Hey guys! So I decided to do a blog post series on NaNoWriMo preparation, and because I'm way too excited for the holiday seasons, I am naming each post something akin to the 12 days of Christmas, though it might be 31 days, or it might be 2 (let's hope not).
So First, why participate in NaNoWriMo? Well, there are plenty of good reasons, and you can find them all over the web, or even come up with some of your own, but here are a few of mine.
1. A strong sense of accomplishment at the end. Honestly, it feels so good to be a winner. If you're still in High School or younger, you could do the Young Writer's Program (YWP) and set your word count for what you think you can do, or you could go for the 50k, or even shoot for more, if you're up for it.
2. It kills your inner editor. Why am I excited about this one? Because I believe in small goals. Let me explain. I like to have checkpoints periodically spread out through everything, because if I don't, then I look at the entire project as a whole and get discouraged as I take "forever" to complete it. Using a book as an example, The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas. This is a long book. Not as long as some, but still long. It can take a very long time to read it, and without chapters, I would never have finished it. Reading a chapter a day is doable (Though with this particular book, I finished it in three days because I couldn't put it down), but what happens if there aren't any chapters to finish? You get discouraged because it seems like you aren't getting anywhere fast. (This is mostly hypothetical for example's sake). With an inner editor, you go back and fix your typos, correct clunky sentences, and rewrite character's lines over and over again till they sound like the character. You sit, blocked at a certain point in the book because you can't climb the hill nicely. Without an inner editor, you get a first draft like my current one (which shall never see the light of day, by the way). The amount of typos, out of character sentences, and clunky sentences is embarrassing. (This is probably because last NaNoWriMo I killed my inner editor stone dead. When editing time comes around I'm gonna need a major miracle). So since my inner editor is dead, I can finish the first draft sooner. Checkpoint no. 1. Then I edit the first draft of all typos. Checkpoint no. 2. You get the idea? Cutting the steak into small pieces is easier to eat than stuffing the entire thing in your mouth.
3. It's fun. Okay, this can be opinion, but as a writer, writing, is fun. Writing in a semi-social, extremely encouraging "you can do anything and we're all here to help you" is amazing. I honestly didn't know that writers were all super supportive of each other until I joined NaNo. People make it fun by making sure that you know that they believe in you. Even if you procrastinate until two days are all you've got left, I've heard of someone who wrote the entire 50k in those two days. (Also, Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 450 [about 46k] in nine days) Some great authors have written entire novels in 6-8 weeks, (Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is one of them) and the word count is way above 50k. So you can do it! 1,667 words a day, isn't actually that much, all things considered. You may be thinking "But I'm not like that", but how do you know, if you've never tried? In the words of my favorite band, Superchick, "Failures are flyers who touch down, only they know what it's like to leave the ground." and the song (Rockstar) goes on to say that it's okay to fail sometimes, as long as you try, and keep trying. Honestly, it's fun to fail for the first time in NaNo because you see that this gigantic community of writers, don't judge you. They understand the challenge, and that everyone is different.
4. It's a reason to drink excessive amounts of coffee, sit around in sweats and a t-shirt all day, and write. Okay, I don't need a reason to do this, because I do college online and sit around, drinking coffee all day, in sweats and a t-shirt, but what I like about NaNo is it's a celebrated action. I'm just kidding... sort of. When you do this in your daily life, you get dressed up to go to social events. When you do this in NaNo, social events are write ins on Youtube, and they expect you to be nice and comfortable for it all. Anyways, it relates back to No. 3. They (Wrimos) understand. And that is very amazing.
So now that I've rambled for a bit about why, I'm going to talk about some prep in this the first installment of "The days of NaNo Prep" (Yeah, I just made that up)
On the first day of NaNo Prep my novel gave to me… An idea.
Whoop. Yep, that's it. You can't write anything without an idea. So this fancy schmancy idea is a genre, and a basic setting, or maybe a character, or maybe even a single line of dialogue that inspired you to write a book centering on it. Mine was the genre and the setting. This NaNo I'll be writing historical fiction (yeah, yeah, I know, I've already dug myself a hole with all that research) set in the Great War (WW1), and actually, I got the moral of it, which is a little bit of a different take on the conventional method of looking at forgiveness. This is all very hefty stuff, so I'm probably going to mull it over for a few days, whilst brainstorming (and researching).
So how does one get an idea? Well here's a few of my suggestions, and ideas.
1. Go for a walk. Whaaaa? Yep, I said it. Leave the house? You bet. Look about at the trees, listen to the wind (or swelter under a blazing sun, depending on where you are), and just generally be aware. Think about what ifs, and such, because, what if you get a story idea that really inspires you? Also, exercise and clean air (Okay, where I live the air isn't exactly clean, but it is refreshing from the stuffy house) are great at clearing your head and opening new thoughts.
2. Look at items in front of you. Right now. Yes, now. You probably have your device (whatever you're reading this on), some sort of piece of furniture, maybe a few embellishments. I have a coffee table, pencil box, binder, three books, three coffee cups, a water cup, some hair stuff, scissors, and some other misc stuff. What story ideas can I get from that? Maybe a character wake up every morning and drinks their cup of coffee. What they don't realize is every morning, their cup is clean, and they didn't wash it. So they're taking for granted that someone in the house loves them enough to clean up after them every single day. They can go on to realize that you don't miss something until it's gone, when they realize one morning their coffee cup isn't where it normally is. It's still on the table, still dirty. Then you can have a bunch of subplots and stuff.
3. Listen in on people's conversations at your local cafe. People watch. You can get a lot ideas just from the daily life happening around you. You just need to open your eyes (no.2) and ears (no. 3) . Pay attention, and take notes (not necessarily literally). I wrestle with my brother, quote endless movies with my family, break out into song with my entire family (Actually, literally. Me, my brother, and my aunt made one of our friend's mom look back at us from her conversation with my mother in confusion when we all broke out into some song together). So what story ideas can I get from my daily life? Maybe a character sings all the time, until one day somebody they look up to tells them to be silent for once, and they live the rest of their life endeavoring to climb out of the insecurity that one person, who had a lot of influence over them, tossed them into. There is so much you can get from life by just paying attention.
So what do you think? Do you have any specific ways you like to find inspiration? Or reasons you like to participate in NaNoWriMo (if you do participate in NaNoWriMo). Let me know in the comments section!
Viola June HFA-DGN
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