(Part 2) Top products from r/nanowrimo

A nice carpal tunnel glove? =D

I'm only sort of kidding.

What does she like to write on? People always seem to default to pens and notebooks, but really, a quality bluetooth keyboard might be even better. If she has a tablet, she can take it to B&N and write on it without having to deal with that awful screen-tapping.

A novel in her preferred genre that she hasn't read yet: also nice.

Or even a book about writing, or worldbuilding. I found this one quite inspirational. But I don't know what sort of thing she likes to write.

I'm glad you're interested! And there is absolutely a UK option - check it out on paperback or on Kindle. I'd love to know what you thought once you've read it!

I found the book How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines helpful when it comes to symbolism. If you have time, you might want to skim through it.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Literature-Like-Professor/dp/0062301675/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539261035&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+read+literature+like+a+professor

Pacing is not something that is easy to achieve. It takes quite a long time to develop solid story pacing.

I, unfortunately, do not have any specific advice to offer you. I do, however, know of an author who is exceptionally good at it. Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island. The book is out of copyright and falls under classic literature, so you can pick it up for free online from Amazon(I've read it twice on my kindle, for nostalgia's sake.)

This particular story flows from one element to another. I won't say its seamless, but it's about as close as I've ever seen done.

If you've never read it before, use some of your wind-down/spare time reading it. It's geared towards a relatively young audience, but it's still a good read, and it might help you pick up some pacing tricks.

Speech to text has been mentioned. Here's a short book about how to become effective at it. It's on my list of books to read.



Good luck with the surgery and recovery.




https://www.amazon.com/15-Minute-Dictation-Frustration-Tablet-Singles-ebook/dp/B07WV5X42D

Because you're not writing a final draft. Best advice I ever learned in regards to this was from this book which said that if you decide you want to change something you did earlier, just leave a note in your writing saying what you want to change, and continue writing as if that was how it was originally. Anything from a character name change to an entire city being burnt down instead of, well, not being burnt down. Just get to the end for the first time, because it's the most important step.

Internal consistency is damn important. You create the world of your book & you need to set the rules up. Its OK to not be historically accurate if you've set up a world that isn't historically accurate. Your characters probably aren't speaking like its the 12th century so you're already starting off historically inaccurate. If your knight is going to win the climatic battle by using a never before seen laser gun that's OK - so long as you've established well before he pulls out the laser out of his ass that it can exist in your world.

Historical accuracy is nice though. If you can be accurate do it. With that in mind I just read a book called Knights at Tournament that would be helpful to you.

You should check out The Unincorporated Man before pushing that idea too far. Not saying it's precisely the same, but check it out. Really good book, for what it's worth!

>I wish there was references to periods and people stinking and wanting to masturbate after you've been in the woods for two weeks, and having to find somewhere to take a shit that's not going to burn your ass with the fires of Volcano Mountain.

First, FIST PUMP FOR AWESOME TRUTHINESS. I too am annoyed with the lack of ROUTINE FILTH in fantasy and sci-fi. It's a big reason why my sci-fi preferences run Firefly -> Star Wars -> Star Trek. Dirt is real. It doesn't go away because of shiny technology. Even in SPACE.

Second, I think a big reason we don't have more books including these basic human issues is because of social taboo. Whatever country you live in, you're going to find mostly authors from your own country on the bookstore shelves, unless they're incredibly popular. Japanese hentai authors are okay with graphic descriptions of tentacle rape; American authors get all clammy-handed and fretful over the inclusion of a little menstrual blood. So perhaps authors from other cultures who accept routine filth are better equipped to discuss that topic in writing than your average Western fantasy author.

Third, I have only read three books that approach the topic of "people really aren't fit to live in sparkly fantasy worlds":

Kim Antieau's The Jigsaw Woman, in which several chapters take place in a cave full of menstruating women, sex is normalized rather than being A Union of Sublime Beauty and Passion, and people's attractiveness is described accurately through their features, rather than "let's just talk about the GOOD things".

Risa Aratyr's Hunter of the Light, in which ugly people are ugly (but not demonized), people smell bad, and food rots.

And a Norse / Viking fantasy novel, the name of which I can't recall (and I don't remember enough detail to search out), in which a proud warrior woman had an internal debate about whether she was horny enough to have sex with the ruggedly handsome yet witheringly stinky new shipmate they'd rescued. (She decided against it, not based on his smell but because she didn't want other crew to perceive her as weak.)

We color our experiences with tolerance and oversight (or, conversely, bias and judgement), which complicates accurate description of less-than-savory situations. I suppose an author dedicated to realism and three-dimensional fictional reality is going to take that extra step and acknowledge that, even if the food is rotting, if we're hungry enough, we will eat it.

https://www.amazon.com/No-Plot-Problem-Novel-Writing-Kit/dp/0811854833

Christ Baty (founder of NaNoWriMo) talks about how you absolutely can do it. If you want to pick up his book and read it before November starts, you've got time.

For inspiration (this is what my wife did 2 years ago), go to the /r/WritingPrompts page and browse until you find 3 that you like. Think about them each a bit, then pick the one that speaks to you the most. Writingprompts has been going for years, so feel free to step back in time as far as you want.

This is all solely my opinion so take it for what it's worth.

I see a lot of writing app designers try to incorporate a sort of collaborative element to the writing process but it just doesn't pan out. It seems like a new one comes out every month. I was involved in suggesting a few early features to Writer Duet. It started out with the primary vision being collaborative screenwriting (hence the name) but over time has shifted toward just being a really good screenwriting app with lots of customization. (If you're interested, u/writerduet is a very active redditor and would probably give you some input if you asked.)

I think a lot of this has to do with writing being a very solitary activity rife with insecurities. Your app solves one major writing insecurity (hyperediting/second guessing). But then you're proposing adding these word wars which will replace that with another (everyone writes faster/more than me).

I think you'd benefit more by shifting your focus away from the Nanowrimo speed writing angle toward being the app that takes the intimidation away from staring at the blank page. If you can get a copy of the first few chapters of Bird by Bird, I think you'll see what I mean. That's the real battle writers have.

It's a real thing. Can't say it's not about how to get rich quick by marrying some shlub though.

For those interested, here's a non-affiliate amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Punching-Babies-how-Adron-Smitley/dp/1502743531

Sure!

Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Moonborn-Moby-Dick-D-F-Lovett-ebook/dp/B01M17L0VH/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Moonborn-Moby-Dick-D-F-Lovett/dp/0998379409/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

http://nanowrimo.org/participants/clumsy_chica/novels

And then here's the Amazon with updated synopsis, it was just released this month :)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0990567109/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1413905254&sr=8-1&pi=SL75

If you need to recharge a little with some reading, maybe give Our Only May Amelia a look? It's MG rather than YA, but the author wrote it based on the info she found in her great-aunt's diaries.

Also, if you're writing YA, hop on over to /r/YAwriters!

Using the ISBN in the link(9781099243684) it looks like they [already published it to Amazon] (https://www.amazon.com/Green-Eyes-B-L-Torres/dp/1099243688). So the editing would need to be in a second or revised edition.

But really I've seen much, much worse on the store. There is no bar to publishing anymore and it's gotten pretty bad for the average quality of work out there.

I think a great one would be Things fall apart crossed with "Star Wars" because of some of the themes.

I'm a huge star wars fan and now a ton about the lore and there's a recurring theme: Jedi are okay taking immoral actions as long as it's justified by their whole "it's the dark side!". And for all of those that don't know the book "When things fall apart", it's a book from a perspective of an African man right around the time that white people start exploring/colonizing Africa.

So here's what I'm thinking:

• POV of a tribesmen on an ancient undiscovered world.
  
• They're all force sensitive and use the force to grow plans (Light side) but also hunt animals (like Force Choke, lightning, etc.) as well as manipulate the elements around them.
  
• The tribes battle each other not just with force-enhanced weapons but also with force powers, many of which are considered "dark" and "forbidden" by the Jedi council
  
• However, the tribes also use the "light" side powers for agriculture, healing, etc.
  
  With that said, I imagine that the Jedi come down on the planet, and the whole "white people colonization" takes place. Jedi try to teach the tribes that they're using the "dark side of the Force", try to change their culture, and ultimately eradicate several tribes that are unwilling to conform because of their dark-side threat.
  
  What's interesting is really reading into the SW history as well as the manual and some of their core principles. They're very religious and devoted and anyone who disagrees and uses the Force will be exiled, expelled, or killed.