NaNoWriMo Diaries, Day 10: Rapid-Fire Writing, Quality, and the 20K Slump
Hey Nanoers,
While writing like crazy, here are a few things I noticed:
1. Writing Quickly Can Lead to Spit-Fire Dialogue & Great Action Scenes. I like writing in sprints. On Friday, I challenged myself to write all 1667 words in one hour. And I succeeded. You might think that it was all crap, but I don't think it was. Writing lightning-fast actually works really well for action scenes and rapid-fire dialogue. I didn't have time to stop and describe things, or write a bunch of dialogue tags. Result? Some really fun, sharp dialogue that has a great rhythm to it. Also, a fast-paced action scene that reads boom, boom, boom. So who says writing quickly is all bad?
2. Skipping to the Good Part Means You Keep Things Moving: When things get boring, I think it's best to skip to the next scene you're excited about writing. You can go back and fill in the build up later, and besides I found that I didn't need as much build up as I thought I did. In fact, I ended up revealing something that I thought would be the midpoint in the novel at 15K. But that's okay, that just means my story gets bigger earlier.
3. If You Get Stuck, Do Something Unexpected: We're approaching the infamous 20K slump, when your initial burst of enthusiasm wears off. My solution: write something that wasn't planned. If you thought A was going to happen, instead have B happen. Shake things up, and all of a sudden things will feel fresh again.
While writing like crazy, here are a few things I noticed:
1. Writing Quickly Can Lead to Spit-Fire Dialogue & Great Action Scenes. I like writing in sprints. On Friday, I challenged myself to write all 1667 words in one hour. And I succeeded. You might think that it was all crap, but I don't think it was. Writing lightning-fast actually works really well for action scenes and rapid-fire dialogue. I didn't have time to stop and describe things, or write a bunch of dialogue tags. Result? Some really fun, sharp dialogue that has a great rhythm to it. Also, a fast-paced action scene that reads boom, boom, boom. So who says writing quickly is all bad?
2. Skipping to the Good Part Means You Keep Things Moving: When things get boring, I think it's best to skip to the next scene you're excited about writing. You can go back and fill in the build up later, and besides I found that I didn't need as much build up as I thought I did. In fact, I ended up revealing something that I thought would be the midpoint in the novel at 15K. But that's okay, that just means my story gets bigger earlier.
3. If You Get Stuck, Do Something Unexpected: We're approaching the infamous 20K slump, when your initial burst of enthusiasm wears off. My solution: write something that wasn't planned. If you thought A was going to happen, instead have B happen. Shake things up, and all of a sudden things will feel fresh again.
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| No Time to Monkey Around |