

NaNo for the New and the Insane

A Guide to Surviving NaNoWriMo(sm)

By

Lazette Gifford

Copyright 2011 Lazette Gifford

An ACOA Publication

ISBN: 978-1-936507-06-1

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

Dedicated to all the crazy people who really love NaNoWriMo --

And especially to Chris Baty, who started us all along this insane path!

Please take note:

This book is distributed for free and can be copied to anyone, as long as it is done so as a whole. The articles are copyrighted and cannot be made available on any site or in any print format without my written permission. You do, however, have permission to print the book out for your own use if you like.

Copyright © Lazette Gifford, 2006, 2011

Cover Art by Lazette Gifford with DAZ Studio and Corel Photo-Paint 9

Some of these articles have appeared in Vision: A Resource for Writers (http://visionforwriters.com) or have been part of posts on the NaNo boards and elsewhere.
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Insanity

For those who haven't heard of NaNo, or aren't certain they want to get involved, I've put together this collection of a few short articles on the basics. NaNoWriMo is not for every writer, but heading into it with the proper preparation and attitude can make it a great adventure and a lot of fun.

This book covers my personal approach to NaNo and offers ideas, hints, tricks, and thoughts on how to make it through the month. You might find some helpful, and if so, I'm glad I could offer some aid to get through the madness.

Many of these sections have been on the NaNo Boards at various times so they may seem familiar. I've gathered all of this in one place to make it easier to access, especially since the boards change every year. With that in mind, remember that a few of these things are outdated and might not work in the way they did when I first wrote this collection five years ago.

Also, always remember that writers are individuals, and just because I do something one way and have success at it, doesn't mean it's the end-all answer for everyone. You can use my ideas as a guidebook but in the end you'll have to find your own path.

This is not the same approach as in the wonderful _No Plot, No Problem_ book by Chris Baty. It may be that his approach works better for you, and I recommend that everyone who takes part in NaNo by his book!

Introduction to the 2011 Edition

Things have changed since the 2006 edition of this book. The biggest change is probably in the publishing world, where Indie Authors are making their mark in the self-publishing world, and I have updated some of the pieces to reflect it.

NaNo still remains insane, however, and much that was written in the original book still applies. I have, however, added a few more articles (marked with NEW by the titles) and edited the work. By publishing it through the Smashwords site, I can now easily make this available in a larger number of formats.

I hope you enjoy the book and have fun at NaNo, whatever year you join in!

What is this Madness?

National Novel Writing Month: http://www.nanowrimo.org/

NaNo is an adventure for writers. This is the premiere event of its kind, which has since been copied by many but never bettered. For the month of November, thousands of creative people from around the world join together to leap into the joyful chaos of the creative mind as they write novels. There are other dares and challenges throughout the year, but none like this. The goal is to write at least 50,000 words in 30 days. You have to start with a brand new story -- no working on something already begun. You can have an outline, character worksheets, sketches, and anything else except for any actual writing on the story.

Many people think NaNo is for the person who has never attempted to write anything of this length before. And it is -- but they aren't the only ones who can benefit from this month of madness. I have seen published writers use it to write a quick first draft of something they will later edit to fulfill a contract. I've seen troubled writers use it to force their way past a block and find the joy of creation again.

Everyone should remember the cardinal rule for taking part in NaNo: Have fun. If you think writing a lot of words in a short time sounds enjoyable, then this is something you might want to try.

First let's talk about the people who won't enjoy NaNo. If you hate writing (want to publish a book, don't want to write it), just stay clear of NaNo. The enthusiasm alone will drive you homicidal when you start reading about all those people who actually love to write and can't wait to get started. If this is your idea of the school assignment from hell, keep a good distance from the site!

If you're convinced the only way to be a true artist is to burn every bit of fiction you created, and to write more words about your Writer's Block than you've ever written in fiction, you will swoon at the first day word counts and likely need years of therapy. The sheer joy people have as they head into NaNo November will drive you crazy. Stay clear.

If you think that deathless prose is all that should ever be allowed to be written, and you tend to linger half a day over the proper placement of a comma don't even look at the site. You'll froth at the mouth over posts on the boards long before the actual novel writing starts. This is not a site for you. Erase from your mind the mere idea of NaNo and all those writers racing through their novels before your head explodes.

So, what kinds of people are crazy enough to willingly throw themselves into this insanity?

Writers.

Some participants may not know they're writers yet, but they are. Some may not be the type of writer who will do well with the pressure of NaNo, but they're willing to try. A willingness to attempt different things, from new story ideas to new ways to write, is the mark of someone looking beyond the ordinary for this art and inspiration. They're the ones who are going to do well because they'll never settle for the easy answers and mistake writing angst for talent.

NaNo can be a great help for those who are well into the addiction of writing, and even for those who have sold pieces of fiction. NaNo is all about goals and forcing yourself to write without any constraints. A writer who has a project due to the publisher can find this a great prod to get moving. A writer who is procrastinating on a novel can use the infectious joy and insanity of NaNo to get the first 50,000 words \-- or more -- done on their material.

Or a writer might use NaNo to explore a different genre and dedicate the month to try something new. This can be an eye opening experience. Limiting the time you'll allow yourself to waste on a project that may not appeal to you can be the deciding factor to try something different.

Writing during NaNo isn't about quantity-versus-quality, as many people seem to think. It's about letting your muse loose to run wild for a few days and seeing what your imagination can do when the muse has broken free from the restrictions we place on ourselves when we believe something has to be perfect the moment it hits the screen. Nothing is ever perfect the first time through, no matter how much you edit as you go. (And people who believe that editing as they go will save them from editing afterwards are almost always disappointed.)

Some people will write good sentences and dialogue on the first draft and some won't. This rarely has to do with how fast or slow they write. You may not write as fast as some of the others who take place, but that doesn't matter. Anyone who joins in and manages to write more in November than they normally would is a winner, in my opinion, whether they reach the 50,000 words or not.

NaNo is for anyone who wants to experience freedom when they write, no matter if they are a new writer or one already working in the field. All you need is a willingness to leap in and have fun!

The First Step in a Crazy Journey

Once you have signed up for the current year of NaNo one question immediately pops into mind:

Am I crazy?

Well, yes you are. And the odd thing is that people who repeatedly come back to NaNo ask the same question every year, though by the third or fourth year it's sounding rather rhetorical.

You are crazy to join NaNoWriMo. But now that you're here, there is another important question to ask yourself: What do I want from NaNo?

This is more important than you think and it's the one question many first time NaNo-ers don't think to ask. What is it you want to achieve during the month of November? This answer comes in three parts, and the first two are givens --

1. I want to have fun.

No one should join NaNo if they don't think it's going to be fun. You can write any time. NaNo is for the crazy people who think writing something this quickly is going to be enjoyable.

2. I want to write 50,000 words (or more) in November.

This is the goal that you signed up for when you joined. Your plan is to write 50,000 words in November.

3. What do I want by the end of NaNo?

This one is the part you get to decide for yourself, and what you choose will help define the way you work. There are three major choices and a lot of lesser ones. The big question is what you expect from the book when you're done.

Writing for the fun of it is a great choice. There is a special subculture of insanity on the NaNo boards that cater especially to this kind of writing and everyone there seems to have a great time each year. In this choice, you aren't worried about something as simple as the plot! You have dares to take on, challenges, and silly bits of the story to add in!

You might be writing fanfiction (material based on someone else's original work), which can't be published so you don't have to worry about what you're going to present to a publisher later. Fanfiction has a huge readership and you'll have your own decisions to make based on the world you choose to write in. (But, I am obliged to write, fanfiction is infringing on someone else's copyright and some of these people don't appreciate it.)

Or, the final choice -- the more difficult one -- is that you may want to write something you can later send out as a submission to a publisher. This means you'll want a coherent story, though not necessarily by the end of November. You will have time later to edit the book and prepare the manuscript to send it out. These people spend some time before November making preparations for their novel, whether they write outlines or not.

Once you've made a decision on what type of material you intend to write, the rest is easy! You know the general direction you want to go, and the choices each one offers.

There is no wrong choice. Even if what you decide doesn't quite work the way you think, it's all right. NaNoWriMo and November is the chance to experiment. You never know what you're missing if you never try anything new!

Most of the articles in this book will be of help to everyone, no matter what they are writing. There will be some sections aimed specifically at people thinking about publication, however.

How to Go Crazy Once a Year

Imagine yourself as part of the largest collection of writers ever gathered in one place, nearly all of them excited about their upcoming projects and bubbling over with ideas, plans, and suggestions. You get to talk to them for weeks prior to the starting date and exchange ideas, help out with plot problems, and encourage each other.

Imagine sitting down, waiting for the clock to tick over to 12:01 am November 1st, knowing there are thousands of others who are doing the same thing, and that you are all are part of a huge creative flow that can be found nowhere else at any time.

If you talk to people who know me, they'll tell you that I'm really crazy all the time, especially where writing is concerned. I write every day and generally average about eight novels, twenty or more short stories, and dozens of articles every year. So, why does someone who writes this much already still look forward to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)?

Because it is fun being part of something involving so many writers. In 2003 NaNo had around 25,000 people sign up, and about 3500 made it to the 50,000 word finish line by the end of the month. Many continue to work on their novels throughout the year and diehards hang about the boards throughout the year. Around September there's a definite upswing in posts and interest.

If (like me) you think writing not only can but should be fun, NaNo is a wonderful way to be silly, have a bit of crazy fun, and get some writing in as well. You can write something silly, you can write something serious; you can go for a straight 50,000 words or go for a completed novel (or two). It doesn't matter. Even if you don't reach the goal of 50,000 words by the end of the month it doesn't matter. No one, including you, is going to die from not writing enough words.

Why I Wrote This Book

http://lazette.net

In my real world life -- if you can call it that -- I am a published author, an editor and a publisher. I also run a huge site for writers (www.fmwriters.com) and I've written several nonfiction books on writing.

But that's not why I'm a good choice to write a book on how to tackle NaNo.

I've participated in NaNo since 2001 and completed every year, sometimes spectacularly. I'm a fairly steady writer during the rest of the year, but during NaNo I drop everything (at least for the first week) and do nothing but write. It's my little vacation where I allow myself to do the one thing that I love more than anything else.

Let's look at my track record:

2001:

Return to Faneh-Tenyal/70,436

(2001 total: 70,436)

2002:

Freedom and Fame/101654

Whispers of Winterwood/75101

(2002 total: 176,755)

2003:

Mirrors/72081

Journey to Winter/84264

(2003 total: 156,345)

2004:

Bad Connections/106042

Darkness Falls/84123

(2004 total: 190,165)

2005:

Kat Among the Pigeons/102619

Feather in the Wind/50191

The Time and the Place /51185

(2005 total: 203,995)

2006:

Summer Storm/67769

The Servant Girl/102085

Dancer/98258

(2006 total: 268,112)

2007:

Mirrors 2: Reflections/65382

Storm/51703

Working for the Guild/51134

Gift/52536

(Total for 2007: 220,755)

2008:

Broken Journey/76653

Written in the Wind/50221

(Total for 2008: 126,874)

2009:

Autumn Storm/74111

Silky 4 (became part of 3)63874

Wildlands/62795

(Total for 2009: 200,780)

2010:

Devlin's Team 1/82599

Devlin's Team 2/83085

Devlin's Team 3/84250

Devlin's Team Wasting Time (short)/6441

(Total for 2010: 256,375)

Total for all Nanos: 1,870,592

Obviously I have the ability to write under the time pressure of NaNo. In fact, I enjoy the rush of the one month deadline. So this little booklet is going to be about learning to love the fun and rush of NaNo. If you take this month too seriously, you lose the most important aspect of taking part in NaNo which is the pure love of creating stories with no other pressures except the time frame. The stories can be serious, silly, intended for publication or just for you.

Someone once told me it's condescending for someone who does well in NaNo to give hints to others. Let me explain this using a running metaphor: if people are taking part in the same marathon, and some go two miles, but others go to ten, does that mean the people doing ten shouldn't give pointers to the ones doing two miles? It doesn't mean the others all want to do more, or that they need to follow the advice. However not offering help to those who might want it would be self-centered and rude.

This book will offer a few tricks which might help you write more, and enjoy the process. Take what works for you, and don't worry about the rest.

But mostly, remember to have fun!

The NaNo Question for Zette

I had my moment of NaNo Fame when I was featured on the site's Question and Answer of the Day section. Here is the question and my longer answer.

"Can you give us any insight on your freakish speed? Is it all in the typing, or do you have a fast brain as well?"

This probably says it all:

"But you are a writing animal. I'd be afraid to get between you and a sheet of blank paper if you had a pen in your hand." -- Timothy Clarke, writing about me in my newsgroup 11/17/99

I like to write. It's both my profession and what I do for enjoyment, and you can't get much luckier than that in life. I can type at almost the same speed as I think, so the trick is to keep thinking in terms of the novel story -- and kill anyone who interrupts me.

My husband stays out of my office while I'm working on my NaNoWriMo novels. Even the cats go on discovery tours of the rest of the house during November. People at the various sites that I run know that unless the entire site has died, I don't want to hear about it. And even then they might be wise to wait until December 1st.

During November I have only one goal: write.

I usually write an outline in October and tape it to the wall beside my desk. During November I mark off each section as I work through it. Outlines are like cue cards. They jog the memory and keep the story moving along without having to stop and wonder what to do next.

Actually, there is one very important facet to writing fast that most people don't consider: You have to love what you're doing. If you aren't enthralled with telling the story, you'll start looking for other things to do, and then you're doomed.

The trick -- the real trick -- is to sit down and write. Don't talk about writing, don't sit down and write posts about writing -- and don't look to others to make you write. Just get in there and do it.

It also helps to board up the doors and tear out the phone, but some people may find that excessive.

Good luck to everyone this year and have fun.

An Interview with Chris Baty

NaNoWriMo Madness: The Man Behind the Curtain

This interview was originally published in Vision: A Resource for Writers

Chris Baty has been both idolized and vilified for starting NaNoWriMo -- National Novel Writing Month, a thirty day writing frenzy that seizes thousands of people around the world. Each November (and for a couple months before) the writers converge on www.nanowrimo.org and begin their hopeful rush toward . . . well, writing a hell of a lot of words in a very short time.

Some come armed with extensive outlines, and others start only with a vague idea of what writing a story even entails. Some come hoping to write the minimum number of words needed to 'win' and others start out intending to write an entire novel. Many people from both groups fall short of the goal of 50,000 words, but that doesn't diminish the fun of joining in with thousands of others on the starting line at midnight, November 1.

Other people have claimed that anyone who joins NaNoWriMo can't be a real writer, that we are flooding the world with horrible manuscripts, and that apparently we should all be taken out back to the wall and shot rather than allowed to continue this travesty.

But it's all great fun and anyone who doesn't 'get' that part is maybe taking writing -- and probably life -- a little too seriously. No, NaNo will not turn out thousands of ready to publish novels -- but it has helped many people work their way past the fear of writing, and allowed others to run wild for an entire month without fear of their inner critic telling them they're not taking this seriously enough.

And it's fun. That's the part the detractors really don't get. If you can't have fun writing, it's just another job. NaNoWriMo isn't for everyone. However, joining in isn't going to ruin you as a writer any more than joining in the Boston Marathon would ruin a person for jogging.

Even as this interview hits the Internet, the 2003 NaNoWriMo will be getting underway. It's not too late to join the insanity fun. Come over to the boards and ask how we're doing. Just don't expect anyone there to be truly coherent for the month of November. . . .

So, what does the man who started this think of it all?

Vision: Are you a writer, or is this something you just wanted to inflict on people who annoyed you in school or something?

Chris: Ha! Well, I'm a freelance writer by trade, covering music, travel and culture for various publications. Before starting NaNoWriMo, though, I didn't do any fiction writing. I had always loved to read novels, but I never felt talented enough to actually try to create one of my own. Discovering that you can have fun writing novels even if you're not particularly gifted at it was a real "eureka!" moment for me.

Vision: Did you think it would become this popular?

Chris: Never in my wildest dreams. The second year, when we had 140 people sign up, I was astounded. I was sure it was going to be a dwindling turn-out from there.

Vision: Do you have any idea how many words the participants of NaNoWriMo amass on their manuscripts during November?

Chris: It's hard to say. We had about 2100 winners last year. If you assume all of them wrote 50,001 words and then collapsed, that alone is over 105,000,000 words. Combined with the output of the other 12000 participants, I would say 150,000,000 words is a safe estimate.

Vision: Do you see any particular genre as being more popular than others?

Chris: Not so much. I know sci-fi and fantasy are both popular. Because I don't get to read anyone's novels apart from my friends', so I think I have a skewed notion of what people are writing. From my end, it looks like everyone is writing vaguely autobiographical, character-driven fiction about people who have just turned 30 and are still confused about what they want to be when they grow up. I've gotten emails from people though, asking if NaNoWriMo is only for romance writers. So I think there's a real diversity there.

Vision: Do you participate in NaNoWriMo?

Chris: I've done it every year since 1999, amassing four deeply mediocre manuscripts along the way. One of the nice things about leading NaNoWriMo is the fact that I HAVE to write a book each year or feel like a dismal failure as a program director.

Vision: What has most surprised you about the people who join?

Chris: I've been really surprised and delighted by how supportive Wrimos are of one another. I feel like NaNoWriMo is a really unique writing community, because we are, for better or worse, deeply uncritical. It's all about just losing yourself into the creative process; the book that results from it all is almost irrelevant. Because of that, there's a lot of energetic support in the air during November. You can see it on the message boards. Someone will write in saying they're exhausted and are thinking about giving up, and five total strangers will write back and cheer them back to their computer. It's really wonderful to watch.

Vision: What do you think of all the spin-offs that are using the NaNo name to expand on the idea -- NaNo Edit, NaNo Year, etc.?

Chris: Anything that provides people a structured opportunity to be creative is a good thing in my book. We could all use more deadlines that encourage us to make neat stuff.

Vision: Do you know of anyone who has participated in every NaNo since it started in 1999?

Chris: I think there are four of us who have won each year. We're all stubborn as mules at this point, and will likely write a NaNo novel every year until carpal tunnel kills us.

Vision: How much does it cost to run NaNoWriMo each year, and how much of that is funded by contributions? (And when and where can people contribute?)

Chris: This year we're looking at $35,885 in non-recoupable expenses, and another $24,900 in recoupable costs (like t-shirts). The financing of NaNo has gotten a little more tricky as the costs of the event have grown. Since I don't want to charge an entry fee and I'm dead set against taking ads, we depend on participant contributions (about 70% of the budget) and t-shirt sales (about 30% of the budget) to make ends meet. We have a $10 suggested donation for all participants, and make about $3 in profit per t-shirt (which goes right back into the organization). NaNoWriMo participants are a generous, thoughtful lot, and raising the money for the budget each year usually happens without too much browbeating on my part. ;) If people want to help support us, they can find our PayPal link and mailing address at http://www.nanowrimo.org/index.php?s=4

Vision: NaNo Writers seem to live in many different countries. Have some of those places surprised you? Where do the majority of NaNo people appear to be?

Chris: I think reading the announcement for a NaNo Thank God It's Over Party that was being held in a South African national park was the most "oh my god, this thing has gotten out of hand" moment.

The majority of participants, though, live in the US, Canada, and UK.

Vision: People who attend intensive writing camps like Clarion often claim it's a life-changing experience. A few have even given up writing. What do you hear from people who have participated in NaNoWriMo?

Chris: I think people come away from NaNoWriMo feeling really excited about writing. We've had some people get so inspired by what happens to them in November that they quit their jobs and head back to school to study fiction. For most people, though, the effects are less dramatic. Participants tend to feel more confident afterwards, and are more ready to risk trying their hands at other projects. Giving yourself permission to write horribly is a really liberating process. It immediately turns off that stultifying, self-critical voice that has a way of dooming creative undertakings.

Mostly, people come away from NaNo realizing that writing can be more fun if you stop trying to get it perfect on the first go-round. You can get it perfect in the rewrite. The first draft is all about making wonderful messes.

Vision: What would you wish for the people who join NaNoWriMo this November?

Chris: I hope that everyone gives themselves enough time to see the project through. I tell everyone that if they set aside two hours a night, five nights a week, the book will write itself. People who give up because they don't think things are going well in Week Two are going to miss out on the amazing breakthroughs that always happen in Week Three. So my wish is that people give it time, and stay disciplined about writing, even when it becomes exhausting and tedious. It will get better. And nothing compares to that feeling of crossing the 50,000 word mark.

Vision: Any words of wisdom for hopeful NaNoWriMo people this year, like how to deal with crazed family members, unsympathetic bosses, and neglected pets -- not to mention how to get those words written?

Chris: I tell everyone to send out an email to everyone they know before starting, explaining that they're taking part in this crazy writing escapade and that they're looking for at least one other person to write with them. Having someone in your area to write with makes the whole experience so much more fun, and will end up keeping both writers on track when the going gets tough. If you REALLY want to stay on track, get a sibling to do it with you. Nothing brings out those (very helpful) competitive urges like gloating calls from a sister or brother saying they wrote 4,000 words the previous night.

Vision: What do you do with the rest of your year?

Chris: The months around NaNo are so hectic for me that I usually spend January just reconnecting with friends who I haven't seen since September. And hanging out with my long-suffering girlfriend, Elly, (who does an admirable job of tolerating all the distracted nights I spend at the computer in autumn). I also start the freelance writing work again, writing CD reviews and working on guidebooks to various cities. Mostly, though, I spend time telling myself that I really need to get started on my novel rewrite. ;)

Chapter 2: Preparing for NaNo

You've signed up for NaNo in October, or you've been thinking about it for several months . . . and yet, somehow, November 1st still seems to sneak up on you!

Getting ready for the month of November is an important first step for doing well in NaNo. This means more than doing some pre-work for the manuscript!

Attitude

NaNo can be frightening the first time you consider the idea, especially if you aren't used to writing on a regular schedule. This doesn't mean you can't do it, however. You just have to be in the right frame of mind.

And that frame of mind is to embrace the insanity. Step outside the norm for writers, who are often told to take their time, think through everything, don't rush the story -- which is good advice, most of the time. However, for NaNo you have to do the opposite. You have to be willing to let your muse run free for an entire month and see what you can write.

This also means you need to give up expectations of producing a great piece of literature. It might turn out to be just that by the end, but this isn't what you're trying to achieve. You are trying to write 50,000 words in 30 days, which means some of you will write stories that meander everywhere and have no coherent plots. You'll use the forum boards to take up challenges and adding weirdness into your story, and you'll have a great time.

Others, however, will want to tell a story they have imagined in their heads already, and perhaps try to create something they will eventually submit to publishers or even self-publish. They'll take a more structured approach to NaNo and have at least part of their story idea worked out before November 1.

You do not need to complete the 50,000 words in order to enjoy NaNo. This is the goal, but that doesn't always mean you are the type of write who is going to have fun writing so many words in a short time. There is nothing wrong with learning the forced word count aspect of NaNo isn't for you. Writers come in all kinds. It doesn't mean you can't still enjoy NaNoWriMo, though. It all depends on your attitude.

For NaNo first-timers the lure is usually just to find out if they can write a novel. Many who join have never written anything this long, let alone in a single month. After they've signed up their moods general range from 'let's get going!' to 'what the hell have I done?'

The odd thing is that's usually the same reaction the next year . . . and the year after that. . . .

NaNo isn't about proving anything. It isn't about writing the great novel or about perfection. It isn't about winning. NaNo is about enjoying the act of writing just for itself and letting yourself fly for a whole month without worrying about anything else. It's about joining in the only intellectual activity of its kind along with thousands of others from around the world.

For some people NaNo has rekindled the joy of writing they'd lost somewhere along the way. For a few professionals who join, Nano is either a way to get a good push on a new novel they have under contract or the chance to write something just for themselves.

I'm going to have fun during November. While the weather turns cold and the leaves fall off all the trees, and everything looks bleak and dreary, I'm going to be typing away in my office working on a novel -- or maybe two.

Attitude is the important part. You have to be willing to admit this is fun and to share the joy others feel without getting upset if they outstrip you. There are those who think writing is, and must always be, angst-filled work. NaNo will never appeal to them.

Challenges

Everyone joins NaNo has something that challenges them as a writer. For many it will be the basics, which is something we've all had to face when we started. This can include everything from trying to decide how and when to write to the best way to name characters and how to decide on a title. After you manage those you face the more difficult decisions -- Fanfiction or original? Erotica or romance? Point of view? How many words per day? How many days per week?

Some will answer the problems instinctively and not worry. Others will linger over these details because the answer is not obvious for them.

Your personal challenge might be just making yourself believe your story is worth writing. This is one is the hardest to overcome. But here is a little truth: All stories are worth writing. No, they won't all be perfect. Who cares? No story is perfect, no matter how well-lauded or award-winning they might be. For every word of praise about the perfection of some piece of fiction, you will also find someone who disliked the work and lists all the flaws. You cannot please everyone, so write the story you want to tell and one which you will enjoy reading.

Also, a first draft story is apt to be less perfect than others, but it doesn't matter. The first draft is just to get the storyline down so you can look at it and decide what didn't work or why. After you've written it you can decide if you want to fix it or not, or if just learning from the experience is enough and you'll do better on the next one.

And you will do better. If you are willing to learn, you will write better from one manuscript to the next. Like any other art, you learn from doing with writing. You can read all the writing books in the world, attend classes, and hang out at on-line writing sites, but until you apply yourself to the writing, you will not learn what it really means.

I can't make you believe your writing is important, but it is. Everyone who has that urge to create a world in words is a storyteller, and that's an aspect of our world that is often overlooked. It's your creativity, and it's your gift, and you deserve to have some fun with it.

There is no failing at NaNo. At worst, you learn something about yourself.

Many of you know that actually writing words is not a challenge for me. However, that doesn't mean it isn't difficult to get to the point where I can write the words. I know from experience that I do best if I have my story idea neatly laid out so that I can glance at a few words in an outline and know what it is I'm going to do next. If I had to stop and think about 'what next' and 'oh that didn't work, better get rid of it' then I wouldn't do as well. This is how I work, and I've learned it by facing the challenges, which deal mostly with limited time and learning to curb my imagination so stories don't get away from me.

So my challenges have to do mostly with the pre-work and arranging for a few days of vacation from my other jobs. I, obviously, must get a viable outline down or I'll flounder on those few free days I have to really fly with the story. I don't get to do this very often, and in the last weeks before NaNo I start worrying about everything from my basic story premise and whether I'll like the characters enough to wondering I can get enough other work done in time to do a real rush of words in the first few days.

Yes, I will write a lot more than 50,000 words in November, at least if all goes well. My personal challenge is to see if I can turn out two or more decent, completed first drafts during NaNo. It's not easy, but the challenge makes it more fun for me.

Staying focused in the last few weeks before NaNo is difficult. I try to get everything else caught up in outside work. Outlines and world building drives me crazy as I move things from one point to another and then back again, trying to fit bits and pieces in. I will have notes in paper notebooks, on scraps of paper, on my PDA and in various files on my computer. Getting it all organized is a challenge all on its own.

Doing NaNo is not easy. No writing of this kind is, no matter how many words you end up doing.

Face your challenges and don't let them scare you off!

Pre-Writing Work and NaNo

The official NaNoWriMo rules say you can do any amount of pre-work you like, but you cannot actually start the story before November 1. This means you can't continue working on a novel you've already begun and legitimately count it for NaNo. Many people still do write on not-new material, and most participants don't mind as long as you admit to it -- and don't lie about the word count of what you've actually written during NaNo. (There is now a 'rebel' NaNo section where people continue older stories, but I'm a traditionalist and will stick to the basic rules.)

However, if you really want to have the best experience at NaNo, you should follow the rules and try to write something totally new for November. Have some good ideas of what you are going to work on, although that doesn't always mean an extensive amount of background material. A story alive in your head, with characters clamoring to get out and have an adventure, is far more important than any amount of pre-work you do.

Preparation isn't just about what to write, though. I spend the last week of October making certain I've done all the nagging little other-work things that absolutely have to be done and that would drag me out of writing. I always find time to write anyway, but I like it better when I don't feel as though I have something else that has to be done right now.

Students would be wise to look ahead and see if there is anything on their schedule that they can do ahead of time. It's not always possible to clear those obligations, and it's important to remember that NaNo is not more important than school work.

There are two groups of writers who go into the November madness. One group refuses to think of anything story-related before they start. Sometimes after midnight on November 1st, they sit down and start writing whatever comes to their head. It's fun to work that way, but if you are not the type who can keep coming up with ideas, especially under pressure, you might want to take a little time to work out some plot points for the story you are going to write.

Prepare yourself. In the next section I'm going to talk about outlines!

Outlining for Fun

If you intend to write a book which is not based on random material from the boards, I encourage you to write at least a simple outline for their NaNo novel. An easy outline is to list of 30 points in your story which can be written in about 2,000 word clumps. You only need 1,667 words per day to reach 50,000. If you have 30 things and write one each day, you'll reach your goal. It's that simple.

In some cases you may write more on one of your points and find yourself ahead of the game, which is also good. If you think your novel is going to be more than 50,000 words (which is really too short for most publications, but may fit exactly what you want to tell) you can either work toward the 50,000 that month and finish the novel later, or you can try to write the entire novel that month. Aiming at a novel of 90k, for instance, will take 3,000 words per day.

Some people write detailed outlines for NaNo. For my first NaNo book each November (yes, I usually do more than one that month), I almost always use a very detailed outline. For the second I often have either a very short outline or none at all.

The big trick with NaNo is not to get stuck. If you have no idea what to do next, you are in real danger of stopping completely and with the time constraints, you may not have enough time to get started again. NaNo requires momentum to make it through the entire month.

And always remember, NaNo or not, a first draft is just that and not something by which a finished novel can be judged. The first draft is a wonderful tool which many new writers don't appreciate. It means we get to tell the stories in a way that flows for us, and worry about the technicalities of making the story presentable later.

I use different types of outlines for various projects -- whatever strikes me at the time. The format of the outline is not as important as getting a few notes down. Sometimes I'll write a couple lines per chapter (Feather in the Wind was like that), other times I'll write out a line our two for each step of action, and maybe throw in tidbits of dialogue I don't want to forget, along with world building notes and reminders to stress things. The outline for Kat among the Pigeons was closer to this kind of outline.

An outline doesn't mean one of those silly things they force people to write in school. You can use such a format, of course, if you like it . . . but I know people who outline on notecards so they can move pieces around without any trouble, and people who use post it notes in much the same way. What they write in the outline also varies according to what helps them move the book along.

All professional novel writers have to learn to outline in one form or another. Once you hit the big times you no longer write a book and try to sell it; instead you write a synopsis, which is just an outline of a story you want to write, written in paragraph format. Agents and publishers decide, based on the synopsis, whether or not they want to buy the book. This saves professional writers the trouble of spending months on a book that might not sell. When writing is the way you're making your income, you can't afford to waste time on something no one wants.

An outline isn't a set-in-stone tool, either. It's just a map. You use it to see where you want to go, and if you find something interesting that's not quite on the map you move off and explore for a while. However, with an outline you still have the map to get back to so you know what you need before the end.

Phase Outlines and NaNo

This is a reworked version of It's Just a Phase from Vision: A Resource for Writers.

I've also tried several different types of outlining for NaNo. I've even written without a net -- no outline at all -- and enjoyed it a great deal. However, I've found that having at least a basic outline helps me move through the story without the long pauses trying to parse together the next moves. Those pauses don't work during the NaNo Month.

A few years ago I started a new type of outlining I've called the Phase System. It helped me write Kat among the Pigeons \-- 102,610 words -- in ten days. Because of the amount of detail in the phase-outline, I wrote 10,000 words a day without ever having to pause or fret over does this work or what comes next problems.

The phase-outline for that particular novel ran over 10,000 words. I can see many of you wincing. An outline so long? Isn't that a waste of time and energy? It depends on what you get out of it in the end. Every one of those 10,000 words gained me about eleven words in the novel's first draft. The two weeks I spent writing out the phase-outline cut the time I wrote the novel from about fifty-five days (at an average of two thousand words a day -- about where I write under normal circumstances) to eleven days. Even adding the fourteen days it took to write the outline, that's still forty days less than it would have taken me normally.

Yes, I write quickly anyway, and fifty-five days is not a bad length of time to write a novel . . . except it would have taken me longer. Without the detailed phase-outline, I would have hit difficult spots which required me to sit back and think the actions out a little more carefully. I would have had to back-track the story now and then when something didn't work quite right. I know this because I've faced that sort of problem with other novels, both 'flying without a net' ones and ones using shorter outlines.

So, do you want an outline which will take you straight through the story without worry? Never mind the speed at which you write it -- that doesn't matter. This is about organization and plotting.

Okay, so what exactly is this method?

Phases are written out as key phrases that will bring the action into focus. A phase can be clues to dialogue, if that's what the section's focus is centered around, or it might be a little bit of description, or a set of actions . . . anything which will make the story move another few hundred words.

Usually a 'phase' will only run from twenty to fifty words in the outline. For instance, this is an example from Gathering (Book 7 of the Dark Staff series -- and this is first draft with only a little touch up).

Phase Outline section:

1. Tristan in the room aboard the ship, resting, thinking about going home, feeling the world changing. It feels like traveling between realities, without any of the work. (28 words)

These few words translated to this:

Going somewhere else. . . .

Tristan rested on the soft bed, feeling out the ship around him and the power beyond it. The metal shell moved through the same space where he and Abby had traveled so often before. Each time they had slipped from one reality to another, leaving friends behind.

Their quest had come at such a cost to them that sometimes he wondered if the Goddess really understood the needs of flesh and blood, whether human or elf. He wondered what she expected, in the end. Did she understand what she asked of her son, and what he paid that she could never give back?

Or could she? They were going home this time.

He pushed that thought away as quickly as it came.

He could feel the magic brushing against the craft, whispering through the walls and calling to him with a seductive offer of power that he knew, from experience, he could not wholly control. Dangerous power, a dangerous passage . . . he had never fully understood this place that stood between realities.

The one thing he did know, however, was that this was far less work. He could rest this time, he and Abby both, before they. . . .

He shivered a little.

Tristan?

Abby, somewhere else on the ship, had felt his worry surge up through the crowns.

I'm all right. (222 words)

Here is something more from later in the book (Phases 196 and 197):

196. Voices call him back. Mother -- What the hell is that? Get your bows ready! Praise Gods for her. She never wavered, never panicked. Kills the creature. Lehan? Open the door. Takes a moment, and then the door flies open and he is knocked back. (46 words)

197. Wounded! Not bad. Bad enough to put you down! You knocked me down. Didn't have to kick the door open. What was that? Anyone know? No one does. Others take bows and torches to scout the trail near the village, but not far before light. (46 words)

And here is what those two phases became:

Lehan closed his eyes, trying to get his wits back, trying to think of something helpful he could do. The world wanted to slip away from him. He held on, even if his mind wasn't working quite well. He needed calm. He needed to do this right, because he wasn't going to get yet another chance --

And then he heard sounds that gave him hope: Voices, and one in particular that won a smile from him even now.

"What the hell is that?" Elliora shouted. "Give me that bow!"

Gods praise his mother. She never wavered, never panicked. He heard the creature shouting but the bow twanged a moment later. It bellowed again, and another twang. He heard it fall, slide down, and hit the ground outside.

Safe.

"Lehan, I assume you're in there?"

"Yes," he said, almost breathless.

She tried the door. "Put the bar up. Let me in."

He had to put the sword down, and he fell against the door, managing to do little more than gasp at the pain. Getting the bar up proved far more difficult than it had been to put it down, but it finally slid off and clattered on the floor.

He hadn't time to step back before the door flew open and knocked him down. (215)

"You're wounded!"

He had not seen his mother worried like that before. She tossed the bow aside and dropped to her knees, her face pale in the torchlight the others had brought to the open door.

"It's not that bad," Lehan insisted, though his voice slurred a little more than he would have liked just then. He didn't want to be weak in view of the townspeople. He had never trusted them much.

"It's bad enough to put you down," she said, shaking her head and gently pulling at the bloody cloth at his shoulder.

"You --" He stopped and caught his breath. "You put me down, mother. You could have given me a chance to back away before you kicked the door open."

"Ah." She took cloth someone offered with a nod of thanks. "My apologies. I panicked. What was that creature?"

"I have no idea. But Liora met me on the trail and warned me that something was wrong." He kept the other part to himself just then, but he thought his mother could see more in his eyes. "If she hadn't I wouldn't have been on guard and gotten away from it."

"Have any of you ever seen or heard of such a creature?" Elliora asked, looking out toward the door.

No one had, and they didn't sound any happier about it, either. A few had taken out their bows and looked worriedly toward the dark hills. Lehan saw them as his mother helped him up. (250)

When I change phases I often change colors, which helps with the word-counting part of the writing. I look at what I think the novel's length should be and try to work within those parameters. For instance, a young adult mystery might only run 60,000 words. If I have 300 phases written out, then I only need 200 words per phase.

On the other hand, if I'm writing a space opera, I know that I'll likely need the final word count to be at least 125,000 words. If I've only written out 300 phases, that would mean about 417 words per phase. In a case like that, I would likely go back through the phase outline and start looking for areas to expand. If I can add another 100 phases, then I only need 312 or so words per phase. If I can get the number of phases up to 500, then I only need 250 words per phase. This can be a real help during NaNo, where you can look at writing short pieces and making headway on the story. Obviously for NaNo most of you will want to reach 50,000 words. Here is how this might break out for you:

60 Phases in the outline -- 834 words per phase -- 2 phase sections per day

120 Phases in the outline -- 417 words per phase -- 4 phase sections per day

150 Phases in the outline -- 334 words per phase -- 5 phase sections per day

300 Phases in the outline -- 167 words per phase -- 10 phase sections per day

Phases rarely ever come out at the exact word count assigned to them. If you assign a lower word count than you expect to do, you're more likely to go over what you need, and that's good from a morale point of view. It will help you move on to the next phase. I've had 200 word phases go to over 1000 words, and I've had some come in at less than 100 words. Don't make your story line fit to the phase word count, though it if is short you might consider adding some details.

When you work on a phase in the outline, get key words and actions into the line. Then let your mind flow to where the character/story would go next. Write it out. If it doesn't work, erase it and try again. Drop in descriptions and clues to dialogue.

Don't worry about grammar, perfection of prose, or any other 'story' related problems for the outline. When I work in phases like this, all I'm concerned about is the story's forward movement and the crisis points. It helps to write what you think will be the turning points of the story before you start the outline. Yes, think that far ahead. Where does the story start? What major conflict do you imagine? Where will it end? These are things anyone starting a novel should at least consider in passing before they start. They don't have to be set-in-stone answers. Endings, for instance, are notoriously flexible. You might have started off with an 'everyone dies' scenario in mind, but a study of the market shows those types of stories are very hard to sell. Readers invest time in characters, and they often feel short-changed and annoyed when they die at the end. So, as you near the last section, you might find yourself modifying that original ending.

Try to do this sort of modifying, and any other, in the phase-outline before you start writing. Once you begin the novel, don't stop and second-guess your outline. You might rewrite sections of it during novel editing, but right now you have this story to write, not the one your mind starts playing with as soon as you commit to writing.

You might -- as I have from time to time -- find that some phases need to be cut, or others need to be added in. Do it. Don't worry about it. What looks clear-cut during the outlining phases sometimes shows a few holes later. Adding and subtracting is fine in limitation. Just don't rewrite the entire outline.

If you have had trouble sticking to a story, or making it all the way to the end, this might help. Try it, adapt it to your own style of work, and see what happens. A few years ago I never wrote with an outline. Today I find myself as anxious to start a new outline as I am to start a new book. You never know when you might find something new that works for you.

On the other hand, if you are just doing this for fun, it's not going to matter. This type of outline helps people who are interested in the mechanics of the story as much as the word count. Some people will find it utterly and completely useless for what they want to do with NaNo.

To be honest, I tend to fall somewhere between the two extremes. I have used a full Phase Outline more than once, but I often use something a bit less detailed. Having the 'points' numbered is probably the most important part for me, as well as having an idea of how many total words I want to write, so I can try to get close to the proper number of words per section. It's always interesting to see how much the story deviates from what I thought it would be in the planning phase.

Characters and Other Nuisances

For most writers, plots and characters arrive as a package deal. An imagined event sparks a scene, often with someone affected by the actions of another . . . and there they are: hero and villain. Okay, sometimes it's hard to tell which is which at first glance, but they still exist.

Often these are only shadows at first glance and may need a little fleshing out before you start writing. This is where you can put your waiting-for-NaNo-isn't-it-November 1-yet! time to good use. Making out character sheets can be fun. They also have a wonderful way of sparking new story ideas.

Making a list of character descriptions, and keeping them on hand (like tacked to the wall by your computer) will help when you can't remember if a character has green eyes or grey eyes, and keep you from guessing and getting the details wrong. While you might have your main character firmly nailed in your mind, those lesser characters can be a real pain when you try to sort them out.

Since I'm a character-driven writer, the vision of the character is generally the first part of the story I see. However, even a character-driven writer can use lists like the one below not only to keep track of the people, but also to spark some ideas.

Name

Human/humanoid/other

Gender and sexual preferences

Skin type

Eyes

Facial features

Height

Weight

Blemishes

Culturally related marks (tattoos, etc.)

Scars (from injury -- and how does this affect the person?)

Senses (sight and hearing)

Personality (Extrovert, introvert, etc.)

Profession/Training

Status (Current position in society)

Family (Large Family, small? Relationship with others in family)

Family Wealth (Did the character grow up poor, rich)

Major changes (What drastic changes in life affected this character?)

Fears, Phobias and Traits

Weaknesses and Flaws (Everyone has a weakness)

Relationships (Friends, lovers, coworkers, neighbors)

Goals (What does your character want to achieve?)

There are many other things you can add in, from hobbies to favorite shows and music. However, remember that doing the fill-in-the-blanks method of character creation can give you a bunch of grocery store list characters who are basically interchangeable because they are only lists. You have to make the characters real in your writing, and not rely just on a list to bring them to life.

If you find you've created characters you don't need, be sure to save them away in some file or notebook. The same goes for any other plot-related tidbits you decide you can't use. You may still find them helpful in the future!

Some people also enjoy drawing pictures of their characters. If this idea appeals to you, then the months before November is the time to do the work -- and not during NaNo when you should be writing. The same is true for map making and all those other odd diversions writers find to keep from actually writing.

Make your pictures, your maps, charts, outlines and all the other pre-work well ahead of time if you can. This will be of great help if you get part way into the pre-work to a novel and find the story isn't working for you. You'll still have time to work up another one. Don't throw the first away, though! Hold on to anything of this sort, because sometimes the answer to what looks like a problem you'll never fix can suddenly appear out of nowhere. Sometimes all you need is a little distance.

NEW: Experimenting with POV

This is something adapted from Vision: A Resource for Writers.

Now, before NaNo starts, is the time to think about what Point of View you are going to use in your novel. Deciding the Point of View (POV) to write is a difficult decision. Some writers stick with one type of POV because they're comfortable with it. The choices are usually First Person, Third Person or Omniscient.

There are three primary POVs and one experimental 'you' POV, which is referred to as second person. In that POV, the character of the story is referred to as 'you.'

You walk into the house and smell the scent of baking cookies. You wonder why your mother is in a good mood today.

The 'you' POV rarely makes a good story. Play with it and you might find something unique to write, but don't rely on it for the majority of your stories.

First Person POV

First person is the 'I' POV. This is an excellent POV for mystery stories because it allows the reader to see inside the head of the detective (and a detective is anyone solving a mystery) and follow how he or she solves the puzzle. This is an excellent POV for any plot where the mind of the main character is interesting enough to keep the reader entertained living in his or her head.

I stepped inside the door, trying to decide if I should have a quick drink at the bar before I went into the dining hall to have dinner with David.

The downside of the first person POV is two-fold. The first is that the author can spend either too much time in the character's head or not enough. Either way, it makes a boring character. First Person is the POV of personality. If your character isn't absolutely fascinating, then being inside his head for a long time might not be the best place for the reader.

The second problem with First Person POV is that if the character doesn't see or isn't told about something, then it doesn't exist for the story. Everything the story covers has to be within the knowledge of the main character. If something important happens 'off screen' the author then has to find a logical way for the main character to find out. It can be as easy as someone telling him, but if you have that happen too often, it's pretty boring.

First Person is an intense POV, but too much inner angst can also make a character sound like a wimp. The balance is not easy to maintain.

First Person is not for a character who has secrets because the character cannot keep those secrets from the reader. (Don't think about pink elephants!) Because the secret will be part of the story (otherwise there is no reason for the secret to exist at all), then it will be in the character's thoughts. There are some stories which employ what is known as an unreliable narrator. This is a character who straight out lies to the reader. While you might be able to do that in a story or two (but it takes a lot of skill and practice to pull it off), it is not something that can be done with every First Person Story.

When writing First Person POV, remember these two rules: The character can't know anything that is not directly presented to him or her, and the character cannot (usually) keep secrets from the reader.

Third Person POV

We are going to look at two versions of the Third Person POV, close and observer view. Close is the easiest for people who normally use First Person POV. In this case, you can almost always replace 'I' with the character name or pronoun. There are a few spots where you will want to modify this simple change, but for the most part, it will work.

So why would you bother and not just write First Person instead?

Because with Third Person you have the ability to add in more than one POV character without resorting to tricks to point out who is speaking as you would have to do in a First Person story. Having more than one POV character opens up the storyline and allows for far more depth in what is happening. You can tell the story from the protagonist's side and the antagonist's as well. You can move the scene of action to anywhere else in your story universe to cover actions that enhance the tale, rather than having those actions told to the main character. Show, don't tell.

The other good part of the Third Person POV is that there are variations of how close to First Person you want to get. You can choose a close third person or an observer third person. Notice the differences in these two lines:

Mary stepped inside the door, trying to decide if she should have a quick drink at the bar before she went into the dining hall to have dinner with David.

The woman stepped inside and hesitated by the door, looking uncertain about her choices.

In the first version, we are close to Mary and seeing things through her eyes. In the second, an observer is watching her. We've put some distance between the reader and the character, and can't know what she's thinking. We can only see her actions. Sometimes it is important that we don't know exactly why a character takes certain actions. Consider, for instance, a character who might or might not be a traitor acting in ways that can look, to an observer, as suspicious but would be perfectly understandable if the reader could see the character's thoughts.

Third Person POV also allows the author to move close or distant within the same story. Sometimes a story or a scene will start out at a distance, giving the reader a wider view of the situation, and then close in on the main character. Sometimes one character will always be shown in close while others are kept at a distance. The story develops different levels and complexity that is not possible with only a single focus.

One of the big problems which can develop with Third Person stories is that the author jumps around between characters too often, leaving the story disjointed. This is also a problem with Omniscient POV (see below). With Third Person POV, the scene stays firmly planted in one character's POV, no matter if it is close or distant. Too many characters with POVs can leave the reader dissatisfied when he finds a character he likes and has to wait for the character to show up again.

Omniscient POV

Omniscient POV isn't used as often as it was a hundred or more years ago, though it does seem to be making a comeback. It is a narrator's POV; the voice telling the story is not part of the story itself, but an outside observer. At first glance, Omniscient looks a great deal like Third, however there are crucial differences. The biggest one is that in Third, the author stays within the focus of one character in a scene. In Omniscient, the author may show the POV of several characters in the same scene. This is a difficult to do well because it is easy for the reader to get confused when the author doesn't give enough clues about who is on show at the moment.

Mary stepped inside the door, trying to decide if she should have a quick drink at the bar before she went into the dining hall to have dinner with David. Across the room, David Conner watched her and grinned, relieved to see that she had shown up.

Why isn't that considered Third Person? Because we can see the thoughts of both characters within the same scene -- in this case, within the same paragraph. The scene is written from an 'observer' who can read minds and understand all motivations and actions. It is the 'God' view of the storytelling, because it is easy to know what any character is thinking, whether a main character or a mere walk-on. The author decides who he wants to bring to the front of the screen for a view of the story world at that moment.

It would sound as though this would be the best, and easiest, POV to write in, but it has some inherent problems. The first is known as 'head-hopping' in which the story moves through a bewildering array of character POVs. What is clear to the mind of the author is not always apparent to the reader and can cause confusion about who is really thinking what is being read.

Authors can use a limited version of Omniscient where they only view the story through some characters while others are left in the dark. Sometimes, however, this starts to make certain plot surprises obvious. If one character is the secret bad guy, then avoiding going into his head (because, like First person, there can be no secrets from an Omniscient viewer), makes if obvious the character has a secret.

The limited character views of Third Person often creates a more cohesive, and more easily followed, story.

And a final thought on 'thoughts.'

Over at Forward Motion, there has been a discussion about how to handle inner thoughts of characters in the form of dialogue. Let's look at one scene:

Grandmother picked up the suitcase and tugged and Jimmy's arm, half dragging him out of the house, even though he out-bulked her by at least fifty pounds.

"I don't want to go, you silly old bat!" he thought as they went down the stairs.

I think you can see the problem. Once you get the quotes in place, it is automatically assumed that the words are said aloud. When the reader hits the he thought part it means he has to rethink what he had read and put it into a different context. It takes him out of the flow of the story, which is always a bad thing to do to a reader.

Grandmother picked up the suitcase and tugged and Jimmy's arm, half dragging him out of the house, even though he out-bulked her by at least fifty pounds.

I don't want to go, you silly old bat! he thought as they went down the stairs.

If you had started out by doing quotes on thoughts, and then hit a scene like this, you'll have to go back and change all the quotes because you must be consistent in whatever way you decide to handle thoughts.

The truth is, though, that the publisher may have a house style to deal with inner thoughts. Write them the way you think best and be prepared to change to whatever the publisher wants.

New: Talk to Your Characters

This is something adapted from Vision: A Resource for Writers.

Stepping away from the usual way in which a writer creates characters can help introduce new elements. You might be surprised at the kinds of things you can pick up for a story just by pretending that your characters are sitting in front of you. You have opened your mind to a new kind of inspiration that looks outside the box of normal character creation.

In writing the answers, you might also want to indicate which questions annoy them, how they fidget or look worried -- in other words, make this is an 'interactive' character creation exercise. Make them as real in your mind as you can manage and write those emotions down as well. After all, isn't that what you're trying to do? Just because you have removed them from their normal environment (the pages of a story) shouldn't mean you see them less clearly now.

What kinds of questions should you ask? Try ones like these:

Who are you, really?

What do you want?

Whom do you trust?

Whom do you mistrust?

Whom do you secretly love?

What are your secrets?

What are your lies?

Where do you want to be at the end of the story?

Why do you oppose your enemy in this book?

What choices do you regret?

What are your strengths?

Coming up with more questions that specifically suit your work is a lot of fun as well. And in finding and asking the questions, you might learn answers to plot problems as well. Don't feel as though you can only do this with your main characters. If there is someone lurking in the shadows and you want to develop them a bit more, take them aside and discuss the situation.

If you go with a letter form rather than interview, let the character ramble as though they are writing to a friend or relative. Or they can be writing a letter of complaint about their lives to the author. You can get a feel for the personality and quirks that you want to embellish to make your characters distinctive.

I once sat down and asked questions of a character who had been the main focus of eight books I had already written. She and her team of associates worked at solving cases in a science fiction setting. I thought I knew her, but almost immediately I came up against something totally unexpected.

(Me) So, who are you, really?

(Devlin) How the hell should I know? In the eight books you've written you have never once given me more than a whisper of a background. I know I'm from Tempest. I know I was poor, and I even used to steal aircars and barely avoided trouble. However, beyond that . . . how the hell did I get from that to one of the top five agents for the IWCS?

You gave the three guys great backgrounds. Lots of details. I don't even have a second name.

(Me) I . . . Ummm . . . I wanted you to be mysterious.

(Devlin) I'm not mysterious, I'm damned boring! How can I stand up there with the boys -- a famous scientist from Earth, the best Bear Dancer from Forest, and the Inner World Council's top psi? Who the hell is going to care about me? I'm nobody.

(Me) You aren't nobody!

(Devlin) Prove it. Tell me what makes me interesting. You tell me who I am.

(Me) You're Devlin. You are one of the top five agents for Inner Worlds Council Security. And you have this great team.

(Devlin) I am not my job or my team. But without them, I'm pretty much nobody.

At this point I think she would have hit me over the head if she'd been real. But it defined a very serious flaw in my story arc for the IWCS books. Devlin really wasn't mysterious, and she paled compared to the three guys she works (and lives) with.

I'm still working out who she is, in fact. I think she's going to make a fascinating character, in the end.

For another look at what this kind of interview can produce, check out the lighthearted article from Vision # 18 -- Character Driven Plotting by Valerie Comer:

 http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue18/advcharacterdriv.htm

The Time and the Place

Many of you are going to face time management issues during November. The best advice I can give you is to write at the first opportunity you get, rather than leaving it for the last thing on your daily list. That doesn't mean to put it ahead of things like school work and house cleaning, but do write before you kick on Twitter or hit the NaNo boards. The later it gets, the more tired you'll be, and it's more difficult to write when your brain is no longer willing to work hard and only wants sleep.

Some people find it worthwhile to get up half an hour early and write at least a couple hundred words before starting on the rest of the day. This can be helpful if you find it difficult to write 1667 words at one time.

Others take the 'cramming for word count' approach. They don't write every day and intend to do most, or all, of the work on the weekends. This means writing about 6000 words every Saturday and Sunday of the month. It's not impossible, but it can be subject to unforeseen problems -- one weekend of socializing instead of writing, and it's nearly impossible to make up the lost work.

Writing everyday isn't always practical, either. Write when you can, and if you are on a roll, go over the amount you need. There will likely be days when you don't quite write enough, and you can make up those amounts with little trouble as long as you don't let the amount you need build up too high.

Sometimes the difficulty in writing isn't so much finding the time as locating a place where you can work without too many interruptions. This is also something to consider before the start of NaNo. Unless you live in a house full of authors, chances are that the people closest to you are not going to understand your obsession either for NaNo or any other writing.

You can try to explain the situation to the people you live with. Sometimes they're understanding and even encouraging. Often, though, non-writers just don't get it. In fact, there are enough writers who don't understand the lure of NaNoWriMo that chances are you're going to have to find another way around the problem.

One answer is something I've already mentioned: plan to get up earlier than usual and write then. If you get up before everyone else, this can usually work. Waiting for everyone to go to bed before you write is a recipe for disaster, though. Again, you'll write better and faster if you aren't already drained from a day of work. And besides, someone will decide to stay up to watch that all night monster movie marathon and screw up your writing schedule.

Another answer is to spend some time at the library writing. Yes, really, the library. Many of these places have computers and you can often either print or email the material to yourself. The library also provides a great place for quick answers to questions about settings, creatures, and other oddities that pop up. Or you can handwrite your material there. So even if you don't have a laptop or netbook, you can still write there.

Writers almost always require some degree of privacy to work. I find it impossible to work in a room with the TV on because I start typing out the dialogue from the show, which somehow infiltrates into my brain.

Like many writers, I have music I enjoy and that sometimes helps me type. Headphones and a CD player can block out nearly all distractions and allow you to focus on the story, as long as you aren't focusing on the music instead.

Preparing for NaNo by finding the right time and place to work can save all kinds of frustration later, but it's still no guarantee you'll make it through the full 50,000 words. Sometimes no amount of preparation will see you through the entire amount -- but that's all right. This is just fun. Don't let it become anything troubling and you can enjoy it, no matter how many words you write!

The Last Steps to Getting Ready!

As the last days of October wind down, you should have an idea of what you want to write probably no later than October 20th, complete with outline, character notes, and in depth world building. Get it all set up, study it.

Then you completely scrap the idea at 11:55pm October 31st and at 12:01 am November 1st start NaNo with something you just thought of five minutes ago.

Having failed with the 'overall plan' approach (see above) try at least to have an idea of what you are going to write about each day when you sit down to work. One way to do this is to have the (no it's not really an outline-- don't think of it as an outline!) list on hand. There are 30 days in November. Jot down 30 things to write about. These things must be interesting enough to get you through 1667 words a day. Try to make them at least coherent and linked in some way:

November 1: Mary and Bob run into each other in the grocery store. Compare prices of different sizes of eggs. Eggs and breast sizes. Sex.

November 2: Mary and Bob run into each other at the car wash. Talk about car sizes. Sex.

November 3: Just sex.

November 4: Hell, even I'm tired of the sex by now. Don't they know anyone else? Mary sits in the window of her apartment staring out across the courtyard toward the other building. No hold it. What are those two doing in that window. . . ?

November 5: Mary talks to her husband David about . . . about . . . no. . . .

November 6: Introduce Mary's boss. She works at a book store. She spends most of the day shelving books and trying to sell books to people who are really just looking for directions to the nearest bathroom. She finds out her boss is having an affair.

November 7: Mary's daughter does homework with her friend, Tom. Long discussion about social equality. There will be no sex. Sit on opposite sides of the table and hands must remain in plain sight at all times!

(Etc.)

There. One week done. That wasn't so hard.

It is, really, perfectly all right to have a true outline. They can keep you moving when you couldn't come up with a story to save your life (odd phrase -- there might be a story in that . . . oh. Scheherazade. Arabian Nights. Already been done, hasn't it?).

Or you can 'fly without a net' and let your characters lead you along the path without a clue of where you're going. This is a dangerous way to work when you are under a time constraint, however. Characters have a horrible habit of going on strike at the wrong moment. If that is the case, threaten to abandon them and tell the story about their lost dog instead. If they don't listen, think Lassie.

The final trick to going crazy for NaNoWriMo is to sit down at your computer and let yourself write. Don't worry about perfection. Don't worry about reaching 50,000 words. You are not here to prove anything to anyone. It doesn't matter who writes more or who has a 'real' book while you're stringing together silly stuff. If you can let yourself go and write you're going to be a winner.

A word of caution, though: Once you learn how much fun writing really is, you're not going to want to limit it to November and a mere 50,000 words!

Here are some last pointers that can help out, though:

Once November starts, don't write more on the NaNo boards than you do in your novel. You'll start comparing word counts and that leads to serious bouts of head-against-wall incidents.

Be prepared with various bribes to get family members to leave you alone. Money, candy, promises to clean the cat litter box for all of December -- whatever it takes.

If you are in the US, don't expect to spend all Thanksgiving writing because family and friends get very pissy on holidays where they expect you to join in -- or worse, where you might have been expected to bake that turkey or some other such silly thing. You can consider moving the computer to the kitchen counter and typing in words with one hand while you mix dressing with the other. Do try to focus on the food when you're dicing that onion though. It can get messy otherwise, and a trip to ER will just take more time out of writing.

Chapter 3: Forums, Blogs, Websites and More

They are seductive, those wonderful sites (like the NaNo Boards) that draw you away from your writing. They can be helpful but there are things to know about the Internet and writing. Knowing a few facts can save you all kinds of trouble in the future and help you make wise decisions now.

Forums are Good . . . and Evil

NaNo is an Internet event, and as such we should all take advantage of the forums and outside material in whatever way suits us. However, there are pitfalls to working on the Internet.

The forums at NaNoWriMo.org represent a wonderful resource, as long as you don't get sucked into the quagmire and find yourself writing more in posts than you do in their story. The companionship of NaNo is one of the big draws and talking to other people about writing -- something usually lacking in face-to-face situations -- is an addictive pursuit for people starved for that sort of conversation.

You can balance writing and posting so that you don't spend more time writing about writing than actually working on your story. One way in which to use the allure of the forums is to give yourself a word count goal before you can read or post on your favorite NaNo board. Many people have used this method to motivate themselves to write each day.

The forums are very good if you suddenly find yourself stuck and need a clue on what to do next. You can use the 'take a dare' method of writing -- there are always dares going at NaNo! Or you can ask specific questions. During the month of November there are almost always people on the site, and someone might just have the answer you need!

Quite a few years ago, a friend challenged me to the-very-first-ever word war. We met in the Forward Motion Chat room and wrote for half an hour to see who could write the most in that amount of time. Both of us had been lagging on our writing, and the little adrenaline push worked wonderfully. Since then, Word Wars have spread throughout writing communities and are very popular. In a Word War, no one loses since everyone ends up with more words than they would have had if they hadn't taken part. Whether that's a couple hundred words or a couple thousand doesn't matter.

There are often Word Wars listed on the NaNo boards and we often have impromptu ones at Forward Motion. They're fun, short intense ways to get some writing done when you haven't much time.

Posting how well you've done at the end of the day is also a great boost, and a good incentive to do as well the next day. Sometimes being able to encourage and help others can also help with your attitude toward NaNo writing.

Use the boards wisely and they can help you reach your goals -- but don't let yourself get pulled into the boards and forums and forget the real reason you joined!

Posting Fiction on Open Boards

For many of you this will have no bearing at all on your work or what you do with it. If you are writing fanfiction, or not in the least bit interested in a writing career, then you can post anywhere you like and not worry. Those who are pursuing an Indie Author (Self-Publishing) career need only be careful of what they post because readers are going to judge their writing ability on what they see. First draft material posted, for anyone, is not wise.

People who think they might want sell their NaNo novel to a publisher need to know that posting a story on an open site on the Internet is the same as publishing it. You have placed the story 'before the public' and it doesn't matter how many of the public actually go to look at it. You have thrown away your First Print Rights, which are the ones that the publishers want.

Many people put their stories up on sites in the mistaken belief that if someone hasn't paid them for the work, then it isn't published. This isn't true. Anything that is in a position where it can be read by the public is considered published. This includes posting on your website, LiveJournal, Blog or any site where just anyone passing through can read the work. It doesn't matter how many people actually read the story, either.

Sites that are safe, however, are ones in which the reader needs a password in order to get to the story. Most writers' sites with critique groups are set up in this way. 'Friends Only' LiveJournals are also safe because the owner has full control over who sees the posts.

One thing that you have to look out for, however, is a site where the Terms of Service (TOS) says that they have the right to use anything on their server or boards in any way that they wish. They are basically assuming the copyright. For most people this won't matter, but it never hurts for writers to be aware of such statements.

Copyright, by the way, almost always stays with the writer. Even when you publish a story or novel, the copyright remains in the author's name. (Look on the other side of the title page and you'll usually see the copyright notice. Most often it will have the author's name unless they are writing in something like a Star Wars series or work based on a game, etc.)

If a site says not to worry because they don't take copyright and it stays with the author -- well, that's good, but it still doesn't change that the material is published. Some people don't realize the difference between copyright and first publication rights. Copyright is automatically given to the author from the moment the work is created. First publication rights are kind of like 'leasing' the story out to someone else to drive around and show for a while. Those people most often want to be the very first people to show the shiny new story. Sometimes you will sell secondary print rights, but those are usually in an anthology and pay less.

This has somewhat changed a bit since the rise of big name Indie Authors. Now, a properly published Indie book with an excellent following has a chance of getting picked up by a big publisher. However, as exciting as it is to see, remember that there are thousands and thousands of others who never sell more than a dozen of their books

Posting snippets of the story for others to read is fine. You might even post an entire chapter. Some people say not more than 10 percent of the entire novel should ever be posted, but I think that number is flexible.

So just be aware of what you're doing and make a knowledgeable decision based on it. Knowing the choices is better than being unaware of what you are risking.

Forward Motion and Other Writing Sites

There are many helpful sites for writers on line. Some of them focus on various aspects of writing, and others are more open. I run a large site called Forward Motion. We concentrate on writing for publication (including Indie Publication now), which means there is no fanfiction writing on the site.

Every year at Forward Motion we have boards for NaNo and a chat room dedicated to NaNo people, so the more sedate writers don't go crazy listening to us. Sites away from NaNo can give you a better look at the writing world as a whole. NaNo is an odd event for writers, and many of us spend the rest of the year working more sedately and with far less of the insanity. If you are (for instance) interested in what it takes to be published, how to write a query letter, how to approach agents, then a site like Forward Motion will be a good addition to your list of writing sites.

Remember that you can belong to as many as you like, although there is a point where you can find yourself giving more to the various sites than you get in return. One site's focus often differs from that of another, and you may find that you flitter between them. Critters is a great site for getting and giving critiques, for instance, and has a wonderful record for seeing members published. Absolute Write is another good site, focusing on technical aspects of writing.

Some sites have chat rooms which are both helpful and addictive.

If you are interested in the wider world of writing, you might want to look into finding a site or two that suits you. Having the company of authors can be a great help when you are looking for inspiration and the answers to questions.

NEW: Expanding Avenues of Inspiration

This is something adapted from Vision: A Resource for Writers.

No matter what type of writing you are doing, it's good to break out of the usual shell and look at new things. You never know what's going to inspire you to some fresh direction. I know a lot of new writers have a primary source of inspiration and they turn to it when they run out of ideas. Anime seems to be the predominant one these days. There's nothing wrong with it -- but it can help expand your writing if you move beyond a single source of inspiration.

And if you are writing something on a weekly basis (like web novels) it can be especially hard to keep from resorting to repetition or 'throw in a sex scene' material to keep up with the work load. If you want to keep readers and draw new ones, you can't let that kind of filler happen too often. If you have set goals even in regular writing (things that are not being posted for immediate reading), you can still find yourself stuck in circular storylines, adding things just to add them, and the inevitable sex scene when all else fails. Even the most simple of all outlines can be your friend at times like this, with just a single line per chapter to keep ideas flowing.

However, sometimes it's hard to get even a single line in an outline when you can't see where to go next. Maybe you've been using your favorite shows and books as inspiration, and they've stopped giving you new ideas. You're stuck. You don't want to tell the same story again, or repeat the same actions in the current story.

I've been finding inspiration in odd places for quite a while now. I've read the thirteen volumes of Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia and had so many ideas for science fiction and fantasy from it that I couldn't begin to use them all. Right now I'm reading the Grolier's Encyclopedia of Knowledge (working on the second volume) and finding very odd little things that trigger ideas. This is a really simple encyclopedia so there is nothing in depth. It's like reading very short articles. The longest has been about four pages with lots of pictures. I've picked up odd bits of knowledge and much of it is already fitting into places in books.

But do you know what's working the best for me right now?

Britannica's Great Books of the Western World.

I know my mind works in odd ways. I know I can get ideas almost anywhere, but for the last couple years I have been purposely using odd cues to direct me in new ways. I deliberately started looking in new places because I wanted new ideas. I have rarely been fond of classics in the past (with a few exceptions), but I found that having a reason for reading them that is just my own reason -- no pressure from anyone else -- and reading them as slowly or quickly as I please, has made a huge difference.

This is how it works:

I find a line or two from something I'm reading that resonates with me in some way. I write it down and make a quick note of what it means within the context of the original material. Then I let my imagination loose and see what it sparks within the frame of a new story I'm building.

(And if you are reading classics in school, and find them difficult to get through, do this same sort of exercise for your writing. It might help you get through the work and give you a little something extra for yourself.)

Right now I'm reading the plays of Sophocles \-- the Oedipus trilogy first. I know I read them eons ago in school, but (as is often the case) there was no hope of actually appreciating the work back then. Now, reading at my own rate and without a fear of a test and failing class, I've found that I like Greek plays far better than I thought I would. They are not ever going to be my reading material of choice, but I can devote half an hour or so a day to them without any trouble.

Last year, I used the readings (Iliad, Odyssey, plays of Aeschylus) to inspire the new science fiction book I'm writing this year. It went very well, even though the plot of the story has nothing whatsoever to do with anything in those works. This year I'm starting with the plays of Sophocles to work out the story of a new fantasy book. Here is how the first note went. I do one quote a day and 'free think' from there.

Like this:

Quote 1:

For even if the matter had not been urged on us by a god, it was not meet that ye should leave the guilt thus unpurged, when one so noble, and he your king, had perished. . . .

Sophocles/Oedipus the King, Page 101, column 2

It's interesting to see the set up on this. Of course, it's obvious to all of us that he is talking to the man who had killed the king, though the killer was unaware of what he had done. It was obvious to the first people who saw the play, too \-- after all, this was well-known story, wasn't it?

So, what do we have here? This makes good background for a fantasy story. A noble's death gone un-avenged. I wanted to change it, though, so it's not a curse from the Gods this time. I'm not writing the Oedipus mythology, only using it to spur other things.

A curse, though -- that sounds like a good place to start. The noble's dying curse and it's fallen on the ruling family, most especially on his son? Did he feel that they let him die? Had they? Maybe it was the wise thing to do, but if the man had power they didn't expect. Why man? Why not the former Queen? Change things around a little, and get this to move into new directions.

A queen's curse falls on her family after they let her die.

There. I now have the very basic idea for a new story. I somewhat see characters -- the vengeful queen, the young grandson prince who is taking the brunt of the curse . . . oh yes, this should be fun.

There I have it -- the kernel of an idea for a new fantasy novel. By the time I'm done, my new story may look nothing at all like this first bit of inspiration -- or this basic idea may hold me through to the end of the actual writing.

I would not have come up with this particular idea if I had not been reading the play. I would have come up with a different one -- I always have ideas -- but this one is going to grow in ways that I cannot foresee, because I am reading material I normally wouldn't read and building on a new foundation.

That's good. That makes something new and unique for me to work on. It will help me grow as a writer.

And I'm actually learning a few things about Greek plays along the way. Knowledge is the writer's essential tool. Never fear to learn, and always look for ways to use that new knowledge in your writing.

Helpful Sites

With NaNoWriMo starting, many people will be frantic for everything from names to story ideas for their work. Here are a number of links that might help people during the NaNo madness -- and they might even be helpful at other, less stressful times!

The Seventh Sanctum has a number of story idea generators:

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index.php

Merriam Webster Dictionary on-line.

http://www.m-w.com

Or maybe you need to know the location for something in the real world?

In this case, you can also look at the street view, which can be invaluable in seeing what something really looks like! (I found it works best with the Firefox Browser)

http://maps.google.com/

Well, not everyone needs to find out information on patron saints, but you never know!

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/indexsnt.htm

The Skyview Café

This is a wonderful site to find out if there is (or was) a full moon on a certain night, or maybe find out the exact time the sun will rise on a certain date in a certain area. Very nice!

http://www.skyviewcafe.com/index.php

Need to see what a certain gun looks like? Try this one!

http://www.securityarms.com/20010315/all.htm

Links to all kinds of calendar type things. Helpful if you're using a non-Julian dating system.

http://calendarhome.com/

How about the Bureau of Labor Statistics? You never know when a few odd facts and figures might help!

http://www.bls.gov/home.htm

Inky Girl Diversions for Writers:

This is a fun site with lots of information and great comics for wriers!

http://inkygirl.com/

Vision: A Resource for Writers

Many of the pieces to this book are from my articles in this ezine. Check it out. There are hundreds of articles on writing by many different authors!

http://visionforwriters.com

Joyously Prolific (Zette's Blog)

I often write about writing in my blog, during NaNo and the rest of the year.

http://zette.blogspot.com/

Chapter 4 Goals and Keeping Them

Once you start writing in November things get interesting.

All writers have goals, even if they don't think of them in that way. The one goal that unites us is to finish the story we're working on -- because, even though many writers don't complete the story, that's not their intention when they start.

NaNo can help you with the art of reaching goals, whether that's to write an entire 50,000 words in 30 days or to write an entire novel in however long it takes you to do the work!

The Actual Writing

November 1st arrives. It's time to get started. 1667 words a day is all you need to write to reach 50,000 words by 11:59 PM on November 30th.

Some of you will suddenly look at that number and panic, especially if you aren't used to writing on any kind of regular schedule. It's really not as hard as it looks if you just get used to it.

One thing you can do is to write half of it in the morning and half at night. If you do 850 words at each sitting, you'll have more than you need. Or divide it into thirds or quarters -- write a few hundred words at a time and add them all up at the end of the day.

Don't second guess your words as you write them. You can edit, change, delete and throw out anything you want \-- after November. During November you are not allowed to delete any of your writing. It doesn't matter if your story starts meandering off into meaningless dribble because you're too tired to think straight -- leave it. Pick up with a saner storyline the next day. Don't even look at what you wrote before.

Do not edit while you write.

You know that internal editor you're always complaining about? The one who won't let you write anything without tearing it apart?

That's you. Get over it. There is no person in your head controlling you and you can turn that voice off for the month of November and see if you can get something done -- because an internal editor who stops you from finishing anything is just your way of making sure you'll fail. It's you. Trust me on this one because I've dealt with it on a personal level, though I've been lucky and dealt with the problem before it got out of hand. However, I've seen many promising writers use the 'internal editor' excuse as a reason not to finish anything.

If you want to write the book, then write it. The editor is there for later, when you really do need to look at the work and make sure it sparkles. But first you have to write it, because no amount of editing as you go will help if you never finish.

Back up your work!

Every year there are anguished screams as people lose their story to a failed hard drive. Back up your work. Email it to a friend, if you need to. Do this at least every couple days, if not every day.

Don't Start Over

If you're only a day or two into NaNo, usually you can safely scrap the start of your book and start over, at least if you think you can make up the word count. A week into it and you're hitting dodgy ground.

If you find you really don't like the story you're writing then have the current characters meet the new characters, and the new characters take over and start a new adventure. Yeah, it's silly -- but there is no reason to drop all that writing, not in the case of NaNo. No, it won't be a coherent book or something you can sell in that format. But if you are interested in publication later, you can hack off the first part, rework the opening, and make it into a better story.

But for NaNo -- just keep going!

Four Steps for Working up Openings

(Another article from Vision: A Resource for Writers, slightly reworked for NaNo)

Sometimes the first steps in starting a novel are the hardest. Deciding where to begin is one of the hardest parts of being a writer. The biggest trick to a successful opening is not to stress over it when you actually begin your story.

Whatever your story is about, you need to bring the reader into the proper state of mind for the story to be effective. Here is the real question: what do you want the first impression of your story to be? This is an important question. It will set the mood for the reader, and even if the story suddenly takes a surprise twist, you still need to have a very clear idea of how you want to drag the reader in.

There are, I think, four considerations when looking at the opening to a story. An opening might use one or more of these pieces of information, and figuring out what they are before you start can be helpful.

Where

What is your setting? How much of the world can you -- and need you -- bring alive in those first few paragraphs? Is it important that readers ground themselves in the world right away, or is it more important that they focus on the who or what aspects?

Who

Who is the focus of your story, or at least this part of it? Is it important that the reader know this person right away, or is it more important that they have a feel for a strange place or a clue to what is going on? This can also include emotional input, since emotion is apparent in a character's actions.

What

Is it the action of the story that needs to be brought into focus right from the start? Are there events that are more important to the story than where or who?

Dialogue

Who is the first person to speak, and why? What important information does that first line convey? It might be information about attitude or it might be information about events \-- but either way, it should have especial significance to your story.

One of these four will most often be the focus of your opening. Some also enhance style or theme, but those are things that can and should be worked into any of the openings listed above. There are likely other possible aspects, but it is usually one of these four, or a combination of them, that will give your readers the view that you want them to have.

And this really is important to know. What is the first thing you want your readers to see? And what 'story question' does it set up that the reader will want answered by the end of the book? Readers are, by their very nature, curious people. They come in asking 'Why?' That may be very quickly followed by 'What does it mean?'

As writers we see our world, we know what's going on, and we know what we think is the most important thing that the reader sees. In one of my novels I was certain that the first part of the story should focus on my main character being kidnapped by slavers and seeing his village in flames as they sail away. Amazingly, when the editor cut the first 8k words of the novel, and started just before the second major incident in the character's life, it worked far better. The original 8k worked in as back story (not flashback) as the character told people how he had come to be a slave. How he reacted to the loss of his village became more important than seeing the loss.

Some problems you may face:

If you have to explain your opening by using a flashback in the first few pages, then you are almost certainly starting the novel at the wrong place.

If you start your story so far back in your character's life that nothing is really going to happen until several chapters into the story, then you have started in the wrong place.

You cannot start the novel with an exciting incident that really has nothing to do with the story.

Here is a trick that can help you get started straight into the action. We, as humans, are conditioned to believe history. If you have something outrageous that you want to be accepted as a premise for your book, then set it up as part of a historical event:

On Monday the fourth person was killed by a falling meteorite.

Mentally, the reader is conditioned to accept that there have already been three. It's part of history, it's a fact. The reader is going to want to know why and how, but he's not likely to start out skeptical as he would be if you started with the first person hit by a meteorite.

Here are examples of how the four different openings might work for a story:

Where

Darkness came, dispersed only by the haloed golden glow of street lights purposely shaped to lend an old-fashioned air to the tourist area. Tendrils of fog, like the ghosts of the murdered women, wound their way up through the boardwalk leading out into the lake, and small waves brushed against the underside by the moored skiffs, occasionally sending them bouncing against each other. Nothing else moved but the breeze, picking up the faint scent of dead fish, as it swept through the fog ghosts and past the food shacks and trinket shops, lately boarded up. The tourist season had ended early.

Who

Michael sat in the second story window of the cheap hotel and watched the boardwalk. He adjusted the chair again and finally gave up, accepting (as he had every night this week) that it would sag to the right. The usual bag of potato chips had been replaced by a bowl of celery and the six pack of sodas by a thermos of tea.

Outside the window a thin fog had rolled in, obscuring some of the view; not a good night for a stakeout on an important case. He dared not miss anything. Even the governor had his eye on the situation -- though he was worried more about the drop in tax revenue from tourists than the dead women.

Or maybe Michael had just gotten cynical after five years on the force. It was possible, after all, that the governor actually cared about both. Just not enough to provide any more funds for the case. After all, he had those missing revenues to worry about, too.

What

The first murdered woman had washed up midmorning on a Sunday, the body stretched out on the lake shore just a few yards from the boardwalk where she had been last seen. Mary Nelson, a bright-eyed, sassy waitress at the Fish Net, hadn't been dead for more than a few hours, and those who knew her shook their heads in shock. It had to have been an accident. . . .

A week later by a pair of tourists, two college women come to spend a few days at the resort before heading back to the campus, turned up dead just a little farther down the shore. The next one came only a day later; another local girl. Leslie hadn't even graduated from high school yet.

Four murders in less than two weeks, all of them linked to the boardwalk area, all of them found washed up on the shore, though none had drowned. The little town of Stewart's Wake had finally made it big time, CNN and all.

Dialogue

"Ready to roll," Cassie said, her voice tinny in the earplug.

Michael leaned closer to the window, binoculars up to his eyes. The boardwalk looked deserted except for the woman who came from the small fish shop nearly to the end. He saw her grab the barrel that served for a sign and begin to roll it in, whistling tunelessly to herself.

Michael tapped the mike at his shoulder. "Too bold, Cassie. Look scared."

"I am fu-" She stopped and caught herself, plainly remembering they were on an open line, others listening in. "I am scared."

"Slow down. Take your time locking that door."

She gave a little grunt of reply and through the binoculars he could see her drop the keys.

"That's a little obvious, too."

"I didn't do it on purpose."

What I have here are four views of the same scene. They can be mixed and matched (though with edits to make them flow better), some discarded or all used in the order I wrote them. If each one is read separately, they produce a slightly different feel of the situation. If they're read in order, they produce an overall vision, with the opening (where) a little out of sync with the rest, but, in my opinion, the most interesting of the four.

If you are having trouble getting started on November 1, try one of these four approaches. Then don't look back \-- just get moving and keep moving. If you want, you can rework the opening in December, but for now the trick is to start writing and continue to the end of November.

Good luck!

Easy Daily Goals: Moving Ahead with the Story

Here is a trick that will help you move ahead a little at a time. Those little bits of progress can really help!

Look at your story and where it is. Now write out four things on a slip of paper that would be the next four steps in your story. Make them relatively small steps, something like this:

1. Sally gets up and goes to school.

2. In class she learns that her favorite teacher is leaving to go hunt butterflies in the Amazon.

3. Sally is depressed for the rest of the day, and even her friends comment on it.

4. Sally goes home and helps make dinner.

Those are the four things that you are going to write about today. If you write 450 words on each of those steps, you will have done more than you need to do for the day to stay on track. (450*4= 1800). If you do 500 words, then you will have 2000 words for the day.

Doing 450 words on one of those sections won't be that difficult if you keep the idea of adding detail in mind:

1. Sally rolled over beneath the warm comforter and frowned at the alarm clock. It would go off in less than five minutes. Why couldn't she have slept for those last few minutes, instead of staring at it, dreading each second ticking away, watching the second hand go around and around and knowing what it meant?

Maybe she could pretend that she hadn't turned it on. Maybe she could reach out and hit it off right now before it began to ring and --

And it went off just as her hand snaked out from under the covers. She yelped in surprise despite herself and hit the button on the top, then snaked her arm back in, burrowing down into the covers. Sally hated mornings. She didn't mind school so much these days -- high school had proved to be marginally better than anything that came before -- but she hated the entire concept of getting up and facing the world. Or facing her brothers, and her always cheery father --

"Rise and shine, sunshine!" her father said, hitting the door as he went past.

She growled some answer, but he was used to that by now. And there was no use waiting any longer. If she did, one of the boys would come in and grab the bathroom that she shared with her mother and father. And then she'd have to wait, and that only made mornings even worse.

By the time she'd dressed, combed out her short brown hair -- wishing for streaks, or dye, or something to make it look less mousy -- and dabbed a little makeup on, she was very nearly too late for breakfast. She didn't mind. Eating with the trolls, otherwise known as her four brothers, had never been a favorite pastime, especially in the mornings when they all acted as though they'd forgotten their manners between sunset and sunrise. She wondered how they made it through the day without someone just locking them up in closets somewhere.

"Good morning, Sunshine," her father smiled as she came into the room. No matter how often she winced, he never got the hint that maybe she was too old for that nick name now. "You're almost too late for breakfast. You know you shouldn't go to school without a good healthy breakfast to help stimulate the brain."

"Yeah dad, I know," Sally said. She gave a nod of thanks to her mother who handed her a plate with an egg, some toast and a couple slices of bacon.

"That can't be enough to eat! You need a real meal --"

"I have gym first period this year," I reminded him again. We'd gone through this nearly every morning for the last two weeks since school started up. "It's not a good idea to eat too much before that. I'll have a good lunch, though."

"Oh, that's right."

Sometimes Sally thought her life must be on repeats.

There. That's 491 words. The trick is just to let it flow and not worry about if the lines are right, or if it makes a lot of sense. Try to get the feel of what your character is doing, and you can add all kinds of interesting little asides.

When you finish with your four points for the day -- and you can do them one at a time, at different times during the day, so you can have lots of breaks between -- then write up four more for the next day. You'll be ready to go first thing.

Or, better still write out eight lines for a day. At eight things all you have to write is 200 words per section. You'd be surprised how easy that can be.

This isn't so much outlining as giving yourself a few prompts on what you want to do next. Even just one or two will help to get you started each day.

Then try to concentrate on writing words. Don't worry if they're good words. Writers are blessed with a gift called the second draft. Nothing has to be -- or ever is -- perfect in the first draft. The first draft is just to get the story line down and to experiment with as many different things as you want, without worrying about it. You never know what might work.

Mostly, though, have fun!

A Different Goal: Moving up the List

(Please note that every year, the site changes somewhat and this may not work as well as it did when I first wrote it. However, if you can get a large enough group together and work against each other in a list, you still play with this idea. It's a great, fun way to get words!)

This is a tip I read on the boards a few years ago, so I will not take credit for it, but it is well worth repeating. Many people have found it helpful!

To go the page that allows you to search through all the participants. Search by Word Count and Descending, but leave everything else blank. It may take you a few minutes going through the pages to track yourself down. There are a lot of us here!

Once you have found your spot, look at the person who has the next highest word count above you. You have to beat that number by one or two words to move up the list. Once you do, check the next one and write that amount.

Quite often there will be a lot of people very close in numbers, so it's going to be easy to move up several steps at once.

You can leave the page open and hit refresh after updating the word count in another page. That way you don't have to go hunt for your name again and can see how far up the list you've moved.

This is really a nice easy way to give yourself a goal without getting into the word count situation if that one doesn't work for you.

There are variations of this goal setting. One is to add in a location factor in your initial search so you can see how you're doing against others in your area. Moving upward in the list is fun and gives you a sense of accomplishment, as long as you don't let yourself become overwhelmed by the idea that there are others higher up the list from you. Someone is always going to write more than you do. I'm an extremely fast and steady writer, but I know a couple authors who outpace me every year.

The goal isn't to write the most. It's to write to your own challenges.

And have fun!

Almost Random Events

A story should rarely, of course, have truly random events thrown in. Some forms of literary fiction may do all right in that respect, but most fiction needs a control of chaos of events, not the creation of it.

However, sometimes a little something unexpected can liven up a spot where you are just not sure what to do next. This often happens at the end of one phase and before the next big step. Transitions are difficult. How to get from one spot to another? Sometimes it seems as though the story just comes to a dead stop. Holly Lisle says to throw in naked women with machine guns. Others say alligators. However, all you really need is an obstacle for your characters to overcome -- a challenge to get them moving again, and still interesting to the reader. Characters in motion tend to stay that way if they have something interesting to do.

But once again, remember that the obstacle cannot be truly random. It has to fit into your story in some way, and overcoming it has to bring your character closer to a goal -- or at least appear to in some way, even if it turns out to be a blind alley.

One of the ways to come up with random events is to have a not-so-random list ready to take you over the hurdles. Sometimes even when an author outlines, she can still hit a point in the story where things grind to a halt and there seems no way to move on to the next step. There is no current conflict, and a story is about conflict.

There are two answers at this point. The first is to jump the transition and get to the next scene:

Four days later they stood at the door to the lair.

But maybe you don't want them to get there that quickly. Maybe your story still needs a bit more conflict to develop the characters, or a few more adventures along the way to fill out a novel length story. Perhaps all you need is a bit of random thought to get you moving on the next idea.

So here is how to create some. And if you do the preliminary work before you even outline, you might find that this helps you fill in a few spots as you go along. The first trick is to recognize a spot where you are stuck. There are a couple different types of stuck:

1.Don't know what to do next.

2.Don't know how to get to the next step.

In the case of #1, this exercise might at least get your mind moving along the right path, even if you decide not to use what you get out of it. Knowing what won't work can often lead to deciding what can.

In the second case, you need to be a little more careful and decide if you have a transition that needs to be filled, or a spot that you need to skip to get to the action again. Filling in spots with needless clutter does not always help the story. Balance is the hard part.

On the other hand, you can always write the scene and take it out later if you feel it really doesn't work. It's as important to get the writer moving as it is the story, and if coming up with something that you discard during editing is the key to keeping going, then jump in. You never know what might help.

So here is the very simple way to do it:

First you make a list of six types of trouble that could affect your story, based on the basics of your plot and your characters. Maybe you will write vampire attack for an event in a dark fantasy. Or perhaps you will have a systems failure for a science fiction story or a magical attack for a disaster in a fantasy. The trick is to list out things that could happen in your story.

The list below might be used for a generic modern day adventure of some sort.

1. Transportation Trouble

a. Break down/Sabotage

b. Theft

c. Road/trail destruction

2. Weather

a. Rain

b. Drought

c. Flood

3. People

a. Neighbor

b. Relative

c. Authority

4. Accident

a. Main Character

b. Stranger

c. Friend/relative

5. Enemy

a. Hunting MC

b. Accidentally crossing paths

c. Minion of enemy

6. Disaster

a. Earthquake

b. Flood

c. Fire

Use two six sided dice, preferably of different colors, or throw one at a time. The first throw chooses the general type of disaster (1-6), the second chooses the specifics (a=1 or 2, b=3 or 4, c=5 or 6).

So, how does that help? Well, let's say the list above is to a story about a cop who has been on the case of a serial killer. The last point in the story says she has just gotten home from the latest murder scene. She has a new clue, but doesn't know how it fits. She will have another new clue at the next murder scene, but that won't be for a few days.

You need her to do something in the meantime. Something that appears random, but --

So you throw the dice: #4 is Accident, and b for Stranger.

So. . . .

The cop is home. She's pondering what the new clue in the case means. She's thinking about going to work in the morning and playing with the computers. Then she hears a crash outside her apartment -- and looks to see two cars smashed into each other. She calls it in, and then, cursing, goes down to the street.

Only the accident isn't an accident, exactly. One of the cars was driven by the serial killer who knows that the cop has gotten close to the truth. The killer needed to draw her out of the building and her padlocked apartment, with the security cams in the halls.

And now that she's on the street . . . well?

As you can see, this is not totally random. It's just a way to trick your writing brain into looking at a new scenario and fitting it into the story. Sometimes the idea just will not work. Roll the dice again.

Creating 'random' events will not work for every writer. But sometimes they can be just the key to move your story forward rather than to let it languish.

One last thought: If you are someone with role playing games around, you likely have a number of dice of various types. I used six-sided because they are the most likely to be on hand in most houses. However, I have twenty-sided, hundred-sided, etc. You can make out far more extensive 'random' lists than mine. The trick, though, is to make certain that the things listed remain true to your story's setting.

This is not a replacement for plotting. A novel with nothing but random encounters isn't a story -- it's just a list of events. However, those encounters might just help you move past that dead spot in the outline or the story writing. Sometimes a nudge is all we really need.

NEW: Zette's Take: How (and why) #write100 works

(This is adapted from my Joyously Prolific Blog)

For several years, I've been using 100 word leaps while I'm in chat on Forward Motion. I found these work best when I am enjoying the company in chat and still want to get some writing done. They also work very well when I'm doing other work, but have to wait for emails or such to come through.

Writing 100 words is not difficult once you get the knack of dropping into a story and focusing on the little section right there. Write a bit of dialogue and some nice description and you can have 100 words in no time.

From 'For several years' to 'in no time' equals 100 words. Are you going to say that's too much to do? Too difficult? It may take you little practice to get used to it, but there is nothing particularly hard. You can concentrate on a little tiny piece of the story.

You can use #write100 (that's a Twitter hashtag, if you aren't familiar with them) for writing story, notes, world building and anything else writing-related. And of course you don't have to be on Twitter to do this. I block out 100 word leaps throughout most of the day while I'm doing other work, and then settle in for longer writing stretches later in the night.

Twitter might, in fact, be part of the reason you aren't getting a lot of writing done. So use #write100 to help while you are there. Read the Tweets by your favorite people. Write a couple replies. Then go #write100 and come back to Twitter for some more fun and conversation. Do that ten times and you'll have 1000 words.

#write100 (or 100 word leaps when not on Twitter) can be very addictive for busy people. Those who have young children have found this way to work far less frustrating than setting up a big goal for the day and being constantly interrupted and unable to reach the count they want. The smaller goals are easier to accomplish and help generate the feeling that you are making progress because . . . well, you are.

This can work well for people doing NaNo who want to take part in on-line gatherings, but still want to get some writing done. Whether on the boards, in chat or on Twitter, stepping aside for a mere 100 words means you will not miss out on what's going on.

They can also make use of otherwise wasted time. The hardest part for many writers is to be able to write without a lot of preparation. However, if you can get into the knack of doing this, it will pay off in more written material to work with.

Concentrating on just 100 words can also help to break through a writing block. Don't look beyond the scene you are working on. See where you are and add 100 words to it. Description is good. So is dialogue and movement. They're just words. Write them down. You can change them later. The trick now is to get moving. Do 100 words. Then do another 100. Don't push yourself.

This won't work for everyone. This won't work every day. However, if you want to take advantage of a few extra minutes here and there, or work while you Tweet or Chat, the 100 word goals can help.

NEW: The Worst Case Scenario

(This is adapted from Vision: A Resource for Writers)

Your story has hit the 'dead zone' where you can't make it move forward. The scene where you've stopped has no follow up that fits, and everything you think of just doesn't work.

Step 1

The first thing to do is make certain what you're writing is needed for the story. Quite often, a story gets into a log jam because the author has followed some path that doesn't lead anywhere. Step back to the last interesting thing you wrote. Do you really need what follows? Can you compress it, explain it in a few lines or paragraphs, and move on? If the story has started to sound boring to you, chances are this is the reason.

This is one of the easy ways to fix a story, but it's often overlooked because writers have a problem with stepping back in a story. Try it and see what happens. But don't just delete the scene or scenes that you cut out. Save them in a secondary file somewhere, just in case you decide to use something there after all. It might be that whatever you're writing is just at the wrong point in the story, and somewhere later will be better. Save the material so you don't have to recreate it.

Step 2

Sometimes Step 1 won't work. You have written something interesting, and you have something interesting in the future, but right now you're not sure how to get from the one point to the next. A transition scene -- a scene where you gloss over the present and jump to the next part -- won't work because you need something to happen between the two events.

I often tell writers when they get blocked on a manuscript or outline, one of the best ways to get the story moving again is to imagine what would be the worst thing that could happen at that point. Too many people assume this has to be bombs going off or the like -- but it isn't. Sometimes the 'worst' is not something so obvious. Finding these seeds of conflict -- and that's what they are -- can require you to take a different look at your story than what you first intended. It can give you new paths to explore, and bring depth to your story when you thought you were blocked and couldn't go on.

Let's look at an example of how to work this little bit of writing magic.

Darilis Kie is a warrior from the world of Nevo, a place settled early by the humans, who had long since adapted -- some might even say mutated -- to their new world. There were three original settlements on the world, and they've had a going war for about a century (who can tell, it's not Earth time, after all) as they fight for the local resources.

Darilis is just hiking home from a battle where most of the army was lost, though they still held the line. He's worried about the future.

In the outline, you know that in the future Darilis and will convince his people to join forces with one of the other cities. However, right now, the problem is getting him from the battle to home, and the path looks pretty dull. You don't want to jump too far into the future, because you have some specific incidents that are going to happen between now and then -- but for the moment, what is Darilis going to do?

There are five factors you want to look at:

Interaction

Excitement

Emotion

The immediate past

The immediate future

So, with those five items, what could happen now in the story that would make this more interesting than watching Darilis slog through the muck fields, heading back home?

The first thing to consider is Interaction. He isn't walking alone. There are others around him, and all of them in state of worry over what will happen next, with most of their army lost. They've just left a battle, and emotions are running high. What could go wrong in such a group? How about fighting amongst themselves?

That doesn't work? Let's look at excitement. They've just left the battle field, where they barely won. What if the battle isn't quite over? What if the scouts come running to say that there's a large force still following them, and they have to race back to the walls of their own city?

And then there's emotion. Again, remember that they've just left a battle. They will have wounded with them. These are people Darilis trained and fought with for years. How will he handle his shield partner dying in the muck fields, not on the battle field like a warrior, and not at home with any honor? If you had the man die in battle, maybe you need to move that death to here, instead.

Much of what I've talked about here is related to the Immediate Past. There are more ways you could use that past to create a new incident. Maybe the scouts didn't see the forces coming. Maybe they just fell into attack, at a time when Darilis is thinking they're going to make it home.

And last there is the immediate future to consider. You can quick march him through the muck fields and get him home -- only to find that his wife has run off with another man. So what has he been fighting for, then?

There are variations you could write on any of these, and you can even combine a few to make an interesting set of scenes to cover that march home.

So, what about something more down to earth?

How about a little romance? Angela has been invited to the wedding of a woman from work. She doesn't really know the young woman very well, but she hasn't anything better to do and she'd like to make friends with her new co-workers. She's only lived in town a couple months, and so far she's only met one man she liked, and their first date went disastrously.

You and I know she's going to get together with the man, despite the disastrous first date. But you need her to do something else for a little while, so that the story isn't just a string of meetings between the two. Let's look at our five factors again:

Interaction

Excitement

Emotion

The immediate past

The Immediate future

What could you do with this?

Interaction \-- She's going to be at a wedding filled with strangers, and how she interacts with them can tell the reader a great deal about her personality. You can take this chance to even fill in some of the blanks about her background as she's asked questions. And maybe you can find her an 'aunt' character -- someone who adopts her to help her fit in. A character of this type can be a great help for elsewhere in the novel when you need more interaction with someone.

Excitement \-- What goes wrong at the wedding that she can help to set right? What are her strengths? This could be a great place to show an unexpected ability to take charge and make things work. It could be a good counterpoint to whatever happened at the disastrous first date.

Emotion \-- What if she meets someone at the wedding who looks like Mr. Wonderful? He chats her up. They're having a great time. He slips away, and by accident she finds he's doing the exact same thing with some other woman. There's a nice, short emotional roller coaster of a ride!

The Immediate Past \-- you could stretch this a bit. Does the wedding make her think of her own, failed marriage? Or do you want to just step back to the last work day, and weave in something from the office, carried over into the wedding? Is there some office rivalry that might get played up here?

The Immediate Future \-- Does she catch the bouquet? Too cliché, maybe. How about if the bouquet breaks apart, and she's one of several women who catches it? Or how about a problem on the way home, and the only phone number she has is for the guy from the date? A nearly dead cell phone, not a phone booth in sight, a rainstorm . . . oh, there are lots of things you can do with that one.

The point is that even if you have written an outline, you can still look for something new to add in when the story slows down or you begin to flounder in the possibilities. Focus on conflict and see if one of the five factors can help you see the next step.

Remember, a story is all about conflict. A story usually dies because the writer can't see the next form of conflict -- the next point of 'what can go wrong now' in the story. Looking at the story through the filter of the 'five factors' can help narrow the focus and get the characters moving again.

Chapter 5: Keep Writing to The End

You're going to hit a point during the month of November where it all seems overwhelming. We all hit that point, but many of us press through and finish. You can do it too!

And there are going to be times when some of you will face problems created by the bad attitudes of others, both in real life and on the boards. Being prepared for those moments can help lessen the shock.

Don't Stress

Here's the thing to remember, people:

These are only words. Good words, bad words, lots or a few -- it's only words. Those words, on their own, are not going to change your life one way or another. You might learn something about your writing from NaNo, but you'll still have to apply it to work outside of this crazed month. During NaNo . . . they are nothing but a bunch of words.

I suspect some people like stress because I've seen some who will stress over anything and everything. Maybe it's an adrenaline rush, or even a craving for sympathy from others. But if you don't fall under either of those two categories, and you are still finding yourself stressing over this month's activities, sit back and think it over. All you are doing is putting some words down. No one is going to judge you by those words. A month from now no one is going to be talking much about NaNo. A year from now no one will remember what you did, even here on the boards.

There are plenty of real life things to stress about like work, school and family problems -- but don't make NaNo into another one. This is where you can write, stress free and just for the fun of it.

Maybe a certain amount of stress -- the push to keep going -- is natural. But that's not the kind of stress I'm talking about. Each year I see posts on the NaNo boards by truly upset, frantic people because they aren't doing as well as they hoped. I've even had a couple emails from some of people. I keep trying to tell them, to remind them, that this is for fun. There are a lot of truly bad things in everyone's life, but this isn't one of them. You don't need to fret over it. Just get in there and do the challenge at the level that is a challenge for you.

Why Do You Bother?

Every year, usually just a few days after the November madness of NaNo really gets going, I inevitably get hit by a series of rude posts and emails demanding why I've joined NaNo since writing 50,000 words in a month is obviously not a problem for me.

They're right in one respect: 50k worth of writing is a bad month for me. I write every day and I have for years, so I'm quite good at putting words down on the screen. My mind is attuned to dropping into stories, and I rarely have trouble writing. It's my love and obsession.

When I started writing (back in the dark ages), however, I was lucky to get 25,000 words in a year. Everyone has to start somewhere, and I built my ability to write like this over the years. I did it because I love to write and I have too many stories to tell. I don't have time to waste.

Many of you are just starting out in writing. You're leaping into the deep end on your first try (or at least early in your writing) and doing what I would never have dreamed of attempting back when I started. I thought writing 500 words a day was really a stretch back then. It was difficult.

And some of you will do well, even on your first try. Sadly, you'll likely be faced with the same posts and notes about how you've ruined NaNo for others.

It's not true.

NaNoWriMo isn't only about 50,000 words: That's just a goal. The real NaNo is the madness, the people, the camaraderie -- and for me it is also about writing an entire novel in one month. 50,000 words is not a full novel in most cases. The publishers I am trying to sell to want submissions in the 90 to 120k range. So for me National NOVEL Writing Month has become just that -- a chance to write an entire new novel in one month -- or two novels, if I get the chance.

Some of you will find that you want to do the same thing. It doesn't matter if I write more words than some of the rest of you, or if you write more than some other people. As long as you are having fun -- and even if you don't make the 50k mark -- it doesn't matter what I am doing.

I enjoy doing a great rush of writing in the first days of NaNo. I try very hard to clear everything else from my usual work, and I apply myself only to the NaNo novel for a few days. It's not, as some people suppose, that I don't have a job, but rather that my work is flexible enough to allow me a few days of vacation for fun. And this is fun for me.

Some people are not able to adjust their work and family obligations, but I have the kind of jobs where if I work very hard in October, I can have a half dozen free days at the start of November. I also have a husband who, when I said I wasn't certain I would do NaNo this year, berated me for not doing the one thing that I have such fun at each year.

So, along with having already taught myself to write at just about any time or place, I am also lucky to be able to clear the time and have a husband who supports me -- and brings me Taco Bell food.

So why don't I just do this on my own at other times? Sometimes I do. But it's not nearly as much fun as sitting at 11:59pm on October 31st, waiting for that minute to click over and knowing there are thousands of others who are going to be leaping in at midnight as well -- and that the next day when I get up there will be thousands more. All of us writing novels at the same time -- it's an amazing, wonderful feeling to be part of such group insanity!

NaNo isn't just about the word count. In fact, in some ways the 50k number is the least important part of this process. NaNo is about being part of something writing-related that is world-wide. It's about the NaNo boards and the fun and insane stuff posted there. It's about asking questions, and challenging yourself to do something maybe you always wanted to do, but didn't have the push to try.

So here we all are. It's going to be another fun year. Just remember that we each have our own reasons for being here, and while mine may be slightly more insane than some of the rest of you, it doesn't make me any less a part of NaNo.

No matter how much you write for NaNo, someone will ask you the question: Why do you bother? People who don't write at all are going to shake their heads in disbelief, and sometimes derision, when you tell them you're going to take part in NaNo. When they ask why you're wasting your time, ask them this:

Do you watch hours of television? Do you spend Saturday afternoons at football games? Do you go to bars and drink? (Or whatever variation you can think of.) And if you do, what good does it do you?

Why do you bother?

Or is it that you do it because you enjoy some aspect of it -- the entertainment of the television, the excitement of the football, and camaraderie of joining friends at the bar? You aren't gaining anything in your life by doing any of the above. There are people who will tell you that you are just wasting your time, in fact.

Writing is no different. It doesn't have to have some great, important reason. It never has. Many people have written because they enjoyed it from the start. In fact, the book that is often cited as the first fiction novel, The Tales of Genji, was written by a bored Japanese noblewoman called Murasaki Shikibu (who is named after a character in the novel). Greater calling, was it?

Writing is about creativity in the same way that drawing, painting, creating music and any other art form is. Not everyone does it for money, not everyone does it well, and not everyone is going to make it a greater calling and dedicate their life to it. It's about self-expression. For some reason a number of people seem to think that writing has to be an elite, higher calling to which only the most dedicated, cut-your-wrists-and-write-in-your-own-blood few can join. There's a little poison part of our society that says if you are having fun, it's not work; if it's not work, it's not worth anything -- and the people who believe this are the ones who will tell you that NaNo is useless.

Because they don't get it . . . because it's not fun to them. But we're not all the same, and I would be bored to tears at a football game.

Everyone here has a story to write. Some will write better than others. A few will go on to be published, and some will just write for themselves and friends. Others will get a week or so into November, throw out all their pens and paper and decide that it's just not for them.

So what? Until you try, you won't know. And if joining in the joyous, silly NaNoWriMo romp for 50k words in 30 days sounds like fun to you . . . well, it's better than sitting at the bar for those 30 days, don't you think? There is no other event like NaNoWriMo for writers. For one month out of the year -- for a few hours a day during that month -- you take part in writing with thousands of others. The rest of the year you are, more or less, on your own again. If you have fun here, great. If it's not for you, move along. There are plenty of others hanging around -- you really won't be missed. It's just not for you.

The rest of us are having fun, creating stories, and not worried about whether the guy at the next computer is worthy to put his words down on the screen or not. Write just for the joy of it -- good or bad doesn't mean a thing. This is for you, and don't let anyone else tell you that you shouldn't bother.

It's Not Your Fault If They Quit

I've seen it happen every year in NaNo -- people who are upset by what other people are doing aren't going to be content about their own work, and they'll find a reason to stop and drop out -- and make sure someone who is doing well knows that it's his fault. So they post to the boards about how others ruined NaNo for them by posting high word counts and they don't see any reason to go on.

They want someone to blame, but it isn't anyone's fault -- not even their own.

They're not ready for NaNo, or it's just not the kind of thing they find fun. However, rather than admit the truth, it's easier for them to say -- and believe -- that it's someone else's fault for doing well, and making them look bad.

Do you think they face the rest of life that way? How far do you think someone would get with that kind of attitude: I'm not going to run anymore because someone, somewhere -- whom I don't even know -- ran a mile farther than me!

Of course that's not going to work.

So don't let someone tell you that they're quitting NaNo because you wrote more than them. Don't stop posting your word counts and leave the boards because someone was in a bad mood and decided that if they weren't having fun they'd ruin it for as many others as possible. This is a schoolyard mentality, and the only way it works here is if the people still having fun let it.

If you do decide to stop, at least admit to yourself that it's because you want to or even have to because of time constraints. But don't blame some other writer.

Prolific Writers and NaNo

Someone out there is going to write more words than you do. Get used to the idea and understand that it's not important to what you are doing. There are many prolific writers in the world, and some of them are even good writers. I am prolific. I write well, though I'm always working on improvement. One of the things I learned very early in my career was that a person learns to write better by writing -- not by talking about writing, or thinking about writing, or anything else that takes the place of putting words down on a page. I took this to heart, and I write as often as I can.

There are several prolific writers who take part in NaNo. Some people seem to think this is evil and shouldn't be allowed. They seem to think NaNo is about writing 50,000 words \-- not about writing in a way that pushes your limits, no matter what those limits might be.

In 2005 I wrote a little over 200,000 words for the November NaNo. It came in three books, one of which was good, a second that needs work, and a third that I did just for me. It was extremely hard work to write that many words. And it was a lot of fun.

There is nothing wrong with writing more than 50,000 words during NaNo. There's nothing wrong with writing less than 50,000 either. People have different levels that are their limits, and mine happens to be high.

NaNo is a wonderful opportunity to write an entire novel if you happen to have the ability to push yourself through the work.

Before you decide that someone who happens to have a lot of words obviously can't write because it has to be crap at that speed, read the author's excerpt or snippets if they have them on line. You might be surprised to find that some people can still write a decent story, even if they do write quickly. Not that it's required that the story be good. But don't make judgment calls without knowing what you're judging. And even if it is crap \-- who cares?

Writing speed and writing quality have nothing to do with each other. Get used to that fact.

So how do I write 10,000 words a day during the first few days of NaNo? (I've done this several years in a row!)

1.Good outline.

2.Four hours a night that I might otherwise have spent reading, watching some show, or writing something else.

3.A husband who not only encourages me to push myself sometimes, but bakes me cookies to cheer me up.

4.Writing 3,000 words an hour when I really get on a roll.

5.Pushing myself to write more with the challenge of NaNo than I normally would.

6.And truly loving writing, so it's something I want to do, even when it's not NaNo.

But even so, a week of 10k a day was all I could manage before real work kicked back in and I am dropping back to smaller word count days for a while.

However, if you're working as hard as you want to work, or pushing yourself as hard as you can (whichever you prefer to do -- both are fine!), then we're on the same level. The word count doesn't mean anything except that I can keep a story flowing in my head longer and I type faster.

If you aren't already, there may come a day when you find yourself writing more than you ever thought you could, and you'll suddenly find people accusing you of being prolific. It's a wonderful feeling to know that you may have time to tell all the stories in your head after all!

Here's a collection of a few funny lines for prolific writers to help you along.

The first one:

Another damned thick, square book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr. Gibbon? -- William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, upon receiving volume II of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1781)

The second one:

Georges Simenon produced 75 Maigret novels and 23 short stories, publishing on average 2.5 new works per year.

On "Front Row", the BBC Radio 4 arts programme this evening, the presenter told a story about Noel Coward having phoned Simenon.

Apparently Coward said "May I speak to M. Simenon?"

"I'm sorry; he's working on a Maigret novel."

"I can hold until he's finished."

And a last, personal favorite, for obvious reasons:

But you are a writing animal. I'd be afraid to get between you and a sheet of blank paper if you had a pen in your hand. -- Timothy Clarke, writing about me in my newsgroup 11/17/99

New: All the Way to The End

(This is adapted from Vision: A Resource for Writers)

Writing is often a difficult task from beginning to end. Lately, I have talked to a number of people who say they have trouble actually ending a story. This is not about people who write the opening and then leap to something else, or even those who get into the middle and then give up. In this case, it has been people who go all the way down to the last few chapters and then stop. In some cases, they get frustrated and give up on the book, negating all the hard work they've already put into their project.

The end of a story is both exhilarating and frightening, especially if you have put a significant amount of time into the work. You want it to flow right, to have an impact and to leave the readers wanting to read more of your material.

This workshop is going to go through a few of the problems that may be holding you back from writing The End on your manuscript.

Let's start with the first, most obvious problem.

Problem 1: I have no idea how to end the story.

Sometimes this happens because the author wandered around without a plan and never really defined the main conflict, so it's hard to decide how to finish the story. Other times, he worked out the story in great detail ahead of time, but (as often happens) the story changed somewhat in the actual writing, and now the ending doesn't fit the earlier work.

What to do:

The first thing to do is define the goal of the Main Character(s) in the story. This is related to what danger the characters had to overcome and what 'treasure' they hoped to win in the end. If you had done this in your original pre-work but found that it doesn't fit now, it's time to redefine the goal and the ending.

Almost all stories are quest stories in some way or another. A romance is a quest for love, mystery the quest for an answer and justice, science fiction might be a quest to find aliens, to answer a mystery -- any number of things -- and fantasy is, obviously, quite often a true quest story. In nearly every story, the main character has a quest for something. Once you define it, you are better able to see what the ending should hold. The end of the story is when the character finishes that quest, for good or bad. Not everyone wins, after all.

An ending usually comes in two pieces -- the climax of the story, where the final confrontation takes place and the denouement which is a little piece (usually only two or three pages) that show the aftermath. Some books do not have a denouement at all.

Step 1:

Define the goal of the main character. What is it the character wants to win? The man of her dreams? Solve the mystery of who killed the lighthouse keeper? To make contact with the aliens and hold back the invasion?

The goal cannot be too easy, of course. You know that if you have already written the book -- but it is something to consider when you are looking at how to end the story. The final conflict has to be over something important. And it cannot be an easy win.

Which takes us to --

Step 2:

Define how that goal will be met (win or lose) and what the final confrontation will include. This might be a fight with the villain in some books or the strike of a meteorite in another (though, obviously, the book will have been about knowing that meteorite is coming). In a romance, it might be a confrontation between a man and woman who love each other, but who have not been able to voice those feelings until now. In a mystery, the detective will have found the final clue and understand the answer to the mystery -- which might well put him or her in danger at that moment.

This may seem like a silly thing to have to work out, but if you can visualize the ending and what you want out of it, you can better channel the last of the book towards what you want. If you don't know what the goal is, there is no way you can see what the ending will be. If you don't see who is involved in the final conflict and how they are going to face one another, then you can't work out how to create that ending.

You might have a vague idea of the ending as you write, which is fine -- but if you get to the end and can't quite visualize or write it, sit down and work out the goal and how to create a powerful scene that meets the needs of that goal.

Step 3:

Writing the denouement takes a special touch. Quite often, the writer tries to go too far, telling the reader all the things that happened to the characters later -- that later being far outside the range of the story they told. Never write more than a couple pages after the final confrontation. Whatever you do, don't make it dull! Don't take the reader too far from that confrontation or they might finish the book with the feeling that it was dull.

The denouement might be a little bit immediately after the confrontation, or it might take place sometime later, showing the changes that came because of the confrontation. Either way, it must be short.

Problem 2: Life's work

There are authors who have put so many years into writing their novel that the idea of actually having it finished is like seeing a part of their life about to be torn away. They fear the separation that will happen once they write those final lines and leave them without the writing that has been a part of their thoughts for so long.

What to do:

The answer here is to start looking for a new story before you reach that ending line. You don't need to start the actual work on it, though. Write a few notes, maybe some background work like research and world building -- just enough to whet your appetite for something new.

Having a new project is exciting -- and far better than lingering over the ending of a story that is, really, mostly told. New stories mean new adventures and new challenges. This can be a good step for any writer who is coming to the end of a project, though it can be tricky. Take care that you don't get so caught up in the new project that you either abandon the old one or rush the ending. You do not have to leap from ending one project straight into writing the next one, but if you are already thinking about your future as a writer, it will be far easier to move on.

Of course, writing The End is not the real end of the work on a novel. This brings me to one more problem that some writers have when they realize they are close to the end of the story.

Problem 3: Fear of the next steps

There are some writers who avoid finishing a project -- or delay it as long as they can -- because they fear what they have to do after they finish the first draft. Words like editing, rewrites, synopsis, query and submission send them into cold chills. They'll do practically anything to avoid facing the idea that they may have to rework their hard fought prose. And worse is the entire idea that if they submit something, they might be rejected.

What to do:

First, and hardest, is that you may have to adjust how you look at the work. Editing is an important tool for authors. Editing and rewrites are gifts that mean an author wastes no effort, even if it doesn't turn out right the first time through. Most successful authors know this and welcome the chance to rework material to make it closer to what they imagined. Even if the author doesn't intend to submit the story, and want only to share with friends, making it the best it can be should always be a primary goal.

If an author looks at editing as something outside the realm of actual writing, it is going to cause a problem. Once editing is melded into the overall idea of writing, it becomes more of the flow, rather than something outside.

The fear of synopsis writing and of submitting work is a different problem. It will stop many authors from ever trying. They cannot accept that submission (and rejection) is a part of the writing world. They believe a rejection is a blow against them and their writing ability, when actually all it means is that story was not right for the market. Perfectly good stories sometimes do not find good markets because they are just a little outside the norm. Marketing people don't know how to deal with them, and that can be a killing blow.

What to do:

Accept that submission and rejection is part of the writing world -- which is not easy, of course, but necessary for anyone looking for publication. Once it happens, keep trying. That's the only real advice a person can give in this case. Keep trying with the story in hand, and keep writing new stories, because authors don't make it on just one manuscript.

Creating a synopsis is, much like writing a story, an acquired art. Publishers often realize that this is not an easy task for an author, and they will give a little leeway in the presentation. There are places (like Forward Motion) that can help you hone your synopsis and query writing skill, though.

One of the best ways to avoid the overwhelming fear of writing the query letter and synopsis is to work on them before you are done with the novel. You can always adjust the material to fit the finished project.

Always remember that you need not fear finishing a story. Like every other important moment in life, it is both the closing of one door and the opening of another. Once you are finished with a novel, you are free to move on to the next great novel adventure. Take advantage of it, and enjoy the journey . . . all the way to The End.

Chapter 6: The After NaNo Blues

NaNo will be over before you know it. Many of the people wills top frequenting the boards, and you'll start out December 1st uncertain of what you're going to do with your time.

Don't worry! There's still plenty to do!

Writing for Publication -- and the Dread of Editing

I'm a working author with a number of short story publications as well as a few novels in both print and electronic formats. I take my writing seriously, but that doesn't mean I make it unnecessarily difficult. Serious writing does not have to be hard. It doesn't even have to be perfect, especially in the first draft, which is what you're writing for NaNo. Once you accept the joy of first draft writing, you open up yourself to the chance of writing a number of marginal stories that may not be perfect -- but may well be the best stories to write. They just will take more work than others.

You do not have to be a serious writer to take part in NaNo. In fact, many hobby writers work just as hard as those who want to pursue publication, even though they may be working on something like fanfiction. NaNo is for all writers, and anyone can enjoy it, no matter what their later intentions may be.

Some NaNo participants will write a story they later hope to sell -- so that means being serious in what we choose to write. Usually they won't play around with the dares, or anything else that makes a random story. Those of us who go this type of novel will miss out on the silly fun stuff, but we have our own paths, and we'll enjoy them in our own way.

This is going to be a first draft -- and a fast first draft at that -- and we'll make allowances for grammar, spelling, and all the rest of the nitpicks that can fixed later. The trick is to tell the story, and not worry about anything else. Some people naturally write cleaner first drafts than others, but none of us are going to believe it will be perfect the first try.

Here's a bit of advice from me as a publisher rather than a writer: Don't ever believe you can write a perfect first draft, no matter how much editing you do as you go along. I've had too many of those types of novels submitted to me (and the cover letter even says so!), and I've yet to find one that doesn't have some major flaw in either the grammar or -- more often \-- the story. Never believe you can get it right in one try and just send your piece off to the publisher.

Many new writers hate the idea of editing and they'll do just about anything to avoid it, including paying someone else to edit the book. Most book doctors are scams, and you should avoid them and learn to edit your own work. It's the only way that you'll get to be a better writer. Join critique groups and have others point out the problems. However, be careful even of those critiques! Sometimes the people will tell you to change things because that's the way they would have written the story, not because it makes the story you have written better.

Editing is part of being a published author, just like submissions and rejections. You're not only going to have to go over your work and fix it after the first draft, but you'll have to do it again after your publisher goes over it, and yet again after a copyeditor has the final check. You don't want to make any obvious mistakes in the first draft, but if you linger over every sentence and word choice, you probably aren't going to get finished -- during NaNo or not.

Editing is also your chance to make the story something closer to what you imagined when it was in your head. You can't make it match perfectly, but you can get closer. Learn to enjoy editing. It can really be quite fun!

If you managed to write an entire novel in November (based on the expected word counts for your genre and market), then let the book sit for December. Have fun with other things. Write a short story or two, write holiday cards, and get some distance for the story. It's far easier to edit a book properly after you've put some distance between the creation and the editing. It will help you to see the story more clearly as you read it, and to spot the things that aren't there though they were part of the vision in your head.

If you haven't finished the novel, don't slow down now. Let the flow of NaNo carry over until you are done. You don't have to be quite as crazed as you were during the month of November, but don't entirely lose your momentum. Don't worry. You have plenty of time, both to write and to edit.

"It's a dull word," she said.

Said is an excellent word. In proper usage, it's almost invisible to readers, and yet performs the task assigned to it by identifying speakers. Other words leap out and draw attention to themselves, defeating the purpose of keeping the reader in the story and conveying information without the reader noticing.

Almost all publishers dislike the use of words other than said when said will do the job. People don't always shout, whisper, exclaim -- and they rarely enunciate. Most often they just, plain speak. Be careful of exchanging words for said because they do not mean the same things.

Quite often, in fact, you don't even need the 'said' tag.

"I need to get to the store," Tom said, pulling out his keys.

"I need to get to the store." Tom pulled out his keys.

Tom pulled out his keys. "I need to get to the store," he said.

Tom pulled out his keys. "I need to get to the store."

Anyone one of those four lines is fine. All of them identify the person speaking. Tom doesn't have to shout or whisper that he's going to the store, and he most certainly isn't going to do the impossible like smile or laugh words. You cannot really speak and sigh or laugh at the same time. Beware of exchanging a dialogue tag for an action tag.

If you are interested in publication, be certain you're really saying what you mean and not randomly changing words like the dialogue tags. It's nice to use a thesaurus now and then, but don't try to replace every common word with something fancy when it doesn't work as well.

In fact, don't try to pepper your manuscripts with words to take the place of said when said will do the work. Forget what you may have been taught in school -- teachers are rarely writers and publishers, and they're work is to teach you to expand your vocabulary, so they'll insist on words other than said.

The publishing world is a different place than school. Sometimes they don't mesh up as well as some might expect!

Hints from a Small Time Publisher

This is a little section for people who go on to pursue publication. In one of my other lives I am in charge of a fantasy imprint for an ebook/small press company. This gives me a little insight into the other side of the process.

First, let's discuss story length. 50,000 words is really too short for almost any kind of novel except some young adult novels and an occasional mainstream manuscript. For a paperback book in print the average is about 250-350 words per page (sometimes more for very small print). Dialogue takes up more space than prose, so that gives you a lot of pages with fewer words. Say about 300 words per page overall.

So a 50,000 word book will run about 165 to 170 pages, more or less. Looking at it from the word count side, most publishers want anywhere from 70,000 to 120,000 words. Study the guidelines to various publishers in the genre you're writing. This will not only help you figure out the length of work they want, but any other things that may help you better refine your work.

Always study the guidelines for a publisher or agent to whom you intend to send the manuscript.

Almost all of them are on line these days, and it's best to do a last minute check before you send something off. Do your best to look professional. The person who ignores the guidelines is sending a bad impression to the publisher by saying that they're either too stupid to read guidelines or (worse) they think guidelines don't apply to them. That's not the kind of person a publisher wants to have to work with for the next few years.

Sometimes the choice of accepting a book comes down to just whether or not I like it. I've turned down some very well-written stories because I just didn't like the tale. It happens. In those cases I tell the person that they're going to have better luck at another publisher.

I turned down a novel the other day because of bad writing. And what made it so bad?

Was.

There were other problems as well, but was rose out of the pack and hissed its hydra heads at me so often I couldn't help but notice it. The novel was 64,462 words long. It had 1984 uses of was \-- which means was turned out to be about one in every 33 words in the novel. That's close to 8 times on every page.

So I wrote a rejection note, pointed out the problem and even showed how to change some of the 'was' statements into something more active.

What did I get back?

A scathing note about how I obviously don't know anything about language. Was is a perfectly fine word, and the author had even read a writer's journal about how worrying about 'was' is stupid and using it won't stop you from getting published. Also, there are too many rules, and it's ruining the world of literature.

Fine. I suggested he submit the book to this author instead.

This is not the first time I've had a note back like this, either. So, tip number one -- never write a nasty note back to the publisher who turns down your book, for whatever reason. We share them sometimes with other publishers. We have an entire mailing list of small press and ebook publishers, and when people cause us problems or look like they're going to be trouble, we share the names.

Second tip -- don't be stupid about your writing. Be willing to learn. That doesn't mean you have to accept everything that a publisher tells to you, but it doesn't hurt to at least look over the suggestion before you go manic.

Was is a fine word when used in small doses where it's the only good choice. Every 33 words is not a good sign. If someone tells you not to worry about things like this, he's lying to you. Maybe he's even doing it on purpose. Sometimes I think there are pernicious people out there working very hard to make certain others don't get published. Or some of them are just stupid, and maybe lucky to have gotten published at all.

Worry about everything -- but especially worry about the easy things like 'was.' Weed it out as often as you can. Don't worry if some other author uses it more. I've seen published works where I would have edited out a few more uses as well. But you want to write better than those people, right?

Oh, and did I mention that there were another 505 uses of were in the novel? I didn't check beyond those two words.

The Question of Publication

There are choices in publication and they range from traditional publishing companies to small press and electronic publications, and down to self-published work. If you are interested in a writing career, do not leap into self-publication without a lot of study first!

People can always point to one or two exceptions to anything, and that includes success in self-publishing. If you want a realistic look, however, go and count the number of books self-published just on LuLu.com and then start looking around at some of the other self-publish sites.

Then think of your own book there, in that mass, trying to get attention.

Bookstores, with very few exceptions, will not carry self-published books and most reviewers will not look at them. The number of success cases with self-publishing is so small that it shouldn't be held up as a guide to others. They are flukes, and far from the norm.

But that doesn't mean that traditional publishing is the answer for you. It's wise, however, to look at all the options before you leap into something that doesn't suit you. Self-publishing is easy, and many writers take that choice because of the ease. It may be that you're looking for something that self-publishing can't give you. Know what you want, and choose wisely based on your needs.

Here is a brief list of things to consider if you are looking at the idea of publication, and what different types of publication can offer:

Traditional Big Publishing Companies

Obviously this is where you want to go to see your books on the shelves at the big stores and to have name-recognition with readers (though that is changing!). They also offer advances! However, many of the places now require that you have an agent before you can submit to them, which makes the process even slower.

Small Press Publishing Companies

These companies put out fewer books and smaller print runs than the big companies, but many of them are well-respected in their genres and can win you a solid readership. There is rarely an advance, though, and while they don't often use agents, the number of books they buy each year is smaller, so it's difficult to win a place here.

Electronic Publishing

Ebook publishing is a growing field, but still not widely accepted as a good publishing format. However, it is a great place for odd books that don't seem to fit into the line-ups of traditional or small press companies. Also, the author gets a larger percentage of the book's sale price than you would with print. If you can create a market for your books and continue to draw readers, you can do quite well here -- but it's a hard path.

Self-Publishing (Indie Authors)

Things have changed drastically in this field. Five years ago (when I first wrote this book) I said to stay clear of Self-Publishing. Things changed very quickly. Now, Indie Publishing (self-publishing) is a common and growing industry. It's hard work, and requires incredible dedication to both excellent writing and to decisive marketing. This isn't an easy choice, but it is a viable one. Don't just leap in, however. Study what it takes, where and how to publish, and what to expect. Never pay to have your book published!

My personal suggestion to anyone looking at the idea of publication is to decide very carefully what it is you are really looking for from your books. If you want to see them on the shelves of the book stores, you still need to pursue traditional publication. However, Indie publication is not shunned the way it had been a few years ago and there are many authors making a reasonable amount of sales from it.

Remember: You can always self-publish, but once you have, you have thrown away your chance at the other types of publications.

Submitting to publishers is a long, slow process and often very annoying. Once you send something out, start working on the next novel. Don't linger over the one, because you are never going to make it as a writer with only one book, anyway.

Keep writing -- and enjoy it!

New: Indie Publishing: Ready or Not

(Adapted from Vision: A Resource for Writers)

The people who are serious about Indie Publication have taken a step away from the term self-published because, quite honestly, there are still far too many people who leap into the fray without a clue about what they're doing. They write a book, throw together a cover, and toss it out into the world without even a good edit by themselves, let alone by someone else. I see it happen all the time.

Stop. Don't do it. You're not ready.

There are a number of things to think about before you let your book out, either in Indie Publication or in submission to a traditional publication. The truth you have to understand is that the actual writing is the easy part. Even if it took you years to write and you edited every line as you wrote, you still need to put the story aside for a while and then read it again when it's not fresh in your mind. Find a beta reader, too, if possible

Okay, let's say you've worked on your novel for most of your adult life. You've tended it, written and re-written, and worked until you finally think it's ready for publication. What should you do?

If you have always imagined your book on the shelf at the bookstores, don't throw your dream away by shoving it off into self-publication because you think that's going to be easier. Easier is not a good answer -- and besides, it's not entirely true. Whatever you do, don't leap in because you can't bear the thought of someone editing your work, or -- worse still -- the mere thought of someone rejecting your book leaves you in tears.

What are you going to do when people write to tell you how you wasted their time and your book should never have seen publication? And they will, because there are people out there who delight in telling others how they failed. It makes them feel important when the truth is they were never the intended audience anyway. They won't consider such a possibility you did not write for them because their egos never admit to anyone being more important. They are certain their purpose in life is to make certain you know you are not worthy.

And what will you do then? How will you handle it if the idea of an editor saying 'no, not for us' was the worst thing you could imagine happening? If those kinds of emails are going to bother you, then you are beyond a doubt, not ready for Indie Publishing -- or any other publishing, for that matter.

What will you do when these words don't arrive in a private email, like many do -- but rather as a review on a page where you know hundreds of people are going to read them? What are you going to do when the review points out some obvious problems you never saw? This is bound to happen when you self-publish, especially if you never take the time to have the work critiqued by an outside person. Even then, there are going to be problems. No book is perfect.

Years ago, I belonged to the online group Critters. One woman wrote pretty good stories and they needed only minor editing and a little tweak here and there. However, every time she got a critique saying anything like 'your characters aren't realistic' or 'you should have done this instead of that' in the story, she would rewrite to cover the negative critiques. Even the stupid ones. In doing so, she often changed things which had worked wonderfully for the rest of the readers.

I finally asked why she ignored the good critiques and ruined her stories for the bad ones? Did she really expect to write something which would appeal to everyone? The truth was she couldn't handle someone saying anything bad about her writing. People telling her things worked and they liked the story meant nothing to her because every negative word outweighed anything else.

Make certain this is not an attitude you have inadvertently acquired because if you go into independent publishing with it, you aren't going to be able to deal with what people say about your work. Are you going to expect nothing but accolades the moment your book hits the virtual shelves? It's not going to happen. Prepare yourself for reality. No one has ever written a book that appeals to everyone, even within their own genre. Don't expect to be the first -- and don't think you're going to pull the book and fix it every time someone says something bad.

But let's step back a bit. You've worked on the one book for years. Are you looking at Indie Publishing because it's easy? It isn't. Get over this idea, too. Sure, you can throw the book out there with little or no thought -- but no, it is not going to sell. You better start studying marketing right now (all authors, Indie or not) and begin getting some solid ideas of what you're going to do when your book is out there. No one is going to see it until you get enough people looking in the right direction.

And let's talk about this being your first and only novel. If it has taken you years to write, why are you rushing into publication? Take a little time to try agents and publishers. It's not going to hurt you or your story. You've already taken a long time to get this story right. Think about where it goes from here. Indie Publishing is always a possibility, but once you make the step, the book is not going to sell to a traditional publisher.

Yes, there are a handful of authors who have sold an Indie Published work to a traditional publisher, but they are very few. Do you really think you're going to be one of those people who are 'discovered' through self-publishing? Maybe you will be -- but you can't count on it. All you can plan for is working hard to get each and every sale you make.

Nothing in the world of Indie Publishing happens unless you make it happen. You will have to cajole friends and family not only into buying your book, but telling others to buy it as well. You have to hunt out review sites. You have to keep active on Twitter, Blogs and websites. You have to consider buying ads and finding every other little way to market your work that you can. And all the time you spend marketing means you are not going to be writing.

And one more truth: You are not going to make it as an author, traditional publication or independent publication, on just one book.

So, there are you are trying to push the sale of the book that took you years to write and you can't even think about writing something else because it's your BABY out there, and you have to watch over it, right?

You are really, truly not ready for the world of Indie Publishing.

So, many of you are looking this over and thinking it's way over the top. You'd never have these problems. Good for you! But they are problems I've seen so many times that they are worth mentioning to those of you who are still standing on the edge. You must think your way through every step of this before you leap in. Taking the step to Indie Publishing before you consider all of these aspects is like stepping out into the road without considering where you're going or what's out there about to run you over.

Okay, so there are some of the bad things? Still ready to go on?

The people who are best suited to Indie Publishing are the ones who already have more than one novel written. They do not need to have more than one ready to publish right away, but they should have at least a second (and more, if possible) in the queue and ready to publish within a reasonable amount of time, say within a few months. These books should be vetted by an outside source -- not your best friend, your brother or your sister. I don't care how good you think they are at the work, they will still have a bias to either be too nice or too harsh. Besides, you should never go with just one person. Let them be the first round, but move on to another one as well. Don't rush. There is no reason to hurry.

People have to be prepared to spend some time on marketing, which includes finding the locations to market in. Set up a schedule and devote X amount of time a week to the work. Don't let it overwhelm you, but do approach it like a professional. Make lists. Do Google searches. Hunt out every little nook and cranny where you can get reviews and notices. Set aside some funds to buy marketing spots or giveaway items. Use the money wisely.

Be prepared to be patient.

People who are leaping into Indie Publishing because it's easy and it's quick are the ones who are going to have the worst problem with this part. They're likely lacking patience to begin with, and when things don't move quickly, they'll get disgusted and give up.

Be prepared to experiment.

This is the last thing a serious writer entering into Indie Publishing has to consider. You can't follow the tried and true path -- if that's what you want, you need to stick with traditional publishing. This is a new world. It's going to take a lot of experimentation for the next few years before anything is really settled, if it ever is.

And also, always remember that if you go to Indie Publishing for one book, it doesn't mean you have to do it for the next. Don't cut yourself off from any path. The more outlets you can find for your work, the more notice all your work will get. In the end, reaching readers is all that really matters.

Chapter 7: Just for Fun

Here are two end pieces added just for fun. Enjoy!

The Angst of Hero Naming

The tale of a hero beyond compare,

With flashing eyes and perfect hair.

Flawless words flowed from my head --

Until I reached that first damned said.

Now the true strife begins at last

As floundering in a sea of names, I'm cast.

Rosebud and Cloud are far too cute,

And he's no Bob, beyond dispute

Corwin? Hilton? Lane or Bard?

Naming a kid couldn't be half this hard!

A couple dozen names go by,

(My hero gives me the evil eye)

I search the shelves for baby name books

(Kept hidden to avoid occasional odd looks)

With frantic haste I start paging through,

No, no --Androcles will never do!

No Mac or Mark or Michael here

Such names are too plain, I fear.

Nicholas has a nice sound it's true --

But I've used it in a book or two.

So to stranger, archaic lists I turn

No he's absolutely not a Vern!

Trying to keep plot lines in my head -

Would what's-her-name take a Loki to bed?

Hours of writing time frittered away

That can't be the dawn of a new day!

I sit and curse that first damned said \--

Oh the hell with it! I'll call him Fred.

Author versus Character

Outline and Notes
Chapter Five

Author:

The night passes quietly. Character sleeps soundly and wakes up at first light. Rooster crows. Climbs down from the hay loft and stretches, pleased to see that the fog of the night before has cleared and he can now see the town -- a couple dozen buildings, including a travelers' inn. He'd found refuge in their stable. Grateful for the chance to sleep so comfortably --

Character:

You know, I've been quiet and gone along with you for the previous four chapters without a complaint, but this is too much. I've spent six days sleeping on leaves, huddled by a tree in the rain, and half-drowned and miserable. And now you think sleeping in a hay pile is comfortable? I tossed and turned all night. Hay isn't down feathers, you know -- its dried _twigs_. They _stab_. And what the hell is this? _(Holds up something between his fingers)_

Author:

_(Peers closely)_ Looks like a needle to me.

Character:

Right. What perverted person would put a needle in a pile of hay? It jabbed me.

Author:

Did it? _(Looks hopefully at the needle and then glances at research books)_ Is it rusty? Tetanus . . . severe muscle spasms, also called lockjaw . . . this might be interesting! I hadn't thought of that sort of illness, before they had shots and everything. Let me see it.

Character:

See what?

Author:

The needle!

Character:

_(Brushing hands)_ What needle? There's no needle here . . . and no tetanus.

Author:

_(Reluctantly puts aside the books)_ Oh well. Okay, where were we?

Character:

New day, no fog, etc.

Author:

Right. Okay. Character makes his way through the stable yard and past the open door to the inns kitchen --

Character:

His stomach growling --

Author:

If you're hungry, eat the journey bread in your pocket.

Character:

Are you joking? That stuffs so hard I could chip rocks with it. A caveman with this journey bread could have ruled the world.

Author:

Character walks past the door and out into the street where he sees something that makes him _shut up_ and forget everything else. There, on the hilltop overlooking the village is the black stone castle that has haunted his dreams for the last five years! He anxiously turns that way, heading toward the distant castle gate --

Character:

Are you crazy? Or do you just think I'm stupid?

Author:

What's the problem now? That's the castle -- your goal in sight --

Character:

Yeah, _the castle_. Those dreams would be the ones where I wake up in a cold sweat, screaming because the castle sucked me in and buried me alive. And now you expect me to blithely head straight up and walk in? To hell with that. I'm heading the opposite way on this road, just as fast as I can --

Author:

Back towards the toll gate and the guards you so carefully avoided last night? Oh, good plan.

Character:

Damn. I forgot. What's to the right?

Author:

A fetid swamp still curling with the last tendrils of the fog from the night before. It must once have been part of a lake and port. Character can even make out the masts of ships buried in the muck, vines twining up across tattered sails, as well as the bleached bones of men, trapped within those ropes of green, as though the plants had suddenly reached out and grabbed them \--

Character:

I get the idea. Thank you so much for another new level of nightmare to add to my others. What's to the left?

Author:

To the east -- left for Characters not paying attention to where they are --can be seen a few more buildings, some of obviously abandoned. Beyond that are rocky fields and small plots of dying plants. Less than a mile away is the shadow of the forest --

Character:

Excellent! Oh, and may I say that five chapters is a bit too long to be waiting for a name?

Author:

I want it to be the right name, the perfect name. I'll know it when I see it.

Character:

Fine. Whatever. Character casts one worried look at the brooding black castle and sets off on foot past the falling buildings and into the fields --

Author:

Almost immediately, Character hears the baying of dogs and looks worriedly toward the castle. He can see the pack that is pacing beneath the walls, possibly waiting for the morning meal. But now they've seen him moving in the empty land below \--

Character:

Shit.

Author:

Don't worry. They're only poodles.

Character:

A pack of poodles? Toy? Miniature? Standard?

Author:

A mix. And actually they're only half poodle.

Character:

_(Eyeing them cautiously and trying to guess if he can reach the forest and get away from them)_ Half poodle and half what?

Author:

Wolf.

Character:

_(Stops and shakes head)_ Wolves. You crossed poodles and wolves. And the reason was . . . ?

Author:

Wild killers, less fur to clean up. They have spotted Character, and the woodle pooves bay -- or maybe yip -- again.

Character:

Woodle pooves. I'm getting an image of the dogs here . . . oh man, that's just _wrong_.

Author:

Are you trying for the trees or not?

Character:

Can I make it?

Author:

Probably. They're kind of inbred woodle pooves. Not entirely bright.

Character:

Okay then. Better than the castle.

Author:

Character jogs along the broken path between the rocks as the woodle pooves gather at the top of the hill. He's more than halfway to the cursed forest before they --

Character:

_(Stops)_ Cursed forest? You didn't say anything about the forest being cursed!

Author:

Let's see: Deadly swamp, dying fields, big brooding black castle . . . of course the forest is cursed. Duh.

Character:

Good point. My mistake. What kind of curse?

Author:

_(Flips through notes)_ A century ago a major battle was fought at the village. A mage-king, seeing all about to be lost, cast a desperate spell to save his throne. He brought not only the plants of the lake but also the trees of the forest into the battle. They won, but unfortunately, the trees developed a taste for blood. They won't kill you . . . well, not right away. You can escape in a couple years. You won't be sane, of course, but I think you might be an interesting character if you were insane.

Character:

I don't need a cursed forest of vampire trees to drive me crazy; I've got you. Character, sensing something evil from the forest -- or maybe not wanting to risk his luck with the woodle pooves -- turns around and hurries back to the village.

Author:

Character soon reaches the street and turns toward the castle.

Character:

No.

Author:

What do you mean no? You've found out there is no other direction you can go. Now start up for the castle --

Character:

I am not going to that frigging castle!

Author:

Do you know how long I've been setting up this moment? That castle has been in your dreams --

Character:

Nightmares

Author:

\-- For five years! You've been pursuing it since you came of age!

Character:

I had dreams about Daisy from the _Bread and Barrel_ for ten years! Why couldn't I pursue her instead?

Author:

This isn't that kind of book!

Character:

Like I haven't noticed!

Author:

Character, reluctantly realizing he has no choice, and that this is his destiny, heads for --

Character:

The privy. It has to be around here by the inn somewhere.

Author:

You're just putting off the inevitable.

Character:

Where is the privy? Or we're going to have something else inevitable happen.

Author:

The privy is at the opposite side of the stable. Character can see the swarms of flies and flinches at the stench as he nears --

Character:

Bullshit.

Author:

I don't think bulls have anything to do with this problem.

Character:

Look, this is stupid. The world has magic. The first thing they're going to use it for is to fix the stink from the outhouse! Character heads for the privy, noting the faint scent of lilacs and roses. Butterflies dance in the air.

Author:

As he slips in and closes the door --

Character:

A little privacy, if you don't mind. Out.

Author:

. . .

Author:

. . .

Author:

. . .

Character:

Character steps back out, looking towards the door to the kitchen again.

Author:

Too bad you don't have any money.

Character:

Character digs into jacket and pulls out a shiny silver coin.

Author:

You've been holding out on me.

Character:

I got it off one of those five bandits who tried to kill me back in Chapter Three. You know, right before the bridge -- the one that had borne the weight of a thousand peasants and their wagons -- gave way under me for no apparent reason and I nearly drowned.

Author:

Yeah, but you lost the bandits who were trying to kill you.

Character:

I'm going for breakfast. Then I'm going to lay low for the rest of the day and escape the way I got in. Don't even bother to say anything. _Character goes in and orders food and has a quiet leisurely meal, lingering over bread and honey. The local serving wench isn't bad looking, either. She reminds him of Daisy, the girl he left behind. They might have a pleasant day together. He finishes up the food, pushing away the plate \--_

Author:

And the guards, having been relieved of their posts at the gate, come in for their own breakfast. They immediately spot Character and know he's a stranger who didn't come through their gate. Worse, though, is that they recognize him.

Character:

What? I've never been here! They can't --

Author:

The guards fall on him and he's soon beaten to his knees --

Character:

Beaten? But -- but --

Loter, Captain of the Guard:

Another one! You look like your great-grandfather, boy! We're not going to have any more mad mage-kings here!

Selis, another guard:

I didn't think that dream crap would work, but hell, what is this? Fifteen of them now? Up boy.

Author:

Selis grabs Character by the arm and hoists him to his feet, taking him outside. Captain Loter loops a rope around his arms and ties it to his saddle --

Character:

But --

Author:

Loter kicks his horse into a trot, heading toward the castle gate, and only barely slows when Character stumbles and falls, dragged along the rough road. Bloody, bruised and panting, Character gets back to his feet and tries to jog along behind the horse.

Character:

Look, it doesn't have to be like this --

Author:

I gave you the chance to come here quietly. You really shouldn't argue with your author. It just gives me time to come up with something more interesting to do.

Character:

Maybe the woodle pooves wouldn't be so bad --

Author:

The group slips through the gate and into the shadows of a courtyard where it seems the sun never reaches. People scurry for the shadows and hide at their approach. Somewhere a man bellows in rage. Loter doesn't pause, as though the place unsettles him. The three head straight into a building filled with cold, damp walls, mold in corners and the sounds of rats running. Selis pushes open a door and they head down the first set of stairs, then another . . . down and down and farther until it seems . . .

Character:

_The castle has swallowed him alive._ Yeah, I get it.

Author:

Finally they reach a hall lit by a flickering torch, obviously magically fueled because the cobwebs are so thick no one could have been down this way in a long time. Selis grimaces and uses his sword to cut through them. Decay and death scent the air, and the only sound is hysterical crying from behind a door they pass. "Can I go home now? Please, can I go home?" Loter stops at another door and nods. Selis pries up the rusted metal bar.

Character:

I hope he gets tetanus.

Author:

The door comes open with a loud wail of unused hinges and Loter shoves Character inside and down to his knees again.

Loter:

What's your name, boy? We need it for the records.

Character looks plaintively at author.

Author grabs name books.

Guards, anxious to get out of this hellhole, look at author.

Author:

Yes, fine. Right. Okay! I found the name: Varyn!

Character:

_(Looks back at the guard)_ My name is Varyn.

Loter:

We'll write it in the book, Barren --

Character:

No, no. Varyn, with a V and a --

Author:

The guards slam the door closed. Varyn can hear the bar dropping into place, the guards hurrying away, and the hysterical whisper of someone else: "Can I go home now? Can I go home now?" Varyn leans back, ignoring blood, scrapes and bruises. He knows -- having seen the cobwebs -- that no one is going to come back for a long, long time.

Varyn:

_(Bangs head on door a couple times)_ This is great. Wonderful. Do you have any clue how you're going to get me back out of here?

Author:

Well . . . Do you still have that journey bread?

(End Chapter 5 Notes)

The End

###

About the Author:

Lazette Gifford has publications in both electronic and print format, including material from Double Dragon Publishing, Yard Dog Press, Eggplant Literary Productions, Ideomancer, Fables, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and more. She owns Forward Motion for Writers and is the editor/publisher for Vision: A Resource for Writers.

Connect with Zette:

Web Site: http://lazette.net

Twitter: http://twitter.com/lazetteg

Joyously Prolific Blog: http://zette.blogspot.com/

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/LazetteG

