Comments on: My Nano No-Nos https://wordsonpageblog.com/2011/11/my-nano-no-nos.html a freelance writing resource. Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:42:26 +0000 hourly 1 By: Lori https://wordsonpageblog.com/2011/11/my-nano-no-nos.html#comment-9675 Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:42:26 +0000 http://loriwidmer.com/wordsonpage/index.php/2011/11/my-nano-no-nos.html/#comment-9675 Paula, that indeed is odd. I cannot be more organized in my work life or personal life, but my fiction life is just not working with the outlines. I've tried so many times and just gave up – sometimes on the ideas even.

Devon, I hear what you're saying. I hear also that the rhythm is important. Lord, is that ever true. It's just there have been times – and I'm very guilty of this – that when I sit down and can't get out that 1,000 words because it's just not in me that day, the guilt takes over. (recovering Catholics never fully recover)

You sell many more books than I do, so I'm definitely taking heed of what you're saying. And I like the deadline aspect. THAT is my motivation, and it's why Nano works for me. If I start it with a clear deadline in mind – a fixed one that can't be moved – I'm going to finish. Period. Germanic side of me won't compromise on that.

Ashley, that's a great outcome. 🙂 You know the weird part? I outline my articles – in my queries! But try that with a book and I'm lost. Fiction, for me, is so very fluid, unlike nonfiction. I can't tie myself down. 🙂

]]> By: Ashley https://wordsonpageblog.com/2011/11/my-nano-no-nos.html#comment-9674 Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:20:30 +0000 http://loriwidmer.com/wordsonpage/index.php/2011/11/my-nano-no-nos.html/#comment-9674 I'm like you – I struggle with an outline or bits of a project. I just do the whole thing at once. Just wrote a research paper that exact way. My professor wanted us to turn in bits throughout the semester so we didn't get overwhelmed at the end (and we're graduate students, so seriously, if you haven't learned time management by now, you'd better learn FAST). So I ended up writing the entire paper just so I could turn in the required thesis statement last week. But that means I have the introduction done that's due this week 🙂 And I have plenty of time left for all the edits I want to do!

I'm that way with magazine articles and other writing too. If the lede doesn't come to me immediately, it will often be the last thing I write. Don't know why that works for me, but it's going well so far.

]]> By: Devon Ellington https://wordsonpageblog.com/2011/11/my-nano-no-nos.html#comment-9672 Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:44:31 +0000 http://loriwidmer.com/wordsonpage/index.php/2011/11/my-nano-no-nos.html/#comment-9672 As I said in yesterday's third comment, I really disagree with not aiming towards a daily word quota. In terms of Nano, it's necessary. In terms of a life writing novels, it's a must. Books aren't written in 10 words whenever you feel like it and then 4 or 5K marathon sessions. They are written like running a marathon — you build up to a steady, regular rhythm. Stopping and starting shows in the manuscript.

Also, if you have a commitment to write a minimum of 1K/day (as writers including Ray Bradbury and Carolyn See discuss), it makes you deal with the problems in the book instead of walking away from the page every time it gets difficult.

I've now had several hundred students pass through my classes. The ones that are getting regularly published and selling well are the ones that write at least 1k/day. The ones that ebb and flow in their word count too much or skip too many days in between writing sessions don't finish their books, or, if they ever limp across the finish line, wonder why they keep getting rejected. Because the rhythm is choppy. While some of that is fixed in edits, every book has a natural rhythm that reveals itself in the first draft. You find it by being with it every day, and 1000 words (four pages) gives you enough space to remember where you were, settle into the flow, and move forward.

It's the SAME THING is a yoga or meditation practice. Sure, a few minutes a day is better than nothing. But the point is to do it regularly and build from five minutes to thirty minutes to whatever your goal it. To find that rhythm.

I used to hate outlining, but now that I'm juggling series and trilogies and stand-alones and short stories, not only does the outline allow me to drop into my word as soon as I sit down, but I've now accepted the wisdom given by wiser writers who recommended the Series Bible. I simply can't remember all those details in all those individual worlds. It takes forever to re-read everything. The outline, the Series Bible — succinct, specific, well-organized information that allows me to solve the problem in front of me and let the creativity fly again. Because readers will catch those flaws and call you out! 😉

I treat my fiction and non-fiction the same. They're both deadlined. The deadlines I make for myself are as sacred as anything on contract, maybe more so.

Totally agree with the editing — if you keep going back and editing, you get lopsided, because the first section is over-edited and you start hitting the point of diminishing return, the middle is kinda sorta where it needs to be, and the end is too raw.

Working through full drafts with an eye to specifics in each pass keeps it balanced and flowing.

]]> By: Paula https://wordsonpageblog.com/2011/11/my-nano-no-nos.html#comment-9671 Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:34:47 +0000 http://loriwidmer.com/wordsonpage/index.php/2011/11/my-nano-no-nos.html/#comment-9671 I'm not a fiction writer, but with lengthy non-fiction articles I list the main points I want to make, note which quotations fit those points and start piecing it together. IT grows organically, fluidily, meaning my #3 point might wind up further down in the story. The funny thing is I almost always know the final quotation the moment I see it.

I do write spec scripts now and then, and have interviewed tons of scriptwriters at all levels of success. The funny thing is most of them will swear they hate outlines and never do outlines. They do storyboards and plan specific beats they need for each scene….which of course are simply ways of outlining a plot.

Lori, given our mutual love of list making, doesn't it seem odd that neither of us like outlines?

]]> By: Lori https://wordsonpageblog.com/2011/11/my-nano-no-nos.html#comment-9670 Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:07:46 +0000 http://loriwidmer.com/wordsonpage/index.php/2011/11/my-nano-no-nos.html/#comment-9670 You guessed it, Jake. I couldn't do that damned outline until I was done with the essay. Ironically, my articles are written nearly always using a thrown-together, unique-to-me outline. I'm my own contradiction. 😉

Sounds like a great plan, Jake. I've done similar things, but not as often as I should.

]]> By: Jake P https://wordsonpageblog.com/2011/11/my-nano-no-nos.html#comment-9669 Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:21:59 +0000 http://loriwidmer.com/wordsonpage/index.php/2011/11/my-nano-no-nos.html/#comment-9669 OK, so I'm guessing that back in your school days you employed the same workaround I did: Write the paper first, then reverse-engineer an outline from it!

I wasn't even tempted by NaNo this year. Too much on my plate. But as a person who thinks "writer's block" is a lame excuse, I usually find that an incentive will work. I'm not allowed to run errands until…I can't go for a run until…I can't eat lunch until…Negative incentives seem to work better for me. Not sure why!

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