WEbook Blog: A Writer's Resource

NaNoWriMo Day 30: Closing Comments

William Tiernan's excellent coverage of The National Novel Writing Month has, sadly, come to a close. If you haven't gotten a chance to read his month long journey, read through his previous posts to get a feel for the narrative arc, or so to speak. Be sure to leave your closing comments as well!

There are so many bits of NaNoWriMo advice to offer before starting this crazy process.  But now that you’ve reached, or are about to reach (I’ve got 876 words to write today) the finish line, here is one final NaNo “Do” and “Don’t” to consider:
 
Don’t, under any circumstance, use your NaNo as a pitch point in a query letter. As in …

NaNoWriMo Day 24: Thanksgiving Week

At this point in NaNoWriMo I’m tempted to say that process is more important than product. That the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. That the hard work invested to reach the finish line is more important than actually crossing it. That 25.9 miles is the same as 26.2. That Thanksgiving week is a time to shelve NaNos for turkey and mash potatoes.   

Well, screw all that. If we’d signed up for 31,003 words of sparkling prose we would have, well, signed up for a writing class. Instead we chose the NaNo – a 50,000+ word hyper novel that promises to be so messy, mystifying, and grammatical and structurally challenged our own grandmothers won’t praise it. Good for us. Let’s finish this thing off. 

NaNoWriMo Day 17: Get to the Point!

We're just past the halfway point of the NaNo. How is everyone doing? Feeling the burn? Gotten that second wind yet? We hope so. William Tiernan's blog coverage of NaNo continues, let's see how he's doing...

Many things get put on hold during NaNoWriMo, like dishes and showering and sleep. But reading shouldn’t be one of them. Reading recharges the writing battery. Accomplished authors are accomplished for a reason. Entering their worlds offers fresh perspective on vocabulary, conventions, point of view, plotting, character development, suspense, and so on. There are many gems to mine.

NaNoWriMo Day 10: The Perspective Tune-up

William Tiernan's blog coverage of NaNoWriMo continues! If you're new to the series, catch up on his novel writing marathon so far.

My NaNo died. On Friday it threw up its arms, muttered a few obscenities, and dragged itself into the literary shop for repairs. I’d like to compare it to a car that conked out at 300,000 miles. But I’d just driven the thing off the lot. It barely had 5,000 words on it.

I was trying to write a sequel. Several of the characters had already been established; I was passionate about the subject matter; and I’d created a detailed plot outline. A decent recipe for NaNoWriMo success – except it wasn’t working. Day 1 went well, but by Friday I knew my NaNo mobile wasn’t crossing the finish line. I was at a total loss.

NaNoWriMo Day 1: Ready, Set, NaNo

William Tiernan's blog coverage of NaNoWriMo continues with the first official November installment! If you need to catch up on what's been covered so far, read Will's introductory post. Be sure to share your own experiences in the comments. You can also start more NaNoWriMo talk in our brand new forum!

College basketball's "Midnight Madness" has nothing on NaNoWriMo. The NCAA’s annual b-ball kickoff includes just a few hundred colleges. That’s peanuts compared to NaNoWriMo’s thousands of writers. Or is it tens of thousands? Or hundreds of thousands?  Whatever the number, a whole host of people starting a novel today is an inspiring proposition. It’s like Critical Mass, only with word processors instead of bicycles.

NaNoWriMo Mania: One Month, One Novel

WEbook veterans will probably remember William Tiernan (penname:TsungChi) who was an editor for WEbook's 101 Things Every Man Should Know, and our community specialist. Anyone who keeps up with writing news is also probably aware that November is The National Novel Writing Month, and it's almost here. 

Well, it just so happens that William will be participating in the NaNoWriMo experience, so we decided to have him document his journey on the WEbook blog. Throughout the month, he'll share his successes, failures, and everything in between via regular blog installments. We also encourage anyone else participating in the NaNoWriMo to contribute their own perspective in the comments section.

The official kick-off is next Monday, but here's a little intro to get everyone warmed up and ready for the long haul.