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[americanamanda]

nano 8

Got it done, but not before nodding off while typing. whoops!

1,047 words for today, 8,526/30,000 so far.

[americanamanda]

NaNoWriMo Day 7

One week in.

7,479/30,000 words for NaNo. Added 1,017 today.

I'm so tired I'm falling asleep at my computer. But I am also so very, very proud.

[americanamanda]

NaNoWriMo Day 6

6,462/30,000. Added 1,026 words today.

Today was by far the most difficult day to get my words in. Toddlers know nothing of Daylight Saving Time. But I had an incredibly productive day around the house, and I wasn't about to let that end at the keyboard. May tomorrow be easier!

[americanamanda]

NaNo Day 5

5,436/30,000. 1023 words.

Today was the day that I shouldn't have gotten anything done. It was chaos from breakfast to bedtime in our house. Hell, we bought a couch that we didn't set out to buy (the deal was too good to pass up). But I buckled down, stayed up a little past my bedtime, and got it done. OK, time for bed.

[americanamanda]

Happy Saturday, I made this

[americanamanda]

NaNo Day 4

1027.

Total: 4,413/30,000.

Stepped away from the doc with some energy to go further, but I hit a good conclusion at the end of a scene. Gonna noodle on the next scene for the rest of the evening.

[americanamanda]

NaNoWriMo Day 3

Added 1,186 words. Total: 3,386/30,000.

I've started a new thing that has really helped. I usually take at least one 30-minute walk around campus at lunch, as well as the occasional walks throughout the day to other floors/buildings as needed. Usually, I'd put on my headphones and listen to music or a podcast for anything that would take me five minutes or more. But not now! I've been putting on instrumental music or some soundscapes (rainy city night, or crashing waves, etc) and making myself think through whatever scenes I want to write that day. That way when I finally sit down to write, I can just hammer it out with plenty of fuel left.

[americanamanda]

do it for her (your thirteen year old self)

[americanamanda]

NaNo Day 2

2219/30,000 running total

I was on fire today, adding 1,198 words. Felt great. I'm now at 62,496 words total, the most I've ever had in any one writing project.

[americanamanda]

NaNoWriMo Day 1

1,021/30,000 words. 

(My daily goal is 1,000.)

A great start to the month! I’ve got a great outline and am building off my pre-existing 60,000-word fantasy novel. Here’s hoping that the steam continues! 

[americanamanda]

NaNo. Tomorrow.

Excited, but also

[americanamanda]

7 fool-proof ways to connect with your characters

Finding it a bit hard to connect to a certain character in your story? Here are 7 ways to get over that hump →

Start with the little things Every person has their own quirks, and so should your characters. A character might fall flat in your vision because of an absence of these small unique traits. Lean into this, think of habits they fall to when they get emotional, or weird little obsessions they linger on.

Give them a small trait of your own Don’t misinterpret this advice as writing yourself into the story! What I mean by this is to pick a small trait or a habit of your own to add a bit of yourself into a character you’re finding it difficult to connect with. This is a great trick to use if you’re writing a type of personality that differs from your own, and helps layer out character too!

Figure out what they want most Knowing a character's motivation - or what it is that actually drives them forward in the story, is one of the key things you should know about any character. If you’re finding it hard to connect to one of them, think about whether you’ve given them clear and tangible motivation within your story world.

And then figure out why they can’t get that Once you know what your character wants, what their goal might be, think of a reason why they can’t get it, or what that process of achieving the goal might be difficult for them. Usually, this works great if it comes from within - meaning that your character carries a flaw that stops them from acting on their goal.

Don’t underestimate kindness Flawed and morally gray characters are great. But don’t underestimate the power of a kind, positive trait. It’s what makes readers fall in love, and what will ultimately help you fall in love with the character, too. We don’t fall in love with a character’s  snark, but with the emotions they hide behind the snark.

Give yourself time to get to know them Sometimes you don’t immediately click with all your characters, and that’s okay. That happens. It takes time to get to know what makes them tick, sometimes it takes writing them in a scene, then rewriting them in a different way in the same scene to feel out what’s most natural to them. If a character feels distant to you, let yourself explore a different approach to how you write them.

Don’t rush into who they are It can be really fun to keep a mystery about someone. And sometimes that’s all it takes for readers to be intrigued and feel connected to a character. This can work really well for you as the author, too. Don’t rush into writing down everything about your character in the first few chapters, keep a few details for later and work up to them.

[americanamanda]

Today’s white board quote.

[americanamanda]

and with that…

I just crossed 60,000 words in my untitled fantasy novel. I figure I’ve got about 60,000 more to go.

Goal for NaNo: add 30k, get super detailed on the remaining bits. Sort out an outline for the rest of the books (looking like a trilogy).

[americanamanda]

Ahead of NaNo, I crossed 59k words tonight in my fantasy novel project. I’m hoping that I have a super productive November. Maybe I’ll finish by my birthday?!

[americanamanda]

I’m obsessed

picrew: ummmmandy.tumblr.com editor

[americanamanda]

y’all ever just scroll past a post

and then have to scroll back up to like that motherfucker after .2 seconds of actual thought