NaNoWriMo Dreamwidth Writers

Day 3 - 28 days until the start of NNWM




Welcome, Nano Writers, to Day 1 of Fast Start for NNWM, a series of writing exercises that should take only 10 to 15 minutes a day to complete after which you should be in a better place to understand the who and what and why for your NNWM story and ready to give it your all November 1.

Today’s exercise is deceptively simple: make a list of things that are important to you or things that make you laugh or cry or otherwise provoke strong feelings.

That’s it. For me, I have a thing for loyalty which always seems to find a way into most of my stories. What about you, Nano Writer? As always, feel free to leave comments, ask questions or share your list! Keep writing!

Day 1 - 30 days until the start of NNWM!

For every hour you put into prep work on your story,
you save ten when it comes to writing, and rewriting, it.

— John Truby




Greetings Nano Writers! It’s that time of year again! Yes, it’s October 1 and the beginning of our 31-day countdown to NaNoWriMo 2011!

And stay tuned because this Monday will be the start of our annual Fast Start for NaNoWriMo series - short writing exercises and fun suggestions designed to help give you a “Fast Start” with your story on November 1…

Week One - we’ll look at ways to generate story ideas, talk about genre, and put together a short description for your novel.

Week Two is all about our characters as we look beyond the usual age/sex/eye color worksheets and dig into what really makes your character tick.

Week Three we play connect the dots and talk about eight key scenes that can pull your story together from beginning to end.

Week Four we do a little light housekeeping and look at calendars and titles and back cover copy - oh my!

And on Friday of each week, we’ll do something fun, a bit right-brained and maybe a little different…

So get out those index cards, notebooks and pens and pencils (the real deal or the digital virtual kind) and hang on Nano Writers because it’s going to be Fast Start for NNWM!

Until then, keep writing!

Sometimes my plot lines are so convoluted, I get calls from friends at 3 am saying; you SOB, you'll never pull this one off.

- Clive Cussler



There are three more days until the start of NaNoWriMo, Nano Writers! Today we continue drawing out a map of events for our story and see what our antagonist has ( planned... )

Tomorrow we'll review the road map for our story and offer some final words before the real trip begins! In three days! Until then, keep writing!

The beginning of a plot is the prompting of desire.

- Christopher Lehmann-Haupt



There are five more days until the start of NaNoWriMo, Nano Writers! This gives us plenty of time to talk about... you know... the "p" word (hint: it rhymes with "lot"). The poor p-word has gotten a lot of bad press in recent years, taking heat equally from both the vocal pantster party member and the grow-it-organically artiste... But for our Fast Start version, we're going to do this by making up a ( road_map... )

Tomorrow, we'll add more detail to our road maps as we sketch in the first roadblock. Until then keep writing, Nano Writers!

I try to use all of my senses when describing a setting, and try to think
of everything that would impact a character in any given scene.

- Mercedes Lackey




Today starts our daily countdown to the start of NaNoWriMo. Ten days, Nano Writers! Today, we're going to work with a visualization exercise to describe our story world using our ( five_senses... )

And in case you missed it the first time: ten days to the start of NaNoWriMo, Nano Writer! Tomorrow, we'll bring this week's work all together and create a story "bible." Until then, keep writing!

The world only exists in your eyes - your conception of it.
You can make it as big or as small as you want to.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald





With less than two weeks left until the start of NaNoWriMo, world building may be a daunting, perhaps impossible, task. But fear not Nano Writer, let's apply the principle of working from small things to ( BIG )

And it's getting to be about time to talk about time! Tomorrow! So until then Nano Writer, keep writing!

Before I write down one word, I have to have the character in my mind through and through.
I must penetrate into the last wrinkle of his soul.

- Henrik Ibsen



16 Days until the start of NaNoWriMo, Nano Writers! We've been looking at different ways to fine-tune our characters this week. Come this way for additional suggestions as to how you might get to better know your ( characters... )

Next week we travel onward into the strange lands of our story's setting. Until then Nano Writer, keep writing!

I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose.
- Stephen King



Today we'll take a closer look at our antagonist by laying out virtual (or if you own a deck, real) Tarot cards to discover new insights into our ( antagonist... )

Tomorrow we'll roll some dice and see what Lady Luck has in store for our story's "helper" characters. Until then, keep writing!

What is either a picture or a novel that is not character?
- Henry James



This week Nano Writer we look at the characters for our story: our protagonist, antagonist and our secondary characters (mentor, sidekick) - building each up/fleshing them out with a series of what might be considered more unconventional ( methods... )

Tomorrow, we'll look at how we can generate additional information for character using the personality theory of Enneagram types. Until then, keep writing, Nano Writer!

Stories had always been told about male genies coming out of bottles,
but they were usually fat, old men. Never had the genie been a
gorgeous woman, so that idea really appealed to me, and I created
the series based on that premise.

- Sidney Sheldon

So Nano Writer, what's your story's ( premise? )

Tomorrow, we'll put it all together (genre, theme and premise) and fine tune those story descriptions before we dig into the real heart of our stories: character. So until then, keep writing Nano Writer!