I've been trying to be good this weekend. I've been trying write and write like a good little NaNoWriMo-er. I even drove down to visit Emily, so we could write together.
But friends, I am a couple thousand words short of where I should be. I'm so far from being on track.
I am so discouraged right now.
I want to win so badly this year, mostly because I lost last year.
Here are some of my problems:
- I am so incredibly unfocused. I have complete ADD.
- I am not emotionally connected to my characters. I haven't discovered why I care about their story. (This is a big one.)
- I don't really like my main character. I think she's kind of a brat who has no sense of familial duty. (This is another big one.)
- I can't decide on a narration technique.
You've pinpointed the biggest issues. I suggest instead of fretting about word count right now, fix the main character. Figure out where she comes across as a brat,etc. and see if you can "fix" her so she reflects more what you think you want/need in a main character. This may then leak into your other characters. My experience has always been that when you "like" or empathize with characters the writing of their story comes more easily and you WANT to write it; you WANT to focus on it. So...go back and fix her and then moving forward should be more exciting and motivated. Good luck!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe best advice I have is just write. Make yourself do it. If ADD is a problem, try writing for 15 minutes nonstop and then do something else for a while, then do another 15 minute session.
ReplyDeleteAs for getting reinvested in the story . . . do something crazy. Introduce another character. Make YOURSELF a character. Talk to them. Throw them into an outrageous situation that they have to get out of before the story can move forward again. Try to explore the reasons why you're not feeling it, and maybe something will click. Sure, you'll probably take it all out in editing, and it may feel ridiculous, but I've had most of my best "aha!" moments while writing the crazy stuff that had nothing (or so I thought) to do with my story.