Five Things I Learned From NaNoWriMo 2007
Photo By: restlessglobetrotter
NaNoWriMo is tomorrow. So, if you’re considering diving in, or already have, here are a few tips that helped me last year:
1) Meaningless dialogue that would NEVER EVER EVER make it into a published novel can do wonders for your word count.
“What did you have for dinner?”
“For dinner?I had the Chicken Stew that mom used to always make when we were kids.”
“The Chicken Stew? Oh, I love that stew.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty good.”
“Yeah. So how’s mom?”
Just don’t forget to take this kind of stuff out in the second draft. I’m just sayin…
2) Dialogue attributions (He said/ She said) and adverbs are like loose change in the NaNoWriMo parking meter.
“Are you serious?” He said confusedly and markedly angrily.
“Yes, you jerk.” She breathed exasperatedly.
“Well fine then.” He shot back hastily.
“Fine.” She screamed loudly.
3) Tell, don’t show. There’s no time for “showing.”
Jerry looked up at the orange sunrise over the ocean and thought hey, that’s pretty cool. And it was, you should have seen it, but you can’t because this is a novel.
4) If it sounds great when you’re writing it, it’s crap.
You know what I mean…
5) If it sounds terrible when you’re writing it, it’s crap. Or maybe it’s not.
Strange but true.
The bottom line and the REAL tip here is that bad prose on the page counts, Good prose in my head that I can’t seem to get right does not. None of these are real rules of thumb I follow1 but there is a spirit there that favors progress and getting the job done. If you KNOW you’ll be back over these words again, let future you deal with the awkward prose and clunky dialogue. The editor in you was born for that. But in the meantime, if you want to be successful in NaNoWriMo or any first draft, set your creator free to write like no one will ever read it.
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- except that “Show, don’t tell” is an overused and meaningless piece of hooey [↩]
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October 31st, 2008 at 8:06 am
I feel so much better prepared for this now. I will treaure this advice and implement all of it in my novel.
So, what are thoughts on repetition for dramatic effect? For example: Steve was immobilized by the thoughts that spiraled in his mind. Around they went. Around and around, never seeming to end. Around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around.
Pretty cool huh. Emphasis and wordcount!
October 31st, 2008 at 8:11 am
and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around.
October 31st, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Thanks for the great tips! Too Shy to Stop just featured a discussion with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Cunningham as inspiration for NaNoWriMo. You can read the article here.
November 1st, 2008 at 4:28 am
Laryssa, Thanks for the link!
November 1st, 2008 at 10:46 pm
It sounds so much better when you write it.