By now, day 21, you should be about 75% of the way through your story. If you\u2019re at about 35,000 words you\u2019re on target to finish on time. If you\u2019re not, let\u2019s take a look at what might help.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re just not finding time to write, check out the last post on ways to get more words in.<\/p>\n
If your story isn\u2019t quite working, there are a few things you can do. I\u2019ll address those in just a minute.<\/p>\n
If you are pretty much on track you should know where the whole story is going. Whether you planned or pantsed this year, 75% of the way through, you really should know how it\u2019s going to end. It\u2019s important to make sure every single scene from now to the end of your novel moves the plot and character transformations to the conclusion. It\u2019s not time for side trips or tangents. You need to start wrapping up subplots and set the scene for the climax of the story.<\/p>\n
If you used our Story Planning Worksheet and Story Skeleton Worksheet<\/a>, the climax comes when the main character is forced to confront his weakness or lose his prize. The opponent is in a position to manipulate the MC through this weakness. If you\u2019ve been avoiding making decisions about these key turning points (die-hard pantsers\u2026) you don\u2019t have much time left to make sure it all works out.<\/p>\n I like to think about the final scene before I get there. Sometimes you want to set something up that requires leaving a trail of breadcrumbs in previous scenes so everything comes together at the right moment. That doesn\u2019t happen accidentally. It takes some planning. You may want to write a scene summary sentence for the last 5-10 scenes in your book to get the progression of events right.<\/p>\n Are you bogged down in the middle and not sure why? One of these techniques might help:<\/p>\n If you used our worksheets, go take a look at them again. I\u2019m guilty of filling them and never looking at them again after I start writing. I forget that I wanted Gladys to be the false ally or that the barn at Anderson\u2019s farm is a place that is comfort zone for Thomas but Rudy hates being there. I realize I can still bring in some of those ideas by changing the location of a scene or adding in a new one between existing scenes.<\/p>\n This may affect what you\u2019ve already written. Don\u2019t take the time right now to make adjustments unless you\u2019re damn close to finishing. Make a comment bubble (use Track Changes) to remind yourself \u201cHere\u2019s where X happened, need to go back and change the rodeo scene\u201d or \u201cAdded in Y event, make sure Jonah refers to it in kitchen argument scene.\u201d I leave lots of notes in my manuscript. Then I work on the changes during the revision process. You may still tweak some things or insert scenes, and the best time to smooth everything over is after you have written the ending. You\u2019ll have plenty of other adjustments to make anyway, and you\u2019ll have better ways of doing that once everything has settled into place in the resolution and ending.<\/p>\n Picture the ending. If you\u2019ve been resisting planning ahead, this can often be the right time to give it a try. If you know where you are going, it\u2019s much easier to make sure you will get there. I\u2019m not suggesting you outline or even know exactly how each scene will play out, but choose a specific ending. By halfway through a novel, you should have more than a vague idea how it all shakes out. If you\u2019ve been taking the characters and reader in one direction and really want to finish somewhere else, it\u2019s going to take some planning to get there.<\/p>\n It\u2019s said that the last 10 pages of a novel are the most important ones. It is in this last scene or two that you can create an indelible image for your reader to take away with him or her. Whether it\u2019s a satisfying solution to the mystery, or a shocker ending, the last thing the reader sees and feels will stay in his mind far more than the cool scene halfway through ,or your wonderful opening<\/p>\n And awesome final scenes are what sends reader scrambling to leave you a good review, tell their Facebook friends to hurry and get this book ASAP, or Googling your backlist.<\/p>\n A \u201cmeh\u201d final scene leaves a reader looking for something else to read right away, rather than reliving the last moments your story.<\/p>\n Take some time, ten minutes, even an hour, to think about what you want a reader to feel during the last few pages. If you\u2019re inspired, write it now, even if you aren\u2019t that far in the writing process. An amazing final scene can invigorate and motivate you too, and get your fingers itching to write all the scenes leading up to the ending.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By now, day 21, you should be about 75% of the way through your story. If you\u2019re at about 35,000 words you\u2019re on target to finish on time. If you\u2019re not, let\u2019s take a look at what might help. If you\u2019re just not finding time to write, check out the last post on ways to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":3233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[506,587,93,374,237],"tags":[18,936,940,911],"class_list":["post-3232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-post","category-feature-article","category-lessons","category-nanowrimo","category-writing-tips","tag-nano","tag-nanowrimo","tag-smooth-draft","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/nph-challenge.jpg?fit=236%2C253","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pzLgx-Q8","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3235,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3232\/revisions\/3235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Ending<\/h2>\n
![\"nanowrimo_logov101SMALL\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.smoothdraft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/nanowrimo_logov101SMALL.jpg?resize=210%2C210\")
Troubleshooting<\/h2>\nRevisit the planning worksheets<\/h3>\n
Ramp up the middle<\/h3>\n
![\"nph](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/nph-challenge1.jpg?resize=236%2C253\")
<\/a>I recently heard a fantastic bit of writing advice from Dov Simens, a screenwriter. He uses a rough formula of 5 uh-ohs, 5 oh-shits, and 1 OMFG in his scripts. The place for uh-ohs and oh-shits is in the middle. You may not need five of each, but if your middle feels like a beached whale, go back and add at least one uh-oh and an oh-shit. At the minimum, you\u2019ll get 2-4 more scenes than you have now, and you\u2019ll get some tension and excitement going. How your characters handle those disasters will lead you toward the end.<\/p>\nEnvision the final scene<\/h3>\n
Which of these sounds like it might work for you? Comment for a chance to win the e-book version of How to Be a NaNoWriMo Winner<\/a><\/em>.<\/h2>\n