NaNoWriMo Survival Guide: How to Write with Wit and Skill
This month, we’re taking the SURVIVAL acronym from a wilderness survival guide, and using it to lead you through the depths of the forests, lakes, and crags of your writing journey. Mary Robinette Kowal, award-winning writer and puppeteer (you heard me!), shares just how important it is to write smart:
- S – Size Up the Situation
- U – Use All Your Senses, Undue Haste Makes Waste
- R – Remember Where You Are
- V – Vanquish Fear and Panic
- I – Improvise
- V – Value Living
- A – Act Like the Natives
- L – Live by Your Wits, But for Now, Learn Basic Skills
NaNoWriMo teaches you to write fast and to write without fear. I have always loved that adventurous plunge into wild story. Even if you are an outliner, like me, you’ll still hit a point where you head off the map and into uncharted territory. That journey can become exhausting because you have to build the landscape and navigate it at the same time.
Sometimes a feature that looks pretty can become impassable, so you have to backtrack and work your way around or invent a passage through the mountains. That’s when you start questioning if you will survive the month…
