ALRIGHT I AM POSTING. 8[
I got behind in the posts and keep going "aaah now I have to reply to a lot of people!" but instead I am not going to reply to a lot of people so I can pretend I'm caught up in the posts! I read them all and you guys are all great, but, I just keep getting more behind in this thread here.
I am, as of this very moment, at 29947 and counting.
CRAZY LINOONE you should absolutely write more motivational posts! Those were great responses and it was really excellent and also asdf; thanks you guys! You're welcome for the cheerful posts! (also Linoone you felt so cheerful because attempting to motivate other people makes you feel great and motivated also!)
Some generic things, then. Also, this is going to sound silly and rambly because I'm tired and in a weird mood anyway. /no excuse
Said: Is great. Except that I keep using it over and over and over and it's sort of getting silly because they are not, actually, just saying things a lot of the time. I try to keep a balance between abusing said or alternatives, and explaining what my characters are doing instead so you can get an idea of their voice without a real tag. People can glare at each other, their expressions can soften, you know. Also, I personally have a lot of trouble following rapid-fire conversations with no tags
at all, so I don't really write like that unless my characters have opposing opinions or something so it's acceptably clear. Like if they were talking about ham and one of them hates ham and one of them loves ham, it would probably be pretty clear who was speaking when someone said "But... but... ham is awesome!" (not that I am actually writing about ham at all)
People who think their writing sucks: You guys! This is so barely even true. Well, it sort of is, but! In between the terrible forced lines are
great things. When you write every day with no regard to quality, you are freeing your real creative muse. You will read your writing later and you will cringe at the things you wrote at odd hours of the night, but if you slog through it you will find things you are proud of! It's like when you're having a silly long conversation with someone about things, and you just keep talking without deciding to be quiet because you're embarrassing yourself, and you come up with a couple of great ideas that you decide to put in your next novel. I'm not the only one who does this, am I? I'm pretty sure I'm not.
People who are behind: You guys can still make it! It's totally doable to write ten thousand words in a single day! I know you are all busy, but if a person who is not busy and who is getting good at speed writing can do this, then you can absolutely still catch up! Just sit down for a while and
go. Turn off your distractions. Tell your family to yell at you if they see you sneaking out for a cookie. You can do this.
surskitty: !!!!!
People who are starting to feel like this isn't actually worth it and they're just writing garbage: Some of you (Zeta) have done NaNoWriMo before and you understand about this. However, as I've said before, if you write this much, it will
not be complete garbage. It won't! Quantity over quality makes you worry less about why and how and lets you just write stream-of-consciousness. Even if this novel isn't your best, all of your novels after this will be better. And this novel will have things in it that are useful and enjoyable. Also, really, when you are writing for quantity you simply don't usually realize how good it really is. Frequently you can come back to something you thought was garbage at the time of writing it and find that it is perfectly acceptable! There is no such thing as a NaNoWriMo novel that is zero parts good. There just isn't.
Everyone in general:
You guys!!!
Really! Everyone is doing really excellently and there are so many records being broken and people are getting proud of themselves and competing and basically everyone is happy and great when they're not being "aaaah how can I do this!" and this is probably the best NaNoWriMo year on the forum!
Also, general advice:
Do sprints. You don't have to write fast. It does not have to be a sprint the way I know all of you who are not doing them are imagining them. I was skeptical, but if you do something like a twenty minute sprint, you will be better able to remove distractions and just write because every time you think to do something, instead of doing it, you go "yeah but just x more minutes!!!" Really!
Also, on writing fast, since people were talking about how fast they are!: This is really difficult. You mostly have to let go of the idea that you are going to write beautiful prose right here and also let go of any semblance of planning and just
go. This takes practice, and it is certainly not easy at first, but busy people and behind people in particular should definitely work on this!
I think my NaNo is almost dead. I've had zero motivation to write because the drugs I'm on post-surgery are making me feel extremely tired, and I'm more than 6000 words behind. Hopefully I get some motivation soon.
HIIKARU WHERE ARE YOU?!
HI. I AM RIGHT HERE.
I do most of my writing when I'm tired, actually! I find that it's sort of easier, in a way. The whole time I'm writing, I just want to get it over with and go to bed and so it's a lot easier to let go of the idea of quality. Also, sometimes you can come up with interesting things when you're tired! You know how when you turn off the light, you tend to suddenly think of a bunch of things you need to make notes of? Groceries, stanzas, plot lines, whatever. I'm told that part of this might be because your tired brain is closer to the dream state than your awake brain.
Give up on the idea of motivation and just do it. This is sort of forgetting the point of NaNoWriMo; you don't write when you feel like it, you write
always. Occasionally motivation falls into your lap! But don't expect it, and don't count on it. The word count should be motivation enough! Let go of the idea that you need to be motivated to write! You do not!
Additionally, six thousand words isn't that terrible! Lots of people can write ~1667 in forty-five minutes (not me, yet, but lots of people). Just set aside a day to write a
lot and push your inner editor or whatever
as far back as you can possibly manage. It's also workable to redo your per-day math, but really it's easier just to catch up on one day, and then you feel great and caught up again.
You guys! You can do it! :DDDDD
(Really!!)
