Day Seven: Beginning...Muddle...Ending

Congratulations to all of my fellow NaNo writing companions, all 150,000+ of you! Today concludes the first week of National Novel Writing Month. If you began last Sunday, and faithfully treated your computer as another body appendage all week, you should have reached at least 11,669 words and have a pretty good start on your novel. Some have already far exceeded that, and at least one person has already passed the 50,000 word finish line! The rest of us can only stare in awe as we bravely jog along wiping their dust from our eyes. Others have had life intrude and are struggling to catch up, and more than a few have yet to begin. If you fall into this last category, Paige and I would like to encourage you to take heart, take a deep breath, renew your commitment, grab your pen and notebook or place your fingers firmly on the keyboard, and write. Get something, anything, on paper or on your word processor. You can't hope to finish, if you don't start. If you don't have any ideas, or have too many vying for your attention, try ten to twenty minutes of free writing where you write whatever comes to mind without judging it. This simple exercise may help move you from thinking to doing.

If you are in the group that has been writing all week, and everything is going great, and the words are flowing almost faster than you can write them down, fantastic! Run with it! But for some, the first flush of excitement may be waning as you suddenly hit a snag in the story line. You may have the beginning down, and know where you want to end up, but aren't quite sure how to get there. In other words, the middle is a muddle.

In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, the king tells the white rabbit, "Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop." That sounds like very sensible advice. But when you're writing, the process isn't always orderly, especially when you're trying to meet a word count deadline in a short period of time and are feeling the effects of sleep deprivation. Ideas dart around your conscious mind like kids playing keep-away. They don't line up in an orderly queue like well-disciplined British school children. How do you push through? What if you're drawing a blank and don't know what should come next?

If you already know the ending of your story, go ahead and write it. When making a movie, scenes are rarely shot in the order in which they appear in the final cut. Sometimes, the last scene of the film is the first scene shot. There's no reason why you can't do this in your novel, too. Perhaps once the ending is written, it will be easier to work backward to the beginning. Another idea is to look at your outline. (If you haven't done one yet, and you're stuck, now's a good time to do it). Decide what needs to take place in each chapter to get your characters from point A to point B. Then decide what scenes within each chapter will tell that part of the story. Once you have these main ideas and supporting ideas down, you can begin to craft descriptions and dialog to flesh them out. It may also help to write each chapter's main idea on an index card. Then write each supporting idea on a separate index card, and lay them out under the chapter in which they will best fit to tell the story. Doing this will take a little time, but it's worth it if it gets things moving again.

If all else fails, and you're starting to panic, go to the NaNo Forums page, look under the section titled "NaNo Tips and Strategies" for a thread called "Plot Doctoring." People there may be able to help you with such things as character names, coming up with a conflict or obstacle, plot twists, setting, dialog, or whatever your specific needs are. Don't be afraid to ask for help. The reason that thread is there is because we've all been, at one time or another, where you are now. With some fresh ideas, you can take your great beginning and your fantastic finish and unite them with a middle that's not a muddle.

Welcome to Creative Muse Journal

My name is Donna B. Russell, and for some time my alter ego, Paige Turner, and I have wanted to create a blog but didn't know where or how to begin. As we were preparing to participate in National Novel Writing Month, Paige suggested that blogging about NaNo would be a great starting point. So, with her help, we will begin this blog by inviting you to share our NaNo journey.

Who are we?

Donna: The writing bug bit me when I was a child. Throughout my school years I wrote poetry, short stories, and plays -- some of which were performed solely within my own classrooms, others (including a Memorial Day pageant) for the whole school and invited guests. In college, I took writing courses as part of my English major; but when I married and became a full-time mom, I put the writing on hold. Then in 1990, I began writing a monthly column called "PetWise" about pets and issues relating to them. With the advent of an "empty nest," I took additional writing courses, and had some poems and a couple of articles published online and in print. I also write devotional material for "Wings of Prayer" (www.wingsofprayer.net) which I founded in 1999. Then in 2007, I heard about and participated in National Novel Writing Month, which finally helped me take the plunge to try to write a novel. In July 2009, through a quirk of fate, I had the opportunity to copyedit a novel for a published author. With his encouragement, I waded in a little deeper by taking on some additional freelance editing projects while continuing to pursue a writing career.

I am a native and lifelong resident of the Green Mountain State and can't imagine living anywhere else. I tell people my feet are rooted in Vermont soil, and Lake Champlain runs through my veins. I am a former teacher, musician, choir director, speaker, board president, and support chat host. I am also a wife, mother of three talented married children (a son and two daughters) and mother-in-law to their equally-talented spouses, pet parent, writer, committee co-chairman, dreamer, and optimist. For the past twenty years I have lived with the challenges of three chronic illnesses which have helped me to even better appreciate what a precious gift life is.

I live with my husband, David, who is the pastor/director of a church and street ministry, as well as a fine photographer and digital artist. Our nest has never really been empty since we share it with my service dog and our cat, who became "Queen of the castle" when our male cat passed away in August 2009.

Paige: Donna and I met through NaNoWriMo in 2007. There was never any doubt that I would be a mystery writer with a name like Paige Turner. My mother was a huge fan of Patti Paige, so when she married my father, Matt Turner, whose idol was baseball great Satchel Paige, my fate was sealed -- at least as far as my name was concerned. My mother was an avid reader, who also read to me, and taught me that, through books, I could travel to exotic places, have amazing adventures, meet exciting people (and some rather sinister ones, too), and expand my knowledge and horizons without leaving the comforts of home. Then I met Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, and knew that I either wanted to grow up to be a detective or a mystery writer. Since writers are less likely to get shot, the choice seemed obvious. I also own and operate the Live Free Bakery, which specializes in products for people with food allergies.

I live with my best friends, Cody and Noah, a pair of beautiful Border Collies, and Higgins the cat who is definitely master of the house. I'm single, and still hoping to find my perfect soul-mate. I also volunteer at our local Humane Society occasionally and am in the process of having Cody and Noah approved as certified therapy dogs.