Riding Wild Horses; Nanowrimo Week 2

Here we are into week two of Nanowrimo and I have to tell you I have no idea what my story is about. None. I’m up to over 12,000 words of the required 50,000 and I have a manuscript so rambly and full of unrelated characters galloping around like crazy herds of wild horses I defy anyone to make sense of it, not to mention all my run-on sentences. The good news is, I don’t really care!

And to me, that’s what Nano is all about: breaking free of set-in-stone plot lines or worrying about “making sense.” For the entire month of November, Nanowrimo grants us the creative license to write non-sense, and with that comes, I believe, some of our greatest work. The sudden revelation, the bizarre foray, the unexpected character, the impossible location: they all come together somehow and by the end of the month they truly do gel. I’ve been through this process three times already (four times if you count the year I took part in Scriptfrenzy) and if there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s this: trust your gut and just let it happen. If your heart says, “Write it,” obey.

In between the madness, though, there are certainly times when I’ve exhausted my ready-to-go writing prompts and have found myself lagging behind on my daily word count quota. To get things moving again (and to get those wiley words on paper) I’ve come up with a list of pen movers:

* Closets. List what’s inside. I’ve found lost documents, old shoes, lockets, and prison records. Each of these has made great starting points for the next 1000 word burst of inspiration.

* Memories. Forget everything you’ve ever heard about tightening or deleting back story. For one month at least, back story reigns supreme. Even if most of it has to go in the bin when you revise, you will know your characters better than you ever would if you’d followed the rules and left out these very important histories. Choose any timeframe you want: a birthday, a holiday, the first day of school, or just spilling a cup of coffee at work ten minutes ago.

* What’s cooking? What does your character love to eat? Have him or her make it, preferably with another character in the room to add some conflict or subtext.

* Dreams. These are doozies and can use up a lot of words.

* Write about your characters’ great-grandparents. Why are they important to the story?

* Describe your character’s best friend.

* Followed by their worst enemy. With any luck this person could turn into the story villain.

* Your character just received a mysterious parcel. What is it, where did it come from, and why is it the worst thing to happen this year?

* Where did your character go on vacation last year and what terrible thing happened there that they still can’t get over?

* Describe your characters’ dysfunctional workplaces.

* Write letters, e-mails, tweets from your characters to each other. Their quirks, problems, and complaints can take up pages and pages of writing.

Tip of the day: Even if you’re not participating in Nanowrimo, it’s always helpful to have a list of writing tricks and prompts ready to go. Feel free to use any or all of the ideas above. At the same time, try making a specific list of your own that fits whatever project you’re working on now. The key is to do whatever it takes to keep you writing. Like the little boy said when handed a shovel and faced with a pile of manure: “There’s just got to be a pony in here somewhere!”

Getting Ready for NaNoWriMo

… National Novel Writing Month, that is. And if you haven’t tried it yet, sign up now! You have nothing to lose except for maybe the wildest 50,000 words you’ll ever write.

This is my fourth year of participation and I’m counting the days, pen in hand, ready to start along with thousands of other writers the first day of November at the crack of dawn; no mere figure of speech for me. I’m currently on vacation and in the middle of traveling so I’ll be writing at the airport of all places, waiting for an early morning flight. Should make for an interesting beginning to both the month and my plot!

My working title for this year’s manuscript is Ghazal, inspired by an actual ghazal I wrote and posted on 7/07/2009. My genre is “literary” and the blurb I added to my user page (user name “poppywriter”) at http://www.nanowrimo.org/ reads: “Thirty years, thirty doorways. Every breath, every door we take matters to someone.”
To further help me get into the NaNo mood, I made a Polyvore set (top of this post) a few weeks ago to illustrate my theme, and I’m using that as my visual inspiration to ensure I’ll keep writing. I’ve printed it out in a larger format to slip into the front cover of my 2009 NaNo binder, a wonderful periwinkle blue notebook that truly speaks to me and makes me hungry to write. Color does that to me whether it’s a binder, a new ink, or the paper I’m using and it’s all part of the fun of abandoning myself to “just write, don’t think” for an entire month.

The rest of my binder consists of:

• 30 sheets of paper, each with a picture of a different doorway taken from magazines (of course!).
• A writing prompt for each page selected from A Writer's Book of Days by Judy Reeves.
• A cut-out phrase from my magazine word pool added to the bottom of each page.

To create this visual “outline” I matched doors to prompts and phrases totally by random. After pasting everything together I shuffled the pages up, and then arranged them into a 30-page/30-day sequence for each day of November’s writing marathon.

I lucked out unbelievably on my first page: a dark, mysterious door slightly ajar and leading to a garden passageway coupled with the phrase “Every story has a bead…” The writing prompt joining these two items commands: “Write about ‘what goes without saying.’” Wow. I couldn’t have planned that better even if I’d tried.

Tip of the day: 50,000 words in 30 days is only 1,667 words a day. You can do it. Go sign up now while there’s still time: http://www.nanowrimo.org/. Can’t wait to see you on the other side of the finishing line.