NaNoWriMo: Week 2
Hello, lovely friends, and welcome to week two of NaNoWriMo! I hope everyone's writing journeys are off to a good start. Perhaps you're completely on track with your goals through the first week of writing or perhaps, like me, you've already fallen woefully behind. Either way! This week I've compiled a list of helpful resources to help make the journey a little easier.
Without further ado, let's get started!
How do I create believable characters?
While you may already have everything figured out about your characters, the following blog poses questions that may help you round them out if there are some details you may not have nailed down just yet
Additionally, it's been said that there are no small parts only small actors, and while this pertains to theatre consider it geared toward writing in that there are no small characters only small context. And what I mean by that is even side characters should have some thought as to who they are, where they come from, what drives them, and so fourth. While it may not be feasible to do that with every person/creature/being who makes even the smallest appearance in your story consider that the more you round out these characters the more you are adding to their depth and complexity and also building your world. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-do-i-create-believe-characters-1277069
Five Unusual Ways to Generate Creativity - and Productivity - on Command
I'll admit, I am a skeptic when it comes to any "X Number of Ways to Accomplish Every Hope, Goal, and Dream You've Ever Had" article. However, I am always interested in learning and trying out methods I may not have discovered yet.
You may be familiar with some of the methods in this article, perhaps all, perhaps none, but I challenge you to try a couple out - even if they seem a little silly. Maybe it will work wonders or maybe it won't be for you, but it may help you learn something new and craft a creativity/productivity method that will be valuable to add to your writing toolkit. https://writetodone.com/generate-creativity/
*Note: that said, the above article comes from a site called Write To Done that contains a cornucopia of writing articles that offer insights, wisdom, and methods on successful writing. I will pull some specific articles here and there, but if you have the time I'd encourage you to check out the website. https://writetodone.com/
Motive Generator
On the topic of characters, this link offers a really quick clickable motive generator. Do you want to play with a certain character's motivation during a scene in your story or are you still working on the overall motivations of some of your characters on the whole? This site offers quick, clickable motivation generator. Play with scenes you're still working through by giving your characters different motivations and seeing how the encounter plays out. http://www.rangen.co.uk/chars/motivegen.php
Writing Prompts
At this point, you probably have a fairly good idea of where you're going in your novel, but I find that - as a writer who like's to let the story unfold before me - I tend to hit rough patches when it comes to figuring out how to move my characters and story from point A to point D. The following is a Tumblr blog that provides various writing prompts that could be useful to apply directly or use as inspiration for your own story. http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/
Creative Ways to Battle Writer's Block
Ah, yes, writer's block my old friend. Odds are you've probably run into writer's block at some point (and if you're anything like me it tends to happen as soon as you have a deadline you're working toward...). The following post offers a few ideas on how to battle your own bought of writer's block. http://www.theprocrastiwriter.com/guest-post-creative-ways-to-battle-writers-block/
Additionally, this post comes from a blog all about the challenges of procrastination and writer's block that is worth checking out. http://www.theprocrastiwriter.com/
And a random but fun one...
Is this incredibly useful for your writing endeavors this week? No, probably not. However in researching the above links, I stumbled across this gem that I wanted to share for no other reason than it's fun! https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/mythology-monster-names
And if you're really stuck and getting sucked into the internet black hole of killing time, why not kill time with articles that are going to feed your writing? The following is much larger collections of article and website lists that collect various writers' resources.
Good luck and until next week, keep going! You can do it!