Writing Prompts

So I spent the better part of this evening looking for ways to fill my NaNoWriMo word count. After running through my list of projects (Rosetta, Dash, YA, Long Live, and now my newest story Angels), I came up with... writing prompts. So I set about searching for writing prompts online to help get me started.

I have to tell you: they suck.

I don't know if it's just the websites I found, but there were a ton of one-word writing prompts (which can be fun when I'm in the mood for them) and a ton of prompts along the lines of, "Write about something you dislike about yourself." But there were very few longer prompts, containing things that might get your mind working if you're having trouble coming up with an idea of your own. It's all well and good to have the prompt, "Cinnamon," but if you're already a little burned out and not having luck coming up with a concept, sometimes you need a little more.

Maybe it was just the way I was searching. I typed "Writing prompt" into Google and went with the sites on the first page. Is there a better topic to search? Maybe "story starters" or something like that?

When I was in high school, I used to spend the first fifteen minutes of every morning doing free writing. Basically, I'd sit at my desk at 5:15 in the morning and write about whatever could possibly come to mind.

Needless to say, there were a lot of angry journal entries about how much I hated being awake that early.

I liked doing the free writing. I read about it in one of those "How to Be a Writer" books (maybe Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird), and the author talked about how it loosened up her mind for the rest of the day. I noticed a distinct uptick in my creativity whenever I did it. I felt more awake during the day (which was ironic because I woke up earlier), and I felt like my brain was firing on all synapses.

Unfortunately, like most things I did in high school, this faded away as I got older. Eventually, I valued the extra fifteen minutes of sleep more than the burst of energy and creativity I would get from free writing. Nowadays, I wake up and sit on my computer for a half hour before even attempting to move. I could use this time to write/free write.

Instead, I watch reruns of Boy Meets World or play games on Sporcle.

Part of the problem is that I'd rather write than free write, but I'm afraid whatever I wrote at six in the morning would be completely useless--and it probably would be. But I don't want to have to rewrite everything I do, and I don't want to waste time writing things that don't matter (aka stream-of-consciousness free writing), so instead I write nothing. And for some reason my brain is okay with this.

Anyway, at this point I'm just looking to fill my word count, but I will go back to the initial point and pose a question to all of you who are reading (so possibly just Kim): Does anyone out there have a tried-and-true writing prompt site they use?

NaNoWriMo - Day 1

I don't think this will become a daily update on how NaNoWriMo is going, but I finished my word count early today, so I figured I'd throw this in too.

So I'm at 1908 words, which is technically 241 words over what I needed to do today. This will become important in the future, I think, when I have less time to write (or less inclination). I wrote 365 words of Rosetta by hand, then switched to my untitled YA novel (which will henceforth be referred to as simply YA), of which I wrote 1543 words. I made an Excel spreadsheet which breaks this all down for me. It's an incredibly complex Excel spreadsheet. There are charts. I'm very proud of it (kind of stupid proud actually. Perhaps I could have better used that time elsewhere).

I actually thought I'd write more of Rosetta. There are a couple problems with that though. First, Rosetta is handwritten. I carry my notebook with me everywhere and write whenever I get a chance. It's something I started doing in high school, when I was working on my second novel Merry-Go-Round. Back then, I did it so I could write in class (we weren't allowed to use personal laptops in school... probably so kids didn't do exactly what I was doing. Or surf the internet). Now, it's still easier to carry around than my computer. Unfortunately, this means I have to transfer everything to the computer intermittently so I know what my word count is. Plus, it's a slower process in general. Sometimes I like this. During NaNoWriMo, it can become somewhat of a hindrance.

The other problem is that Rosetta is my (current) baby. 1667 words (the target word count per day) is almost a complete chapter. To write a chapter a day, when I've been writing a chapter every two weeks so far, is a big step up. And since I so desperately don't want to screw it up, I'm taking it much more slowly. If I can write a few hundred words per day, I think that's enough for that. Which puts a little more pressure on YA and Dash (of which I wrote nothing today), but I'm less afraid of writing crap for those stories.

I have a short story, tentatively titled Long Live, that I'd like to work on/finish in the next day or two, and I wrote the first sentence of Dash but was too lazy to go upstairs while I was writing and get it. Those are tomorrow's projects. That could all change if I wake up tomorrow and feel like writing anything else. The nice thing about the multiple projects system is that if I ever get bored... I move on.

NaNoWriMo

Yeah, it's that time again: National Novel Writing Month. This will be my fourth entry in five years. I was unsuccessful in 2007 and 2008, and in 2009, I was able to complete my 50,000 word goal. This is the Novel-We-Speak-Not-Of.

There is a reason I don't normally talk about this novel. It was an idea I'd been rolling around for the better part of two or three years. Loosely based on Peter Pan, it's about five kids and their babysitter who set out to find a secret world in their house where no one ever grows up. It was supposed to be a story about the games only kids can play, where everyone can see the world you create without having to ask a lot of questions. It was supposed to be the kind of story where you couldn't tell if it was real or all in their heads. It was supposed to be fun and poignant and whimsical.

It was very few of those things. There were a few scenes that weren't completely terrible, and even a nice scene where the oldest boy, appropriately named Peter, can no longer see the world they've created because he grew up to much and has different priorities. It has pirates and ninjas and cowboys and plants that taste like candy and animals that can talk. It should have been a pretty great story.

I've always felt like the problem was that I rushed writing it, so when I got to the 50,000 word goal for NaNoWriMo, I only wanted it done. There were parts, like the ending, that were rushed, and parts that were dragged out just so I could reach my word count. And I got sick of it. Really, really sick of it, to the point where I still can't read it without feeling some residual anxiety. I completely burned myself out.

But this year, I have a plan. Instead of going in attempting to write 50,000 words of one novel, I have two adult novels, a YA novel, and a short story or two on the agenda. Obviously, my main focus will be Rosetta, since this is the book I want to complete and publish. But I've been really excited about Dash and the currently Untitled YA novel as well. Plus, I've written about half of a really cute short story that I'd like to finish. The goal will just be to write 50,000 words this month. I'm not putting all my eggs in one book, which takes the pressure to complete something out of the mix. If I finish something, that's great, but I'll be able to meet my word count somewhere else. If I finish nothing, it's not because I didn't write fast enough or efficiently enough; it's because I was working on many projects.

And hopefully all this will reduce the likelihood that I'll hate whatever I end up with.

So good luck to everyone who's writing this month (both for NaNo and just for fun). I hope you get something really great out of it.

One DV Rebel vs. The Plot Summary

The more I write, the more I realize something rather disheartening: I suck at plot development. Really suck. Like, can't-get-the-last-of-the-milkshake-through-the-straw suck. And I never knew this was my problem before. Because I can come up with ideas. Oh, baby, can I come up with ideas. I've got a list of story ideas a mile and a half long, and I'll still come up with a new one before I start writing something new.

At some point, though, I've started to understand that ideas and plots aren't the same thing. This was never more obvious that the other day when I came up with Dash, the tentative title for one of my NaNoWriMo projects (more about that in a future post). The idea was spawned from a text message to Kim: Can you think of a book that's not midway through a series where the main character starts the book and ends the book in the same relationship, and they don't break up and get together somewhere throughout?

We could not.

So the idea was: Book about a couple that doesn't break up. And they do some other stuff too.

See, that other stuff is where I have the problem. In the past, I've taken this idea, developed a couple characters (let's call them Ash and Em for this book because, well, those are their names), and started writing with nothing else to guide me. Sometimes I've developed an outline around this idea, where very little happens except the characters talk a lot (and, in this case, maybe flirt a lot). Then I write a few chapters, decide it sucks, and put it in a drawer.

I'm breaking the cycle.

I don't know if I've actually developed a plot yet, but I wrote the back-of-the-book blurb. I'm finding more and more that this is a much better jumping point than the idea is. At least this hints at conflict and obstacles to overcome. Plus, it makes me smile, because I would totally pick up this book if I read the summary:

It’s not that Emma Flamel likes to keep secrets. It’s just that she has no other choice. Sure, she could tell Ash, her boyfriend of almost a year, that she’s a witch with the power to make him do anything from swat imaginary flies to confess his darkest secrets... but who needs the hassle? It’s already the longest relationship she’s ever been in; why tempt fate by pushing it? But when her 16-year-old “Little Sister” turns up dead and reeking of magic, Em starts to suspect someone’s trying to tell her something. And Ash’s investigative skills may be just what she needs to get to the bottom of it.

Now I know several things I didn't before. I know Em is a witch, and Ash doesn't know that. I know Em hasn't been in a relationship for longer than a year. I know someone killed her Little Sister (as in, Big Brothers/Big Sisters). I know witches can smell/sense/taste/feel magic. I know Ash has investigative skills (cop? PI?). And I know Em is going to investigate this death, probably with Ash's help. These are all from six sentences, and suddenly... I have the beginning of a plot. And the more of a plot I have, the more excited I get about writing this, and the more details I'll fill in.

I know a lot of writers will swear by the outline system. Until recently, I was one of them. But you have to be flexible if you make an outline because things will change, and I find it difficult to do that. Instead, this plot summary and the notes I make from it give me the freedom to create the story as I go, as the characters develop, but also gives me some guidance. Sure, there are still many, many things I should probably know before diving in, like maybe Ash's last name, but it's only October 27, and I already feel like I'm in a way better place than I was the last time I did NaNoWriMo. Sure, my bipolar love affair with writing could swing back to depression at one wrong word or bout of writer's block. And, sure, I still have to worry about hitting 50,000 words by the end of November. But, hey, for now? I'm going to enjoy picturing what the back of my book will look like.