I mentioned last week that NaNoWriMo starts soon. This causes stress, whether I like it to or not. You see, my whole body just begins stressing out -- the heart rate increases, my stomach feels a little off and I feel anxious that I won't get all the words in. I didn't think it was that difficult, I mean, I've been doing this enough years that it should be old hat by now, but I guess the whole deadline thing never wears off.
Then you have the decision as to what to write. You see, the rules are this must be a new piece of work. You can't continue on something you've already started. It can be outlined, and the characters fleshed out, but the body of the work can't be started until November 1st.
Most years, that's not an issue, but this year I haven't got a foggiest what to write. The couple of story ideas sitting on my hard drive don't fill me with inspiration, though I'll probably end up using one of them if nothing else grabs me. I just like it better when I've got things fleshed out rather than a vague idea. (Which is really a switch from when I first started writing.)
I think it's funny. Authors generally have no lack of ideas for stories - everything inspires the thought of "what if". But for now, the muse is asleep or getting ready for a long winters nap, and I've got to get it woke up before he's totally gone.
Any suggestions?
1 comment:
One thing that's worked for me is to open a history book (any kind, U.S., European, world) and read a single page. Take whatever happens on that page as your story idea. It doesn't need to be set in that era or with those characters, but it should spark something!
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