NaNoWriMo Tip Five: Don't Stop Writing

Today's post is about something I have experienced, and discovered helps me when I am doing NaNoWriMo and I am passing it onto you.

When it comes to people doing NaNoWriMo for the first time don't stop writing. You will be tempted to go and add other things you think will make the story perfect. Here's a word of advice, if there's a scene you want to add to the story, write it down in a spiral notebook or notepad, and leave it to the side. When you finish your story and you go back later to edit, you can easily read through and see where those scenes you wrote down will fit. I found this helps me a lot and I know of other authors who do this technique as well. It's a great tool for when you want to add more juicy scenes to the story.

NaNoWriMo Tip Four: Inspiration

Happy Fall!

So it's time for another NaNoWriMo is how to get some inspiration for when you get stuck writing the draft of your novel.  It has happened to me before and I have found some ways to get a small spark of inspiration.

Depending on what you are writing about you'd be surprised at the amount of things you can find on the internet.


Pintrest
Pintrest is a great way to get some inspiration for when you can't think of what to write next. I go on Pintrest a lot when I get stuck on writing and I can't think of what to write next, or how to keep the story going, or describe certain things. But be warned, Pintrest can get addicting.

Tumblr

Tumblr is also a good way to get some inspiration for the story you are writing. Sometimes just looking at a picture will remind me of what I wanted to write next, and I will get inspired by clips, music, or pictures. If you need a certain picture of your character you can find one on Pintrest, and the pictures you have of your characters can help you. I always find myself getting pictures of actors in my mind who resemble the way I see the characters. I'm a very visual person so having the Hollywood pictures of the actors help me with the story.

Even thought you should turn off the internet when you are writing, it can be useful when you can't seem to think of what to write next, or when you need a picture of someone who resembles the characters. The internet can give you some little sparks. Hopefully some of these tips will help you out during your writing.

Happy Writing!

NaNoWriMo Tip Three: Know Your Characters

Here is for the next tip in preparing for NaNoWriMo, your characters. Your characters are the most important thing in a novel. Before you begin your novel, you need to know them. So this brings me to the next tip

KNOW YOUR CHARACTERS

Readers want strong characters, sometimes a character they can relate to. You need to have your characters ready in your mind. If you want to change their personalities more later on, you can do that, there is nothing wrong with that. Just know the basics for a character. 

What if their personality; Snarky? Sarcastic? Shy? Angry?

What is their goal by the end of the novel? Is this a series, what will happen to the character by the end of the series? Will they overcome obstacles?

All of these are important facts when creating your characters. If you know your characters inside out, you can get that story down faster. While you're writing keep your character map next to you, so you can keep their personalities going. Remember your characters are the key to your book.

NaNoWriMo Tip Two: Don't Look Back

So today's tip is based from a writer who can write novels. He is considered legendary in the world of publishing, and writing, and his advice is not to be taken lightly. Today's advice is from Stephen King, and in his published work A Memoir of the Craft. His advice from the book applies when a writer is writing their novel during NaNoWriMo:

DON'T LOOK BACK

Yes folks, that is key when you are writing a novel in one month. Don't go back to the beginning Just keep writing and writing until you feel you have finished the story. Now you don't have a completed novel, you have a finished draft. Don't look back at the story.

This is the reason as to why you shouldn't look back at the draft. If you keep going back to the beginning, you end up editing. Before you know it, you end up changing every single sentence in the story, and you will  will not hit the finish line. I normally have the habit of editing as I go, but during NaNoWriMo I have to break that habit. You need to break it too.

If you want, after you type up each chapter you can print out each one, and keep them in a small folder. Once you finish NaNoWriMo, don't look at that draft for at least one month, or more. Some authors I know will leave their draft for three months, then when they open it back up, it looks so horrible to them that they end up changing so much, and before they know it half of their story is covered in red. So don't look back, just finishing writing the darn thing.

I am not the only one who explains about not looking back. Check out this post from New York Times best selling author Veronica Roth of Divergent trilogy.