NaNoWriMo Approaches!!! Advice on how to keep going through November and onto victory.

(P.S. If you've never heard of NaNoWriMo before in your life, or if you are wondering what freaky manga Japanese animé video game us writers are talking about (as I did when I first heard of it), visit ywp.nanowrimo.org.)

NaNoWriMo
aka "National Novel Writing Month", "Oh boy...", and "Oh goodie goodie!"

Some people hate NaNoWriMo (I know some people). Some people love it (meeeee!!!). Some people hate and love it (Angelina Zoe...hint hint...). Why? Because writing a novel in one month is the hardest thing you will ever do in your life. But if you like a challenge, then this is the month for you.

So, your biggest question is: HOW DO I GET THROUGH NOVEMBER WITH A MINIMAL AMOUNT OF BLOOD ON MY KEYBOARD?!?!

Allow me to help you!



Pre-NaNoWriMo

Before November comes (and it's a little late now, but at least you'll know for next year, or else stuff everything you can into one week), you should plan your book.

Yes.

No, you should.

No, you're not one of those people who run around in a happy world where planning isn't needed.

YOU NEED TO PLAN.

*sigh*...I am a non-planner as well, my friend. But this passing month, I've discovered planning doesn't have to be boring.

You see, I'm all in NaNoWriMo this year. I've thought hard about what I want to write, and I've come up with a pretty awesome book idea (in my opinion, ahem-hem). So, I decided to plan it, because I always get stuck in the middle of my unplanned books.

First, I made detailed bios of my characters. I described them up to their nose hairs, gave a basic personality I wanted them to own, and created their history. Of course, I left some parts up to my imagination; I never try to overthink my characters, or else they adopt the dreaded puppet syndrome. You have to make up enough of them to where they actually have form and thought, but not so much that they don't develop on their own as well.

After that, I made a general outline of the book, highlighting the biggest points in the novel. I managed to fit this all on one page, and I was pretty proud of that. Just jot down the big scenes you want in your novel, and piece them together. Sticky notes and poster-board is a good way to do this. I've never actually tried it, but I figure it'd be pretty awesome. I just organized my scenes in my head as I wrote them, and only messed up once. So I circled it and drew a little arrow thingly over to where it was supposed to go.

Here's a picture of my general outline. Don't bother trying to read it, I coded the secret parts, and plus it's backwards. But if you do manage to read it, I commend you. That's impressive.

So. That worked very very well for me. Next, I sat down and wrote detailed synopses of each chapter. Now you may think you should have a set chapter number, but I wouldn't worry about that. I just write it and write it and end it when it ends. In my chapter outlines, I write in casual shorthand (thus implicating frequent uses of "like," "duh," "AHK," and "lol :)") in this form:

__

bob wakes up from horrible nightmare / freaks out / goes to girlfriend's house to talk about dream / she's all like, you're a weirdo and dumps him / bob goes home sad

__

Of course mine are usually longer than that but you get the gist. I think this format gives me space to breath. If I detail it too much, I get bored with the book before I even start writing it. This gives me a lot of elbow room to experiment and change things if they get a little crazy.

Now, you just have to STAY INSPIRED! My favorite way to do this is to visit Pinterest! I look up all sorts of pictures based on my novel. Searching "character inspiration", "story scene inspiration", "action story inspiration", "story conflict inspiration", etc. comes up with some really good stuff. If this isn't your thing, try talking about your book to your friends/family, or reading books similar to yours. But most of all, STAY POSITIVE. You can do this, because YOU ARE AWESOME!!!

Now go out there and WRITE!!!

—AC

How to Write a Novel: The End

Ah ha! So, brave storyteller, you have made it this far in your writing journey, eh? Well, congratulations! You're almost done with your novel! But first, you have to venture over the hump of the final conflict. You must bring all of those subplots, those awesome characters, and those evil villains and place them in a confrontation against your hero. And I am here to walk you through this daunting and exciting task.

THE END
is such a scary word that most writers try to avoid it. Often, the end means the death of one of your favorite characters, or the ultimate failure of your hero. Personally, I think the end is the best part of the book. I love reading the end of a book, so rightly, I love writing the end of a book. It's just THE most exciting part of the novel! It's the final moment! It's the BESTEST PART OF THE BOOK, WHERE YOUR CHARACTER'S TRUE MORALS AND PERSONALITIES SHINE THROUGH AND ALL OF THEIR UGLY TRUTHS BURN HOLES INTO THE FLOOR AND CAUSE PAIN AND HORROR!!!! HAAAAA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA!!!!

Ahem.

So, here are the main points of the end of a book.

1. The Black Moment
So, you built up momentum and your hero busted into the bad guy base. This is the last straw. Your hero is so fired up and ready to rumble, you're getting scared of him. But then—oh no!—his partner and best friend is hit by a stray bullet and is killed. The hero falls by his comrade's side, just to see the ugly boots of the bad guy with a gun trained on his head. No escape. No running. This is the end.

This is an example of a black moment (in short and...well, breezed over). The black moment is the time before the climax, the point of defeat in your hero's life. This is his darkest, most revealing moment in time. Everything is going wrong. All seems lost. His friends are dead and he is chained to the wall of his worst enemy's bathroom with a slow-acting poison entering his nervous system. There is no way out.

The black moment is a hard thing to write and to read about. You've been training and bringing up this hero for months now, and now you have to come close to killing him, to stab his soul and see what happens. The most important thing to remember at this time is to not just bring the hero down physically, but emotionally. Don't just stab him in the leg and leave him bleeding and dying, kill an ally or let the villain monologue about how useless the hero is. Let the hero's negative characteristics, his weaknesses and greatest fears, be realized in this moment. And don't, by all means, make it a simple, easy thing. Make it as hopeless as possible. This should be where the readers go, "Oh, well, he's dead. There's no way he's getting out of this."


2. Facing the Villain
The black moment is your hero's most hopeless moment. He must triumph, of course, and struggle to the next battle—which is a face-off between him and his worst nightmare. The villain should represent all things the hero fears. The villain must present a horror-filled and terrifying image to your hero—to him, there's nothing worse than who he's facing.

This is where the villain strikes fear into your hero. This is where the hero must overcome the last fear and battle the villain for goodness's sake. It probably shouldn't be too drawn out, this facing of the villain—just a short scene, a small glimmer of doubt as the hero prepares to face his fears. It should happen just before the defeat of the villain—the hero seems like he's going to be defeated, then pulls his last card.

3. The Smackdown
Finally! The hero overcomes his fears and throws all he has into the last battle. The villain realizes he is done for and the hero defeats him with one deft stroke. All of the terror, the hopelessness, the loss, and the pain pay off in this moment—the hero totally whips up on the villain.

Perhaps more could be said. Perhaps I am leaving too much to the imagination. But the smackdown is a personal hero-thing, and I cannot choose your distinct smackdown. It could be a battle of swords, wits, blasters, or just mental power. But make it really, really cool.

4. Happily Ever After (or not)
The battle is won. There has been loss and victory, pain and healing, sorrow and joy. This is where your hero recognizes these, and either chooses to live happily or sadly. I can't tell you how to end your book—I only suggest that you make the very end as short as possibly without seeming too...rushed. Example, Inheritance, an installment in the Eragon series, has possibly the worst ending EVER. It lasts literally like, fifty pages. I mean, SERIOUSLY. I got SO BORED that I nearly gave up reading it. And I was almost done with it! So don't drag out the happy ending. Just make it happy and end the book. Better to leave your reader on an adrenaline rush than to leave them bored out of their minds, I always say.


Well. You did it. You have finished an entire novel. You have taken all of those loose ideas and stray characters and made something totally awesome out of it. How proud are you?

A.C.

How to Write a Novel: The Middle

Things are really. Really. REALLY. S-L-O-W.

You're so bored and awkward you just want to run away screaming. Or curl into a corner and die.

This is the Middle of your novel.

And yes, it is very scary.

This is going to be a shorter post because really the best cure for the Middle (and sometimes for WB) is a good strong dose of CONFLICT.

Conflict is the most important part of any story. But unfortunately you can't just throw random conflict in any part of a book. Like, randomly, in the middle of a heartfelt mommy-daughter hug, ninjas, when the book is about pirates, bust into the cabin and kill everyone. Well, I guess you could make this work, but really it's most most important to make sure the conflict moves the story forward.

Conflict should always contribute to a storyline in some way. It should never drag a story down or slow the progress of the plot, but advance it and cause the hero to make some hard decisions. It's true that conflict doesn't always have to be some physical battle between your hero and his enemy. Conflict comes in many packages: emotional, physical, natural, etc.

1. Physical Conflict
Physical conflict is the most common form of conflict ever. Physical conflict consists of your hero faces physical foes, such as the villain, thugs on the street, getting run over by a car, and battling a monkey over his bike lock keys. Physical conflict is a very good and convenient way to add spice to a boring piece of prose, since you can make PC out of almost any situation. The important thing to remember while dealing with PC, though, is to make it significant. Don't let it be something the hero brushes off as he gets ready for the real deal; make it important. Make it worthy of his time. If thugs attack, make them take his wallet with his secret agent ID in it. If a monkey takes his keys, don't let him have them back. If a bus breaks down, make it burst into flames. Don't make it easy. >:}

2. Emotional Conflict
Being a girl, this is my favorite type of conflict. I love this kind of conflict because it adds depth to your characters and shows that they, too, have problems with their lives sometimes. Emotional conflict consists of your character in a battle against his emotions, or someone else's. Sometimes, your hero can even be at war with himself, in a general term. For instance, my character Eadën competes with his emotions on a daily basis. His past haunts him and he wants to get away from it, and he is afraid of himself because part of him wants to hold on to his dark side. This causes awesome EC. He is fighting against himself to forget what he did in his past.

2. Natural Conflict
Natural conflict is conflict that comes from natural sources, mainly nature. Storms, floods, tornadoes, rockslides, and avalanches all count as NC. Natural conflict works best in books where the villain is nature (such as a novel about a lost boy who wants to get home from the forest he was deserted in and must face the elements in order to get back to his house, for instance), but they are useful in all novels as momentary conflicts. I know it is really hard to get NC to do something that matters in a novel, but it is possible. One way to make sure is to keep the bad things coming.

Things should never, ever, ever be easy for you protagonist. You should always keep throwing stuff at him until he cracks, and then throw some more. Always make things as bad as possible. Could this get any worse? should be his motto. That is how you create good conflict in a novel.


Ciao,

A.C.

How to Write a Novel: The Middlish-Beginning

By this time in your novel, you're probably thinking two words.

1) Bored
2) Stuck
3) Level 12 "Failure"

Okay, so that's really three words. Oh, wait, no...one, two...four, not including the numbers. Well, it's easy to feel this way. Actually, around this area is where the Writer's Block sets in. But we won't let that happen, in case you've forgotten.


1. The New World

So, your hero just accepted the challenge fate has handed to him. He's pulled the sword from his sheath and charged into battle screaming war cries of either terror and/or courage. So, what now?

Well, it's important to set out a new world for your character—something totally different from what he's used to. Frodo's new world was the land beyond the Shire, traveling with the Fellowship. Luke Skywalker's new world is space and the ways of a Jedi.

This may seem like an obvious point, but you would be surprised at how easily this is overlooked. It's not just about sticking your character in a new environment he's not used to. You must make sure he's forced to act in ways he's not used to. If a dragon shows up, your hero can't run away anymore. He has to face the beast head-on, mano a mano, for whatever reason. This is what creates a believable New World.

But remember to make your hero's progression to actual heroism an upward slope. He can't just magically become a master of all magic and whap all who cross his path. You understand, right?


2. The Villain

I know (or at least I hope) by this point you have already figured out who your villain is and what he's doing to make a mess. Well, around this point, your hero becomes straight-forwardly against the bad guy. He's not a watcher anymore, he's an actor. He won't stand by the sidelines and wait for the right moment, he goes looking for the right moment.

The villain should become directly involved against the hero at this point as well, if he wasn't already. He may think, My my, what a foolish boy, or he may say, Oh dear, now I may actually have to watch out for him. Whichever your villain tells you, act upon it. If he's sort of indifferent to the hero, you may want to just test him out, feel for a weakness, maybe by sending a couple thugs to see how he reacts. Or maybe he's the type to immediately try to wipe him off the face of the planet. Create conflict based on your villain's view of the hero.


With these little sweethearts under your belt, you're off to a WB-free middle.

OR ARE YOU...?


A.C.

How to Write a Novel: The Beginning

THERE'S A GIANT PINK MAN-EATING VAMPIRE BUNNY ON YOUR HEAD!!!

Yeah, that got you hooked, didn't it?

Anyways. Today I would like to present to you the age-old question asked by people all over the world.

How, in the name of Bob the Monkey, do you actually write a novel that people will look at and say more than, "I liked it, it was good" after the first chapter?!?!

Hmm...good question. Hard to answer in one post, but I will do my best.

Writing a novel is like painting a picture or creating the perfect mushy fudgey brownie. It takes time. And there are rules, but only if you want a really good story that knocks J.K. Rowling out of the water (not guaranteed, but we can try, can't we?).

When I first started out noveling, I just wrote scenes as they came to me. One moment, my characters would be like, "AHG THERE'S A MONKEY OVER THERE!" and then go straight to a tea party without a second thought. It wasn't until I hit middle school that I began to wonder, "Okay, for real, is there some secret recipe to writing a good novel? I mean, this stinks!"

That's when I took One Year Adventure Novel, which taught me the basics of a good novel. (NaNoWriMo helped as well. Their book, Ready, Set, Novel!, is a creative way to get a head start on noveling.)

So, we get to the beginning of a novel. DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNNN....*cue really dramatic expression*

THE BEGINNING

Yup. That one part we all dread. That little paragraph of misery that holds us captive until we can't stand looking at that blank sheet of paper anymore. This is where we tackle it and grab it's neck and tell it who's wearing the big hat here.

I think I'll put that bold imposing thing here now in little stinky letters so it will look less fearsome.

the beginning

There, not nearly so bad now, is it?

The beginning of a novel serves to show readers what world our heroes are living in. What is the setting? Do they live in a magical land filled with dragons, or a post-apocalyptic desert? What is the hero's story up to this point? Sometimes you may want to keep this secret, but if not, it's good to clear up your main character's past as soon as possible. Once you figure out these important facts, it's time to move on to the writing.

1. The Hook

What do you first notice when you open your favorite book? What really catches your eye and holds your attention? Well, I hope you answered 'the first sentence of the book', because that's the right answer! The first sentence of a novel is called the hook. The hook is meant to grab the reader's attention and make them say, "WHOA, now THAT'S a book I could read!"

This said, you definitely want to start your book out with a really conflicting scene. A character combing her hair isn't nearly as interesting as a character who's facing the ultimate bully in the janitor's closet, right? What I usually do is start the book as close to the conflict as I can. For instance, if the story was about a boy who's battle was against the school bully, I'd start it with the hero and the bully fighting it off in the cafeteria instead of the hero on his way to school. In other words, make the first scene count.

Here's a good example of a hook sentence (or, more like, group of sentences, which counts):

      "Success.

      It was Dirco's only thought as he blinked past the ashes flecking his eyelashes and stared down opponent. The thin, smirking elf, who stood about twenty feet away, fingered the hem of his dark blue robe in that infuriating way of his, simpering at Dirco as if he was an utter failure.

      Failure. The word must not be considered."

And, for good measure, here's a really bad one.

"Bob opened the door and took the mail from the mailman, then walked back to his table, set it down, and poured himself a cup of coffee."

...Yeah. I know. It makes a huge difference, trust me.

If you're having a lot of trouble with the very beginning of your book, try starting it out with a big dose of conflict. Make your hero fight his sister. Or have him spar a friend. Or put him in a pie-eating contest. Hey, it could happen.

2. The Inciting Incident

So that may not make much sense up there (that little number 2 and the bold letters you don't understand?). Let me clear that up. Inciting means 'to stir up', and an incident is an event. So, Starting the Book would be more appropriate, but the alliteration of 'Inciting Incident' is just really cool.

What is the single moment—the huge decision, the big problem, the tornado that hits Dorothy's house in Kansas, if you will—that really gets your book diving into the story? What happens to the hero that throws him into the jaws of terror? This is the Inciting Incident. Most writing courses teach to fit the Inciting Incident into the first chapter, but it doesn't really matter. In my book The Journey, the first chapter sort of tells the readers what the setting is and who the heroes are before leading up to the Inciting Incident, and that's okay. Just don't make the beginning drag, or it'll get boring really fast. Readers like the story to start when the book starts. Make sense?


That just about covers the first chapter of a structured novel. Keep in mind that the first chapter of your novel should NOT make you bored. If you're bored, the reader will be too. The job of the first chapter is to grab the reader's attention, leave her wondering what will happen next, and force her to keep reading. That's all you could want out of Chapter 1.

Check back soon to learn about The Middlish-Beginning (Act II).

Until next time,

A.C.

How to Write a Novel: The Outline

BOOOOOOO-RIIIIIIIINNNGGG.

That's what you're probably thinking right now, if you just read that post title. I know I did, just typing it. The truth is, I completely HATE outlining a book. It's probably the most tortuous thing I can possibly think of doing, besides sitting in a dark room with flying baboons and clowns force-feeding me furry green pudding. I just want to get to the writing part, if it's okay with you. Enough of the technicalities. Gimme the pen and paper and let me do my thing.

That's what I once thought (silly me) every time I sat down to work on a book. It wasn't long before I found, about halfway through the story, that I had no idea where I was going. I didn't know what happened in the end, or the middle, or even the beginning. I just started with the characters and went from there.

I think this is a big problem in a whole bunch of young writers. They think the characters are everything. Well, I can tell you from experience that characters are the biggest part of the book, but they alone don't cut the biscuit. To get a whole, completed, readable novel, you need to know the generic outline of a basic story.

The Outline:

1. The Beginning (Act I)
a. The Hook
b. The Inciting Incident

2. The Middlish-Beginning (Act II)
d. The New World
e. The Villain

3. The Middle (Act III)
f. Conflict, conflict, conflict

4. The End (Act IV)
g. The Black Moment
h. Facing the Villain
i. The Smackdown
j. Happily Ever After (or not)


As you can see, there are many sub-acts that happen during the main Acts. Now, this isn't a guideline to all of the good writing in the world—it is just what I find most important in a book. Goodness knows there are so many other things you can add to a story: death, true love, betrayal, secrets, surprises...

Anyways. Back to the main point. Since discovering these important facts, when I start a book now, I force myself to not get too excited and jump right in and take time to write out an outline. Here is a webpage that gives good templates of writing outlines.

Well, there you have it. You have just made a commitment to write a better book. Congratulations! Now have more fun outlining it than I do, and come back tomorrow for the next post on THE BEGINNING (dun dun duuuuuunnn...*cue dramatic look off to the side*)

A.C.