"I love pretty things and clever words..."

But your readers do not. It may be great for school essays when there's loads of description and huge long words into which you can read very deeply but your book will just confuse people if you use huge words.

You have to separate your "school brain" and your "bestselling author brain" because they work entirely differently. If you really pare things down, you'll notice that they sound a lot purer and they'll read better too, trust me.

As for clever words, you may think you sound like a literary genius, worthy of all the prizes for use of language but your readers will not be able to understand you and those who do will scoff at you for being pretentious - its a lose-lose situation. You don't want your readers reaching for the dictionary for every time that you grabbed the thesaurus.

Don't leave your reader hanging as they can't understand what you're trying to say. The simpler you say things is often more punchy and leaves more of an impact: if a book jacket leaves me wondering what it meant then I leave it well alone. Don't lose your reader because you wanted to seem clever.

Camp NaNoWriMo!

Okay, I know I haven't written any fiction in forever but I'm psyched for Camp NaNoWriMo! Last camp, I managed to complete two novels over the two months (well, one novel and two bits of two other half-arsed, unfinished books) then in November, for the first time, I catastrophically failed, with around 15,000 words after thirty days.

Some of you may be wondering, what on earth is NaNoWriMo, let alone Camp NaNoWriMo?
Well, it is the brainchild of this man: his name is Chris Baty in July of 1999. And he has never looked back. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, which takes place in the month of November. It is described on the website as "Thirty days and nights of literary abandon" which couldn't be more true. 

The website's description: "What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month’s time.

Who: You! We can’t do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let’s write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era’s most enchanting art forms! To give yourself permission to write without obsessing over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To stop being one of those people who say, “I’ve always wanted to write a novel,” and become one of those people who can say, “Oh, a novel? It’s such a funny story–I’ve written three.”

When: You can sign up anytime to add your name to the roster and browse the forums. Writing begins 12:00:01 November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at 11:59:59. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins."

To anyone who has never heard of this before, go and check it out!

We're coming up to Camp NaNoWriMo, a new concept of having two extra months of writing during July and August for those too busy in November, or perhaps write more prolifically in those months. I was at first sceptical: how would I ever write fifty thousand words in four weeks? The fastest I'd ever managed before was fifty-two thousand in around eight to nine weeks. I'd have to more than halve that! The year I discovered it, I decided to give it a miss but the next year, I signed up and I haven't looked back since, now having done two NaNos and two Camp NaNos. 

It makes you crazy but I feel free to guess that if you're here, you lost your sanity a while ago, right? Don't worry - there are thousands of others having a crack at it and the website is stuffed full of various forums to rant and vent on. 

The joy of Camp NaNoWriMo is that they try to emanate a real American camp as much as possible, which is great fun for us Brits! You can be put in a "cabin" with five others - you can either choose people you know or opt for a random selection, or those of a similar age/interests/genre. Of course, you can choose not to be a part of a cabin but it's more fun to be surrounded by nutty writers to share problems, plot hiccups and ideas. 

http://nanowrimo.org/

http://campnanowrimo.org/

Anyone else planning to take part this summer or in November? Good luck!

Lydia

Writing Stress vs Exam Stress

So, one of the reasons I haven't posted in a while is because of exams - I consoled myself with the thought that as long as I wasn't "wasting time writing" then I'd have more of a chance of actually getting some revision done. That was, hmm, three months ago? Yeah, I never got any revision done because the whole time, I was pining to write my story, to get the words down on the paper but I was terrified.
What if I start it and then leave it?
What if I write instead of focusing on exams?
There needed to be some compromise and I wish I had forced that a little earlier. Too late now: I'm nearly done with exams and I neither wrote nor revised because while I needed to do one, I couldn't stop thinking about the other. It was a horrible circle.

An important thing is to focus. Without focus, what is there? A bewildered mind wondering what to do. I'm still trying to muster up the gusto to just sit down and focus on writing. I have hundreds of notebooks waiting for me and I've picked out a great one; I have my planning. What's holding me back? Lack of focus.

Writing relieves stress. I saw a quote recently that read, "Writing relieves stress because you can put all of that stress build up into an argument between characters."
That's a very true quote and something I've used many a time (though I have to make sure the argument is relevant, of course).

As far as exams go, it's probably best to rest most of your focus on those though I can't talk. Leave a little time aside for writing else you might go completely insane but don't let yourself fail. Here's hoping I haven't!

Any particular methods of balancing revision and leisure?

Lydia

Creative Planning

Planning - I hear your groans. For many, many people, planning is a thing of nightmares; having to intricately plot every movement within your book/piece of work and then pulling out your hair in despair when things change and you don't know how.

I am one of these people: I hate planning because it never goes as planned. My characters are always taking over and controlling their own destinies. I'm just a slave to their needs, writing down what they're telling me to.
Well, I decided that for the book I'm wanting to write (not planning to write, of course) I should have an ounce of control over what goes on so I invented my own way: creative planning.

Apologies for the bad quality photo - on the computer it's so much better but I can't seem to transfer it well.

 This is very loose: there are no rules and you can pretty much interpret it however you want but what I did was collect together a bunch of quotes that I wanted my characters to say or that fitted into the story then I laid them out in order to show a vague story arc. Then I wrote them all onto an A2 piece of paper along with drawings to illustrate each quote. For me, this is the easier method of planning. I have what I need in one place. I do also have a notebook filled with post-it notes covered in quotes and bits I may need, as well as a character outline for three main characters.


Do you have any way of escaping the terror of meticulous planning?

Lydia

Road Trip

I love this picture because it reminds me of many of my favourite road trip books, a niche category that I love.

The image evokes so many thoughts for me but mostly it just makes me desperate to write a road trip book. Even before I discovered how much I loved them, I had written one without realising for NaNoWriMo and as a result, it doesn't have the qualities that a road trip novel should have. As soon as I've finished the one in my head that I haven't started, I think I'll have to do one.

I have fallen in love with the idea that over a long journey, through various places, people can discover more about themselves and the people with them, be it a journey revolving around a couple or a family, or just a group of friends taking a break.

John Green: Genius

Hands up who has heard of John Green? I hadn't until a couple of years ago when I friend suggested I read his book, "Paper Towns." I was sceptical - I never read teenage books because I tend to find they have a fantasy theme and are generally just mushy romance as well. How wrong could I have been. A few months ago, I saw a video on youtube about NaNoWriMo and noticed that it was John Green talking. After seeing that, I finally read "An Abundance of Katherines" which is his second novel. Ever since I read the first page of that book, I have been addicted to his writing. He is a comic genius with a fabulous knack for creating engaging stories.

You may recognise him from his VlogBrothers videos, which he does with his brother Hank and let me tell you: the books are even better than the videos, as hard as that may be to believe. I recommend any one of his books to everybody.

After reading all of his solo novels, I was craving more so I decided to pick up "Will Grayson, will grayson," which is a book he co-wrote with David Levithan, an author I hadn't heard of before. That book was one of the best I've ever read. If you want a really good teenage tale with real, believable teenage characters then anything by John Green or David Levithan is for you. The books are mostly character-driven rather than plot but they're all fantastic. I will warn you though: "The Fault in our Stars" - Green's most recent novel - is heart-wrenching. I'd read it again in a flash because the story is told so wonderfully well by this talented writer but even I cried at the end. Don't let that put you off though. It's so worth it.

From there, I explored more of David Levithan's work - he writes mostly in the voice of gay teen guys, except in the case of his collaboration with Rachel Cohn for the well-known "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist." So go for it: broaden your horizons. I've now read all of John Green's books, about four of David Levithan's and I'm looking into Rachel Cohn too. Another similar book is one you may have heard of: "The Perks of being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky.

Ever since first reading "An Abundance of Katherines," I have been completely addicted to teenage road trip books. At the moment, I'm reading "Two Way Street" by Lauren Barnholdt, a tale told from the points of view of a girl and a guy who broke up and are now going on a roadtrip together.

Whenever people have asked who I aspire to be like, as far as writing goes, I never had an answer but now I know for sure that John Green is my idol.

Go out and buy any book by any of these authors, or borrow it from the library. You will not be disappointed.

Lydia