National ‘Nooooooo’ Writing Month

Hello, fellow Rubbers! How’s everyone’s Halloween this year? Did you go trick-or-treating ? Or stayed at home all day? My mum brought candies for trick-or-treaters, but due to classes we have that night, we didn’t give away any candies nor did my brother had a chance to trick-or-treat. But I was far busy to be upset for that, for I am busy preparing for the upcoming NaNoWriMo 2012!

So what is NaNoWriMo anyway? NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, in which in a mere 30(or 31?) days, you will have to write 50, 000 words (a novella size story). Intimidating? Yes, it is. But there are a few things you have to understand to join it.

At NaNoWriMo, you can write about anything, but it should be original. (It is part of the rules, but no one is going to check what you wrote, so no one would know if you are writing a piece of fan fiction.) NaNoWriMo focuses on quantity, not koala-tea (quality). I reckon this is to keep writers motivated and committed to write a 1,667 words every day to make it to the goal of 50,000, despite on November, is when a lot of events lie ahead (Exams! Christmas! etc, etc) Instead of writing and editing and writing and editing and never getting the story done, what about complete a novel and you can at least tell others, “I have written a novel.” even if it is a horrible one. It’s the first step.

For 30/31 days, there will be a word counter for you to update the word count of your story, and provide you a very handy dandy stats of the average words you wrote, target word count (which is 50,000), target average words per day (1,667), total words written, words remaining to your goal, current day, days remaining to 30/31th, “At This Rate You Will Finish On”, words per day to finish on time and a bar graph of your progress! When it comes close to the 30th, there will be a word counter available in NaNoWriMo and by pasting your story in, you win as you reach 50,000 words!

So… question time!

If no one is going to check it, how do they know if you cheat?
The thing is, they don’t. But what can you gain if you lie? This is a project to help you, either take it or leave it.

But how am I going to write 50,000 words in 30/31 days?
My saying for this year is this: “WING IT.” Plot? Outline? Monsters? Mainstream! Go with the flow if you don’t have an outline or plot! Too cliche? Too stupid? Too boring? Don’t change it. Or if you are really irked by it, make a line across and write your alternative ending. Try not to delete masses of paragraphs at a time because it will only decrease your word count. Don’t think about it, just write. (TIP: Someone taught me that writing without looking at the screen helps, and it did.)

What happens if I win?
You get a story done then, well done, you. You won’t get a prize for winning the challenge (Actually, you do! It’s a winner certificate and web badge!). However, you have a complete story in front of you, the achievement is overwhelming. Do whatever you want with your story! You could use it for private purposes, for your friends, or even for your future career. It’s up to you what you do with those 50,000+ words you get at the end of the month.

What happens if I lose?
It’s alright, love. There’s always next year. But that doesn’t mean you are going to leave your story unfinished after the end of the month! Finish it off, and you are too, a winner at heart.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:

I am a proud NaNoWriMo participant since 2011. I found out about the challenge on Day 5 or later, and started writing. But my first try, only lasted for five days and less, ended up with the amount of 5,171 words. Mistake 1, I edit while I write (I got negative words on Day 4); Mistake 2, I lack an outline and Mistake 3: I was not motivated. But this year, after reading some articles, I realised I’m doing it all wrong.

Ten minutes before NaNoWriMo on October 31, 2012, I was waiting for it. I panicked when it turned 12AM, and I wrote, and I wrote, and I wrote like a mad woman on that night, I got 2,000 words that night. I wrote what came into my head, without filtering, and collapsing them onto a blank canvas. Often changing point of views, writing a scene of what I think should happen earlier or later, an event of a character’s past, etc. Put stuff in. Put more stuff in. Repeat stuff. I was steady for the past four days, forcing myself to 2,000 words every day. Currently, I have a count of 7,554 words and I plan to reach my 10,000 mark today. Though I’m still repeating Mistake 2, but tad different as I do have an outline, but I don’t stick to it like what the post-November me had expected.

 

Doesn’t sound that bad, eh? What about giving it a go? This is NaNoWriMo’s official webpage. Check out more from there. And here, also very resourceful to learn more about NaNoWriMo. Despite that NaNoWriMo began four days (or three or five, depends on time-zones), you can join NaNoWriMo, perhaps you might not be able to hit your 50,000 count by the end of the month. But try to hit your best shot, 40,000?

A Grim Grimm Grins when Snow is White

The year is 1811, and Jacob Grimm has an idea for a story. Various elements flow through his head. An evil queen, who wants to be the fairest one of all. A princess, who happens to be the fairest one of all. A magic mirror, that can not only talk, but is also a fashion expert, and is able to judge exactly who's the fairest one of all. An excellent idea for an excellent story. The only problem is, Jacob really cannot get himself motivated to write.


Letting your creative juices flow by writing your own story can be a lot of fun. Keeping yourself motivated when writing however, whether it be a short story or a novel, can be difficult. Especially if you’re writing a novel. So how can you do it? Fortunately, there are two very easy ways to motivate yourself. If you know anything about how Jacob Grimm wrote, you should be able to work out the first one quite easily.


Jacob Grimm had a brother, Wilhelm Grimm. His brother was also an aspiring writer, but also suffered from motivational problems. And as he could not afford a psychologist to tell him how best to get himself to continue to write, he got his brother to help. And of course, his brother realised in an instant the best way for someone to motivate themselves to write.


1. Write with someone else. It’s simple. Find somebody who you get on well with, whether it be a face-to-face friend or an online friend, think up a good idea, and start writing. Try doing it online; Google Docs, for example, is a free way to allow you to both work on a story together. Perhaps you could plan out the story to start out with, and alternate paragraph by paragraph/chapter by chapter. Or perhaps you could take it in turns to write chapters, with not much idea where the story is going at all. Either way, with another person working with you, you’ll feel much more motivated to keep writing. I call it “Collaborative Fiction”. A grand idea deserves a grand name, after all.


Unfortunately, it would be another 200 years before Google Docs came, which made Jacob and Wilhelm’s job rather more difficult. The only internet they could get their hands on was tying two paper cups together with a long piece of string, and talking through it. As this was a rather inefficient way of writing a story, they decided to sit there face to face, (...Freaky! Face to face!...) typing on a keyboard known as “the quill”, and motivating each other as they went. As a result, not only did they stop procrastinating but they were able to choose the best ideas out of their separate heads. This meant that Jacob’s brilliant idea to have Dwarfs was included, and his rather silly idea to have the queen turning into a dragon was laughed at by Wilhelm, and was dumped into the trash can. (A real, physical trash can. To Wilhelm's disgust, there wasn't any pixel trash can yet on his non-existent computer.) It also meant that Wilhelm’s idea of a poisoned apple was kept, but his dangerous idea of having a detailed description of how the apple was infused with rhubarb leaves to make it poisonous was excluded. “After all,” reasoned Jacob, “we don’t want to be sued for teaching rubbish children how to poison their nasty old rubbish step-mums.”

2. Write with a whole group of people. Okay, this second Collaborative Fiction idea won’t be getting you any literature prizes. But it’s probably the most enjoyable way to write. Basically, a whole bunch of people get together, and take it in turns to write a paragraph. Nobody has any idea where the story is going, making it very unpredictable, and meaning it’ll have lots of twists. There are all sorts of versions; it can be done online, or perhaps in person, where a bunch of people pass around a sheet of paper and add to it. Another variation that you may have done at school is where a class sits around and each person speaks out a couple of sentences, and other people have to continue the story. The result of this is often very confusing, and very amusing.

“I have a wonderful idea!” announced Wilhelm without warning, causing Jacob to spill his tea all over his desk.
“What rubbish is it this time?” grumbled Jacob, trying to mop up the tea before it reached the Snow White Word Document (which was really just an old fashioned thing known as a piece of paper).
“Well, you see how much better we’re writing with two of us working together?” asked Wilhelm.
“Rubbish,” replied Jacob. “If it weren’t for rubbishy-old-you I would have had Snow White cutting herself rubbishly out of a dragon by rubbish now.”
“If it weren’t for me you wouldn’t have written one line,” retorted Wilhelm. “So why don’t we expand on this way of writing? Why not get more of our friends in here, and we can all work on our story together!”
“Rubbish idea,” wheezed Jacob. “That’d mean I’d have to share the rubbish profits with a whole rubbish group of people. As it happens I really don’t think you deserve your rubbish share, what with silly rubbish like rhubarb leaves. Rubbish!”

If you're doubtful about whether writing collaboratively can actually work, then I'm happy to remind you that Pencil Rubbings is a good example of it! This very blog thrives because of the way its multiple author setup works. If Pencil Rubbings only had one author, I'd be quite confident in saying that it would likely have crawled to a halt months ago. The additional enthusiasm of a number of people has kept it going strong.


This post wouldn’t be complete without an example of a Collaborative Fiction story. So, here’s the Pencil Rubbings Collaborative Story. I’ll start it off in the comments section below. Then, anyone that wants to can contribute by writing the next paragraph, or at least the next sentence or two. Nothing inappropriate, or your contribution will be deleted! To keep the story flowing nicely down the page it would be best if you only comment if you’re continuing our story. So take the plunge, and add a twist by writing at least a sentence or two!
(And by the way, all the italics in this post are, to quote Jacob Grimm, “rubbish.” I made it up. The Brothers Grimm didn’t actually write their fairy tales, they compiled them. So someone else wrote Snow White. Probably without collaboration. But you never know…)
Here it is then.

Maria and the Green Wizard

Inspire yourself

THXTHXTHX (A Thank You Note A Day)

Hello, I’m Germaine (aka WearingGnome from Lost In Sunshine;) and I am a brand new contributor of Pencil Rubbings. Today, I want to share tips of creating a journal that inspires you.

Do you have a day you feel awfully miserable and nothing seems like it went your way? Do you have a day when you feel hopeless and maybe even, attempt to suicide? No more, dear. No more. Make your inspirational journal today and all your worries will just walk away! (I sound like an advertisement, but I encourage everyone to do this.)

So what is an ‘Inspirational Journal’ anyway? It’s a journal where you keep track of your happiness and wonderful moments that occurred to you, so when you are older(or not very old) you look back and feel the joy splashing at your face all over again. And I hope, you'd look at it when you are sad, and from there, smile again.

Here are some tips I recommend to make your inspirational journal:

1.         Get a book. A premade notebook, a notebook you made yourself doesn’t matter.

2.         Decorate your journal. Flowers, ribbons, stickers, whatever! As long as it makes you smile and you could write comfortable on it, go ahead!

3.         Write in detail interesting moments of your life. You know those ‘lol’s you saw on the Internet? Remember those hilarious moments you and your friends made? Oh perhaps your crush asked you for an eraser?  Write them down! And quick too, in case the memory and why you laughed upon it has gone away over time.

4.         Attach other sources on it. When I say other source, I mean photos, quotes, items that reminds you about that certain event. Like a scrapbook! To support how hilarious those moments are.

5.         Date your notes. I always date my notes. I think it’s important to know when you’ve written it tells you when did it happened, and how long has it passed.

6.         Negative events are a big no-no. When you look back, you sure do not want to remember those embarrassing moments that occurred to you, do you? But if your embarrassment are within a laugh, sure, put it down!

7.         Update regularly. This may be the most important and the point most people ignore at all times. Many people has abandoned journals because they never update. And then they forget. Always take a day in the week to write something funny in it, but the more days you update, the better!

When I started my journal, my friend asked me why don’t I do it online? And I told her as simple as, It won’t be as interesting. Don’t anyone think looking at your handwriting defines the mood you are at during those moments? I feel like that too. And that’s why I choose to write my journals on paper than the Internet. I hope you feel the same way too.

See you next time!