15 NaNoWriMo Strategies for Desperate Moments
Adam gets you through the dark days of November.
I’ve attempted NaNoWriMo three times and “won” (as they say) once. I take pride in the time I hit 50,000 words of course. What surprises me is that I remember the years I didn’t finish as tremendously creative and positive experiences. For all of you giving it a shot this month, my wish for you is that you enjoy what you get from these 30 days.
There will be some desperate moments when you don’t know what comes next. I took a walk and some strategies for those times came back to me.
Take a walk.
Listen to the same song until you hit your word goal for the day. Find the right song—or don’t.
Turn on the radio (or use Radio Garden) and write the first phrase you hear. Make it fit into your novel.
Scour your old Google docs for ideas.
Dig out your old notebooks. Transfer useful notes to index cards.
Check out one of Lynda Barry’s books on writing or making comics.
Read the local news.
Copy the structure of a story you love and build the next part of your novel on that structure.
Watch Psycho. That movie changes what it is frequently. If the story you planned to write only took 10,000 words, Psycho could help you navigate a turn.
Test the more specific details of your plot, as George Saunders suggests.
Add irrelevant garbage and then redeem it. Novels are based on information overload, says Elif Batuman.
Ask your spouse for feedback on the next scene. Use their good ideas. Rejecting other suggestions may narrow your options until you find something that works.
When you’re no longer inspired by the things you like, make fun of something you dislike. Nabokov’s Despair was inspired by his aversion to Dostoevsky.
On Erasable episode 172, Johnny Gamber hesitates before sharing this NaNoWriMo advice: ”If you go easy on yourself it won’t happen. The only way you’re going to do it is to never get behind…” That rings true to my experience, especially early in November. If you’re desperate to hit 1,667, I hope these suggestions can help.
Now turn off your WiFi.
