NaNoWriMo’s Talking Fish

Okay, this is the second week of NaNoWriMo—the week which some people often say to be the most difficult of all. Do you feel weary of writing what’s left from your 50,000 words? Do you not know what else to put into your already messy story? Do you think your story sucks?

Well, don’t worry about any of that. I know your story completely sucks, and so do mine and all stories of NaNo participants all over the world. You’re now in what we often call “writer’s block”. You just meet a dead end in your story and start thinking about it negatively.

Writer’s block is natural. Every writer will face it in one way or another—even a professional writer. And what you have to do is simple: destroy it! Destroy, conquer and win over it! And for that, I just got a “helpful” tip from one of my friends in Writing.com (which my apologies for forgetting who said it):

If you’re stuck somewhere in your story and don’t know what else to write about, put in a talking fish into the story and see where it will bring you to.

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Sounds like an absurd blabber, isn’t it? But, why, it’s completely true! For now, the only thing you have to be worried about is how to write that 50,000 words. Try everything you could to reach that goal, and “talking fish” is just one possibility for it. And you know what? I used this secret technique before (though I used “a million chickens falling from the sky” instead), and I get through that writer’s block! That trick is just adorable!

HOWEVER, still don’t forget that NaNoWriMo intends to make draft. By December, DO NOT forget to remove all of these useless ideas and edit, reedit and re-reedit your story until it’s more perfect than perfect. Don’t forget that editing is even more essential than writing, especially if you’re aiming for publication. Remember: Writing is fun; editing is professional.

But, of course, that’s for December. For now, hurry up and put all of those talking fish before this month’s over! 🙂

Alternative Ending, Guys?

Check this one out!

 

How Lord of The Rings should have ended…. Seriously, that’s a great idea. I mean, the birds do exist even in the original stories, right? Why don’t they just wait for these blasted birds to come for around 30 minutes, and then fly to Mordor for 15 minutes. That will take 45 minutes to finish the movie, with additional few minutes before the meeting. Approximately, this story will be less than 1 hour—no need to divide it into 3 parts! 🙂

Of course, that’s a lazy alternative. Very quick, very short, and ironically very logical. What a shame….

Anyway, NaNo is now in progress. Have you thought of this kind of alternatives in your story? Is there a way to make your story no more than 3 paragraphs long? If the answer is yes, be careful. Just why does your character want to take all of the difficult adventures, with their lives in grief danger, if they can just fetch a ride and free from trouble? Very short alternative. No need for 50,000 words; it seems to me you’ve finished the whole novel.

“Well, that was incredibly easy.” Why, it’s true! 🙂