Tips for National Novel Writing Month
In November every year countless writers take up the NaNoWriMo challenge to produce fifty thousand words by the end of the month. This year I tweeted a tip every day to help writers. Here they are...
Tips for #NaNoWriMo preparation:
Follow a good-quality writing blog such as This Itch of Writing from @emma_darwin.
Subscribe to a quality magazine, e.g. Literary Review. It’s expanded my horizons in many ways…
FutureLearn offers high-quality, free, online creative writing courses. Weekly units are delivered to your inbox. Go at your own pace.
Find a supportive local writers’ group. My nearest holds all sorts of helpful events on writing, publishing etc. Read more about what to look for on my Resources page.
Get the marvellous Mslexia magazine. Read about its many benefits here…
Read, read, read. DBC Pierre suggested that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night is a book all writers should read.
Download Mslexia’s quality mini guide A Novel in Nine Steps for coffee-break inspiration and guidance. Advice and exercises for writers. £3.
Follow a good-quality writing blog such as This Itch of Writing from @emma_darwin.
Subscribe to a quality magazine, e.g. Literary Review. It’s expanded my horizons in many ways…
FutureLearn offers high-quality, free, online creative writing courses. Weekly units are delivered to your inbox. Go at your own pace.
Find a supportive local writers’ group. My nearest holds all sorts of helpful events on writing, publishing etc. Read more about what to look for on my Resources page.
Get the marvellous Mslexia magazine. Read about its many benefits here…
Read, read, read. DBC Pierre suggested that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night is a book all writers should read.
Download Mslexia’s quality mini guide A Novel in Nine Steps for coffee-break inspiration and guidance. Advice and exercises for writers. £3.
Tips for progress during #NaNoWriMo:
Pour your passion into your first draft, but when redrafting remember: writing is a skill, a craft that needs honing.
Story is not plot. The king died then the queen died: story. The king died and then the queen died of grief: plot.
Forget keeping a timeline in the first draft. That’s housekeeping for later, says Roz Morris in Nail Your Novel.
‘Talented plotting depends less on the whodunnit than why.’ Mslexia guide, A Novel in Nine Steps.
Roz Morris again – when writing in a well-established genre, be aware of its conventions. Nail Your Novel.
‘Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.’ Attributed to Anton Chekhov.
Embrace invisible speech tags, e.g. he said/she said, to aid flow. Occasional variation is fine, but avoid thesaurus-swallowing.
Don’t have too much ‘throat clearing’ in dialogue: erm, er, ahem, you know, like… It might be true to life but it will distract your reader.
‘Good fiction is written to explore rather than inform.’ Mslexia guide, A Novel in Nine Steps.
Stuck? Follow @ReedsyPrompts. Choose your favourite prompt and write a short scene. It might just spark that idea you need!
Avoid action tags for speech: ‘Really?’ he shrugged. ‘Yes,’ she smiled. Keep action for, well, action.
Do you repeat certain words too often? Read a few pages aloud. You may not realise you have a writerly tic!
‘Drip-feed tasty snippets into your plot rather than offering slabs of exposition.’ A Novel in Nine Steps by Mslexia
Read your dialogue out loud. Does it sound natural? Contractions will help you replicate normal speech patterns.
‘Effective description should generate both character and plot.’ Mslexia, A Novel in Nine Steps.
Adding dialect? By all means give a flavour, but don’t overdo it. It can be distracting for the reader.
POV ‘is the lens through which your readers see your world.’ Mslexia guide, A Novel in Nine Steps.
Try not to use ‘that’ too often. That’s a word that can annoy when that is used in that way.
‘Good pacing lets you ratchet up the suspense, then gives your reader time to savour and reflect.’ Thanks Mslexia!
Make sure your novel goes out with a bang, not a fizzle. Give the last stages the attention they deserve.
‘Writing novels is a process of repeating and refining.’ Roz Morris, author of Nail Your Novel.
Remember to invest in honing your craft once your passion-draft is complete. It’ll take your novel to another level. Hope all you wonderful writers out there have enjoyed National Novel Writing Month. Keep up the creative brilliance!
Pour your passion into your first draft, but when redrafting remember: writing is a skill, a craft that needs honing.
Story is not plot. The king died then the queen died: story. The king died and then the queen died of grief: plot.
Forget keeping a timeline in the first draft. That’s housekeeping for later, says Roz Morris in Nail Your Novel.
‘Talented plotting depends less on the whodunnit than why.’ Mslexia guide, A Novel in Nine Steps.
Roz Morris again – when writing in a well-established genre, be aware of its conventions. Nail Your Novel.
‘Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.’ Attributed to Anton Chekhov.
Embrace invisible speech tags, e.g. he said/she said, to aid flow. Occasional variation is fine, but avoid thesaurus-swallowing.
Don’t have too much ‘throat clearing’ in dialogue: erm, er, ahem, you know, like… It might be true to life but it will distract your reader.
‘Good fiction is written to explore rather than inform.’ Mslexia guide, A Novel in Nine Steps.
Stuck? Follow @ReedsyPrompts. Choose your favourite prompt and write a short scene. It might just spark that idea you need!
Avoid action tags for speech: ‘Really?’ he shrugged. ‘Yes,’ she smiled. Keep action for, well, action.
Do you repeat certain words too often? Read a few pages aloud. You may not realise you have a writerly tic!
‘Drip-feed tasty snippets into your plot rather than offering slabs of exposition.’ A Novel in Nine Steps by Mslexia
Read your dialogue out loud. Does it sound natural? Contractions will help you replicate normal speech patterns.
‘Effective description should generate both character and plot.’ Mslexia, A Novel in Nine Steps.
Adding dialect? By all means give a flavour, but don’t overdo it. It can be distracting for the reader.
POV ‘is the lens through which your readers see your world.’ Mslexia guide, A Novel in Nine Steps.
Try not to use ‘that’ too often. That’s a word that can annoy when that is used in that way.
‘Good pacing lets you ratchet up the suspense, then gives your reader time to savour and reflect.’ Thanks Mslexia!
Make sure your novel goes out with a bang, not a fizzle. Give the last stages the attention they deserve.
‘Writing novels is a process of repeating and refining.’ Roz Morris, author of Nail Your Novel.
Remember to invest in honing your craft once your passion-draft is complete. It’ll take your novel to another level. Hope all you wonderful writers out there have enjoyed National Novel Writing Month. Keep up the creative brilliance!
