JulNoWriMo (or July Novel Writing Month) is just like NaNoWriMo except it takes place in July instead of November.

Rules:

1. Write 50,000 words in 31 days. (You get an EXTRA day in July!)
2. Write a minimum of 1,613 words per day. (Unless you want to cram.)
3. Writing begins midnight of July 1 and ends 11:59pm July 31 (your timezone).

That’s it! Now, it helps to register at the URL above, but it’s not necessary. (If you choose not to, you won’t get all the free goodies at the end of the month if you win.) It’s free to register, and there’s even a forum where you can talk to other writers and post your successes.

Okay, now technicalities: In NaNo, you can’t use a previous WIP (work in progress), but in JulNo, you can use whatever you’d like, but you have to write 50,000 NEW words in July.

So, you have TWENTY days to get your outlines together for the BIG DAY. Get on it! :)

Many people ask me how I can sit down and write a novel. I guess people (non-writers) assume that everything is in my head, and I have a firm grasp of what’s going to happen next.

HA!

I can’t remember what I did yesterday - much less what a character did, or a group of characters. Of course I have a record of what’s going on. Sometimes, I plan until I turn blue - also known as “analysis by paralysis.” No actual writing is being done, but a whole heck of a lot of planning is! (I fall into this trap…a lot.)

There are four ways I prepare. Some may work for you, some may not.

1.) Pants it. (Pantser: A writer who writes “on-the-edge-of-the-seat.” No planning. I can’t do this well needless to say, but some people thrive off it.)

2.) Snowflake Pro software. (I’ve mentioned this so many times, it would be like beating a dead horse…although I’m not sure why anyone would actually do that.)

3.) Phase Drafting. (I learned this during NaNo. Here are two websites you can read to get more information. Click here and here.) This is just a generally amazing resource that I use not only for November but year-round. You can find it here.

4.) Some combination of the above. (My MOST used!)

Well, obviously if you do #1, you can’t do #2 or #3, so it’s likely a combination of the second and third. (Although, sometimes during NaNo, I’ll plan, draft, and Snowflake, etc. everything, and on the first of the month, I wind of pantsing it anyway! Kinda funny.)

Those are just some tips. They may or may not work for you, but you never know until you try. :)

Meow. Just because. :)

Photo credit: NY Daily News

I think it should be called “weekend planning,” but I sort of like alliteration, so it’s staying. After all, I have to write while I plan, so it kind of fits.

Many readers don’t know, but I don’t have classes on Fridays, and I usually use it for a “rest day” where I don’t do any work. In order to jump-start a lot of these projects, I’m going to be Snowflaking Fridays and seeing how much I can potentially do in a day. I would imagine that I can accomplish quite a bit if that’s the main focus of the day. 

I am a firm believer on sharing goals with a larger public (even if that only includes a best friend). The simple act of sharing includes another person, which means the possibility of disappointment. So, even though many of you will not be disappointed if I don’t reach this goal, the simple fact that I will have to admit it to the “world” is enough for me to try my best. 

I’ll preface this a little bit. If you’re not familiar with the Snowflake Pro software, there are 9 steps. 

1. One-sentence summary (basically taking the entire novel idea and paring it down to one sentence. It’s harder than it seems!)
2. One paragraph summary (Taking step one, you are supposed to expand that further into one paragraph. Think of it as Act 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. until the ending.)
3. Define your characters (This includes ALL characters - big or small. In here, there is the name, ambition, story goal, conflict, epiphany, and more.)
4. Short synopsis. (Each sentence in Step 2 gets expanded into its own paragraph.)
5. Character synopses (Each character’s story through their own eyes.)
6. Long synopsis (The short synopsis expanded to about 4 pages.)
7. Character charts (Age, date of birth, occupation, eye color, hair color, height, weight, type of dressing, humor type, personality, ethnicity, etc. This takes a LOT of brainpower!)
8. List of scenes (Just what it sounds like. Each scene gets ordered and categorized.)
9. Notes and ideas for scenes (Dialogue, setting, prose, etc. for scenes.)

Those are the nine steps to building a very-detailed skeleton for a novel. Right now, I’m on step 5. I’ve done one character, and I have ten more to do. This will take a pretty long time to really switch viewpoints.

Okay, so reasonably, what can I expect of myself by midnight on Saturday? 

1. Finish Step 5 (5 hours total - 30 minutes for each character, which isn’t a lot of time!)
2. Finish Step 6 (rest of the day - approximately 8 or so hours).

I think that will take the most of my energy. I don’t usually do step 6, but I think it is important to get to know the structure of the novel BEFORE writing and making scenes. 

That’s Friday. I think I can squeeze Saturday in there. Saturday will be devoted to just Step 7, but there are 11 characters and 47 questions to answer for EACH of them. So, that’s 517 questions total. Some are easy, but other require a lot of detail. Because I do have homework and exams to study for, I’ll only be focusing on this step on Saturday.

On Sunday, if I have time, I hope to begin Steps 8 and 9. Because they’re related, I usually work on them at the same time. I do 300 scenes, and I expand them in prose/dialogue to roughly 333 words each to have a grand total of 100,000 words at the very end. 

Easy, peasy. 

Now, let’s just see if that happens. ;)

Oh, the creative juices are just FLOWING through me right now. This is exciting. I’m charged up, and I feel that I can just write endlessly for days on end without any distractions. Too bad it’s not November! I’m finding myself wrapped up in these new concepts, and I can’t help but to Snowflake the heck out of them. Characters are emerging, plots developing (even subplots!), and themes are taking root. Incredible. I thought I’d never open another Microsoft Word document! Well, okay, maybe that’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but I thought I would abandon the whole ‘writer-dream’ going on. After all, nothing was coming, but…..

                                                              BAM!! 

It hit…and it kind of hurt. My mind was just churning out new ideas. I felt like I was hibernating, and this was the result.

Okay, enough talk. What’s to expect on here for the rest of the week? I’m not one of those writers who pose as their characters and let them type in their voice. Nope. Not going to happen. As a psychology major, I think that’s *very* detrimental to a person’s sanity…posing as about 40 different people? I think that spells out dissociative identity disorder (multiple personalities!!). Yeah, not good, no bueno. So, I think I may upload some outlines, maybe find some relevant articles, or even some character synopses. 

If you’re a writer, you should check out the Snowflake program here. There’s a little bit about the process, then it goes into price. It says it’s 50% off RIGHT NOW (4/13), so that’s a great deal.

Backstory: I bought the Snowflake program when it FIRST came out. It was marked down from $100 to $20 (YES 80% off!). I haven’t started anything without it. If you’re not too keen on letting go of $50, Randy Ingermanson (the creator) goes into detail about the actual process. You’e basically paying for the software to organize everything…which is a life-saver. 

Also, you can get the FREE e-zene article he sends. There is a lot of good information, and you can’t beat free! There are other goodies on that site as well.

If you do a search on Google “snowflake method,” there will be plenty of blog posts concerning it (pro/cons, etc.). Take a look, if you’re interested.

(Note: If you’re a “pantser” (that is, you like to write as the words come and not bother with planning), the Snowflake method isn’t a really effective way to do things for you.)

I’ve forgotten the purpose of this post. Ha! Okay, go forth and create! :) 

It’s said that habits form easily, but they are hard to break. But then, there is a contradictory saying that says that habits are difficult to form. Who knows? 

I am pleased to say that my Muse is working DOUBLE time to bring me fresh ideas to novel about. Yes, I used “novel” as a verb. To me, it means “write in a novel-format.” Hey, if Shakespeare can make up over 2,000 words, I think I’m entitled to a few every now and then. Not that I’m putting myself in the rank of Shakespeare or anything…

Getting off that subject before I step on some toes. Basically, in the past two days, I’ve formed three ‘novel’ (as in a book) ideas with distinguished and distinct characters for each. I’m very excited. I’ve developed ONE so far. Hopefully, I will be sharing that adventure with you while I write it; however, I think I’m going to rush right through it so I have a rough draft on paper (or screen). That way, I can begin to write the second while editing the first. See? It all works out. 

I am going to give myself two months of *hard-core* planning before I begin actually writing. See, that’s VERY hard for me because I just LOVE to jump right into the prose, but I find that I stop writing soon after because nothing NEW comes to me anymore. I’m left questioning things that never get answered. And that’s FRUSTRATING. So, this time, I will PLAN before I write. I’m talking planning down to the letters that I’m writing. That level of detail. 

I’m excited. You should too…because I will be sharing detail and snippets of this crazy adventure that I call “novelling.” 

It seems as if for the past few months, I have been running away from my inner-writer. I was questioning this a few days ago when I realized that I didn’t have a slew of characters throwing themselves at me with their own plots. Truth be told, I missed it. I still miss it.

I don’t want to think it’s “just an illusion” that I’m back planning another novel. In fact, I hope that it will be my first-ever-completed-novel. See, I’ve started novels, but never quite finished them. Maybe I love the characters, got too bored, or had outside commitments; however, this time…this time is different.

This plot bunny that’s being developed as I type this has a story theme that is quite uncomprehensible. See, I’m taking a Shakespeare class. If there’s something you must know about Shakespeare, it’s that he doesn’t follow the rules. Never has! In his plays, he is able to get the audience to feel sympathy for the “bad” character. Sure, the audience is sympathizing with the “good” character too, but the “bad” one?!?

Well, I’m going to try my hand at playing the Shakespeare card and having the audience sympathize with the “bad” character. For those in high school or non-English majors, the “bad” character isn’t always the “antagonist.” In fact, he/she is usually the protagonist. “We” (and by “we”, I mean English teachers/majors/etc.) say generally the good character is the protagonist and the bad the antagonist. Completely false, though.

For example: Macbeth by Shakespeare. Macbeth causes his own destruction. He is the “bad” character. He is also the protagonist, and the title was even named after him! That’s just one applicable example. There are many, many more.

I hope to continue to update. I don’t want to give too much away right now since the plot isn’t fully developed, but I will try to regularly (once weekly) update. Biweekly would be better, but I have a rough schedule.

I hope to hear some comments (criticism or praise) on the idea. I’m looking forward to actually planning and writing this thing even though it may mean a lot of emotional strain on my part. Hopefully, my objective will be completed. :)

I’m more determined than ever to actually participate (and win!) NaNoWriMo. I’ve written many, many posts about the event, but as a recap:

• http://www.nanowrimo.org
• November 1-30
• 50,000 (new) words minimum
• new writing project

Oh, and have fun is the most important thing to remember!

Thousands of people around the world come together for this one event. Every opposing idea is pushed aside just to write. Wars continue on the outside, but on the inside, there is harmony. And NaNoWriMo is the reason.

Okay maybe that’s going a little far and utopia-like, but it’s still a lot of fun.

Last year I was forced to stop after the first week or so because exams were killing me. December is the month for finals and November is the “let’s-cram-everything-we-haven’t-learned-yet-in-one-month” month. It’s not pretty; but I’m determined to do it this year. Because, face it, there’s never a good time to write a novel. Something will always get in the way: work, travel, finals, child birth, debilitating diseases…Anyway, the point is that just because life will be just a little more hectic during this time doesn’t mean I can’t rearrange things to make this work.

And that is what I’ll do. Who wants to join me?

(My username is anonymouskitten. I do accept writing buddy requests. Just make sure you say “hi” once in awhile.)

#1: Take advantage of the burst of adrenal in the beginning. It won’t last all month. Make your goal not 1,667 words per day, but 2,000 and upward. Mine? At least 5,000 for the first week.

#2: Make sure you know you actually want to write this story. Once you’ve started NaNo, there really isn’t any turning back. Sure you can scrap the project and develop a new one, but the chances of accomplishing your goal diminishes by…a lot.

#3: Know your goal. Do you want this published later? Is it for yourself? Why are you participating? Writing it down and keeping it visible helps.

#4: Recruit friends…and enemies. Friends will keep you on track. Enemies provide great challenges and bursts of energy that will prove helpful. That said, siblings are great.

#5: Remember why you started NaNo. Not everything is about the word count. Most likely you joined to have fun and meet like-minded writers. And that’s just what you’re going to do!

#6:Don’t get discouraged. Someone somewhere will write more, better, faster than you. Write for you.

# 7: Don’t completely forget friends and family. Though they may not understand, they’ll support you…maybe.

#8: Sleep! Did you know that getting REM sleep connects neurological pathways that not only make it easier to write in the morning but can be used as a method to solving a dilemma you are facing?

#9: Eat. Like sleep above, eating properly will nourish your brain and keep it healthy. You’re likely to think better and come up with better plot twists when the time comes.

#10: Stay off the internet…for long periods of time. If you’re like me, you get easily sucked in the internet. Instead of writing, you’ll blog about writing, you’ll visit forums on NaNo or other sites, you’ll even stare idly at a youtube video for half an hour instead of write. Does that sound familiar? The internet can be your friend, but in small quantities. I find unplugging the Ethernet cord or making sure I have at least half my required words for the day completely helps limit online use.

I hope these helped!

Yes, we all know what “that” time of the year is and it’s approaching fast. Of course it’s none other than NaNoWriMo. Click here for the website and join in with the chaotic masses.

Already I’ve done some pre-outlining. Yes, pre-outlining. I haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet.

I’m going to answer a few questions then share my method of outlining and preparing for the month of craziness.

1.) Why do I want out of NaNo?

Obviously a rough draft of a manuscript or two would be nice; but seeing as 50k words doesn’t qualify as one manuscript, this will be difficult. I plan on having fun while writing the most I can considering my already-hectic schedule. I want a chance to prove to myself that I can do this.

2.) What is my NaNo goal?

Honestly, just finishing the 50k words is a goal and a half for me. With my 16-credit hour schedule, 28 hour a week job, and other extra-curricular obligations (not to mention finals!), I’ll have a hard enough time to complete this challenge. However, I’m promising myself I’ll write as much as I can whether that’s 50k or 20k.

3.) What do I want the first impression of this project to be?

Well, I’m writing a novel (hopefully) about four young ladies who are going through “rough patches” in their lives. I have character names and major flaws for each; however, I haven’t fleshed them out yet. I want the opening to be dark, dismal, and without hope. This will serve as a method to show the brightness of life, ironically.

4.) Where does this story take place?

I have no idea to be honest. I haven’t looked that far ahead and this is one thing out of many I need to start planning…and soon.

5.) Who is the focus of the story?

There are actually four main characters. Daredevil, I know. It’s going to be written in a third person omniscient point of view to lessen the pressure off of me and the reader. First person POV would be too difficult especially switching characters and such. I like to keep it simple.

6.) Does action play a major role in the story or is mostly internal emotion?

Action can be considered a character in this story since most of the MC’s problems are the ones they are bringing on themselves. Their actions are mostly affecting their lives with little outside action.

7.) Who will be first to speak and why?

That’s way too far ahead right now. In a few days or weeks, I’ll be able to answer that with almost certainty of what will be said as well.

8.) What will be the method of writing and planning?

Okay this is the good stuff- the meat of this post. I’m one who needs to plan to the letter. I love lists for everything too; so I’m combining these two into a very (very) detailed outline. Basically, I will do a phase system I learned when I first started NaNo. For this year, I’m writing out 300 phases. Phases are phrases that describe what will happen in each part. They can be called “scenes” too. With 50k words to write and 300 phases, I’ll need to write 167 words per phase. I like to break things down too and this goal is very attainable. The daily word count is 1,667 words; so I’ll need to do 10 phases a day to break even. Of course, there will be days I’ll exceed this goal and others I won’t quite make it.

To make this even easier, for each phase, I will write one broad sentence I can expand to about 200 words. (That will put me above and beyond the daily goal.)

This way on the first day I’m not looking at a blank document freaking out that I have to write 1,667 words to be on track and not knowing what to write.

That said, everything (for me anyway) needs to be written out. All phases (scenes), conflicts, characters, everything. I have a terrible memory and won’t remember that snippet of brilliant dialogue that came to me in August.

Having smaller lists posted next to the desk also helps so I don’t have to sift through a 100 page document looking for one minor detail about the character.

This method works well for me for many reasons. One, I’ve said I have a terrible memory. This clears that up. I like lists. They are convenient and easily read. I like to plan everything out so there’s no waiting around for a brilliant idea to pop in my mind. Finally, it allows me to write many more words than the required amount.

Many people see it as a waste of time; however, and choose to fly without a net or only a small raft. Well, I’m not big on heights or water, so I prefer a 50-foot yacht…just to be on the safe side.

:)

Funny story, between talking to Alan and doing homework, I decided to give NaNo another try. See, I have this outline of characters and I love them so I need to give them their story.

NaNoWriMo is in November, so I have plenty of time to outline the plot, conflict, and all sorts of fun things. Last year, I was too busy with Organic and Biology to do much writing and never did make the 50k requirement. I’m thoroughly excited about this November since I won’t be as busy as last year.

This post serves as a solemn promise to myself to complete the NaNo requirement. :)

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to maintain the writing website since I’ve been incredibly busy in class.

I’m halfway done with the May term: a two week intensive semester. I’m taking two courses (4 credits).

On 5/24, I will have another two courses (8 credits) until 7/1.

On 7/6, I will have another two courses (8 credits) until I believe 8/12.

I apologize for not being able to update as much as I’d like, but I do plan on writing here more.

I hope everybody is having a wonderful summer!

Followers and readers,

This semester has been incredibly busy and the summer will only prove to be even slightly busier unfortunately. With all the stress, I’ve found no time to post on here or maintain the Wordaholic website. I hope I’ll find some time to devote to these, but I appreciate everybody reading older posts on here and participating in discussion threads on the website.

Thank you and be on the look-out for more posts.

-Cayleigh

I created a website. I know, how tech-savvy am I? Actually not really, but I am excited about this new adventure.

It’s a writing forum with specific groups to discuss anything about writing, film, reading. Anything really. There’s even a coffeehouse group where (near) anything can be discussed.

Here is the link. To use it, you’ll have to sign up; but don’t worry, it’s free. :) I hope to develop it further. It’s a huge work in progress and I made it last night around 2am on a whim.

Comments, suggestions, critiques are greatly appreciated.

I was catching up on my online literature and I happened on a blog post on creativity. As writers, bloggers, painters, sculturists, web designers, and so on, we need to have a certain amount of creativity to keep us at the top of our game or to keep climbing.

So then I started to think. What is creativity exactly? How do you know when you’re being creative? Sounds very philosophical, no? Well, Creativity Portal actually defined the traits of a creative person, some of which include: sensitive, able to fantasize, severely critical, and tolerant of ambiguity. There are thirty two of them. Now you might be saying, “Hold on. How can an artist be severely critical? Isn’t the internal editor supposed to shut off while we write, paint, etc?

Not necessarily. Although you’ll want to keep an open mind to any ideas, it’s imperative that you censor those ideas and make the most reasonable choice.

Many writers, myself included, tilted my head at the “tolerant of ambiguity” also. As writers, especially, we’ve been taught to get rid of the ambiguity, rip the curtain away, and set the reader on the right path. I had to go hunting on the meaning of this one, and then it just came to me. Though we’re supposed to clear the fog, we’re supposed to be open-ended and let the reader come to their own conclusion. In fiction, especially, we can’t always hold the reader’s hand and tell them what’s happening and why. We have to let them find their own meaning in the work. After that, it just made sense.

Now what does all this have to do with creativity and how can you be more creative? If you’d like to be more creative, try adding these 32 tips in your day. They really help getting the creative juices flowing.

Good luck and be creative! :)