I've scheduled two writing sessions the end of December at Caribou, Monday, 12/27 at 9:30 and
Thursday, 12/30 at 9:30.
My thought is to talk about writing, our novels, plans for them, revision, maybe even do a writing or revision exercise or two.
Come along to one or both. They'll both be low key, and different, and hopefully fun and will be applicable regardless of whether you finished your first draft or not.
Heather is also still hosting the Wednesday evenings 'keep on writing' at Caribou. (And she has purple winner 'bars' for people who didn't make the TGIO.)
See: http://naperwrimo.org/wiki/index.php?title=2010_Events#Summary_of_2010_E...
for details.
161,514 / 50,000
Dec 30, 2010 - 17 28
Caribou is having a $2 medium drink special on New Year's Day--so, care to come and talk about plans for writing, work on your novel, work on revisions, or just drink coffee and chat?
Saturday, 1/1/11 -- at 1:00 (of course, I like the number 1!)
http://naperwrimo.org/wiki/index.php?title=2010_Events#Summary_of_2010_E...
Katherine
101,608 / 50,000
Dec 27, 2010 - 10 05
We're here -- and I'll put up some of the guidelines or notes we discussed.
----------NaNoWriMo region: Ferndale, MI | Naperville, IL
Genres: Urban contemporary; fantasy, sci-fi; speculative; historical
161,514 / 50,000
Dec 27, 2010 - 06 24
This is still on--in case you were wondering.
12/27/10 event - focus on chapter beginnings. Starting with chapter two, read your first paragraph--have you given information so the reader knows who is in the scene and where it occurs? (Use names, not they, or she. Assume the reader set the book down between chapters and you need to reorient them.)
Is there something in the first paragraph of the chapter that makes the reader want to read the next paragraph--is there a question to be answered, or something interesting that happened? Read it aloud to yourself, then to a friend, asking for how to make it more interesting.
There's lots of published advice about chapter beginnings. We'll talk about some of this at Caribou.
Now, make some changes to the first paragraph. (If it ripples down into other changes, go ahead and make them.)
Then do the next chapter.
After you've done a few, go back and do your first chapter. (That's a big deal, so start with easier ones.)
The more you punch up your chapter beginnings, the more you'll draw readers into your story. As a side benefit, it will be easier to reread them yourself, since you'll know who is in the scene, where it occurs, and what question or thread to follow-up on in the chapter.