We’re at the mid-point of NaNoWriMo 2015 now. Did you know there are five Sundays in November this year? That’s five Week Beginnings to crank out words.
I can hear some of you now: Five weeks to fail.
No, no, no. It’s not about failing or succeeding. It’s about writing something. Anything. If you’re stuck, create an author-insertion character and rant at length about how sucky your productivity is, then kill them in the next scene. I guarantee you that can get you through a day’s worth of writing quota. You can always edit that part out later.
In fact, if you’re really focused on this whole “I MUST WRITE 50,000 WORDS IN 30 DAYS” thing, then creating quick, non-sequitor scenes using existing characters or new characters can really boost your word count. What you write for NaNoWriMo doesn’t have to be formatted perfectly or even make sense in the context of your story, because the point of NaNoWriMo is not to write, edit, and polish an entire novel in 30 days (that’s madness!), it’s to JUST WRITE.
If you’re serious about this writing thing, use November as a way to build habits. Particularly, the habit of writing. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t write everyday, at least, I don’t wright my fiction every day. In fact, I often write in bursts: a bunch of words one week, then nothing for weeks on end, then a month solid of words, words, words. But here’s the secret to that bit of advice: all writing helps you improve, regardless of whether or not its germain to the story you’re composing. You can’t be a writer unless you write. You can’t be an painter if you don’t paint. You can’t be an author if you don’t auth.
Okay, it breaks down a bit there since “auth” isn’t actually a word.
OR IS IT? I’m a writer, I just made it up! Shakespeare got away with it. Of course, who knows, back in the day, he probably had people chastise him for making up words.
“Verily, Shakespeare. Thou canst not just make up words as thy whims see fit.”
“Forsooth, piss off, naysayer.”
Now look at him. We use words made up by Shakespeare all the time: arouse, compromise, frugal, gust, obscene, panders, obsequiously, zany, bump, green-eyed, torture, etc. (from shakespeare-online.com … maybe they’re lyin’). Who knows? Maybe YOU could be the next Shakespeare.