Don’t Quit! 5 Ways to Recharge Your Writing

All through National Novel Writing Month, published authors will take the whistle, take over our official Twitter account for a week, and act as your NaNo Coach . This week’s NaNo Coach, Sona Charaipotra, author of Tiny Pretty Things with Dhonielle Clayton , shares five tips to recharge your motivation:

We’re now nearly at the halfway mark for NaNoWriMo, and while some of us are plowing full speed ahead, many of us are struggling.  And I’m here to tell you: if that’s the case, you are not alone.

The sticky middle is always where I get stumped myself; I’ve got some tried and true strategies for getting back on track and moving forward. Maybe these will work for you, too. If you’re good and stuck, they’re certainly worth a shot!

Take a break. 

If you’ve been spending countless hours holed up with your manuscript, maybe it’s time to pause, regroup, reenergize. Self-care is key: you and your health are way more important than word counts and winning. Take a shower, take a walk, read a book, have dinner with a friend. It’s important to remember that the journey here is just as important as the destination, and making a rest stop or two along the way won’t derail you.  

Maybe it’s time to revisit that outline. 

What, you don’t have an outline? Even if you’re a die-hard pantser, maybe it’s time to make one. I’m not talking a forty-page plot manifesto (although I have been known to make those in my time). Start with one line about the story. Then do three lines: beginning, middle, end. Then expand each of those lines into three paragraphs for beginning, middle, end. Then break those paragraphs down into scenes. The scenes tend to naturally form chapters. 

If you already have an outline, take a look at it to see where the story may have gone off-course. Pinpointing the flaws here lets you assess the damage without taking the whole thing apart.

Spend some time with your characters. 

Plot is important, but character is at the heart of any story. You may have done some work on this pre-NaNo, but if you find yourself having trouble figuring out how your protagonist would act in a particular scene, play a little. Interview your character: favorite foods, fondest memories, most embarrassing moments, Harry Potter house—all of it. Then put them in some un-fun scenarios: high school humiliation, a chat with their biggest crush or nightmare boss. These exercises might not build up in your final word count, but they’ll help you add depth and insight as you write.

Explore story in other ways. 

Read a book. Watch a movie. You may think you’re wasting precious time, but story is all around us. Think about how the story is built, and how it functions. Deconstruct it from a writerly point-of-view. Even if what you’re reading or watching is as far removed from your own work as possible, you’ll come away with new ideas and approaches. 

And if the guilt is too much, spend some time on instructional inspiration—wise words from Stephen King or Anne Lamott. Better yet, grab a screenwriting book! I’m a big believer in three-act structure. Lay the bones, then bend and break them as you will!

Whatever you do, don’t quit. 

Take breaks, explore story, enjoy the journey. But stick with it. Steadily increasing word counts are exciting, and yes, winning is thrilling. But NaNoWriMo is all about butt-in-chair commitment. And no matter what the number on November 30, the journey will have made you a stronger writer. 

Sona Charaipotra is an entertainment and lifestyle journalist published by the New York Times, People, Cosmopolitan and other major national media. She received her MFA in creative writing from the New School. She is the co-founder of the boutique book development companyCAKE Literary. Her debut novel, Tiny Pretty Things (written with Dhonielle Clayton), was published in May 2015.