Not Sure What Happens Next? by Rochelle Melander

(source)

“So then what happens?” I asked my friend, who was writing the first draft of her fourth novel. We meet for coffee every few weeks or so to talk about writing. She had been telling me about her plot, a riveting teen adventure story set in a foreign country. “I wish I knew,” she answered.

It happens to all of us. We get to a certain point in the plot, and the story unravels. We do not know what happens next. Maybe we had an outline, but the characters got out of hand on us (they do that), and now what we had planned just does not seem believable. You’d think that with bossy characters like this, they’d give us a clue and tell us what to do next, but often they keep mum. What’s a writer to do in the middle of NaNoWriMo, with a word count goal hanging over her head, and no time to waste? Don’t worry—borrow an event or adventure for your characters. Here are five places you can look for your character’s next move.

1. Your life. Yeah, I know, your life is probably as boring as mine is. We work, we eat, we sleep, and once a week we may rent a movie. But, who knows—maybe you had a romantic tryst in your past or even a blowout argument with your old boss. Borrow the juicier details from your life, embellish them with fictional elements, and put it in your book.

2. Your fantasies. Most writers have a rich fantasy life. While everyone else is waiting in line at the grocery store, we’re imagining what would happen if the store got held up. Would we turn into a superhero and save the day? Take a stroll through your fantasies and nighttime dreams and give the adventure to your characters.

3. Your friends’ lives. I often live vicariously through the lives of friends. While they travel to Belize and write stories about luxury hotels, I maybe get to drive to my daughter’s school once a day. It’s probably a bit dangerous to blatantly take your friends’ lives and place them unedited into your story. Instead, take pieces of your friends’ experiences, combine them with your imaginings of what should have happened next, and put them in your book.

4. The lives of celebrities. They fight publically on Twitter, go in and out of rehab, and talk openly about their personal lives on television—how can you not use this stuff? Grab your favorite gossip rag, whether legitimate or heavily fictionalized, and read it for delicious plot twists.

5. The local news. When I watch the local news, usually while walking on the treadmill at the gym, I am surprised by the crazy stuff that people do. One local mother got high while on her daughter’s 2^nd grade field trip. At a church in Alabama, the music minister, angry over being fired, tased the pastor. (I read that story at NewsoftheWeird.com). What is happening in your town? If local news is a little slow, choose a random town from your map and look it up online. Chances are good you’ll find some crazy antic to give to your characters.

Where do you look for inspiration and ideas when you are stuck?

Rochelle Melander is a certified professional coach and the author of 10 books, including a new book to help fiction and nonfiction writers write fast:Write-A-Thon: Write Your Book in 26 Days (And Live to Tell About It) (October 2011). Melander teaches professionals how to get published, establish credibility, and navigate the new world of social media. In 2006, Rochelle founded Dream Keepers Writing Group, a program that teaches writing to at-risk tweens and teens. Visit her online at Write Now Coach.

Music as the Muse by Holly Roberts

... especially when the flaky Muse is MIA. (source)

About a week ago I had hit a rut in my novel, and every word was a struggle to write. Then I got online, and began researching soundtrack music that I believe would suit my novel.  I found two songs that sent the blood pumping back through the veins to give life to my novel again just by listening to two songs.  Not only did I feel motivated to write my story veered in new directions.

The past three times I have took on the month long writing challenge it was music that pushed me across the finish line.  I never even did an outline the first couple of times because music always reminded me of the scenes I would write when the time came.  That wasn’t a good idea because ten songs don’t equal a whole book. This music is even a huge part of making my novel lively than it ever has been before.

Music can form the complete setting of what novel you’re writing, and since we are going into the second of writing it can also be that one thing left that is still causing you to chug along.  My novel for this November is set in 1958, and there is a goldmine of music available to help me feeling I’m living in the exact times of my characters.

Some people can listen to music while writing and some can’t.  At the end of the day it is a personal preference, which everyone has a different opinion on. I’ve discovered I can’t function without it especially when writing, and needing inspiration.  This month music has brought me some great scenes. 

Here are two tips I have for using music though if you choose to do so:

1.       Don’t get lost in the music. Sometimes a scene will build up so hugely while listening to a song that it has become overwhelming to write. Let the scene sit, and then write when it doesn’t seem so intimidating to write on paper.

2.       Pick music that fits the feel of your novel. No matter how much I love the upbeat poppy tunes of some music if I’m trying to right a serious, moody novel then that is what I need to listen to for a month.  I tend to stick with darker themed soundtracks, and lyrics that tell stories.  It keeps you focused on the vibe, and the mood needed.

Has music been a help to you this November? What kind of music is it?

Holly (@harmonyholly) is a writer, blogger, photographer, and a lover of creativity.  She took her first try at writing a novel in a month in 2008, and from then she has been reaching for the day she feels she has a novel to publish.

Got Block? Try a WEDGE by Janece Herrington

Well, here we are smack in the middle of NaNoWriMo 2011.  How are you doing?  I don’t know about you, but I’ve barely kept up with my daily word count, thanks to a few thousand extra words clocked in during Week One!  Thank the NaNo Gods!

Week One is honeymoon time with the whole NaNo experience.  After anticipating November 1st for months, our fingers fly over the keyboard, plots thicken up nicely, and our characters are so well developed, it’s like they’re on steroids.   Updating word counters and statuses across the Social Networking universe hourly, we want everyone know:  We’re IN it, man!  We’re DOING this thing!

We Are On FIRE!

Enter Week Two - notorious for sending Wrimos into panic mode when they realize they’ve run out of plot, and still have 30,000 words to go.  I should know.  This is my 5^th NaNo! Whether we’re Plotters or Pantsers,  Week Two is when many of us go from “FLOW” to “SLOW” faster than you can say “Is it December yet?”

Suddenly, we’re staring at blank screens, the clock is ticking, and our word count hasn’t budged in hours.  Maybe days!  We’ve used every adjective known to man (and then some) in our last paragraph, and now we’ve got - nothing.  Nada.  Zilch!

Ugh! What happened?  We were doing SO well, then without warning, our Muse goes into hiding and NaNoWriMo feels a lot more like WORK, and a lot less like fun.

WRITER’S BLOCK

Two words sure to strike fear into the heart of anyone who’s ever put word to paper.

The BAD news is, almost every writer will experience writers block at some point, and it has nothing to do with ability or desire. 

The GOOD news is – especially for us Wrimos - we’re going for PROGRESS in November, not PERFECTION.    They may not be the best words we’ve ever written, and we might type the very last word at 11:59 p.m. on November 30. But the goal here is to just FINISH, blocks be damned.

So what’s a writer to do when they hit the proverbial Block Wall?  Try the WEDGE:

WANDER away from your story for a while literally (take a walk, go for a ride, or watch a movie) and figuratively.  Suspend your original plot and try something different.  For example, your MC could step into a Time Machine and meet up with a historical figure.  Or an alien.  Whatever! Wandering may not sit well with you Plotters, but it will get you writing again.  And THAT’S the whole point.  You can always edit later. 

ENLIST help from writing prompts.  There are some great books available, as well as card decks. But you don’t have to spend money - make your own!  Cut some index cards in half, and write a word or phrase on each one.  “Take a Road Trip” “Kill off your MC”  “RUMBA!”  The point is to have fun with it!  Then shuffle the cards, pick one, and get writing! 

DRAW from real life.  Did you have lunch with a friend today?  Maybe and your squeeze got into a fight, or you just found out you’re adopted.  Real life is great fodder for word count.  Who knows?  Maybe the ‘nice guy’ that stopped to help you change a tire is really an ax welding murderer who’s looking for his next victim!

GUT IT OUT.  I know, I know. This one doesn’t sound sexy, but perseverance DOES pay off.   It might seem like you’ve run out of ideas, but if you’ll just stick with it, the words will come back. So what if it’s not the next Great American Novel? (NO NaNoWriMo novel is at first!)  You’ll eventually find your voice again, if you don’t give up.  Just ask Ernest Hemingway or J.K. Rowling.

EASE UP ON YOURSELF.  No, really.  Try not to stress so much about it.  We’re going for word counts here, not trying to solve world hunger.  Just do the best you can for now.  If you write only 50 words today and not a one makes sense, so what?  Beating yourself up is a recipe for more blockage.  Try again tomorrow.  Just don’t give up!

Janece Herrington is a native Southern Californian who grew up in the 60s addicted to reading, listening to the Beach Boys, and playing “journalist on the street” in the beautiful port town of South Shores.

Mother of two and grandmother to one, Janece works full-time as the Marketing Manager for a national property management company.  She’s been blogging since 2005, and considers creative writing her ‘real job’.  Her blog is The Wild Pomegranade.

A featured contributor on SheWrites.com and WomenWriters, Women Books, Janece has published several articles on Green Home building and the upcoming Baby Boomer Retirees. She is currently working on her first novel.

Preparing for Writer's Block by Samantha Warren

You know it's coming... (source)

National Novel Writing Month has just gotten underway. We have weeks ahead of us to pound away at the keyboard, a hopeful glimmer in our eyes, and a burning story at the front of our minds. Right now, we have all the motivation we need. But if any of you are like me, that new NaNo blush will wear off quickly as I start to encounter unexpected plot twists, writer's block, and the general burdens of life. I can't tell you how to solve your plot twists or how to deal with the family that expects you to actually pay attention to them, but I do have some suggestions for writer's block.

First off, I don't believe in blaming writer's block or my muse for my inability to write. I call it writer's block for lack of a better term, but in reality, it's really just an inability to sit down and write. The reasons are different for everyone--lack of focus, failure to prepare, or, as is usually the case with me, pure laziness. So what do you do when you only have a month to knock out 50,000 words and can't afford to deal with it?

You prepare. You take the motivation you are feeling now and you get yourself into a groove. First off, I hope you all have a basic outline of your story. If not, sit down and make one now. Mine are simple, just five parts:

• A beginning (who the main characters are and the main plot goal),
• a first act (the protagonist begins their quest, meets the antagonist for the first time),
• a second act (second meeting between the two, this time the antagonist gets the upper hand),
• a third act (the climax, the final battle, where good meets bad and it all comes to a head),
• and a resolution (where you wrap it all up in a neat little package).

If you don't have an idea of where your story is going, it'll be awful tough to get through those rough patches later in the month.

Now that you have your outline, come up with a plan on how you'll tackle it. Designate time to write each day. You designate time for work and family, right? Time to watch your favorite television shows? An hour a day really isn't that much in the scheme of things. I waste that much time flipping through crappy shows or hanging out on Twitter. And it's only for a month.

I also like to figure out how much I need to write in a week, keep track of how much I still need to meet that goal, and give myself a day off. I do better when I have a day or two to refuel my creative juices. It gives me something to look forward to. And I only get that day off if I've met my goal. Rewards are important, even the small ones.

And sedate your inner editor now, before he/she gets out of hand. I even turn off spell-check. It can all be fixed later. No author writes a gem right off the bat, and don't let anyone tell you differently. What we see in the end is sometimes so far from the initial piece, it's crazy. But that's ok. It's normal.

And when you do get behind and just want to curl up and watch TV when you have 25k left to go, I have four words for you: Suck it up, buttercup. Plop your butt in that chair, put your fingers on the keyboard, and get typing. It may suck, it probably will suck, but that's what NaNoEdMo is for. So write, and don't stop writing until you hit that purple bar.

Samantha Warren (@_SamanthaWarren) is a fantasy and science fiction author who spends her days immersed in dragons, space ships, and vampires. With her pet dragon, Anethesis, she ventured to the ends of the universe, but the cost of space travel cut into her sock fetish fund, so she sold her ship and returned home. When she isn’t writing, she’s milking cows or trying to feed them Pop-Tarts. She spends a lot of time in her weed patch (aka: garden), watching any show featuring Gordon Ramsay, or posting random things on her blog.