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The wall. The ominous, in-your-face barrier to moving forward. It comes for us all: writers, designers, coders, musicians. On the other side is, well, the next step. Gosh, I wonder what that looks like.
We’re halfway through National Novel Writing Month, and thousands of participants are likely hitting the wall. And the wall can come in a few forms. The I’m-totally-stuck wall. The this-is-garbage-I-should-burn-it wall. The this-was-fun-for-a-while-but-TV-is-pretty-great-right-now wall. So how do you get over/around/through your wall?
For answers, I talked to Audrey Redpath from Clever Help. Clever Help is a community of writers for writers, and, well, I’ll just let Audrey take it from here. And after that, we’ll check in with the writers we’re following this month.
Audrey, tell me about Cleverhelp.org - who ARE you people? What do you do?
Clever is a writing community run by me, Audrey Redpath, with the help and contribution of other young writers. We connect aspiring writers to working ones through resources, and try to help bridge that gap for our readers mentally. The difference between a published author and a really passionate fanfic writer or even an online roleplayer isn’t that great! Sometimes people just need to be reminded of that.
We’re halfway through November, and a lot of WriMos might be hitting that wall. The words are fighting back. How can one push through?
Keep yourself on the schedule you set. Make sure you have some version of a don’t break the chain calendar tracking system set up prominently in your workspace, and check it off during your writing times. When you don’t reach your goal for a day, you don’t get to mark it down. Shame yourself a little bit subconsciously, and you’ll want to do well.
If you can find the time before you write to exercise, do it. Block out thirty minutes to walk or run through some sun salutations, and you’ll be better for it.
Small measures of exercise like this before writing can both increase productivity and push your mind into an imaginative, planning state that is really helpful when you sit down and get to work. Since you may not have been doing this for the first half of the challenge, switching up your routine like this can make the whole ordeal feel refreshed and new — and if you’re writing for a few hours everyday, try a shower in the middle. Use any excuse to incorporate things that make you think about your story, or inspire you to write and write a lot.
How do you keep the inner critic at bay when on a marathon writing project like National Novel Writing Month?
Catch ‘em by surprise. If you throw yourself headlong into your story by forcing yourself to start writing in the middle of an action scene, you won’t have the time to criticize your work. When you stop writing for the day, don’t let yourself read your work until you’re about to start writing the next day. By doing this you make yourself antsy to get back to your writing and find the faults in your story, and you can use that built up energy (and your desire to ‘fix’ the direction of your project) to power through the word counts again. Rinse and repeat.
Got any second half of NaNoWriMo tips?
Remember NaNo is an exercise. It’s not to finish a novel, and it’s not mandatory. I know a lot of writers, especially ones unaccustomed to deadlines and large word counts, can spiral during November. Don’t let this project be a source of anxiety for you; if you find yourself flagging or unhappy writing every day, decrease your word count to a couple hundred. You don’t need to finish the month off and “win” to have succeeded for yourself this month.
If you haven’t yet, engage with the community in NaNo’s forums or check out one of their local events! Whether you’re flagging behind or are way ahead of your quotas, talking to other writers who are working on the same thing can be motivating and you’re liable to make a couple of friends along the way.
Having trouble naming new characters as they pop in and out of your story? No problem. Grab a random tv show or movie and Dr. Frankenstein the first name of your favorite character with the last name of your least favorite and then keep going.
So there’s the other type of wall. What should one do if they’re deeeeep in a project and they have an oh-this-is-garbage realization? Should they just quit? Um… Asking for a friend.
If it’s really, unequivocally awful? Scrap it. If you’ve got Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way bounding around in your novel talking trash about preps and Albus Dumbledore and you’re no longer interested in continuing the story (and don’t have time to fix it from the top until the month ends), just stop. Stop writing that story, but don’t quit. Launch immediately into the next story that comes into your head.
There’s no rule saying you can’t combine stories written in November for your NaNo word count, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t keep up with yourself every day just because you’re upset with the quality of what you’ve written. Nobody writes a great novel during NaNoWriMo — they write great outlines. The rest comes later. Save everything awful you write to look at again in a few months; who knows how many ideas for future stories (or just good embarassing stories) might be hiding in the corpse of a failed one.
What should NaNoWriMo participants do on, say, December 1st?
After the blitz is over? Start reading what you have. If you didn’t finish, you should still have something worth revisiting. Print out pages and start marking them up with what you like and what you don’t, outlining where the story is right now and where you need to go with it. What’s good and what’s awful?
If you decide to keep your NaNo project and work on it as novel, try out a program like SmartEdit to give you a clue into where you need to start editing. Find a beta!
If you don’t want to keep your November story, take a look at your work flow for the last month. Find out where you excelled, and what word count you managed every day. Structure your writing plans for the next few months based on what made you feel the best! Essentially, use the skills you trained during NaNoWriMo to become a better, more disciplined writer for your next project.
Oh, and celebrate somehow! Buy a piece of cake. Do some cartwheels. You’re great, and it’s over! Woo-hoo!
Anything you’d like to add? You’ve got the mic, Audrey. Inspire me!
Ray Bradbury said:
You must write every single day of your life… You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads… may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.
Take that to heart. Don’t let your writing flag and die when November’s over, but don’t forget to keep your reading up too. Writers who don’t read write stories seriously limited by their own experiences; support the industry you want to be a part of, and surround yourself with great books!
At the beginning of the month, we introduced a handful of writers participating in National Novel Writing Month. I shot over a round of questions near the halfway point, and three of the four lifted their heads for long enough to lob answers back. Writer down! Writer down! Man, this month is intense!
One of my favorite themes here is that everyone seems to slip into autopilot when it comes to characters. Rather, it almost seems like possession. Characters writing themselves and figuring out their own problems? Call a priest.
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Sabrina, you’re a week and a half in. How’s it going so far?
So far so good! I’m making my word counts, and everything that has come out so far makes sense. All good signs.
Any surprises?
Yes. I’ve taken a number of writing classes and been part of a few writing critique groups, and I’ve heard from a lot of people about this phenomenon where the characters basically come to life and take charge of the story. But this is the first story I’ve worked on where I’ve felt that. I’ve got some favorite characters, and they seem to know that. So, despite my well thought out outlines, a couple of my key characters have taken advantage of my fondness for them and changed their story lines a bit. I think they’re right about their choices, and their decisiveness has made the writing process a lot easier.
Has it been hard to keep the inner editor at bay, or are you just cranking away?
For the most part I’m cranking away. A couple times I’ve caught myself re-reading passages and thinking of ways to make it better, but then I remind myself that it’s just a first draft. I don’t want to cut anything out until I start editing for real.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Names. The deeper I get into the story, the more characters come out. I want even the minor characters to have names with meaning, so until I have time to do some research, some of them are nameless.
What do you do when you feel stuck?
I spend some time fleshing out my scenes. I have a habit of writing very short scenes and chapters, and sometimes that means I end up with a whole bunch of dialogue and not a lot of context. So I go back and add some details, and think about what the characters would look like or do (does that count as editing?). After a while, I feel inspired again to keep moving forward and I start writing the next scene.
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How’s it going so far, Barrington?
It’s going well! I’m ahead of schedule by two days, thanks to some super-serious late-night writing sessions, and a couple plane rides this week. I’m hoping to carry the momentum into next week and get in the zone.
Any surprises?
My characters seem to be less confused than I would in their current situation. Craziness is coming at them from all angles and they’re just like whatever, man, we got this. Also, there are a lot more things at play with the soon-to-be-villains than I expected. I’m interested to see where the story goes.
Has it been hard to keep the inner editor at bay, or are you just cranking away?
I’m just going through it. There was a moment in the middle of last week where I just stopped thinking about logic, reason, or anything plausible, and started writing nonstop. That hasn’t let up yet!
What has been your biggest challenge?
My biggest challenge is stopping before 2am. I have a tendency to hit my stride right around 10pm, and then the words take off for a few hours (minus some water and bathroom breaks). I can’t keep going to bed at 2am, though, or I’ll never get anything done at the day job.
How’s the Municipal Liason thing going?
I’m loving being an ML! It’s so interesting and fun to engage with the community this way, and I like being in tune with all the events. It’s really neat.
Anything you’d like to add? Events, etc.
Check out the calendar on our regional forum for events! Also, feel free to post your own write-ins and parties in the forum, and keep an eye on the SFWrimos Facebook page as well!
Have you felt yourself hit a wall?
This year, I felt just a little bit of a hitch early on. I think it was the thought of starting a new story while having absolutely no plan to it.
What do you do when you feel stuck?
I tell myself constantly that the story doesn’t have to make sense to me, it just needs to make sense to the characters. Since they live in a fictional world, anything can happen! I just have to remember to let them deal with it, and they figure it out for themselves. Then I write it down. Problem solved! Save the editing for future Barrington; let him deal with it.
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Olga. OLGA! You’re about a week and a half in. How’s it going so far?
On Friday evening (October 31st) I was flying around the city in my Donna Summer Halloween costume, psyched about going back to school tomorrow – i.e. starting writing a collection of short stories as my NaNoWriMo project.
Over the next few days I went from “I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it” through “It’s just another manic Monday, I wish it were Sunday”.
Nine days in, I’m four stories behind but less freaked out – I will make this happen because… I promised.
Any surprises?
Not sure these came as complete surprises – rather proof of concept:
Unlike going back to school, NaNoWriMo doesn’t really fancy ramp-up periods. It’s like an absolutely delicious chocolate cake – you can have as much of it as you want but you’ll have to fit into that tight dress later (by end of November, to be precise).
It’s not just about sticking to your commitment (i.e. overcoming psychological barriers) – it’s almost a full-time job, in addition to your first full-time job. Discipline does really matter.
When I was kid I wanted to become a journalist – it seemed extremely fulfilling and almost adventurous to write about all the amazing things in the world. This past few days just proved why some dreams never come true. Being a journalist is probably one of the hardest, most exhausting and demanding jobs in the writing field – you have to deliver, every single day.
Has it been hard to keep the inner editor at bay, or are you just cranking away?
Call it an inner editor, a perfectionist, or a slow rider-writer – it’s been incredibly painful to just keep going without spending hours on editing what you’ve just spent hours on writing. Especially with those short stories of mine when you just have to move forward.
But it gets better, I think…
What has been your biggest challenge?
Settling into a daily writing routine has been my biggest challenge so far. But it also helped me realize that turning something into a true hobby requires some serious investment of time and energy (compared to just vague intentions I’ve always been so good at).
Have you felt yourself hit a wall?
Almost every day – whether it’s about pushing through, or coming up with ideas, or finding the right words. I just try to think about it as a part of the creative process (rather than a sturdy brick wall almost impossible to break through).
What do you do when you feel stuck?
I talk to people. It might sound weird but being an extreme extrovert I just have to talk things through sometimes – to make them clear in my head, and give room to ideas that have been sitting at the bottom of that thinking pot for a while.
Oh, and the usual – getting some fresh air, indulging in an aggressively acidic coffee, and maybe even starting all over again ;)
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We’ll be posting an interview with Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo, next week, and he has a little more to say about powering through. And we’ll check in with our crew of writers again toward the end of the month.
As always, we love hearing from you. Feel free to reach out with any questions. We’re always happy to share a resource or try to point you in the write right direction.
