I've already gotten a good 9 chapters into my NaNo story well, now I'm totally stuck!!! Why? Because I got an idea for an original fiction. (my NaNo story is a General Hospital fanfiction) Now even though I know I should be working on my NaNo this other story idea won't leave me alone.
Take down some notes (detailed notes if you must) ^.^ See if that helps? It helps me when working on a project and ideas start pouring in for others.
Hi Megs, Every half-finished novel in my 'sock-drawer' is there for one reason. I was excited about the character/idea at first, and jumped in without a thought. Suddenly I had 'written' myself into a corner. So now I plan and do a rough outline first. Nothing detailed. Just enough to keep me on course. That way I can start anywhere in the story I wish and pull it together later. I am also free to change anything should new directions present themselves. I hope that helps. John
How far ahead do you outline though and when you say not a very detailed outline do you mean just like bullet points of ideas?
I tend to plan now for the same reason, usually just like a general direction for the story and maybe 5 bullets a chapter.
I know this will sound weird but it works.... Get a bouncy ball, and a empty wall, and think ideas for it. It works for people I got to do it.
The only to write a novel of any kind is to plan plan plan! A very wise person once told me this. You need to plan a piece before you can write it as when you just jump in and wing it the piece tends to come to a grinding halt somewhere through it. My only advice is to go back and do some planning. Give yourself a basic idea where you want the piece to go, what you want in each chapter, what you want to happen in the novel you are writing, what you want your characters to be like....plan things out and you will find that most times you won't gte as tsuck with a piece that you are writing like you do when you just jump in and start writing. <just my two cents worth anyways>
This sort of thing happens to me all the time. Whenever i am working on something, another idea pops up into my head, which seems much better than the one i am working on. But i continue my current work. And when i am free and idle ( mostly when i am trying to go to sleep), i think about the new idea that i have. If you follow this method too, you will be able to complete your current work, and as soon as it is finished, you can start working on the new idea of yours, which should be much more developed by that time. I hope this helps you. All the best with your current story!
While planning is the case with me, I think it really depends on the person. I know some people who just write better going from start to finish. For them , planning only hurts their attempts.
I agree, Daniel. For me, planning a story ruins the excitement and I get bored and can't finish it. I use a mixture of both and it's my perfect answer. So my advice is plan key points, and create your way towards them as you write. You have to go back and revise anyway, so what's to lose?
While I didn't do NaNoWriMo this year, I know a few of you attempted it. Did you finish? Will you finish by today?
I did very, very little. In fact, I've been "writing" the novel for about a year and a half now, which makes it really sad. I'd thought "hey, you've got all this stuff, putting it into a novel in a month shouldn't be too hard, right?" but I was wrong... [dramatic sting] Dead wrong. Admittedly, this has been the best month note wise, and I've done more than I have in that last year and a half put together.
