Where does the time go? Two weeks have flown by and tomorrow is the halfway mark for NaNoWriMo: 25K words! If you are struggling, I recommend you visit the NANO site and watch a pep talk. I particularly liked Neil Gaiman's which dates back to 2007, gave me inspiration then and still does the job now. Plus, you could attend one of my free MIDWAY webinars tomorrow, Sunday 15 November. There are three-time...
I know you are all up to your ears in NaNoWriMo (as am I) and I don't want to interrupt your flow ...
Day 1 and the waiting is over. I kicked off at midnight and wrote my first 882 words in a word war with some of my buddies, the Devon Wrimos, in the NanoDevon chat room - and then needed some sleep. What's a word war? Scroll down! What's a buddy? Scroll down even further! Now that NANO has officially started, a new feature has appeared to the right of my Inbox icon at...
The current rage - I'm told - is adult colouring books. I'm sure they provide hours of inspiring, magical enjoyment. I don't have time for such distractions ...
The secret of winning NANO - going through that 50K barrier before time runs out on day 30 - boils down to setting goals and meeting targets. On the NANO site, each time you enter your word-count-to-date, a bar chart tells you how you're progressing. If you're on schedule, writing your 1666 words per day, it's good to see today's column above the target line. If you're slipping behind, it can...
NaNoWriMo fast approaches and it's crucial, before I start writing for real at midnight on 31 October, that I make some decision on tense and voice. First question: which tense to use? Past or present? Past tense would be the easy option. It's the natural way of telling a story - something that happened in the past, recounted now. Using the present tense can create a sense of immediacy. It can...
Before I write - and also during the writing process - I make notes to myself about any research I need to do, and additional information I'll need. I create a list of questions I'll need to answer. For Safari Supper, one such question is: 'How will the murderer kill the victim?' For now, I am assuming it's going to be by poisoning but, to arrive at a plausible method, I...
What a Carry On! The character who organizes the Safari Supper is central to my story. Although she may not be the main character, she's important to me. Her husband is also a key player, as a foil to her and for the role he plays in the distribution of wine to the hostesses. I might need the poison to be delivered via the wine - haven't decided yet! While other characters...
In much the same way I used Scrivener's Setting Sketch template for my various locations, the Character Sketch template is useful for my cast of characters. And until their 'real' names start to emerge, I'm also using dummy names for my characters. For each location, I've nominally assigned a hostess. I know the Safari Supper system relies on couples and filling tables of six or eight. But for now, I'm assuming one...
So I need a plot, but first, it seems, I need characters. I've read up on the 'theory' of characterisation, and it would appear that there should be two main characters: my protagonist playing the leading role, confronted by conflict, courtesy of my antagonist. Usually, the protagonist is the goodie, and the antagonist is the baddie - but not always. I am reliably informed that the protagonist and the antagonist both need...
