NANOWRIMO: Get going!

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 Original Posting Nov. 1, 2017

It’s November again, and that means some of us are probably doing Nanowrimo. National Novel Writing Month! The goal? 50,000 words or more in a month. Roughly 1,667 words a day, but you might as well round it off and say 2,000 words a day. Do you have 2 hours a day? That would be 1,000 words an hour. 

Of course, you can think about in other terms, too. Can I structure an outline, or a story, and keep chunking on it for a month? Can I dream up an interesting set of characters, settings, situations, and so forth and keep plugging with them for a month? Can I weave some subplots and bit characters in to boost that word count? Oh, what about the problems, plans, try-fail cycles, scene/sequels, and of course, the suspense and climax to make a plot of sorts out of all those words, instead of just a random collection of incidents and oddities? Hey, it’s a word count challenge to push you along, but you can also push your other skills even while you’re beating that word count.

In fact, Nanowrimo is an opportunity to play with writing, to rediscover the fun in the art. Yes, there’s that framework of 50,000 in a month. But as haiku, sonnets, flash fiction, and lots of forms teach us, having a framework can actually make the effort better! So take that challenge, to write 50,000 words this month, and use it to push yourself on something that excites you. You always wondered what writing a romance would be like? Or a mystery? How about a western, out on the lone prairie under the shining moon? Go for it!

And, of course, you can enjoy the company, the fun of people actually talking about writing. All too often, writing is a lonely craft, hunched over a notebook or keyboard in solitude. But at least this month, as in a marathon, there’s a whole group of people running along the same way, heading for the same goal. Oh, they may have a different pace, some may drop out, others race ahead, but they are all in the race together.

So — for all of you who are writing or about to start, yay! It’s a strange and proud thing you are doing, tackling a month of churning out the words, grinding along, singing your song. Congratulations!

Write on!

TECH: Nanowrimo bits and pieces...

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 Original posting Nov. 2, 2017

Recently, on Writing Excuses http://www.writingexcuses.com/ , they offered a slightly modified version of the venerable Orson Scott Card MICE quotient. MICE, as you probably know, is Milieu, Idea, Character, and Event. However, the new acronym is MACE -- Milieu, Ask/Answer, Character, and Event.

Briefly, they suggested that in a Milieu story, the basic plot movement is going into some place new, and then returning from that new place. Obviously, you can play lots of variations, but the notion of going into something new -- a place, a situation, a kindergarten, whatever -- and exploring that, then returning or at least exiting that new place is the basic plot fo the Milieu.

An ask/answer story, on the other hand, starts with a question. Who dun it, of course, is the well-known mystery question, but there are other questions, too. You might fall back on who, what, where, when, why, and how, the six honest serving men of Kipling's fame. Anyway, ask a question, who did it, what if, where are we, when did it happen, why, oh, why do we keep asking these questions, and how long can this go on... and then answer it, one way or another. Heck, sometimes you may answer it several different ways, just for the fun of it.

The character? Well, these usually start with a problem with the self, something is wrong with our image, our identity. They explore the person, and eventually result in a new self image or identity, or sometimes simply in acceptance of the self that we have.

Then, of course, there are event stories. The typical starting point for these is a broken status quo, something is wrong with the world! After this and that, we eventually achieve either a new status quo or possibly acceptance of the status quo as it is, broken and all.

Whoosh! Four threads that you might use in your Nanowrimo plotting on the fly! After all, you can mix these up, although normally they come nested -- one inside the other. Incidentally, you might consider something I noticed, which is that milieu and event stories are largely external oriented -- go someplace new, a broken status quo -- while ask/answer and character tales tend to be more internal oriented, often focusing on the internal growth and change of the characters more than the external disasters.

Anyway, something to play with while you are grinding out the words, grinding out the words, we shall have rejoicing, grinding out the Nanowrimo words!

Write?

NANOWRIMO: Keep on keeping on!

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 Original posting Nov. 3, 2017

That’s really the rallying cry, I think, of Nanowrimo. Just like most marathons (does anyone do dance marathons anymore? I’ve seen them in movies, at least), the question isn’t really so much getting started, or how beautifully you run or dance, but simply keeping going. One word after another, one step after another, keep on trucking, keep those words coming! And, in a little while, badda boom badda bim, you will have a big pile of words. Yes, some of them may not be wonderful, some of them may in fact badly need trimming or discarding, and revision is a wonderful thing, but... learning that you too can crunch out the words, keep them coming, and keep it going for a month... that’s a big thing!

So, here we are, 3 days in, probably somewhere around 6,000 words more or less depending on whether you got excited and forged ahead (Yay! As those down south are reputed to say, good on you!) or you might be a bit lower with perhaps a plan to push on over the weekend or later. But you may also be feeling some quivers from that old inner editor urging you to go back and do some revision, just a little rewriting, some clean up. Resist that urge! Make notes if you want about that new idea, the cleanup that you thought of, or whatever, but keep on moving forward! Revision comes later. Right now we are in production mode, full speed ahead, damn the errors, just keep writing and fix it later!

Still crunching away? Great. But you might consider the basic building block of the Lester Dent Plot. Really pretty simple. Start by heaping trouble on the hero. Let him struggle with it, leading up to a physical conflict. Then bring in a plot twist, something intriguing to keep the reader going. Trouble, struggle, and the ever popular yes-but or no-and. What are those? Yes-but means the hero succeeds, BUT that very success leads to a new and bigger problem. No-and? The hero fails, falls flat on his face, AND in failing, finds out that things are worse than before! That’s right, no matter how the hero struggles, things get more complicated or worse. Poor hero! But that’s what readers love, is that continuing struggle despite the continuing addition of new problems and worsening conditions.

So are you enjoying churning out the words? Finding it relaxing, thinking about how these characters face their problems, stand up and try to achieve great things, dream the impossible dream... outstanding! Just keep on keeping on, and before long, well, there will be enough words to make the story ring, and plenty to work on when you do turn back and start revising. And just think, you’ll know who these people are, where they are, what they are doing, and all that! Why? Because you pushed ahead and wrote, wrote, wrote until the story started to make sense, and you could see what was going on. Even though there were times when you thought it was going to turn into so much random hash, when you get far enough, you’ll look back and say, “Yes! Now I see it.” I mean, we all talk about how great the view is when we’re looking back, and how often we don’t see things when we are in the midst of the struggle, but somehow we expect our writing to be different, that we will know everything ahead of time. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. All too often, you have to write the story to find out what you need to know about it — and then you can go back and do that great revision! But if you wait for perfect knowledge before you start, you will have a long, long wait.

So, keep on crunching out those words. Just think, you’re about one tenth done already! Only 9 tenths more to go! Sure, 27 Days, but take it one day at a time, and keep on keeping on. You’ll be glad you did!

Write?

TECH: Nanowrimo Notes

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 Original Posting Nov. 4, 2017

Hum. Poking at my files, I found one called nano template. Sounded intriguing, so I read it. Aha! Just a short list of things that might be worth thinking about while crunching away in the Nanowrimo word mines. Here's the main ones.

First, consider a logline or premise.. What's the story about? Think about the Hook, compelling image, or killer title.

Second, consider this simple description of a story. A likable  character overcomes opposition/conflict through his own efforts to achieve worthwhile goal. Can you pick out or describe these for your story? A likable character, opposition and/or conflict (things in the way!), the efforts of the character, and the worthwhile goal?

Third, which genre is your nanowrimo tale? It doesn't have to be one of these, but sometimes you can use one or more of these as a framework to build on. These are taken from Save the Cat, but you can add your own favorite genres, too. Monster in the house, Golden Fleece, wish fulfillment, dude in wonderland, rite of passage, buddy love, whydunit, fool triumphant, institutionalized, superhero next door. The Golden Fleece is the well-known quest by any other name. Dude in Wonderland? That's an ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation. Oh, and the superhero next door is the extraordinary person in an ordinary situation.

Fourth, pay attention to that main character. What are their goals and motivation? What do they dream about?

Fifth, look at beats. I  like a simple structure, basically just 5 big points. Inciting incident, door of no return, complications, door of no return, climax. The 2 door of no return are where the character first commits to the struggle and then takes on the final climactic action. You can use one of the many other plot outlines if you prefer (e.g. 7 beats, Hero's  Journey).

Sixth, especially for Nanowrimo boosting word count, think about scenes galore! Give us settings in plenty, with characters in conflict, emotional change, and more conflict (who wants what, and what blocks them). Set pieces? Sure, why not? 

There you go. Oh, if you're happily turning out the words about how your hero faced the big bad and fought like never before, keep going! But if you need a little breather, something to help shape the dazzling rainbow of images that you are creating, well, you might find these helpful.

Write, and having written, write some more. To make Nanowrimo 2017 shine!

TECH: Don't Say It! (Moldy oldie)

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 Original Posting Nov. 10, 2017

Writer's Digest, March 1994, pages 6, 8, and 9, have an article by Nancy Kress with the title Don't Say It! The subtitle says, "Telling readers too much will shatter the illusion your story creates."

Nancy starts out by reminding us that every story is an illusion. The reader "wants to be transported… to wherever your story is set, temporarily absorbed into a world different from his own. He wants to be someplace else, somebody else. He wants magic. And he wants you to be the magician."

Now, your job is to help him forget the mechanics of what's happening and get lost in the illusion. Don't stop in the middle and explain! In other words, show, don't tell. You've heard it before, right?

Nancy goes through some examples.

Wearing it on their sleeves. "At the sentence level, a common form of show-plus-tell is the naming of emotions that the pros has already dramatized." Several examples show us fear in physical reactions and dialogue, anger, and so forth… And the additional phrase or sentence that tells us the character is afraid, angry, and so forth. Adding those extra explanations probably was intended to make sure the reader got it, "but the subtle effect is there, weakening your illusion." That's right, it makes it harder for the reader, not easier. After all, Nancy points out, "In real time, nobody wears lapel labels proclaiming their emotions. We can only infer emotions and motivations from how people behave. Let us do the same with your characters."

I knew that. Next, Nancy turns to factual information that readers probably already know. King Lear by William Shakespeare, or Dallas, Texas and so forth. The problem of course is that it's hard to figure out what information the readers probably know. "Which references need brief identifications and which don't?" Mostly, assume your readers know more. If it's crucial to understanding the action, see if you can make the context clear it up.

When the summary is less than its parts? In paragraph and scenes, telling where you've already shown something often is a summary sentence. After all, you want to make sure that readers understand how significant it is, so you summarize it. In technical writing, fine. In fiction? All you're doing is diluting the impact. Show us the humiliation, the blaming, the hatred, and so forth. Don't tell us about it. Seriously, don't explain your tricks!

The moral of the story! Yes, old-time fables often ended with a little aphorism explaining everything. Not nowadays. No author overkill, please. Even if it's subtle and complex, don't reinforce it by stating it boldly. Give us a little bit of action, maybe a symbolic this or that. Don't worry, no one will miss your moralizing.

The inevitable trade-off. Now, does skipping gratuitous explanations mean that your fiction is shorter? Actually, no. You have to give us the clues so we can interpret it. That means more character gestures, dialogue, reactions. More descriptions, more reflection by the character. It may even mean more scenes! Ideally, shorten your story by tightening the prose, but also make it longer by increasing drama. Cut the telling, but add dramatic showing.

Nancy ends with a great little paragraph. Here it is:

"Tell me a story," we all say from the time we're very small. But we don't mean it. What we need is, show me a story. Dazzle me with a story. Create the magic. And don't explain what the magic is. I can already see it for myself – there, filling the stage, flowing from your open palms.

Nice, right?

So, show, don't tell. Close-up, watch out for naming emotions. Watch out for factual information that the reader already knows. Get rid of those summaries, and turn morals into dramatic actions. Go through your story and turn the telling into showing.

NANOWRIMO: Midway! (About 500 words)

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 Original Posting Nov. 15, 2017

Too long, no time to read? Go write! But take a moment to think about what you’ve done, and how you can do even better on the last half of the Nanowrimo marathon.

Still with me? Okay...  we’re at Midway!

Or thereabouts, at least? Not the famous islands from World War II, although I suppose if you want to use that battle as an inspiration, you could. No, we are roughly at the halfway point in November, November 15! Now, you might be chugging along, turning out 2000 words or better every day, so you are sitting on something like 30,000 words or better, and you can see the light on the Nanowrimo goalposts from here? Just 20,000 or less to go, and you’ve still got 15 days to finish that sprint. 

Or, you might be like me, with a conference trip that impacted production or something else from real life that slowed down the works, so you are behind. But don’t give up! Keep cranking, and see how far you can get in the remaining time. 

In fact, this is a good point to stop, take a deep breath, and take a look at what you have learned so far. Are the words flowing, the characters easy to portray, the settings nice and detailed, the events and plot intricate and suspenseful and all those good things? How about your process, your thinking about the work? Have you noticed tendencies in your own thinking, or the way you tackle the writing, that slow you down, guide you into blind alleys and force you to backtrack, or otherwise mix it up? What could you do to avoid that? 

You might remember that James Scott Bell in "Write Your Novel from the Middle: A New Approach for Plotters, Pantsers and Everyone in Between" focuses on the midpoint, the mirror moment, as the key to plot. Specifically, that’s when your character stops and looks at what’s going on — in a character-based story, they raise the poignant question, who am I? While in a plot-based story, they are more likely to focus on what are the odds against me. But in either case, that midpoint is where the character looks at what has been going on and decides where to go from here.

And that’s where you and I are! Right now, looking in a mirror (or a terminal, something reflective, anyway — personally, I like the glorious display of the sunrise, but that’s just me — and thinking about what we’ve already done on Nanowrimo, and what we can still do! So, tighten your resolve, and get ready to roll! The best is yet to come!

Incidentally, as Amanda points out over here 

https://madgeniusclub.com/2017/11/14/to-nano-or-not-to-nano-2/

You can do Nano lots of different ways. Yes, the basic challenge is to start a new story and push ahead 50,000 words or more during November. But... you should feel free to embroider that. Maybe you want to try a new genre, or try writing while standing on your head? Whatever, go for it! This is the month when writers cut loose and try some things, and they even talk about it! So, as Mork would say, Nano, Nano...

Write!

NANO: Finishing up? Or bogging down?

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 Original Posting Nov. 25, 2017

I’m behind, I’m behind. But luckily, over here there’s a whole posting about Nano!

https://madgeniusclub.com/2017/11/24/no-mo-nano/

Dig out your tell, don’t shows, and switch them around? Make it show, show, show!

Ah, boring? Well, what’s the problem, and why does the main character care? Remember, the first syllable of character is care! Mix in other POV, add try-fail...

ChAos? First draft! Where did you want to go? Where are you going now?

Consider world building. Sometimes you need a little infodump. Level it out latter, go ahead and dump!

Romance? Problems? Pets? Make sure we know what’s going on in your character’s head. Quirks. More scene descriptions.

Mostly, write, write, write!
Yay, us! Only 5 more days and counting down...