SO, you want to be a rebel, eh?!?!
You just HATE outlining, do you??
You just can’t for the life of you figure out WTF is going to happen in your novel past Act 1??
You shudder at the very mention of ACTS and STRUCTURE and turn up your nose at all that “rubbish”??
Think you don’t need to give any thought whatsoever as to the make-up of your novel before plunging into the 30 days and nights of literary abandon then???
BULLSHIT!
GET YOUR SORRY ASS INTO THIS BOOT CAMP AND FIND OUT HOW YOU TOO CAN LET KICK-ASS NANO NOVELS POUR FORTH FROM YOUR FINGERTIPS ACCORDING TO A PLAN – BUT WITHOUT AN OUTLINE!!!!!!! *GASP!*
***
PREP WEEK THREE: ESSENTIAL TRAITS OF MEMORABLE STORIES
REQUIRED READING: “6 Secrets of Writing a Novel Without an Outline” by Steven James
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW A SUPER-SECRET SECRET???
YES???
Well step on up cuz I’m about to lay it on ya! …..
YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE AN OUTLINE TO KICK ASS AT NANOWRIMO!!!!!
What what WHAT!?!??!
THAT’S RIGHT!!!
But you DO still need to have some sort of PLAN!!!!
YES.
Shut up, sit down, do it!!!!!
Even for pantsers, this IS NOT HARD!
Trust me, YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!
And at the end of NaNo you can look back upon your 50k words and heave a great sigh of relief that you do not have to spend the next YEAR editing a mound of CRAP!!!!
So, what is this magic pantser formula??
All you have to do is FIRST, look over the guidelines for key scenes and know how to create empathetic characters, and THEN check off each item on the following To Do List:
Keep your scenes and characters in line with this list and you will probably not get lost off along the brambles! But if you do happen to get lost, explore a bit, leave a marker flag, machete your way back to the path, and then keep on writing!!! If that little meander takes you someplace good, run with it, if not – AXE IT!!!
We only have 30 days here, people!
No time for dillydallying!!!!
If you want FABULOUS, EXPERT advice on writing awesomesauce without a recipe and way more details on all of the To Do List items, READ THIS ARTICLE by Steven James!!
DO IT!!!
“In storytelling, what will happen informs what is happening, and what is happening informs what did. You cannot know where a story needs to go until you know where it’s been, but you cannot know where it needs to have been until you know where it’s going. It’s a paradox.” — Steven James
Loving you tips. To funny. For now I am enjoying the writing, do not want that 30 day pressure breathing down on me like suffocating sulphur breath of a dragon. I wish you a good November.
Glad you like the Boot Camps! 😉 NaNo’s not for everyone, but I’ve found that I really enjoy it. The best part is that there’s so many other writers doing the same thing… it’s like the one time of year I can actually share my writing madness with a whole bunch of other local people, and meet up with them, and chat with them about the process, etc. Plus, this is a great excuse for me to just FINISH a novel, instead of chipping away at it for years and years as I’ve been doing. I’m ready to be DONE with something, ya know? 😉 I also try to see it as excellent practice for the day when I am finally a career novelist writing under contract and my publisher has given me 10 weeks to write a book (true story!!) or has asked that I completely rewrite 75k words in six weeks (another true story)!!! At least after getting a few NaNo’s under my belt, these kind of things won’t paralyze me with fear, lol!!! Enjoy your November as well, and stop by here now and then to check up on the insanity! 😀
OH, I feel I should also mention, you don’t just have to apply these tips to NaNo novels, they are really tips for ALL novels, so there’s that!
Haha thank you. I just started my own madness yesterday. Not sure what i was thinking.
And for above. a new book in 10 weeks. no thanks. i write best without time pressure/ i want to have fun writing not having to write. so all those short breezes of inspiration are now on my blog
OK, OK, I give in – that just made me grin from ear to ear. Still not doing NaNo, but the first point on that list has given me pause for thought. I think I’m guilty of allowing the tension levels to remain static through scenes. This post made me notice that, so I now have to address the tension and grow it more sharply in the mid-section – yeah, thanks for yet another round of edits!! 😀 It’s also made me look at the tension in the non-tension scenes; they have their own drama (in a will-they/won’t-they kind of way) which also needs to build up as the story evolves. Great post, thank you. Very shouty though, very shouty… 😉
Well I am SO GLAD you found the post both amusing AND helpful!!! That is just what I hoped for! 😉 It IS very shouty, but it IS a Boot Camp, so I had to make you feel like you were being yelled at by a Drill Sergeant, you know! I know what you mean about that escalating tension thing – did you read the full article by Steven James? I love the examples and points he makes there. I have been very conscious of the tension thing in my current WIP, and it’s turned out that all of my scenes are ending up pretty intense because of that. I also heard from a panel of authors that if you have two (or more) of the same characters in multiple scenes together, you must continuously up the tension in that group of characters each time they meet. This has thus far worked out decently in my WIP, however, I get the impression someone is going to have to die in the climax with the rate things are escalating! 😛 Of course, like you said, it doesn’t always have to be physical type of endangerment or tension, but even emotional tensions is very good! Best of luck with that next round of edits, and check out the other Boot Camps too – you might find something else useful! 😉
Reblogged this on J. R. FRONTERA and commented:
REALLY don’t like outlining? Fine then, at least have some sort of PLAN! The third lesson for NaNoWriMo Boot Camp: How to still plan well without an actual outline! GO GO GO!