<h3>What are You Worried About?</h3>
<table><tr><td style="padding-right:15px;"><div class="pic"><img src="shiningfear2.jpg" /></div></td>
<td style="vertical-align:top;">
* Worried you [[won't have enough time->No Time]] in November?
* Worried your [[ideas aren't good enough->Not Good Enough]] for November?
* Worried you will [[will get stuck->Get Stuck]]?
* Worried you [[won't stay motivated to finish->Motivation]]?
* Worried about a specific element in your novel?</td></tr></table>
<h3>Time to Write</h3>
Nanowrimo takes time. Let's say during Nanowrimo you write about 750 words per hour. That's 67 hours you'll need to invest into this month!
It's easy to think that you won't have time to do this.
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You also have one, perhaps two enemies working against you:
* ''The Turkey''
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* ''Finals''
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[[Next->No Time 2]]
<h3>Ideas, Plots, and Characters walk into a Bar...</h3>
Is your idea or characters or outline the most perfect thing that is exactly what you want to write? Probably not.
<div style="text-align:center"><img src="nobodysperfect.jpg" width="400" /></div>
You still have time to improve them, and if not, use them anyway. Here are some techniques:
* [[Use the Snowflake Method->Snowflake Method]]
* [[Discuss your Ideas with Others->Not Good Enough Exercise]]
* [[Make a Habit of Making Connections->Not Creative Connections 1]]
[[Back->Intro]]
Also, life in general gets in the way. Like you spend all day at work or school, get home, and then you have to eat (possibly cook), then homework or some cleaning.....
...then you're too tired to do anything more. Let alone write 1,337+ words every day.
<div style="text-align:center"><img src="tiredjusttired.jpg" width="400" /></div>
[[Next->No Time 3]]
<h3>There's a No in November...</h3>
But there are things you can do to help, such as:
* ''Limit your commitments'' - It can be tempting to fill the empty days with events. For one month, say 'No' more (to family, friends, chores, social events, etc).
<div style="text-align:center"><img src="nooooo.jpg" width="400" /></div>
* ''Give your best time to Nano'' - There's a time in the day when you are most refreshed and recharged. Wake up early or stay up late and write during that time.
* ''Spend time now to save time later'' - Cook meals in bulk, stock up on snacks and frozen pizzas, clean your home before Nano starts, etc.
<div style="text-align:center"><img src="frozenpizzafreezer.jpg" width="400" /></div>
* ''Remove Distractions'' - Internet is one of the worst casual ways to suck up little tiny bits of time. You should seriously consider disabling it so you aren't worried. And disable notifications for most apps on your phone this month.
<div style="text-align:center"><img src="cutinternet.jpg" width="400" /></div>
* ''Utilize any Time Pockets'' - There's little pockets of time while we are waiting for something, while commuting (if you're driving, you can dictate, if not, you can write), if you can wake yourself up 30 minutes earlier than usual, etc. Get a writing or notes app on your phone and use that time.
[[Next->No Time Exercise]]
''Question:''
What are some ways in which you save time?
What could you give up for a month in order to write your novel?
[[Back->Intro]]
<h3>Discuss with Others</h3>
Everyone has a different point of view and might be able to add one little thing that turns your good idea, into a great idea.
<div class="pic"><img src="comecloser.jpg" width="400" /></div>
Benefits:
* Different points of view
* Can build off each other's ideas
* Might point something out you're not aware of
* Can take advantage of other's wisdom and experience
[[Next: Activity->Not Good Enough Activity]]
<h2>On The Shoulders of Giants Activity</h2>
<table><tr><td style="padding-right:15px;"><div class="pic"><img src="andre2.png" width="350" /></div></td>
<td style="vertical-align:top;">Split up into groups, take the shoulders of giants worksheet, and write one of your ideas on the giant at the bottom. Pass the paper to the next person, and they pick one of the giants above your idea to improve on something below it.</td></tr></table>
[[Back->Intro]]
<h3>Make a Habit of Making Connections</h3>
<div class="pic"><img src="chriscrawford.jpg" width="400" /></div>
Chris Crawford, a video game designer who designed Balance of Power and Eastern Front in the 1980s, in his book 'On Game Design', discussed coming up with ideas:
//"Our minds are associative; new ideas are generated by combining old ideas in novel ways....you can facilitate this process in a number of ways. The best strategy is to stuff your head full of concepts and all of their associations. After all, the bigger the web of associations at your disposal, the greater the chance that you'll find some odd parallel between two ideas. Wouldn't it be great if you noticed a creatively useful connection between, say, dinosaur paleontology and Polynesian language structures? Of course, if you don't know much about dinosaur paleontology or Polynesian language structures, you'll never notice the connection, will you? You want to populate your mind with a wondrous and colorful diversity of ideas, a grand carnival of conceptual heterogeneity."//
Make a habit of doing this all the time. While listening to podcasts, observing your world, talking to people. Always try to take something that's being said and try to mesh it in with something else.
Keep a journal or notepad with you so you can write those ideas down as they come with you, and build up a backlog of ideas and associations you can use for November.
[[Making Connections Activity]]
<h3>Getting Stuck</h3>
At some point you will get stuck in Nano. You'll be writing so fast that your brain can get drained of ideas, and you'll be stuck staring at your computer, angry that you can't get any further.
<div style="text-align:center"><img src="stuckcomputer.jpg" width="400" /></div>
Here's a few things I've found that can help.
* [[Do something dramatic to your characters->GoDramatic]]
* [[Explain Your Problem Out Loud->Out Loud]]
* [[Write Stream of Consciousness->SOC]]
* [[Walks, Drives, and Showers->WalkShower]]
[[Back->Intro]]
<h3>So Much Drama!</h3>
If you're stuck in what you're writing, it's possible you're not writing the interesting parts, or nothing too interesting is happening
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If you're having trouble thinking of something dramatic to do to your characters, check today's news for inspiration. Every day, all around the world, there are dozens of stories that could potentially be done to your characters in the novel.
[[News Activity->News Activity]]
<h3>Connect the Words Activity</h3>
When given a list of words, what connections can you make? I will have a website generate some words. Pick two or three words, write them down, and provide an association or way to combine them, the weirder the better.
After you have come up with 3 or 4 associations, write a few quick paragraphs of a story involving those ideas.
<a href="https://www.randomlists.com/random-words">Random Word Generator</a>
[[Back->Not Good Enough]]
<div class="pic"><img src="cover-success.png" width="223" height="146" /></div>
<div class="pic" style="font-size:18px;">For</div>
<div class="pic" style="margin-top:-40px;"><img src="cover-nano.png" width="737" height="208" /></div>
<div class="pic" style="font-size:22px;">Presented by Brian Cable</div>
[[Next->Resistance]]
<h3>Stream of Consciousness</h3>
So I don't really know what I'm going to write for this slide. I know I want to demonstrate my process to everyone, but I couldn't find an appropriate silly picture on Google Images to illustrate it other than this thing.
<div class="pic"><img src="blahblah.jpg" /></div>
I'll just keep writing, writing blah blah. Okay, so this slide, it might be a good idea if I write in the style of how I've actually done this in Nano before. Yeah, that works. Crap, this Starbucks is going to close in five minutes.
I've gotten out of binds before by just thinking essentially on the page by typing out these thoughts, explaining the characters directly and working things out on paper, and eventually I usually have a breakthrough. Oh! And I also count these words as my Nano words while I'm doing it! Maybe you don't want to, and I try not to now, but I have in the past.
So writing in a stream of conscious way just got me a bunch of words and I figured out how to do this slide. Yay!
[[Back->Get Stuck]]
<h3>Rituals</h3>
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a Hungarian psychologist and former head of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago. He's studied creativity and happiness and is most known for his book on Flow.
<div class="pic"><img src="mihalyflow.jpg" width="400" /></div>
In Flow, he describes the importance of rituals with surgeons.
//"Before an operation surgeons go through steps of preparation, purification, and dressing up in special garments - like athletes before a contest, or priests before a ceremony. These rituals have a practical purpose, but they also serve to separate celebrants from the concerns of everyday life, and focus their minds on the event to be enacted. Some surgeons say that on mornings before an important operation they put themselves on 'automatic pilot' by eating the same breakfast, wearing the same clothes, and driving to the hospital by the same route. They do so not because they are superstitious, but because they sense that this habitual behavior makes it easier for them to devote their undivided attention to the challenge ahead." ~Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in Flow//
[[Next->Ritual 2]]
<h3>Staying Motivated</h3>
It can be easy to lose momentum during November and at some point you might look at everyone else's graphs and think:
<div class="pic"><img src="squirrelgoon.jpg"></div>
But it's possible to come back from the brink. Here's my graph from 2013:
<div class="pic"><img src="2013graph.png"></div>
Here are some ways to help you stay motivated.
* [[Remind Yourself->Motivation Remind Yourself]]
* [[Establish a writing ritual->Ritual]]
* [[Challenge Someone->New Challenger]]
* [[Stay Healthy->Stay Healthy]]
* [[Lose Control->Lose Control]]
[[Back->Intro]]
The hardest part is just getting yourself to start writing each day, so put your smartphone to good use and let it remind you to Nano every day in November.
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[[Back->Motivation]]
<h3>A Writer's Ritual</h3>
Gustav Flaubert's Ritual when writing his masterpiece //Madame Bovary// according to Daily Rituals:
10:00 - Wake, call servant for newspaper, mail, cold water, pipe
10:30 - Pound on ceiling with cane, have intimate chat with mother
10:45 - Bath and apply hair tonic
11:00 - Brunch, eggs or fruit with cold chocolate
11:30 - Stroll and gossip, argue, and smoke with family
01:00 - Teach Caroline History and Geography
02:00 - Lounge in chair, some work but mostly read
07:00 - Dinner
08:00 - Chat with mother
09:00 - Really get down to business and work
//Madame Bovary// took five years to write.
[[Next->Ritual Q]]
<h3>Question:</h3>
What are some rituals you have done to get yourself in the right mindset?
[[Back->Motivation]]
<h3>Watch Out for Resistance</h3>
Steven Pressfield, author of The Legend of Bagger Vance, also wrote a book on overcoming something he calls Resistance, the force that keeps us from doing what we want to do. That book is called The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles.
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</td><td style="vertical-align:top;">
//"Resistance is fear. But Resistance is too cunning to show itself naked in this form...So it brings in Rationalization...Instead of showing us our fear (which might shame us and impel us to do our work), Resistance presents us with a series of plausible, rational justifications for why we shouldn't do our work. What's particularly insidious about the rationalizations that Resistance presents to us is that a lot of them are true. They're legitimate...Indeed, it may make sense to put off finishing our dissertation, at least till after the baby's born. What Resistance leaves out, of course, is all this means diddly. Tolstoy had thirteen kids and wrote War and Peace."//
</td></tr></table>
If you're feeling anything but excitement about November now, what you're probably feeling is Resistance.
[[Next->Intro]]
<h3>Loud and Proud</h3>
Has this ever happened to you at work?
You're asked to do something complicated, like assemble a bike, and you've never done it before. You get to a point where the parts just don't seem to want to fit together even if you Crazy Glued them together.
<div class="pic"><img src="bikeparts.jpg" width="400" /></div>
So you call a coworker over. "Help me out! I need to get the spiky turny thing to lock into place when I move the pedal thing, and then fit the chain onto the spiky thing and get it to stick and...oh, I can remove the twisty tie and it'll let me put it on. I guess I didn't need you."
Your friend? You don't need them. You don't really need their ideas. You just need them to be physically present so you can talk about your problem. For some reason, explaining your problem in a way other people can understand it seems to help trigger your problem solving mechanism.
So my suggestion? Get yourself a writing scarecrow to serve as your 'buddy'.
<div class="pic"><img src="scarecrow.jpg" /></div>
[[Back->Get Stuck]]
<h3>Walks, Drives, and Showers</h3>
This is a simple one.
* Go for a walk, especially in nature.
* Go for a long drive (no radio, just silence).
* Take a long, warm shower.
For added effect, do two at once.
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Walking in particular has scientific research to back it up. A Stanford study in 2014 revealed that a person's creative output was boosted by an average of 60% while walking.
[[Back->Get Stuck]]
<h3>Scour the News Activity</h3>
Let's see how many ideas we can get by looking at the news!
I recommend <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org">http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org</a> for a variety of positive stories focused on people, not events.
[[Back->Get Stuck]]
<h3>A New Challenger Approaches!</h3>
Nanowrimo isn't a competition. But you can make it one.
<div class="pic"><img src="mkfight.png" /></div>
In 3 of the past Nanowrimos I challenged someone. We both won each time.
* If you're trying to beat 150 people, you might get overwhelmed or discouraged if you lag behind. If you try to beat one person, you know exactly where you stand.
* You'll be encouraged to write extra words just to make it harder for them to catch up to you.
Best way to challenge someone:
<div class="pic"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hjE2sxCQ_rU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
[[Back->Motivation]]
John Cleese, of Fawlty Towers and Monty Python, but is probably now more remembered for this role:
<div class="pic"><img src="headlessnick.jpg" /></div>
Had an excellent video about creativity and argued that most people operate in either an ''Open'' mode or a ''Closed'' mode. <a href="https://vimeo.com/89936101">John Cleese on Creativity</a>(658 to 817)
He then argues that you should be in the Open mode to generate ideas, but then switch to the closed mode to get a chunk of work done, then switch back, and forth, until you're complete.
That's what I mean when I say lose control. If you're starting to lose motivation, it's probably because you're spending too much time in the closed mode, and need to open things up a bit.
<div class="pic"><img src="losecontrol.jpg" width="400" /></div>
And what does John think the fastest way to get into the Open mode is? Humor.
Hence all funny pictures.
[[Back->Motivation]]
<h3>Stay Healthy</h3>
If you eat like crap, sleep like crap, and don't exercise at all, you'll probably write like crap too.
I've been able to solve so many problems I've been stuck on for hours just by sleeping on it and coming back at it the next day (usually to solve it in 10 minutes).
<div class="pic"><img src="itpillow.jpg" /></div>
* Stay Rested
* Stay Hydrated
* Get Your Vitamins and Minerals
* Take some walks (they're good for creativity anyway)
If you don't do this, the exhaustion will slowly accumulate and eventually overtake you.
[[Back->Motivation]]
<h3>The Snowflake Method</h3>
A snowflake is only one thing, right? A flake of snow.
That's only true until you study the structure of the Snowflake.
<div class="pic"><img src="snowflake.jpg" width="400" /></div>
For your story, you can start with a single sentence or idea, then build a paragraph summary of your plot, then make some character summaries, then expand your paragraph summary into a page, then that into a 4 page synopsis, then make a list of all scenes and put them into chapters.
I've also seen it described as 'Come up with 5 bullet points about your novel, then put 4 bullet points under each of those, then 2 scenese under each of those'. That will give you 40 items, which will give you something to write about each day in November.
When doing character summaries, address these points:
* Summary
* Goal
* Obstacles
* Epiphany
* Synopsis of the character story line
[[Back->Not Good Enough]]