It’s that time of year again. Leaves drifting and wheeling, pumpkin spice pervading, jack-o-lantern smiles splitting suburban yards, and, wait for it, the motivational banners that proclaim this it, the year, the month: November. This time, you’re finally going to write that novel.
Of course, November is also the month in which school starts really, really crushing the boot down; August, September, and October are merely a prelude. Before November, school is winding up; November is when the hit lands. If you’re a winter season athlete, good luck getting more than five spare minutes between practice, homework, and dinner. (I am a winter season athlete, if you couldn’t tell.) Us high schoolers have to square our obligations to the canon of Literature with the realities of the education system.
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7 Alternatives to Camp NaNoWriMo7/5/2022 If you’re a writer who’s not working on a novel or a novelist who’s not the greatest fan of strict word counts, July’s version of National Novel Writing Month, or Camp NaNoWriMo, might not be for you. Have no fear, however, because one of the following options will probably be suited to your July needs. Most of these are November events, traditionally alternatives to NaNoWriMo, but they fit well as alternatives to Camp NaNo as well.
What is the Three Act Structure?6/18/2022 Don’t know where to start when plotting your story? Try Three Act Structure, the simple way to keep your story on track. Or maybe you're more of a plantser who needs guidelines while you’re winging it? If either of these sound like you, read on.
From its name you can probably guess this structure has three acts. In each act, there are three beats you want to include—so nine events total. Beats are turning points, or crucial moments that move the plot along. They help the reader know that the plot is progressing and make a story engaging. The Three Act Structure is taken from filmmaking techniques and is explained through the lens of protagonist vs. antagonist. If your story doesn’t have a clear antagonist, something like death, grief, or a personal challenge can serve as one. Take from this structure what works for you—writing is flexible, and that’s the fun part. Sometimes, it feels like there’s a stigma that when you’re a writer, you need to hate what you’re writing. You need to slave over your work, beating yourself up after every word you write because it’s a torturous process. When people ask about what you’re working on, you have to answer along the lines of “I have this work in progress but it’s not very good and I’m struggling with it” and so on and so forth.
This next piece of advice might rock your world, so hold onto something: you’re allowed to be excited about your work in progress. Burning out is one of the most tedious experiences a writer can go through. During NaNo season, with the 50k word pressure, it is easy to fall into overworking. So, here are a few quick things you can do to avoid feeling exhausted from writing.
Hello fellow student! It’s the middle of NaNo this year, and whether you feel confident about completing your novel or drowning in deadlines, this article has 15 essential tips for getting through NaNoWriMo with a busy schedule. This article is aimed at college students, but applies to everyone with a busy November.
If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo this year, don’t let me stop you! NaNoWriMo does a lot of good. The writing challenge encourages you to start something new, to follow ideas and brainstorm. And during the challenge, you get the extra motivation to write more than normal. Motivation is great! But there’s a small beef I have with NaNoWriMo, and that’s the word count goal. In this article I bring you four alternative methods to track your progress.
National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short (NaNo for shorter), is meant to put you under a lot of pressure. It is supposed to have you tracking words and hitting seemingly unachievable goals. It’s not burn-out stressful, but it is often healthily stressful and equally rewarding.
It is difficult, productive, and often, a pretty big deal. For many of us, November is when we pen the project we’ve been planning and what we carry on, revise, edit, and rewrite for months. If you’re doing that 50k, it matters a lot — and what you do leading up to it does too. Categories
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