Nano Tip # 6
Since I am doing an unofficial NaNoFiMo (National Novel Finishing Month), I am hitting the wall a bit ahead of the WriMo folks. At 36,000 words, I have the joy and fear of the home stretch, and I'm not sure how to get things wrapped. The last few thousand words wander. They don't feel like there's much to them that I'll be able to use. A sure sign of a blind alley according to Nancy Kress in the Elements of Fiction Writing: Beginnings Middles and Ends.
A few of her suggestions paraphrased here:
Interview somebody in the field of one of your main characters.
Back up to where the scenes disappeared-- to the last place things got interesting and try a different tact from there. Yes you may lose a few thousand words but you may regain your plot thread.
Oh, and WriMo folks, if you're stuck, check out the research and plot problem threads on the Forums. There are some very cool things posted from all over the world. My fave was the helpful theatre person from the UK who answered that tryouts for certain musicals were often held in the east coast city of San Francisco.
Off to chat with the Secret Service...
A few of her suggestions paraphrased here:
Interview somebody in the field of one of your main characters.
Back up to where the scenes disappeared-- to the last place things got interesting and try a different tact from there. Yes you may lose a few thousand words but you may regain your plot thread.
Oh, and WriMo folks, if you're stuck, check out the research and plot problem threads on the Forums. There are some very cool things posted from all over the world. My fave was the helpful theatre person from the UK who answered that tryouts for certain musicals were often held in the east coast city of San Francisco.
Off to chat with the Secret Service...
posted by Susan Goodwill at 5:20 AM
2 Comments:
I love these posts, though I've had a tough time getting in to comment.
I've done the interview thing, as well as back up. It's so true, a few thousand words is nothing if you've gotten back on track.
I'm going to have to re-structure what I'm doing. I just got another book in from my editor to fact check. (that's three on my desk, now four, plus another one that will arrive in about a week! I'm half done with two, but...) If I pause so long on writing, even though I seem to be speed queen with work, I'll never get back to it. Motivated, I can do a lot in an hour.
The *cool* thing is that she sends me these books that magically motivate my thought processes. I've been writing about mythical as a coping mechanism for violent crime... and been fact checking a book discussing folk-lore and clinical vampirism and lycanthropy. What fun!
Somehow your fact checking is a form of research for you from the sounds of things. Enjoy.
Glad you like the posts. I still don't know why two disappeared!
Post a Comment
<< Home