Nanowrimo - Tips to Keep Going

If you're currently participating in National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) then you know that we're almost to the halfway mark! As I was writing today, I realized that I was starting have still fingers (I wasn't writing). I realized that, though I have general ideas of where I'm taking my story, that I'm not quite sure how to get to that destination. So, I found an excellent way to get there, that may just help you! I am taking two great ideas that I have discovered, and combining them.

1.) Get some notecards. You can even make your own. (For better results, have larger cards).

2.) Pick out your three top characters and designate several notecards to each one.

3.) On one side of the note cared, write:

Goal: (This is something that your character wants).

Conflict: (This is what prevents your character from getting what they want).

Disaster: (This is failure to attain their goal).

Then fill each of these three categories in.

4.) On the back of the notecard, write:

Reaction: (This is where you show their reaction; what they're thinking and feeling).

Dilemma: (This is where the character has two (or more) decisions to make, none of which are good).

Decision: (The character makes a decision).

Fill this out.
After this, you will start again with the Goal, Conflict, Disaster, and then the Reaction, Dilemma, and Decision… it's a cycle.

To have a better understanding of each of these categories, check out this website:

http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/writing-the-perfect-scene/

The notecard idea I got from Holly Lisle: check out her idea here:

http://hollylisle.com/scene-creation-workshop-writing-scenes-that-move-your-story-forward/

HAPPY WRITING!!! Keep connecting those scenes!

Wuthering Heights Lesson for Writers

As a writer it is always a treat to learn something new in the craft, even when that something should have been as plain as day.
Lets take a good lesson from a real classic: Wuthering Heights. This book, over 164 years old, teaches us many lessons not only in the emotional area but in choice making areas as well.
If you watch Wuthering Heights (2009 version) you will notice that tragedy after tragedy strikes. Here's the lesson: each tragedy comes from a near direct action of the two main characters.
While some may have heard this: let things happen to your characters and later in the story, have a turning point where the protagonist takes charge. Not in Wuthering Heights. Only ever so often do things 'just happen' to them. They make all of the events happen based on their own decisons, and the result of this? A far better reader (watcher if you've seen the movie) response. This is when the audience will feel anger, exapseration, or even hope that your characters *themselves will make the right choices.

Yes, She's Awsome

This is a drawing by my talented writing pal. You can find more of her drawings at insidetheclam20. She did this as a fun cover drawing for my Middle Grade novel that I am working on. I am going to post a close up and a farther away shot. I love it!