TV--I'll make myself wait til I can download it. ...this rule means I will never get very far behind, because watching it on TV often makes me week.

5. You need to write a minimum of 1,667 words per day, but it's better to aim higher in order to increase your wiggle room if you have a few bad days later on. I like to aim for 2,000 words a day. Also, write as much as you possibly can during the first week, because that tends to be the easiest week. The second week is a struggle for me, because the 20,000's is so close and yet so far. By week three, I hit the 30,000's. 40,000 comes soon after, and by then it's not far to go until I've finished. But trust me, get up a nice big wordcount to carry you through that second week.

6. Did I mention don't panic? This year, I'm going to be doing it on top of stacks of math homework, a review/analysis of a book of poetry, skating practice almost every day, and the various other things I have going on each week. This will probably be my hardest NaNo yet. I can't wait. :D

[rekallthegreat.livejournal.com]

My advice is simply don't get behind. Never convince yourself of 'oh, I'll just catch up tomorrow' because then you'll just get further and further behind.

Also, if you find yourself reaching the end of the month and are no where near the word limit, don't sweat it. NaNo is a personal goal, there is no prize for completing and no penalties for failing. Some people get way too stressed out over trying to finish. It's suppose to be fun, not a hassle.

[rhye.livejournal.com]

My advice is just exactly the same as that of rekallthegreat. Last year was my first year, and I succeeded by a simple rule: I will not sleep tonight if I am behind. I will never fall behind. I would fall behind by a couple hundred words occasionally, but as soon as I realized I was behind, I sat down to write. That was my mantra: "never fall behind." My day is not done until my word count is done, period. It works because you make NaNo your priority. I would get my daily word count done even before showering in the morning. It's #1 on the to-do list. If I have time later, awesome, I can get ahead for some unforeseeable future problem, but not a thing gets done until my word count gets done. I also rounded up and made my word count 1700 a day for a buffer zone.

I'm doing it this year: planetgal471!

Other advice I read here is very good: write some every day. Even if you're 10,000 words ahead by some miracle, you don't want to forget where you were. Take the time to add a sentence.

[skyla_doragono]

Hey, we can be crazy together. <3

[lucidscreamer.livejournal.com]

Don't delete anything. (I just but mistakes or where I changed my mind about wording in square brackets and/or highlight in yellow to delete later.)

Try to write at least a few words every day. I've found that skipping even one day makes it difficult to get started again. Don't lose your momentum.

Don't be afraid to write something silly. It may turn out to be just the thing your plot needed. If it isn't, delete it in December.

[dragonwrangler.livejournal.com]

I've got a matching straightjacket so you won't be alone!

It's my first time, so got nothing more than "don't care what I write-- just as long as I write it and go! I can always fix it later!"