No Plot? No Problem! - How to Stay Alert While Writing

NaNoWriMo season is officially here! How can you prepare for a successful November? By planning your novel, storing up inspiration, or finding a writing partner-in-lines. Today, we’ve got some tips from Chris Baty, and the brand-new, updated 2014 edition of his book No Plot? No Problem!, on pulling off a late night of writing:

Between work, school, family, and errands, the only time many of us have to get writing done are the quiet, pre-bed hours. Writers in their teens or twenties will have no trouble handling an occasional regimen of burning the candle at both ends. For us older writers, though, all-nighters are out of the question, and we’ll need all the help we can get to keep from ruining the romantic late-night writing tableau by falling asleep at the keyboard.

Happily, there are a host of tricks you can use to turn the barren wastelands of exhausted evenings into productive writing oases. As you might expect, coffee drinkers do very well in the month-long novelizing arena, and java junkies will likely find themselves brewing up thick pots of the stuff at all hours. Green teas, along with the South American herb yerba mate, also make great coffee substitutes for those who don’t like coffee’s flavor.

For those unfortunately souls who become jittery zombies when dosed with caffeine, there are a host of equally powerful stimulants to make the brain sparkle, even in the wee hours. Some of the best include:

Fresh air: Crack a window, or, better still, go sit outside on the front steps for a few minutes. This is especially reviving if you’re novelizing in winter months. Plant lovers can drag all of their little friends into their writing room to create a low-intensity oxygen bar.

Peppermints: A NASA-funded study showed that the oils of the peppermint plant increased alertness by 30 percent and decreased fatigue by 15 percent. Peppermint tea, peppermint candies, and peppermint oil all work fine.

Sunlight: This one takes a little planning, as sunlight tends to be relatively hard to come by at 11:00 p.m. The good news is that sunlight absorbed during the day—even on cloudy days—has been shown to elevate moods long after the sun goes down.

Chris Baty accidentally founded National Novel Writing Month in 1999, and now serves as a Board Member Emeritus for NaNoWriMo. He spends his days teaching classes at Stanford University’s Writer’s Studio, giving talks, helping companies with content strategy, and endlessly revising his own novels. His quest for the perfect cup of coffee is ongoing, and will likely kill him someday.

Top photos by Flickr user El Villano, and Chronicle Books.