Let's Play BINGO!

 

Let's Play BINGO!

Read all of the cozy dragon themed stories to win!

Every winner receives a free cozy short story and a exclusive collector card. Play BINGO when each round of stories are released to collect each collector card!

Step 1: Read all of the stories in the cozy dragon theme https://linktr.ee/Dragonshoardofstories

Step 2: Join the Facebook group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/adragonshoardofstories

Step 3: Submit your e-mail on this form: https://forms.gle/BbLMfPDtWSdtvX9z6

Play now- Stories are only free for a limited time!

FAQ: Tips for Nanowrimo

These are my tips/opinions and are by no means a perfect method for being successful at NaNoWriMo

1. Inspiration.  I usually like to pick a genre first.  Then think of my story as a cross between two existing properties like Twilight x Harry Potter.  Then I distill those properties down to it's constituent parts and think about how I'm going to make my story different.  Using my previous example, Twilight but with a Caribbean Mermaid Girl as the love interest.  If your story doesn't fit into these parameters, then try to make it into a simple phrase or pitch so you can explain it when someone asks you what it is.
2. Research.  I'm super old school about this.  I like going to the library and looking up the books that I need so I can get a basic understanding of the topics in my book.  For my book, Kills of Her, I did a lot of research into the Song Dynasty.  I used my university's history inter library loan to be able to access some academic sources into what life was like for working class women during that time period.  Then I also looked into modern and historical autopsy methods.  I also looked into the difference between Chinese and American forensic policing methods.  I did speak to some of my university friends who were studying the subjects that I needed info on to be able to triangulate the resources I need to know where I have missing knowledge.
3. Make an outline.  Even if you're a pantser, you should have some idea of where you're going.  It's okay if you don't use it at all, but just start somewhere.  I think if you're traveling somewhere you should check out a traveler's advisory and analogous if you're writing an outline, you should use an outline workbook.  Personally I would recommend this one.  NaNoWriMo does have their own prep workbook, but I never used it as it was created after a couple years of me doing the event.
4. Now you get to start your trip.  Writing wise, I've made blog posts about how I write on my phone.  Actually writing wise, sometimes I use a playlist, but I would say that it is an addition of everyday efforts.  Just do it is really all there is to say.
5. Editing sucks, but I would recommend a run through of Grammarly and ProWritingAid.  Think of your book as a painting that is always a work in progress.
6. Querying.  I have not been successful at this so far, but I'd like to point out that there is a supportive community on Twitter.  Also joining a querying group on discord is invaluable.  Just keep a spreadsheet, take your rejections and keep editing and reapplying.  It only takes one yes.
7. You Got an Agent!  Amazing!  You have a guide to where to go!
8. You decide to self publish.  I'd recommend this guide.

But most importantly: writing is a personal journey, it's not a race.  Not everyone is writing what you want to do and not every genre has an enormous audience.  Have fun!  But focus on your audience and your book!  Good Luck!

FAQ: how do you write on your phone?

 I get this question on discord a lot so I thought I should make a blog post about it because I've answered it so many times.

I don't really use any special type of writing software other than google docs which i mainly use for the portability.  I have a pretty extensive google drive set up.  But mainly on my desktop or laptop I make a folder and star it for whatever project I'm starting.  Then inside the folder I make an enormous outline which is a bulleted list a couple hundred lines long.  It depends on the size of the project which for something like Kills of Her was like 336 listed points.

I then copy about 50 of the bullet points and then paste them into a new document.  The outline document I would change the title to reflect 50/336 so that I know I have taken the first 50 to write.  Then in the new document I would name it with the abbreviation of the project.  Using the aforementioned example this one would be KoH1 0/50.  

Then I would  go into the document itself and then change the font and color for the actively writing part versus the outline. 

Then I can open up my phone and start writing for that 50 first bullet points of material.  I usually make a new document for every 5000 words I make because I find that google docs will lag if I write any more than that.  The next document would be called KoH2 33/50.  And I delete the bullet points as I complete them so I have an advancing strip of story with a diminishing strip of outline / to-do list.

This way works if you're writing a novel without defined chapters, but I also think putting chapters in during the editing phase also works well for me.  I have written four books this way as I have a pretty active job where I'm walking around a lot.  I would write in bathrooms and subways and waiting in line.  It's a very useful way to complete your work.  Once you get it, the desktop is pretty not needed, but it's a lot of copy and pasting.

Have fun writing and reading and feel free to continue asking questions.

--Lilse