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Tag: nanowrimo
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Nanowrimo: The Final Week? And I’m Stuck? What can I do?
NANOWRIMO: FINAL WEEK! So it’s the final week of Nanowrimo, and you find you’re stuck. I mean STUCK…like… STUCK like… but really, more like… WHAT CAN YOU DO? Try a few of the following on for size… Did you leave any gaps? Any chapters unfinished? Go back and flesh them out! The beginning of…
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Nanowrimo Weeks two and three: Conflict and complication!
The Middle of Your Novel If you divide your novel into three parts, the beginning is roughly a quarter of your book. That should be over now, after the first week of Nano. The middle is roughly half your book, and that’s where we are now. That means that it’s time for what really drives…
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Nanowrimo reminder–courtesy of Mary E. Pearson, on Twitter!
BANG WORDS OUT (instead of tiring, editing the same words over and over) I love how straightforward this button makes the process seem. Don’t worry if you have to go back and fix a few things–that’s what editing is for…AFTER you have a completed manuscript. Let me show you… The former me: Type a…
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Nanowrimo: Week One Survival Strategy
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…
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Step 7 of Nanowrimo Planning: Your Shopping List!
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.…
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Step 6 of Nanowrimo Planning: Time to Get Real!
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…
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Step 5 of Nanowrimo Planning: Step Two, Pumped Up!
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…
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Step 4 of Nanowrimo Planning: The Handshake
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…
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Step 3 of Nanowrimo Novel Planning: The Staff Meeting
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…
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Step 2 of Nanowrimo Novel Planning: Back Cover Blurb
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…