Camp Care Package

Da ich die Mails im Camp immer als (mehr oder weniger) inspirierend finde, bin ich so frei und poste sie hier. Zum Nachlesen und Inspirieren-Lassen.
Achtung: Das alles ist nicht auf meinem Mist gewachsen, sondern von dem jeweils genannten Autor!


Helen Hoang: What should you do if you're stuck?

How can you keep writing if you're feeling stuck? For me, sometimes it’s as simple as switching POVs. If that doesn’t work, I question why this scene is important. Is it moving the plot and the character arcs forward? Is there any conflict? If not, how can I add conflict? Key point: Does this scene elicit emotion in ME? What does it need to get a reaction from ME?

Helen Hoang: Keep your Excitement alive.

The excitement is gone. Maybe I should play on social media, watch TV, or take a nap. For me, this is when I start collecting new music until I find a song or songs (usually one is enough for me) that I really like and can play on repeat. It becomes a drug. When I’m high on music, my brain fires with the need to create, and my excitement is revived. Art makes art. (Side note: When I’m writing hard, I burn through a lot of music.)

Helen Hoang: Get lost in your story.

“I’m too stressed to write. I’m afraid I’m going to fail.” Play your music louder. Get lost in it. Get lost in your words and your story. Fight the voices in your head, for just thirty minutes if that’s all you can manage. Take a short break, and then do it again. And again. And again and again and again. Until you write THE END.

Sarah Raughley: Pat yourself on the back.

This month is gonna go by in a flash. But every day you sit down and write, you need to remind yourself that there are so few people who can do what you’re doing. I still have friends and family amazed that I can write “that many pages.” I’m amazed. Because it’s amazing. What you’re doing is amazing. Don’t get caught up in feeling bad about the writing quality (it’s just a first draft!) or worrying about reviews. Just know that what you’re doing is inspiring, pat yourself on the back, and get ready for the next week!

Sarah Raughley: Don't "throw away" your characters.

Here’s a fun writing prompt for those of you thinking of how to spice up your scenes and plot. Is there a throw-away character you introduced? Someone that’s just kind of there to move the story along? A background character? A mom? A side character? The principal? A person your character passed on the street? I want you to take that character and give them an ugly backstory. Then think of how that character can be driven by their origins to royally screw up your main character’s central goal. Make that throw-away character not so throw-away.

Sarah Raughley: Recharge your writing fuel.

I personally don’t subscribe to the idea that you should never read what you’ve already written while you're still drafting. I mean, I get it—you want to keep the writing momentum rolling. But as the weeks go on and the writing gets a little harder, sometimes you might find it more difficult to keep going. I really recommend going back and re-reading the early scenes that you just love. Don’t bother with the ones you hate or the ones you will probably cut. When you find yourself in a rut, read those brilliant YAAAS moments to recharge the fuel!

Sarah Raughley: What's worth doing is worth doing well.

My mom always used to say, “What is worth doing is worth doing well.” And she’s right! But when it comes to NaNoWriMo, what does it mean to do something “well”? As you write, remember that this is a first draft. Heck for some people, it’s Draft 0. Just getting something down and participating, just putting yourself out there and trying, in my opinion, is doing NaNo well. Remember, your work doesn’t need to be perfect. Perfect is boring. Just put the words down and when the dust settles, see where the story can grow from there!

Sarah Raughley: Move past your fear.

As a writer, there’s lots to fear as you write your book. Think about the doubts that creep into your head as you trudge along and the page count gets bigger.
What if people hate this?
What if after all this work I’ve put in, this book ends up getting shelved?
Think about those doubts…
…and shrug.
What we fear doesn’t have to come to pass, and even if it does, it’s not the end of the world. But if we stop because of fear, we’ll never achieve our dreams.
No matter what, keep moving forward.

Amy Spalding: Where the magic happens.

Writing a first draft can be so scary—especially when you feel like it isn't great. You don't know where it’s going or how it's going to fit together. The good news is that even a bad first draft is a huge achievement! For most writers—seriously, almost every single one of them—editing and revising are when the magic happens. But you can't revise something that doesn't exist. Your draft doesn't have to be good right now! Just get those words down. I promise you'll have something you can dig into later.

Amy Spalding: Write what you love.

I used to think that I had to write important works of literary fiction or I shouldn't even bother trying. It feels silly in retrospect; I rarely even like to read important works of literary fiction! I like romantic comedies. I love stories where groups of friends figure stuff out together. I live for makeover scenes and love interests with great hair. And as soon as I stopped trying to be a writer I never was going to be and leaned into what I really loved, writing didn’t just get easier, it got a whole lot more fun.

Amy Spalding: Don't hold back.

“Write every day,” they say. Well, sometimes you can’t. That’s OK! “Real writers have MFAs,” they tell you. Nah, some do, some don’t. “Day jobs are for hobbyists, not published authors,” you’ll hear. It’s news to me as someone with a day job as well as published books.
The truth is that any advice that seems to hold you back is advice you can probably ignore. There are so many journeys to publication and so many ways to be a writer. The only way that matters is the one that works for you.

Amy Spalding: Look for inspiration.

If you’re stuck, think about the last story you loved. It doesn’t have to be a novel; it could be a musical, your favorite TV series, even a commercial that moved you to tears (look, it happens). Think of the joy or the catharsis or the side-splitting laughter that creative work gives you. Maybe that’s the thing to infuse into your work. Inspiration can come from all over, and I bet if something moves you, that’s a feeling that others are looking for too.

Amy Spalding: Figuring out feedback.

If you get feedback that you disagree with, it’s OK to disregard it. But I often try to figure out why that person gave me that feedback. Maybe they tell you it’d be cool if there were a big explosion in the story, and that sounds bananas to you. But they might be getting at the fact that nothing big or exciting happens. I bet there’s a big or exciting thing you could write about that isn’t an explosion and would have lots to do with your story. I even do this with my own bad ideas!

Claire Kann: Starting to write.

I’m a late-in-life writer. I grew up voraciously reading any book I could get my hands on but never thought writing was something I wanted to do. Sometimes, it can be discouraging to hear your peers have been creating stories since the second they learned how to write, or that they've posted 250k+ word fanfics with ease. Compared to them, you might feel like you’re not good enough, that you haven’t put in enough background work yet, which isn’t true at all. Just because they got a head start, doesn’t mean you don’t belong too. There’s space for all of us.

Claire Kann: Get to know your characters.

Even if a character comes to you fully formed, it’s your job to sit down and learn their history, to know them inside and out. I like to think characters are similar to trees—inside of them are growth rings representing years of life and development. As a writer, it’s your job to account for all of those rings.

Claire Kann: Different Drafting Methods.

One of the hardest parts of drafting is getting to The End! While drafting do you prefer to revise as you go, rereading and polishing your previous day’s work before moving on? Or do you prefer to write out of order as the scenes come to you and connect the dots later? Personally, I am a zero drafter. I word-vomit the entire story in chronological order, not stopping to fix anything. There are multiple ways to draft, and no one way is going to work for everyone. It’s important to find a method that works best for you.

Claire Kann: Finding feedback.

One of the things I struggle with is the use of beta readers and critique partners. When I first started out, that was the number one piece of advice I read everywhere—find your people! Trade chapters! Incorporate feedback! And so I did, for a time, but now I don’t. I wish someone had said this to me back then, so I’m going to be that person for you now if you need it: It’s okay to be a solitary writer. It’s okay to trust and believe in your creative instincts.

Claire Kann: Writer's block v. "writer's laziness".

I’m the kind of creator that doesn’t experience writer’s block. I suffer from what’s known as writer’s laziness—and I know I’m not alone. When this happens, I can’t even force myself to get my work done. But instead of sitting and staring at a blank page, I’ll give myself a set number of minutes to indulge in media that will inspire me to get back to work. Writing a romance? Watch your favorite romcom! Knee-deep in horror land? Find a book that has the same kind of spooktacular themes you’re exploring. I often find that’s enough to jumpstart my writing.

Kirstin Chen: One step at a time.

When I’m feeling lost or overwhelmed, I go back, again and again, to this wonderful quote from E.L Doctorow: “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” And it really is true. You don’t have to have everything figured out up front; you just have to know enough to take one step forward, and then another.

Kirstin Chen: Read every day.

Just as important as writing every day (or as close to it as you can manage) is reading every day. I read as much as I can, and broadly, too, not just research for my work-in-progress. In my experience, it’s often the books that resemble yours the least that end up unlocking something in your writing. And when this happens, it’s a wonderful reminder of how mysterious and magical this whole process is—and how lucky we are to be writers.

Kirstin Chen: What to do when you're feeling uninspired.

There are going to be times when you feel uninspired, when the very last thing you want to do is to sit down and write. Moments like these, I remind myself that sometimes the work itself can create excitement. As Joyce Carol Oates attests, “I have forced myself to begin writing when I've been utterly exhausted, when I've felt my soul as thin as a playing card, when nothing has seemed worth enduring for another five minutes... and somehow the activity of writing changes everything."

Kirstin Chen: Go back to the basics.

When I’m feeling really stuck and simply don’t have the slightest idea about what should happen next, I go back to the basics and ask myself: What is this character’s overarching desire? What do they want in this particular scene? What is standing in their way? How far would they go to get what they want? Answering these questions often helps me find a way to keep going.

Kirstin Chen: Find your "thumbs-up" moments.

Find a reader who really gets your work, whose judgment you really respect and trust, and show them your early drafts. (And, of course, offer to reciprocate!) When I’m drafting something new, I send my best reader a thousand words a day over email, and he reads them and gives me a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down. The former means keep going; the latter means go back and revise. It seems so elementary, but it has changed my approach to writing—and it’s sped me up, too.

Gloria Chao: Remember why you love to write.

Some writing days are better than others, and the most important thing is to remember why you write: because you love it, because you have stories to tell, because your readers need your stories. One of my favorite quotes is from Walt Disney: "If you can dream it, you can do it."

Gloria Chao: Know your protagonist.

What is the most defining characteristic of your protagonist? What are their goals and why can’t they reach them? Write out a backstory that shows one instance of how they became like this (e.g., an incident that made them take it one step further, a previous experience that clarified their goals or challenges). Remembering who your character is and what their goal is will help you determine what their next action needs to be.