Okay. It’s week two. The first flush of certainty of finishing this
year’s NaNoWriMo has drained from your cramped little fingers, and you’re
staring blankly at the wrong end of 50,000, wondering why you shouldn’t just
give up and watch Big Bang Theory.
(Well, you should, because it’s hysterical, but I digress.)
I’ll give you two answers to this frequent NaNo problem: A How, and a
Why.
Here’s How:
Check to see if you have actually presented an obstacle for your
protagonist. If you haven’t, now is a dandy time to do so. Or maybe you
presented an obstacle and she already solved it. Fine; throw in a new one. (I
always suggest a ninja attack.)
If you’ve “gone up” on your story – like an actor “goes up” on a line,
forgetting absolutely everything and not having a clue what happens next –
there’s a good chance you’ve not complicated the life of your protagonist
enough. There’s still plenty of time to do it, so get busy. Make this
character’s life a living heck.
But remember, it’s not just about throwing tragedy at him; that would
be literary fiction (BAZINGA!). No, what you what are problems he can and does attempt to overcome. The cat
dying is not a plot complication, unless the protagonist needs to get
said-dead-cat to N.O.R.A.D. because her ribs are inscribed with secret codes
that can prevent the unintentional launch of multiple nuclear warheads. Now
see, that’s a
complication. (Feel free to use it. With ninjas.)
If you’re still stuck, try watching one or two of your favorite action
movies. Spielberg and Lucas are particularly good for this (whether or not the
movies always land well or not). Look at how the protagonist has a goal, keeps
going after it, and how everything keeps getting in his way. That’s the
backbone of your story. Without that, it really is just words on a page, and
may really just be literary. (In my humble, commercial opinion.)
Can your story have too many problems? Only in revision, my friend.
Only in revision. For now, give that character a goal and make her do
everything in her power to reach it. Just make sure she fails every time, until
around the last few pages.
Here’s Why:
If you someday want to publish fiction for a living, you’d better
learn. That’s why.
All kidding aside, I cannot stress this enough, and won’t stop until
every aspiring writer on earth hears it: Writing and publishing books is a business. Whether you
shoot for Random House and six-figure advances or e-pubbing via Smashwords
(again, perhaps for six figures!), do not doubt for one second that writing
fiction is a job, and usually, a full-time job whether you have another one or
not.
One of the greatest things about NaNo is it forces you to fight through
these tough spots, wondering where your characters went, wondering if the plot
makes any sense. NaNo teaches the first rule of professional fiction writing: You gotta write the dang book.
Period. It may be a stinker – indeed, I’ll wager it is. It’s a first draft,
that’s its point! But you have to have a finished manuscript before you can
take the next steps. Use November to teach yourself how to do that if you
haven’t yet. Worry not about quality; worry about getting a story out. Any
story, doesn’t matter, just get it out.
Because the day may come (fingers crossed) that you’ll have this same
problem with your second, third, or tenth published book. Might as well learn
now how to deal with it.
Take care, and keep writing!
~ Tom
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