- It helps to have a very vivid view of the opening. The concept of writing 50,000 in thirty days isn’t quite so daunting at the outset when you can start without writer’s block.
- There are characters, and then there are the cut outs you know will have to have things to do at some point with the plot but that ain’t happenin’ in this thirty days. Yay literary abandon!
- Dialogue tags? Who needs dialogue tags?
- Some scenes feel horrible as you write them. Write’em anyway. You may discover a fantastic bit of dialogue or visual that would have never appeared otherwise.
- The world building may look like a three-year-old with blocks, but hey, it’s still standing.
- If you remember the clues for the mystery, awesome. If not…well, that’s what footnotes are for.
- Focus on the scenes you can really, REALLY see. Piddling around with filler may boost the word count, but face it: you’re avoiding the hard stuff in that plot arc. Stop screwing around and muck through it.
- So your protagonist is starting to sound like an antagonist? Go for it. That kid sounds more like a teenager? Ta da! The miracle of puberty works wonders. Don’t be afraid to just switch up a character or an event.
- It helps to have a very vivid view of the ending—all the more reason to crack on and GET THERE.
- Remember, it’s not like anyone but you will have to read this draft. The folks of NaNoWriMo call it “thirty days and nights of literary abandon” for a reason. Don’t worry about form, strictures of genre and narrative. Just let the story go where it wants. Like a toddler’s antics with finger paint, you will see a massive mess at the outset, but some beauty, too. Imagination. Unexpected contrasts that just seem to work somehow. Trust me: the mess is worth it.
Jean Lee's World
Author of Young Adult Fantasy
Jean Lee's World 
I like this – Let the story go where it wants.
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Thank you! It’s a lesson I don’t always care for, but why force myself into frustration, you know?
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Absolutely. It will still be your story, just written using your deepest resources, like you intuition 🙂
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For years, until I read your posts, I had never really thought about the writing process. It’s a real eye opener.
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I’m still trying to work out the writing process despite being in its groove…or stuck in it, take your pick 😛
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Sounds like the groove.
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