Fight to Write

Category: fiction

  • Nanowrimo: Week One Survival Strategy

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    by

    Ace Baker
    in ,

    NANOWRIMO Week #1 : Out of the gate fast, but hold the reins! Ok, so it’s day one of week one of Nanowrimo, National Novel Writing Month, and if you’re going to survive the onslaught, you need to be smart about it. The first part is simple, and most have no trouble with it. You…

  • Step 7 of Nanowrimo Planning: Your Shopping List!

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    by

    Ace Baker
    in ,

    STEP SEVEN: YOUR SHOPPING LIST             If people have quite a few groceries to buy, they make a shopping list. Now, you don’t have “a few things” to do with your novel—you’re going to be filling hundreds of pages. You make a shopping list to make sure you have enough food and don’t forget anything.…

  • Step 6 of Nanowrimo Planning: Time to Get Real!

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    by

    Ace Baker
    in ,

      STEP SIX: TIME TO …             Build and expand, build and expand . . . . Remember those five sentences you wrote in step two that you made into five paragraphs in step five? Well, we’re going to expand each of those to a page each…with a twist. We’re going to write what…

  • Step 5 of Nanowrimo Planning: Step Two, Pumped Up!

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    by

    Ace Baker
    in ,

      STEP FIVE: STEP TWO, PUMPED UP!   Now that you know your characters better, and you know your plot a bit better, it’s time to look back for a moment and build on step two. You know more now, so this shouldn’t be tough, but here’s what step five involves: In step two, you…

  • Step 4 of Nanowrimo Planning: The Handshake

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    by

    Ace Baker
    in ,

    STEP FOUR: THE HANDSHAKE   In steps one and two, you thought about story. In step three, you thought about characters. It’s now time for step four, and that means. . . Character, story. Story, character. Now say “Hello.”             That’s right—it’s time for your story and character to meet. It’s time to do character…

  • Step 3 of Nanowrimo Novel Planning: The Staff Meeting

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    by

    Ace Baker
    in ,

    STEP THREE: STAFF MEETING             As a teacher, I’m often FORCED to attend staff meetings where a wide variety of characters come together and accomplish very little. You need to have a staff meeting for your novel, too, but the difference is, you need to accomplish a great deal in yours. It’s a challenge, but…

  • Step 2 of Nanowrimo Novel Planning: Back Cover Blurb

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    by

    Ace Baker
    in ,

    STEP TWO: THE BACK COVER BLURB             Congratulations! You have your one-sentence summary complete, and you’re ready to build on it. Your agent pitch is ready, so it’s time for your back cover blurb. People who pick up a novel at a bookstore almost immediately flip it over to “see what it’s all about.” It’s…

  • STEP 1 of Nanowrimo Novel Planning: A simple (?) sentence!

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    by

    Ace Baker
    in , ,

              Remember that for Nanowrimo, our weapon of choice is … a snowflake. See yesterday’s post if you don’t know what I’m talking about. In any case, today, I’m posting the first of seven steps that will help you plan a novel for Nanowrimo. Even if you’ve never planned before, I guarantee this method will…

  • Planning for NANOWRIMO: A modified snowflake?

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    by

    Ace Baker
    in ,

    We’re in this one together… NOVEL PREP STEPS (based on Randy Ingermanson’s method)   Simplify. Whenever possible, simplify. When I first saw Randy Ingermanson’s snowflake method in action, it was intriguing, but somewhat complicated. Ten steps and plenty of diversions this way and that to discuss side issues. The text was confusing, but I loved…

  • NANOWRIMO: Planner or Pantser? It doesn’t matter…

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    by

    Ace Baker
    in ,

    You know who you are as a writer–either you love to plan out every detail, or you love the thrill of writing by the seat of your pants, not knowing where it might take you… but it doesn’t matter. One area even the Pantser needs to think about is WHAT KIND OF NOVEL WILL I WRITE?…