Summer is here and it means long holidays! You have certainly planned a few days of vacation to rest, see your friends or family, and, perhaps, make progress on your novel (or start one for that matter). So, to take advantage of the summer period and the holidays, here are some tips to give you momentum so you can write with pleasure!
1. Take time for yourself in a pleasant place
I believe that one of the tips that motivate me the most to write is to visualize the moment of peace that I am going to experience being alone, quiet, calm, in a place that I like, and with a drink that I am going to have the pleasure to taste. In the evening, before going to sleep, I think about this moment of writing that awaits me the next morning and I look forward to it.
2. Set writing appointments
Working on a novel project requires regularity. To stay motivated, it is important to create a strong connection with your story and your characters and to get into a flow to keep in mind the universe you are building. And this universe only remains dynamic if you keep it alive, hence the idea of making regular meetings with yourself to devote time to it. Furthermore, ideas generate ideas. By thinking about your story and getting to work, you will fuel your imagination and be even more effective during your writing sessions.
If this novel project is close to your heart, it deserves a real place in your organization. A moment every day if you can (to keep this famous link) or at least a few sessions per week. Take out your diaries to plan all of this!
3. Start with the most important
I wrote at night or in the evening for a long time before professionalizing my writing activity. But, since I decided to make it a real part of my activity and therefore of my work, I apply the following advice: in your day, do what is most important to you first. Since then, I have devoted my morning to writing and making progress on my novels.
Why not take advantage of your vacation time to try this trick? Dedicating an hour or two of your mornings to developing your story will bring you personal satisfaction. What I’ve noticed? The more I progress, the more motivated I am to continue.
4. Test a writing method to be more productive
If you’re the type to procrastinate, to think too much before starting, or to doubt every word you put on the keyboard, get started by pulling the rug out from under your doubts. Try the Pomodoro method! This method of time management consists of delimiting writing times of 25 minutes by activating a timer. Focus on one task during this time. For example, you can agree to work on a particular scene, on a dialogue, or on a character sheet. Take a 5-minute break once the session is over and then start again as many times as you want.
Another method: is that of the master of horror. For my part, I like the mentality of Stephen King who writes about 2,000 words a day and whose principle is to stay at his desk until he has reached his quota.
If you have an entire day to dedicate to writing, you can also experiment with NaNo founder Chris Baty’s 6,000 Word Day Tactic. This involves completing three writing sessions per day which breaks down as follows: 3/30/10. Morning, afternoon, and evening, you have three sessions of thirty minutes each followed by a ten-minute break. So you’re going to write for four and a half hours and have a particularly productive day.
To visualize your progress, you can buy a small notebook and write down the number of words you have written every day.
5. Find a writing friend
There’s nothing like being together to motivate each other to write. You can’t cancel a writing appointment or break a commitment. Did you promise to send your first chapter to Gérard or Géraldine? You can’t fail him!
Same if you plan to meet for a session in a café. Planning sessions for two is a guarantee of having a great time sharing. Indeed, you can take advantage of regular breaks to take stock of your project, ask for an opinion on a particular passage, and exchange ideas on your twists and turns. It’s extremely stimulating!
This strategy can also be developed remotely. Establish a schedule and promise to send each extract to the other on a specific date.
6. Work on a plan
Establishing a plan for my novel helps me lay down the broad guidelines of my plot. To stay motivated, especially at the start of writing, I need to have a common thread and a clear vision of the major stages of my story. Otherwise, I lose focus and I don’t know how to start or how to articulate my first scenes. Imagine running a marathon without having a course to follow or a finish line. You risk going around in circles and never reaching the right destination!
The method that helped me the most in working on my plans? The snowflake method and more particularly the construction of five paragraphs: exposition phase, three obstacles to the objective or quest of your hero/heroine, and the resolution. On one page, I have a basis to get started while leaving a good margin of maneuver for creativity and the unexpected because, even if I have the main stages of the plot, I still do not know how they will be linked together.
Another tip that I like? Write down all the scene ideas that make you want to write! If you get slack, you can draw from your list and continue to move forward with your text.
7. Plan your writing session in advance
Here’s a tip that has helped me a lot to motivate myself during each writing session: take about ten minutes to write down the scene to write and the information to include to move my plot forward. It’s very simple but devilishly effective for working.
Earnings? I have a clear framework and I gain satisfaction at the end of my session because I achieved my goal! It’s very beneficial and, what’s more, it can save you time!