NaNoWriMo Dreamwidth Writers

Day 24 - 6 days remaining


I may not use ten dollar words, but I use words which are
perfectly good, and what I write conveys meaning and feeling.

— Ernest Hemingway






The word count today is 40,008! Another 10k-prize day! Yes, even this close to the end, you still deserve congratulations and recognition for what you have created so far! But it's not done yet!

Write! Write! Write! Don't spend time chasing after ten dollar words or trying to lay down perfect prose. Now's the time to capture the pure essence of your story - beginning, middle and end - in a butterfly net of creative joy and crazy, stupid love for your characters.

You can do it!

Questions? Comments? A ten dollar word to share? It's all efficacious - so keep writing!

Day 22 - 8 days remaining


After nourishment, shelter and companionship,
stories are the thing we need most in the world.

— Philip Pullman





Today's word count is 36,674! Happy Thanksgiving to all who observe the holiday! And with that I'll leave you to your day!

Questions? Comments? Excerpts to share? It's all good - so keep writing!

Day 20 - 10 days remaining


Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.

— Henry Ford






Today's word count is 33,340 - are you keeping up? If not, take today's quotation to heart!

It's easy to become discouraged if your story stalled out or real life needed attention and now, everyday the daily word count looks more and more insurmountable.

But you can still do it! Nothing is impossible - you just need to look at the task at hand in a different way. If your word count seems stuck, subtract it from the daily count to get a more realistic idea for the task at hand. Then divide that by the days remaining (always available at the top of the day's post). Add the daily writing count which is 1,667 and that's your new daily target.

So instead of a hopeless 10,000 word deficit, focus on writing just a 1,000 more words a day. Add little more description to a scene, a longer conversation between characters, a new complication (pirates? ninja? zombies?)... and you've nailed it!

Questions? Comments? Pirates on the horizon? It's all good! So keep writing!

Day 18 - 12 days remaining


Writers fish for the right words like fishermen fish for, um,
whatever those aquatic creatures with fins and gills are called.

― Jarod Kintz






Today’s word count is 30,006! And time for mini celebrations and "10k" prizes if you've got 'em. Mine is the two C's - chocolate and a chapter - a nice dark chocolate and a chapter (maybe two) of my current read - a little incentive to help reach for just a little more which can be hard after finishing a tough scene.

So how is everyone doing? Questions? Comments? Swedish Fish fans? It's all good, so keep writing Nano Writer!

Day 16 - 14 days remaining


I'm sorry I wrote such a long letter.
I did not have the time to write a short one.

— Abraham Lincoln






Today's word count is 26,672 and it's Back-It-Up Friday! You know the drill everyone! Back Up Your Novel!

And it's the beginning of our third weekend - time to catch up, add to or push ahead with our stories! Remember too, now is not the time to give into worries and doubts the inner editor tries to saddle us with while we are creating! Write "long" and give it your all!

Questions? Comments? Back-up plans? Just do it and keep writing!

Day 14 - 16 days remaining


Name names. Make your writing physical. Use lots of exact nouns.
"Food" is an idea; "black-bean soup" is a thing. Naming not only makes
the writing more visceral, it makes the reader trust you.

— David Long






Today's word count is 23,338, Nano Writer! And at the end of the day, we'll see the backside of Week Two! Congratulations to everyone who survived the week, who pushed back the doubts and despair, worked through the daily struggles and insecurities, and have become stronger and more dedicated to completing both the challenge and their story!

But there's still work to be done. Your character may now be resolved to take on the bad guys by now, tired of being pushed around/lied to/given the runaround/betrayed and is even now preparing, mentally and physically, for what may become a series of confrontations designed to fully test your character's mettle. Will they survive the battle/apocalypse/illness/investigation/ensoulment/loss of love and/or hope?

Questions? Comments? Recipe for success? My favorite is the resolution to write everyday! So, Nano Writer, keep writing!

Day 12 - 18 days remaining



If you tell the reader that Bull Beezley is a brutal-faced, loose-lipped bully,
with snake’s blood in his veins, the reader’s reaction may be, ‘Oh, yeah!’
But if you show the reader Bull Beezley raking the bloodied flanks of his weary,
sweat-encrusted pony, and flogging the tottering, red-eyed animal with a
quirt, or have him booting in the protruding ribs of a starved mongrel and,
boy, the reader believes!

— Fred East






Today's word count is 20,004! A banner day and time to indulge in a 10k reward if you got one. Otherwise, congratulate yourself on a job well done coming this far!

And if you are a little short, no need to dispair. Could be time to indulge in a little word padding. No, not the kind where you write out contractions or quote long passages of poetry - time for that later, maybe.

No this is the kind of "padding" that might actually add a little 3D to a character that might feel a bit flat. Read through today's quote again and see where "showing" (instead of "telling") infuses a little bit of reality into your fictional people.

So instead of writing: "He was happy to see her come through the door" for a total of ten words, why not write the scene as: "He felt the smile come over him, like the sun chasing shadows, worries about the day's troubles fading too as he watched her push the door open and come into Lucky's Laundromat carrying that ridiculous red Santa sack of what he could only speculate was elf unmentionables, assuming elves even had what one might stuff into unmentionables." Fifty-seven words.

Purple prose? Maybe. But it's got words. And some of it might even survive the editor's pen later down the road.

Questions? Comments? Your best purple prose? It's all good! So keep writing!

Day 10 - 20 days remaining


Successful writers are not the ones who write the
best sentences. They are the ones that keep writing.

— Bonnie Friedman






Today's word count is 16,670! And it's the beginning of our second weekend - the second of four this month. Weekend writing can be a good opportunity to catch up on your word count or pull ahead if the muse is kind! So I'll leave you to it!

Questions? Comments? Best sentence of the day? It's all good! So keep writing!

Day 8 - 22 days remaining


One thing that helps is to give myself permission to write badly.

— Lawrence Block






Today's word count is 13,336! And we're staring down the infamous Week Two of the NNWM Challenge. But we're not going to let that stop us or even slow us down, right Nano Writers?! We've got stories to tell and out antagonists are in the thick of it now, fumbling and flailing, trying to figure out what to do next now that they've left the comfort of their everyday world.

It's kind of scary. It might seem that what we write is doomed to fail. Just like our characters are convinced that after a couple of bad turns, they can't do it after all. But we need to show them how by not giving up even when things look bad - that's the time you need to remind yourself of the prize that lies ahead and keep moving forward!

Questions? Comments? First word/last word you wrote today? It's all good - so keep writing!

Day 6 - 24 days remaining


The muscles of writing are not so visible, but they are just as
powerful: determination, attention, curiosity, a passionate heart.

— Natalie Goldberg






Today's word count is 10,002! A banner day for any and all Nano Writers! 10K! If you've set aside a small prize for the day in recognition of this truly remarkable accomplishment - the first ten thousand words of your novel - it's time to reward yourself and enjoy the moment! And for everyone who's written 10,000 words (and more or almost), this post is dedicated to you! Take a bow!

And now it's time to get back to work! Your protagonist is, no doubt, in deep trouble and things are getting worse... what's next? It's time to flex those writerly muscles and figure it out!

Questions? Comments? Want to share your 10,000th word? It's all good - so keep writing!