Update
Word Count: 5040
Words written today: 2811
I skipped yesterday, so was double-timing it today. I put my story synopsis below, which you can also read on my profile here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/jpetree/novels/fading-shadows-in-the-rising-dawn
One question that I saw on the Nanolanta page was "How do you turn off your inner critic" and "how do you defeat the blank page monster." This is something I struggled with a lot at first, and here's what I've done.
How do you turn off the inner critic?
This was really hard and very painful for me at first, being a perfectionist. I found most peace in telling myself - "this isn't the final product, it's the bumbling time - I'll fix all the junk later. For now, I just need to bumble around."
How do you defeat the blank page monster?
1) Go from cause to effect over and over
Have you ever had that trouble, when you finish a scene and feel stuck? I've found it enormously helpful to try to dig out consequences of that scene, to write another scene. Something like: "This happened. So what what will happen now as a result?" Did a character learn a crucial piece of information? What will he do with it? Did a battle scene just end? What are the ramifications of it?
2) Write from the perspective of whoever is in the middle of the action
Another problem that kept me from writing early on was that I tried to write only from my main character's perspective. Now, I write whoever happens to be at the center of the action of the next thing that's happening (whatever ramification that was caused by the previous scene), and I hardly ever get stuck any more.
And keep telling yourself - "I'll add details later, and fix that bad structure, that bulky dialogue. It's the bumbling time."
3) Don't over-outline - too much planning can give constipation
Originally, I thought I was an outliner. Don't make the mistake of never trying discovery writing - or writing by the seat of your pants - 'pantsing.' There's a lot more of that in writing it turns out than I was expecting. Even the best outliners usually have a sentence or two for a chapter. That's it. Then they discovery write it. You can do a lot with discovery writing. I found out that my outlining was holding me back, because I would try to map out every single possible outcome that could result from my characters actions, creating a gigantic web that was impossible to trace. Now, I just go from action to action, and it works so much better. Maybe it's not the *best* that it could be. But it's better than staring at a blank page.
Link to Nanolanta - the Blank Page Monster:
http://nanolanta.org/?p=732
Story Synopsis:
An ancient center of power and learning, the secluded world of Ethouli is shattered when the Direlord’s armada discovers passage to their system and decimates the planet. Those who survive manage to flee to other worlds where they are systematically hunted down and destroyed. Nelesi, prince of Ethouli, saves his sister Eliora, then only 5, and manages to keep them both alive for years. Eliora was born a cripple – unable to control the magic that her people wield, and struggles to understand why the galaxy has suddenly become so cruel.
Meanwhile, the Direlord and his five Dreadlords grow stronger – lead by Dreadlord Vasrik and Dreadlord Torthric: the former the most cruel, the latter the most hated man in the galaxy. As the arms of the Direlord himself, they alone control the temporal fins and phasic drive that can transport ships across star systems. They appear to be hunting a dark power that will save the galaxy from destruction at the hands of an unseen foe. However, they do not realize that they may have destroyed their only hope of survival.
Sixteen years after Ethouli’s destruction, Nelesi dies after rescuing Eliora from one of the dreadlords, forcing her to survive alone. Dare she hunt the five dreadlords, commanders of the armada, seeking revenge and death? Or will her uncontrollable magic destroy her first… Yet, the questions she faces are not what they seem. Her quest for revenge and hope will take her to the edge of death and the ends of the galaxy.
Elements in this novel: inter-planetary travel w/ a mechanism that involves the rupture of time, magic, humanoid alien races, sentient inorganics, passionate music and art, magical ink, strange weapons, death, subversion, adventure, the worth of life, and the search for hope.
Word Count: 5040
Words written today: 2811
I skipped yesterday, so was double-timing it today. I put my story synopsis below, which you can also read on my profile here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/jpetree/novels/fading-shadows-in-the-rising-dawn
One question that I saw on the Nanolanta page was "How do you turn off your inner critic" and "how do you defeat the blank page monster." This is something I struggled with a lot at first, and here's what I've done.
How do you turn off the inner critic?
This was really hard and very painful for me at first, being a perfectionist. I found most peace in telling myself - "this isn't the final product, it's the bumbling time - I'll fix all the junk later. For now, I just need to bumble around."
How do you defeat the blank page monster?
1) Go from cause to effect over and over
Have you ever had that trouble, when you finish a scene and feel stuck? I've found it enormously helpful to try to dig out consequences of that scene, to write another scene. Something like: "This happened. So what what will happen now as a result?" Did a character learn a crucial piece of information? What will he do with it? Did a battle scene just end? What are the ramifications of it?
2) Write from the perspective of whoever is in the middle of the action
Another problem that kept me from writing early on was that I tried to write only from my main character's perspective. Now, I write whoever happens to be at the center of the action of the next thing that's happening (whatever ramification that was caused by the previous scene), and I hardly ever get stuck any more.
And keep telling yourself - "I'll add details later, and fix that bad structure, that bulky dialogue. It's the bumbling time."
3) Don't over-outline - too much planning can give constipation
Originally, I thought I was an outliner. Don't make the mistake of never trying discovery writing - or writing by the seat of your pants - 'pantsing.' There's a lot more of that in writing it turns out than I was expecting. Even the best outliners usually have a sentence or two for a chapter. That's it. Then they discovery write it. You can do a lot with discovery writing. I found out that my outlining was holding me back, because I would try to map out every single possible outcome that could result from my characters actions, creating a gigantic web that was impossible to trace. Now, I just go from action to action, and it works so much better. Maybe it's not the *best* that it could be. But it's better than staring at a blank page.
Link to Nanolanta - the Blank Page Monster:
http://nanolanta.org/?p=732
Story Synopsis:
An ancient center of power and learning, the secluded world of Ethouli is shattered when the Direlord’s armada discovers passage to their system and decimates the planet. Those who survive manage to flee to other worlds where they are systematically hunted down and destroyed. Nelesi, prince of Ethouli, saves his sister Eliora, then only 5, and manages to keep them both alive for years. Eliora was born a cripple – unable to control the magic that her people wield, and struggles to understand why the galaxy has suddenly become so cruel.
Meanwhile, the Direlord and his five Dreadlords grow stronger – lead by Dreadlord Vasrik and Dreadlord Torthric: the former the most cruel, the latter the most hated man in the galaxy. As the arms of the Direlord himself, they alone control the temporal fins and phasic drive that can transport ships across star systems. They appear to be hunting a dark power that will save the galaxy from destruction at the hands of an unseen foe. However, they do not realize that they may have destroyed their only hope of survival.
Sixteen years after Ethouli’s destruction, Nelesi dies after rescuing Eliora from one of the dreadlords, forcing her to survive alone. Dare she hunt the five dreadlords, commanders of the armada, seeking revenge and death? Or will her uncontrollable magic destroy her first… Yet, the questions she faces are not what they seem. Her quest for revenge and hope will take her to the edge of death and the ends of the galaxy.
Elements in this novel: inter-planetary travel w/ a mechanism that involves the rupture of time, magic, humanoid alien races, sentient inorganics, passionate music and art, magical ink, strange weapons, death, subversion, adventure, the worth of life, and the search for hope.