I’m not doing NaNoWiMo, but I know a lot of people who read my blog are, so I thought I’d collect some of the writing advice I’ve found over the years and put it all into one easily-bookmarked post.
Before I get to the older stuff, a couple new things I’ve found:
- io9 (which I feared would be lame like Gawker, but is awesome like Lifehacker) collected some secrets to creating great characters, according to six science fiction authors.
- I wrote about the weird feeling of emptiness that I always experience after I finish a project. Charlie Stross expressed something similar in a post titled On finishing.
Got it? Yay! Let’s move on to some older stuff:
- five simple ways to Just Keep Writing
- Elizabeth Bear, Cherie Priest, and John Scalzi are three authors who are as generous with their advice as they are awesome and successful.
- One more post with lots of links to and wisdom from Elizabeth Bear.
- Five writing lessons I wish I’d learned the easy way.
- Even Neil Gaiman struggles from time to time. This is very comforting to me. (Interesting note. If you read that linked post, you’ll see a mention of my friend who quit his safety net job to be an actor. He’s on Heroes this season. Go David!)
- Neil Gaiman, it turns out, is very reassuring to me.
- Sometimes, you just get writer’s clog. This is okay, and it will pass.
- I explored some of the differences I’ve encountered between writing short-form and long-form fiction. Related to that, from the common sense file: When working on short short fiction, which I’d say is between 500 and 1000 words, I can keep stuff in my head and write it all on the fly. Since I’ve moved into longer-form stuff this year, I’ve discovered that I absolutely must have an outline to follow, so I write that first (I spend a lot of time on it) and then use it as a memory map (much like I use my own memories when I write my narrative non-fiction stuff) when I write the story. I did this with both Star Trek mangas and with one of the two short stories (~15,000 words each) I’ve been working on since June. Of the two, guess which one has been enjoyable to work on? [::headdesk::]
- A collection of resources that I’ve come across, which I found useful as a writer.
- John Rogers writes very candidly and frequently about writing for television and movies. He is awesome, and so is his blog.
If you’re doing NaNoWiMo, remember that the whole point of the thing is just to get a whole bunch of words together in a hopefully-coherent story that you will have to edit, rewrite, and polish. It is not supposed to be good, it is not supposed to be perfect, or even ready for anyone but you to read. The idea is to write, and write a lot, so let me close with Wil’s Fundamental Truth of Writing: Don’t be afraid to suck. It is easier to fix a broken scene than it is to fill up a blank page.
I really wish I could do this this year. I’ve tried a couple years in a row with no success. This year I’m just too busy (yet I have time to write this comment…hm…how does that work?) and I have no ideas. Oh well, maybe someday.
Thanks for the links, Wil. I’m in the throes of my second NaNo, and shockingly it’s going really well. I’m something like a day or two ahead on word count, and have got an outline-of-sorts keeping me on track and supplied with material. 50K should happen before Thanksgiving at this rate. Last year was such a struggle, but this year I’ve learned to Embrace The Suck. That, and to do it 100% on a manual typewriters to avoid the many distractions of the Intertubes.
I was going to do NaNoWriMo, but then I did the math and realized there’s no friggin’ way I can churn out 1,800 words a day to hit the 50,000-word mark by month’s end. But I did decide to alternatively use this month to finish the plot and start the script for the comic series I’m going to be shopping around soon …
Thanks for posting these! I love your writing advice.
This is my third NaNoWriMo, and I heartily agree on the outlining thing. I just went at it without planning for my first two years, and while I did cross the finish line both times, the end products had some Serious Major Flaws because of my lack of outlining. Last year’s ended up like a book that someone might base a Lifetime movie on. I would never read something like that…how did I manage to write it??? Poor planning, that’s how.
Anyway, thanks again!
Your Fundamental Truth there is my biggest barrier when it comes to writing. Most of my stuff just trails off when I’m overcome with the ‘holy crap this is awful’ thoughts.
Hey Wil,
I just saw you youtube from comiccon on writing. Thanks for looking at the camera when you said don’t be a fraid to suck. I don’t know why it made such a huge difference in being able to really embrace what your post has said… but it did. I never used to be afraid to write cause I always used to write just for myself. Somewhere along the line I attached the idea that it had to be for others to be important or pertinent to anything on the face of the planet. Ooooh run on. A 1000 english teachers are spinning in their graves!
Anyway, I read a short story by Sherilynn Kenyon on this subject just yesterday. Okay it was a sidebar subject but the lesson is still there: a writer’s job is to give the character life even if no one but the Author ever reads it. That you are born to write (or chose to) is the only reason to write. Sucking comes with the territory, but thats between you and the pages until you decide its good enough to share.
That last bit is mine. Having said that, anyone got dice that favors a mage’s protection spell on large rooms? Somehow I keep failing that roll.
I’m doing NaBloPoMo, since while there’s no way I could write a book this month, I can post in my blog every day. Hadn’t been posting enough and this gives me a motivation to. And who knows, some half-decent writing and continuation of stories may take place from my blogging.
NaNoWiMo? National Novel Witing Month?
Is Jesse Helms at it AGAIN? 😛
Wil, thanks a TON. I’m attempting my first nano right now, and have already broken my record for longest piece of fiction.
This is going to be a very useful post as I plow through my 50K words.
“Don’t be afraid to suck. It is easier to fix a broken scene than it is to fill up a blank page.”
Oh so true. An this applies to all kinds of writing.
PS: I was barely born in the 80s but I can totally relate to your tweet.
Doing Nanowrimo as always – anyone interested can read along at Hallowed Ground the Read-Along
For me, Nano is a time of year when I get a first draft of something new that isn’t in the scheduled rotation…a chance to experiment some…
Side note…Neil Gaiman and I have a book coming out (hopefully this year) wherein we both write stories inspired by the artwork of Lisa Snellings…
The Book is titled Lost & Found…
DNW
For a profusion of writing encouragement, advice, and other writey stuff, I would encourage writers to trawl through Mur Lafferty’s I Should Be Writing podcast (via http://murverse.com).
“Don’t Be Afraid to Suck” is Mur’s absolute primary mantra. If I didn’t know that it’s also fifty bazillion other people’s primary mantra, I would almost say Wil stole it from her. But I do know that it’s also fifty bazillion other people’s primary mantra. So I won’t.
Wil, in my book, anything less than 1,000 words is beyond short fiction, it’s flash fiction. For some people, flash is the hardest format of all in which to write fiction. I could much more easily write a 10,000 word short story than a 750 word flash story. Give yourself a little hug that you have a natural affinity for this tricky format.
The debate between outlining or not outlining will rage until the bombs come down out of the sky and wipe us all out and we revert to living in caves again and scratching strange pictures on rock walls. For my part, I think too many writers pooh-pooh outlining as some kind of inspiration-snuffing contrivance. Yet my most creative moments are spent away from the keyboard, in the shower, outside, while waiting to be beamed up to the mothership, and it always has to do with plot. Then I race back to the keyboard and distill those inspirations into my ever-mutating outline. Depending on the way you write, a project’s notes often gel into an outline anyway; at least they do for me. You know that awesome moment when you stood in the Criminal Minds writing room and there was that wall filled with plot points? Yeah. That buzz is what I’m talking about — that’s the outline grown to full productive glory. My fondness for them may come from a background in scriptwriting that predated prose fiction writing, but I know what side of the fence I stand on with this issue (sorry, Stephen King).
Thanks Wil,
I am trying to get the time for my nanowrimo.
I will try not to suck,
I am doing NaNoWriMo, not because I want to write the great American novelist, but as practice on “just keep going”. My biggest problem is unfinished projects. Wish me luck!
Oh yeah, what I meant to say, but got distracted and posted too early: Thank you SO MUCH for the links :DDD
I am going for NaNo #2 this year. Last year was a complete disaster. When you get 12K words in and realize the story is going nowhere, it’s quite disheartening. So, instead of giving up, I started researching for this year. Ironically (after reading your CM posts) I probably know more about serial killers than the average person should. What’s more, I lost the notes, so I’m writing something else. Worse than that, I found the notes on the 2nd, after writing nearly 3K words. Yeah, so everyone doing/considering doing NaNoWriMo, it’s great fun. It’s nuts, and it gives me something to say I did.
🙂
I finally decided to tackle nanowrimo this year. I am a terrible writer, so this post was very helpful. Thanks!
Wil,
Thanks for this. I had been wondering if you were joining NaNo this year with the rest of us crazies. I finally took the plunge this year along with a few of my friends who do it every year. I thought there was no way I could really do it. But if I keep up my current pace I should be done 10 days early! Yay!
Thank you for always being so honest with your advise. The one thing I keep telling myself that is helping a ton is that it is okay to suck! This is a very loose first draft to just get the general plot down. I figure it will become so much better after a couple rewrites and editing sessions. All this month is about is getting words on the page. And having a damn fun time doing it.
Thanks for always being so encouraging to other writers. Its nice to know that all writers go through different road blocks in their work.
Thanks for this cool post. I will register tomorrow for a fiction writing class. I just had an idea today for what my first short stories might be about and got excited about beginning. Maybe they will be good enough to put online someday.
Last year was my first time out of the gate for NaNo; I was a little shocked to ‘win’.
So, second year’s up, and it’s going well; plus, I have several friends furiously writing alongside me!
I’ve passed on a link to this page to them, and thank you for the links! =)
I am doing NaNo, Wil, and just wanted to say thanks for all the tips and resources! It’s so awesomely cool that the kid I had a *crush* on (pun very much intended ;o) when he played a dorky little ensign grew up to be a guy I can relate to on multiple geeky levels–including the writerly one. ;o) Your blog is a continual source of amusement, thought-provokingness, and ooh-I-wish-I’d-written-thats!
Thanks, and carry on!
8921 words and counting! Woo-hoo!
You just discovered io9? And I remember you when you were cool…
P.S. Three-time NaNo winner and intending to make this year the fourth!
Wil, I very much appreciate your psychic-ly timed post: I have spent the last few days prepping myself for some very serious writing and could use all the help I can get.
I have been plagued by the same story idea for over a decade and it’s time to sit down and seriously hash it out. I know I will be reading and re reading these links in an effort to keep myself focused. In fact, my newest bout of motivation has been, in no small part, a result of reading your posts on your own writing efforts. I’m not at your caliber but now I know that doesn’t matter.
Thanks!
Thanks, Wil.
This is my eighth year to participate in NaNoWriMo. I’ve only made it to the 50,000 word mark twice, but the NaNo challenge is too much fun to give up.
This year I compiled a little e-book of material from the site. It’s in my library at YUDU.
I’m doing my fourth year participating in NaNo. Last year I won for the first time ever and this year I’m struggling along.
I’ve saved all these things to read when my inspiration fairy is on cigarette break and I’m just wandering the internet mucking about *cough* Like now…
Thanks for the posts and the encouragement! To 50k and BEYOND!
Wil-
Long time reader, first time poster. (Yeah, never heard that before, right?) I’m doing NaNo for the first time this year, and believe it or not, I was going to use joining Typepad so I could comment on your blog as my reward. Well, I’m at 39K here on the 15th, so I’m looking pretty good, but I still wasn’t going to cheat until I found THIS today:
http://superobamaworld.com/
I thought of you. Hope you find your way to this lovely old post-which has helped, for the record! Have fun!