Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Just Get It On Paper

Surfing around the web recently, I've seen a lot of people talking about NaNo - lamenting their progress, discussing the merits of prologues, wondering how they should begin...

It's NaNo, folks.  The idea here isn't to get 50K perfect words on the page.  It's to write.  Just write.  Get those words on the paper and worry about them after.

Everything else... all that stuff I put up there in the first paragraph?  It's just things we throw in the road ahead of ourselves.  Stumbling blocks and distractions.  Sound and fury signifying something or other.

Just get it on paper.  That's all you need to do this month.  Word after word after word.  Sure, those words all have to work together to make some kind of sense.  Otherwise, you could type 'I hate myself' 16668 times and be done with it.  But those words do not need to be perfect. 

If what's in your head is a prologue, write the damn thing.  Next month, you can decide whether it's necessary or whether it can be absorbed into the other chapters.

Started in the wrong place?  Take a friggin' machete and chop your way to the right path.  You can work it out in December.  (Or January, or February... whenever you're finished and ready to red-ink that puppy up.)

Seriously, folks, let it go.  This is the perfect time to just write for the joy of putting words on paper.  The headaches (or the joys) of editing will come at you in a few weeks.  Now?  Not so much.

And yeah, I know I'm not doing NaNo this year. But I know what it's like.  And I'm telling you right now...

Just get it on paper and quit getting in your own way.  When you hit 12/1 with 50+K added to your WIP, you'll thank yourself.

You can thank me later by sending chocolate.  ;o)

4 comments:

  1. I love your direct approach. I'm not doing NaNo either. My plate is full as it is.

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  2. I hear ya, I hear ya! The exact same words I keep saying as I stall over POV or adding yet another round of dialogue.

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  3. Exactly! NaNo is the time to tell your Inner Critic to take a sabbatical and come back next month!

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  4. Hooray for the NaNo spirit! It's such a great momentum of energy.

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