Road Trip to NaNo: A Guide to Finding and Preserving Writing Inspiration

NaNoWriMo is an international event, and the stories being written every year reflect our hundreds of participating regions. We’re taking a Road Trip to NaNo to hear from our amazing volunteers and writers all around the world. Today, Megan and Kortney, our Municipal Liaison in the USA :: Arkansas :: Hot Springs/Little Rock region shares where to find inspiration… and how to sustain it:

Megan: If you’re not from the area, you probably don’t realize that Arkansas is a beautiful state. We may not have big cities teeming with skyscrapers, but we make up for that with natural wonder. We have waterfalls, caves dripping with stalactites, and large stretches of deep, green valleys contrasted with tree-covered mountains. Even if you live in the capital, Little Rock, you can drive about thirty minutes in any direction and find yourself lost in nature.

Growing up in Arkansas, I lived in a town that was as rural as you can get. I had thick forests on all sides of my house. Deer and bears would wander onto the lawn from time to time. I had to watch out for snakes hiding in high grass or even slipping into the house. Everyday I was surrounded by natural wonder. So what does living in a place like that do for the imagination of a child?

In my mind, I didn’t just live beside the woods—I lived beside a magical forest that hid dragons. There weren’t just squirrels in the trees, but goblins.

Inspiration can come from anywhere if you know how to look for it. As an adult, I live in the city in a house that is about four feet away from my neighbor’s house. I still find inspiration here: I can sit in my small backyard and listen to the sounds of children playing, or dogs barking at cars. Suddenly, I can see a story in my head—children lost in the post-apocalyptic remains of some alien planet with a pack of hyper-intelligent canines leading them to safety. (Well, maybe not that story, but you get the idea.)

Nature is inspiring—there are millions of stories to be found in it—but you don’t have to live in a writer’s retreat away from civilization to be inspired. Find inspiration in your surroundings: listen to the noises of traffic, smell the cooking in restaurants, and take in all the colors of the sky. If you take the time, you’ll find a story.

Kortney: As Megan mentioned, our state is full of natural wonders and wide, open spaces—a perfect writing environment. But what happens when you just aren’t feeling the whole writing thing one day?

Days like this are bound to pop up during the month of November. The secret is not only expecting these days but knowing how to breeze through them without missing a beat or falling behind on your word count. But how?

Outlining. I use this term loosely. Whether your outline contains only a list of your characters and locations, or the details of every nook and cranny of your story, having a roadmap will save you from the abyss of not knowing what to write next.
Find your tribe. Part of the magic of NaNoWriMo is knowing that you are part of a global writing community that are all taking the same challenge of churning out 50,000 words in 30 days. Find people locally and elsewhere (via the forums) that can cheer you on, and help you get back on track with that amazing story you’ve got up your sleeves.
Get back to the basics. What is it that compelled you to write the story you’re writing? Was it the quirky characters? The fantastic world your characters live in? The story’s message or tone that you have to get out to the world? Take notice of whatever it is that gets you excited about what you’re working on—it just might be the oasis in the desert you need.

Kortney Hinton is an urban fantasy and science fiction writer in Little Rock, Arkansas. This is her 8th year participating in NaNoWriMo and her 4th year being ML for the Little Rock/Hot Springs region. She’s pumped and motivated to get started this NaNo season.

Megan Neumann is a speculative fiction writer living in Little Rock, Arkansas. This is her seventh NaNoWriMo and her first year as co-ML in the Little Rock/Hot Springs region. You can find her short fiction online at such publications as Luna Station Quarterly, Perihelion Science Fiction, and SQ Mag.

Top photo by Flickr user Tuaussi.