Nano Stuff - Tips and Resources
Oct. 21st, 2006 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trancer21since many on my flist are taking the Nano plunge this year *yay! I'm not alone*. I figured I'd share the love by giving some tips regarding what I learned doing this last year. Mostly, this is more for me as a reminder
My Top 11 Tips for taking the Nano Plunge -
1. You Are Not Alone. As aggravating, time-consuming, just plain out exhausting doing Nano is, part of the fun is taking the plunge with people who are in the same boat as you are. There's always going to be the jackass who's 12,000 words ahead of you, just as there is someone who's 12,000 words behind.
2. Honestly, there's no need to buy 'No Plot, No Problem'. It's more of a writer's motivational guide rather than a writing guide. Which brings me to..
3. The Forums rock. If you're blocked, panicked, unsure, insecure or just plain need someone to chat with rather than write, the forums have anything and *everything* you could possibly need to get you through the month. I highly recommend the 'Word Wars' threads.
4. If you do visit the forums, it's best to ignore people who, on the first day, hit 50,000 or even 100,000. They're either a) lying or b) typically writers who are working on the *next* 50k of their novel. I personally think signing up on the first day with 50k is sorta cheating but since you're not really winning anything other than a sense of accomplishment, I don't let it bug me.
5. Multivitamins. Seriously, stock up on the multivitamins because at 1550 words a day, you will lose sleep. I got seriously sick right near the end last year and wound up summarising the last three chapters to get to the 50k mark.
6. Say goodbye to family and friends. Nano will eat your life and you won't be seeing them much over the next 30 days. It's probably a good idea beforehand to remind that 'yes, I did sign up for a competition where you really don't win anything other than a sense of accomplishment but I'm doing this so support me and get out of my way or just get out of my way, dammit!'.
7. Do Not Panic. Everybody gets behind. It should be noted, if you hit the 10k mark, odds are with you that you'll finish!
8. You will get behind your word count. But, that's okay. You will also catch up.
9. It's all about *quantity* and not quality. It's okay if it sucks. That's what rough drafts are for. It's all about getting to the end, come Hell or high water.. or lots of filler that's porn!
10. Make a 'Nano writing space'. The weekend before Nov. 1 I'm rearranging my spare room into my Nano room. The way it is now, it's my current writing space and all the bad habits I've created around it. Making a new space is my way of cleaning out the old and starting Nano with the new.
11. You Must Finish! If not you will be attacked by a crazed pack of howler monkeys in parachute pants while William Hung sings "Muskrat Love" in the background.
Next is a bunch of writer resources, mainly outlining, that I culled from the forums's and figured people might wanna be interested in looking at.
Writer's Resources
These are resources I've found on the Nano forums that might be helpful to people taking the plunge, or, heck, just writing in General.
Story Right - I can't fully say how completely awesome this program is. It's free for thirty days, making it perfect for Nano. In a nutshell, it's nothing you couldn't do on your own but it's the simplicity of the program that makes it such a godsend. It's basically an outlining program that 'provides an online service for designing and organizing your stories. It's an easy way to manage all the details of your story before you start writing'. It also allows you to save everything in Word format so you have a copy on your harddrive.
My favorite part of the program is the Chapters and Scenes section, which allows you to create scenes and place them anywhere within your story. It's basically the notecard method in computer form!
Cameron's Outline Helper - Similar to Story Right except in Excel format. I started out with this but will probably wind up using the Story Right program, mainly because my stylesheet program doesn't read .xls. Stupid Microsoft!!
Writing.com Summary Sheet - Exactly what it says a basic summary sheet of your Main Characters, the themes and plots.
The Snowflake Method - I've heard this is very popular. I don't know. One look at those damn snowflakes and my head starts to spin.
The All-Mighty Zokuto Word Meter!! Probably the greatest and worse resource you can use because it creates a ticker that shows you how many words you've written.. and how many left you have to go. Great when you're in the home stretch, an albatross around your neck during the mid-month doldrums!
My Top 11 Tips for taking the Nano Plunge -
1. You Are Not Alone. As aggravating, time-consuming, just plain out exhausting doing Nano is, part of the fun is taking the plunge with people who are in the same boat as you are. There's always going to be the jackass who's 12,000 words ahead of you, just as there is someone who's 12,000 words behind.
2. Honestly, there's no need to buy 'No Plot, No Problem'. It's more of a writer's motivational guide rather than a writing guide. Which brings me to..
3. The Forums rock. If you're blocked, panicked, unsure, insecure or just plain need someone to chat with rather than write, the forums have anything and *everything* you could possibly need to get you through the month. I highly recommend the 'Word Wars' threads.
4. If you do visit the forums, it's best to ignore people who, on the first day, hit 50,000 or even 100,000. They're either a) lying or b) typically writers who are working on the *next* 50k of their novel. I personally think signing up on the first day with 50k is sorta cheating but since you're not really winning anything other than a sense of accomplishment, I don't let it bug me.
5. Multivitamins. Seriously, stock up on the multivitamins because at 1550 words a day, you will lose sleep. I got seriously sick right near the end last year and wound up summarising the last three chapters to get to the 50k mark.
6. Say goodbye to family and friends. Nano will eat your life and you won't be seeing them much over the next 30 days. It's probably a good idea beforehand to remind that 'yes, I did sign up for a competition where you really don't win anything other than a sense of accomplishment but I'm doing this so support me and get out of my way or just get out of my way, dammit!'.
7. Do Not Panic. Everybody gets behind. It should be noted, if you hit the 10k mark, odds are with you that you'll finish!
8. You will get behind your word count. But, that's okay. You will also catch up.
9. It's all about *quantity* and not quality. It's okay if it sucks. That's what rough drafts are for. It's all about getting to the end, come Hell or high water.. or lots of filler that's porn!
10. Make a 'Nano writing space'. The weekend before Nov. 1 I'm rearranging my spare room into my Nano room. The way it is now, it's my current writing space and all the bad habits I've created around it. Making a new space is my way of cleaning out the old and starting Nano with the new.
11. You Must Finish! If not you will be attacked by a crazed pack of howler monkeys in parachute pants while William Hung sings "Muskrat Love" in the background.
Next is a bunch of writer resources, mainly outlining, that I culled from the forums's and figured people might wanna be interested in looking at.
Writer's Resources
These are resources I've found on the Nano forums that might be helpful to people taking the plunge, or, heck, just writing in General.
Story Right - I can't fully say how completely awesome this program is. It's free for thirty days, making it perfect for Nano. In a nutshell, it's nothing you couldn't do on your own but it's the simplicity of the program that makes it such a godsend. It's basically an outlining program that 'provides an online service for designing and organizing your stories. It's an easy way to manage all the details of your story before you start writing'. It also allows you to save everything in Word format so you have a copy on your harddrive.
My favorite part of the program is the Chapters and Scenes section, which allows you to create scenes and place them anywhere within your story. It's basically the notecard method in computer form!
Cameron's Outline Helper - Similar to Story Right except in Excel format. I started out with this but will probably wind up using the Story Right program, mainly because my stylesheet program doesn't read .xls. Stupid Microsoft!!
Writing.com Summary Sheet - Exactly what it says a basic summary sheet of your Main Characters, the themes and plots.
The Snowflake Method - I've heard this is very popular. I don't know. One look at those damn snowflakes and my head starts to spin.
The All-Mighty Zokuto Word Meter!! Probably the greatest and worse resource you can use because it creates a ticker that shows you how many words you've written.. and how many left you have to go. Great when you're in the home stretch, an albatross around your neck during the mid-month doldrums!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2006-10-22 03:40 am (UTC)Oh you're pure frakking evil for that image!
And I like some of your "rules" and definitely your resources. I'm gonna use some of them this time around, and hopefully I'll get another win...
no subject
on 2006-10-22 12:52 pm (UTC)NOW I'M SCARED.
damn you.
;)
no subject
on 2006-10-22 03:53 pm (UTC)Lol, when self-motivation isn't enough there's always fear! And what's scarier than William hung getting another 15 minutes of fame!
And I like some of your "rules" and definitely your resources.
They're not really rules as much as tips. Rules are made by people who are actually making money at this ;)
As for resources, right now I'm using a combination of Story Right and the outline helper. Although, if you figure out the Snowflake method - could you explain it to me ;)
no subject
on 2006-10-22 04:08 pm (UTC)I'll see what I can do with the Snowflake method. If I get it, I'll do my best to explain it...
I'm actually debating what I'm going to do this year....still. I probably won't know until the last minute, knowing me... *g*
no subject
on 2006-10-22 04:12 pm (UTC)I've already arranged with a friend to quiz me with number of words written and inspirational pep-talks, and I've a bottle or two of vitamins at the ready. So I just need to make a space, think of a story and wait for November.
no subject
on 2006-10-22 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-10-22 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-10-22 05:04 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-10-22 05:22 pm (UTC)Just remember tip #1 - you are not alone. I downloaded a Nano calender, which has the word count on each day, and started getting heart palpitations!
I've already arranged with a friend to quiz me with number of words written and inspirational pep-talks..
Aww, I wish I had someone to give me inspirational pep-talks. Right now, mine are on the level of 'get yer ass to work, dammit!'.
no subject
on 2006-10-22 07:34 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-10-22 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-10-27 05:04 pm (UTC)I agree it is cheating.. but my doctor said I shouldn't let these things bother me so much but damn!
>q>Do Not Panic.
Shouldn't that be number 1?