chatter-boy

[chatter-boy]

ALL-IN-ONE NANOWRIMO TRACKER: “NOVEMBER EVE” 

a highly customizable, automated but simple googlesheets for writers - especially for those participating in NANOWRIMO. perfect for tracking your progress with minimal effort while keeping your ideas in one place and keeping it aesthetically-pleasing with a dark-mode. to download / copy, go to file and click “make copy” to copy it to your gdrive. 

features: 

overview page for your wip incl. a refinement tracker for your chapters/excerpts

automated writing stats based on your progress

automated graph for tracking your word count

kanban board for your to-dos and tropes you want to feature

wall of fame for your favorite daily line

detailed writing session and word count tracker for every day with automated perks

fun achievements page incl. automated calendar that ticks off the days you've written on

please like / reblog if you’re using or interested in using it!

+ novel preparation doc for gDocs here.

[chatter-boy]

National Novel Writing Month

Otherwise known as NaNoWriMo.

What is it?

As some of you know, and others were able to guess, it’s an event that starts every November 1st here in Internet Land where you try to write a 50k novel in a month by setting up a daily word count goal. There’s a website for the event, which you can check out here. You can sign up on the site to participate, but it’s not a requirement.

I am actually participating this year in a sense. I’m going to be using the month to finish the current draft of my novel, but for those of you who are starting one fresh, it may seem like a tall order. So, to help you guys out, I’ve complied some links from this blog and from others in the community. If there’s a post you really like that I missed, let me know. There are likely a ton. These are just some of the ones I had bookmarked.

Slithering Ink Resources

Character Development Questionnaire 

Character Motivation Questionnaire

Writing for Beginners 

Plotting Methods for Meticulous Plotters

Organize Your Plot: Outlines

Writing Character Voice

Creating Chapters

Prologues

Character Development: The Basics

Community Resources

Forming a Plot for NaNoWriMo

Chuck Wendig’s NaNoWriMo Crash Course

Fixyourwritinghabit’s Plot A Month Series

Write World’s 20 Things About NaNoWriMo

All Things NaNoWriMo

Last Minute NaNoWriMo Prep

Survival Guide

Clevergirlhelp’s NaNoWriMo Planning Guide

Inktype’s NaNoWriMo Planning Guide

Writing Cafe’s Guide

To NaNoWriMo or Not?

Arguments Against NaNoWriMo and Why They’re BS

[chatter-boy]

NaNoWriMo Prep: How to Write 2000 Words a Day

Two thousand is a big number. Sitting down to write 2000 words can be extremely intimidating, so the first thing you should do is make that number friendlier.

Write 500 words in 4 writing sessions.  

Chop up that big, intimidating number. Start with a goal of 500 words. In one session, with no breaks, write them all. Take a break, long or short, then write the next 500. Repeat until you reach at least 2000.

I recommend timing your sessions, aiming for 20 minutes each time. With 10 minute breaks between each session, you can reach your 2000 word goal in two hours. 

If you write 650 words in one session, don’t aim for 350 in the next. Let those extra words add up. A few hundred extra words each day will get you to 50k quicker than you could imagine.

Write fast. 

Don’t stop and think about your words. Don’t go back and improve a previous sentence. Save all of your edits for later. Try to write as quickly as possible. This can actually help boost your creativity. Make your brain work so fast, and be so focused, that it doesn’t have any space to doubt itself. 

But don’t worry if you can’t write 500 words in 20 minutes on day one. Writing quickly is a skill and it will take a few days of training. 

Let the words suck.

This is absolutely key if you want a high word count. When you’re writing an entire chapter in a day, you shouldn’t expect the words to be beautiful. You’re not aiming at lyrical prose. You’re mining raw material that you can work into art later.

Letting the words suck can include:

Writing [something happens here] in place of a scene.

Letting yourself use cliches as shorthand.

Dialog that is really exposition.

Long descriptions of things that don’t matter.

As long as there are 2000 words and they relate to your story, they’re exactly what you need.

Don’t know what to write next?

So you’ve written 1200 words, completed a scene, and you have no idea where the story is going next. Here are some things you can do to get those 800 words in anyway:

Go to writeordie.com and FORCE the words out.

If that doesn’t work, reread the scene you’ve just written and see if you’re missing some obvious foreshadowing, some clue as to where the story’s headed. (You can also add a few lines to bulk up your wc.)

If that fails, take a walk and let the fresh air usher a solution to you.

If that fails, skip the next section. Write another scene. Go where the story is waiting for you. Come back to the other scene at a later time.

Helpful tip:

Instead of breaking your writing session into four parts, break it into five. Use your first writing session to sketch out an entire chapter, like an outline, but with bits and pieces of dialog and description. Getting the plotting out of the way will make doing the actual, fleshed-out writing much easier and quicker.

You can also do an outline for the next day’s writing after you’ve gotten your 2000 words for the day in. Future you will be extremely pleased.

[chatter-boy]

I am a(n):

⚪ Male

⚪ Female

🔘 Writer

Looking for

⚪ Boyfriend

⚪ Girlfriend

🔘 An incredibly specific word that I can’t remember

[chatter-boy]

eventually you realize you don’t want to die. you just don’t want to live the life you’re living. and slowly you try to create a life you want to live. just gotta start there.

[chatter-boy]

YO WRITERS

Stop what you’re doing right now and go write 3 sentences of your story.

Every time you see this, write 3 lines.

Reblog so other writers will do the same, let’s finish these damn stories.

[chatter-boy]

AAAAAAHHHHH

Am I ever going to stop drawing olympics zukka? Probably not

(click for better quality!!)

[chatter-boy]

i wish everything was quieter and softer and less often

[chatter-boy]

Am I a catboy yet?

@anyone

(Also made one for my gf and she loved it ☺️)

real me vs fantasy me // I had way too much fun doing this so just tagging some of y’all & anybody else that sees this!💖 @michaego @seawhisperer @myolniir @eznova @pascalz @mostly-megan @max–phillips

[chatter-boy]

real me vs fantasy me // I had way too much fun doing this so just tagging some of y’all & anybody else that sees this!💖 @michaego @seawhisperer @myolniir @eznova @pascalz @mostly-megan @max–phillips

[chatter-boy]

What’s your gender?

TAX ENTITY

Yes but what’s in your pants?

INVOICES

[chatter-boy]

Avatar: the last airbender AU where everything is the same except Sokka dances like Shakira.

That’s it. That’s the AU.

And I just can’t get it out of my head.

Just imagine.

[chatter-boy]

Zuko having a connection to the spirit world but instead of it being something deep and profound, it’s just because he spent three years pre-finding the avatar running towards the first weird magical shit he saw.

[chatter-boy]

happy new year lesbians

[chatter-boy]

push yourself to get up before the rest of the world - start with 7am, then 6am, then 5:30am. go to the nearest hill with a big coat and a scarf and watch the sun rise.

push yourself to fall asleep earlier - start with 11pm, then 10pm, then 9pm. wake up in the morning feeling re-energized and comfortable.

get into the habit of cooking yourself a beautiful breakfast. fry tomatoes and mushrooms in real butter and garlic, fry an egg, slice up a fresh avocado and squirt way too much lemon on it. sit and eat it and do nothing else.

stretch. start by reaching for the sky as hard as you can, then trying to touch your toes. roll your head. stretch your fingers. stretch everything.

buy a 1L water bottle. start with pushing yourself to drink the whole thing in a day, then try drinking it twice.

buy a beautiful diary and a beautiful black pen. write down everything you do, including dinner dates, appointments, assignments, coffees, what you need to do that day. no detail is too small.

strip your bed of your sheets and empty your underwear draw into the washing machine. put a massive scoop of scented fabric softener in there and wash. make your bed in full.

organise your room. fold all your clothes (and bag what you don’t want), clean your mirror, your laptop, vacuum the floor. light a beautiful candle.

have a luxurious shower with your favourite music playing. wash your hair, scrub your body, brush your teeth. lather your whole body in moisturiser, get familiar with the part between your toes, your inner thighs, the back of your neck.

push yourself to go for a walk. take your headphones, go to the beach and walk. smile at strangers walking the other way and be surprised how many smile back. bring your dog and observe the dog’s behaviour. realise you can learn from your dog.

message old friends with personal jokes. reminisce. suggest a catch up soon, even if you don’t follow through. push yourself to follow through.

think long and hard about what interests you. crime? sex? boarding school? long-forgotten romance etiquette? find a book about it and read it. there is a book about literally everything.

become the person you would ideally fall in love with. let cars merge into your lane when driving. pay double for parking tickets and leave a second one in the machine. stick your tongue out at babies. compliment people on their cute clothes. challenge yourself to not ridicule anyone for a whole day. then two. then a week. walk with a straight posture. look people in the eye. ask people about their story. talk to acquaintances so they become friends.

lie in the sunshine. daydream about the life you would lead if failure wasn’t a thing. open your eyes. take small steps to make it happen for you.

[chatter-boy]

Edgy boys (affectionate)

throws all my twitter shit on here

Im so fucked up over ATLA right now