System 13

I’ve received a couple of tips from people about how to make the whole novel-writing process go a bit smoother for NaNoWriMo. Here they are, as well as a couple that I’ve thought of.

• Find some music you love, crank it up, and then start writing. (Thanks, Brendan)
• Don’t think about it too much. I really, really need to keep this one in mind. I am THE Mr. Over-Analyzer. (Thanks, Zeitlos)
• Repeat the phrase from Star Trek, “You must return Spock’s brain”, followed by “You must write more.” Rinse and repeat. Or, if you’re feeling feisty, drink some Jamesons. (Thanks, David)

A few that I’ve thought of whilst writing:

• Write late at night, or whenever you’re tired. The tiredness will make you not care much about how very awful your novel (mine, anyway) is turning out.
• In a similar vein as the one above… Laugh. A lot. Whenever you write a sentence or paragraph that you know is dreadful, laugh and move on. Remember: you don’t have time to make it any better. You’ve got a deadline to make. Quantity, not quality. Quantity, not quality. That should be your mantra for the next month!

That last one is really important, at least for me. If I didn’t laugh at the absolutely horrible prose I’m producing (and I’m producing quite a lot of it – I’m already up to 3500 words), I’d cry and give up on the whole thing. It goes against my very nature to not tweak, tweak, and retweak. This is harder than I thought it would be.