{"id":3113,"date":"2016-11-13T21:46:02","date_gmt":"2016-11-14T05:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/betweentheshadows\/?p=3113"},"modified":"2016-11-13T21:47:37","modified_gmt":"2016-11-14T05:47:37","slug":"so-you-want-to-write-a-novel-week-2-the-slog-nanowrimo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/betweentheshadows\/2016\/11\/so-you-want-to-write-a-novel-week-2-the-slog-nanowrimo\/","title":{"rendered":"So You Want to Write a Novel (Week 2): The Slog #NaNoWriMo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Charles
Charles Dickens at Publwriting Desk. Public domain image courtesy of Publicdomainpictures.net.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

I\u2019ve really been struggling this week to make Word Count for National Novel Writing Month<\/a>. \u00a0Sometimes the writing comes easily, as though you\u2019ve drawn down the moon and the story is being channeled through you like the words of the Goddess. \u00a0Sometimes it\u2019s like beating your head against the keyboard. \u00a0This week is one of those weeks.<\/p>\n

This is the place where a writer often becomes her own worst enemy. \u00a0It\u2019s easy to talk yourself out of such an ambitious project. \u00a0You tell yourself that you don\u2019t have the time. \u00a0You convince yourself that it\u2019s all crap anyway (and it can sure feel like crap when it\u2019s going so slowly!) \u00a0You question your plot, direct a whole lot of frustrated antipathy towards your characters for being so boring, and essentially just second guess everything you\u2019ve done up to this point.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m here to tell you not to give in or give up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Every writer feels like this at some point. \u00a0Every one.<\/em> \u00a0If writing were easy, every idiot could do it. \u00a0If writing weren\u2019t challenging, we would all rise to the challenge. \u00a0You want to know what all your favourite writers did that you haven\u2019t done yet?<\/p>\n

They kept writing.<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s really that simple.<\/p>\n

The first draft is always crap. \u00a0Just read some of the self-published stuff on Amazon when the writer didn\u2019t get an editor and you can see this. \u00a0It\u2019s one of the reasons that traditional publishing still has an edge, even in the age of CreateSpace. \u00a0An editor turns your half-baked idea into a marketable product that people might want to read.<\/p>\n

So don\u2019t worry about that right now.<\/p>\n

My particular challenge is that I\u2019m writing a character-driven plotline that\u2019s mostly about suspense and mystery, when I\u2019m used to writing high action pieces. \u00a0I\u2019m also writing a really scientific storyline where the technology and the science drive the story, and because I\u2019m not an astrophysicist or a geologist, this requires an awful lot of research. \u00a0That slows me down. \u00a0I might have been tempted to throw in the towel, believing that both things are just too much for me, and I am writing above my abilities.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s the thing: writing is a craft that you can only learn by doing. \u00a0If I want to learn to write such plots, I just have to write them. \u00a0I can go back and fix it all later if I need to. \u00a0That\u2019s why I use National Novel Writing Month as a vehicle. \u00a0The key is just to get the words down, and sort them out later.<\/p>\n

\"Old
Old Typewriter by Petr Kratochvil. Public domain image courtesy of Publicdomainpictures.net.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you are suffering from writer\u2019s block, maybe it\u2019s that you have some real issues with your story, your characters, your plotline. \u00a0Maybe you thought you knew what you were doing and the plot went off in a totally different direction. \u00a0That\u2019s really okay. \u00a0Go back and regroup. \u00a0But don\u2019t delete anything!<\/em> \u00a0You never know when something you didn\u2019t think you were going to use can prove useful. \u00a0A lot of stuff that I cut from The Witch\u2019s Eight Paths of Power<\/em> has ended up in the more theology-based book on Wicca that I\u2019m writing now.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re really lost, this article on writing triage<\/a> may staunch a lethally bleeding wound in your work. \u00a0You can always try using random elements as well. \u00a0Introduce a scenario, for example, and then roll dice to see if it will turn out for the best (double sixes,) the worst (snake eyes,) or something in between. \u00a0Then go with it! \u00a0I once resolved an entire combat scenario by rolling D&D dice.<\/p>\n

Failing everything else you can always try to write the ending first and reverse-engineer your story; or write those scenes that keep coming back to you before anything else.<\/p>\n

Another helpful tip: keep a notebook where you write down important things like every detail you know about every major character (ie. Leah does a regular morning meditation practice with the protagonist, is First Nations, and doesn\u2019t drink alcohol). \u00a0I do this in a traditional lined notebook which I carefully select for its inspirational value to my story before I even start writing. \u00a0This year I\u2019ve also discovered the benefits of OneNote, where I\u2019m keeping links to important research info on tabbed virtual post-it notes instead of wasting time by copying it out or keeping a list of confusing bookmarks in my browser. \u00a0Sometimes those links are inspirational: I\u2019ve watched about twenty YouTube videos this year on the Oort Cloud and astrophysics; fascinating stuff!<\/p>\n

If you need a break, take one; just limit the time that you\u2019re going to take a break for. \u00a0Make sure it\u2019s no more than an hour or so at a stretch. \u00a0Take a walk, go for a drive, or just do something that has not a single thing to do with writing. \u00a0Relieving the pressure will sometimes break through the wall.<\/p>\n

Just find a way to keep at it. \u00a0Reward yourself merely for sitting down at the keyboard; you\u2019ve already won half the battle! \u00a0And if you keep doing that, whether you reach your Word Count goal or not, eventually the book\u00a0will get written. \u00a0How do you eat an elephant? \u00a0One bite at a time!<\/p>\n

\n

Like\u00a0Between the Shadows\u00a0on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and never miss a post!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do you do when writing feels like banging your head against a brick wall? You keep on writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1343,"featured_media":3100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,602,136],"tags":[650,93,616,615,9,99],"class_list":["post-3113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-between-the-shadows","category-books-2","category-opinion","tag-between-the-shadows","tag-books","tag-nanowrimo","tag-national-novel-writing-month","tag-sable-aradia","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nSo You Want to Write a Novel (Week 2): The Slog #NaNoWriMo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What do you do when writing feels like banging your head against a brick wall? 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