Discover the Shiny in Your Story

11/23/18 • 4 min

Discover the shiny in your story.

This is the 23rd day of NaNoWriMo. I don't know about you, but I've noticed there are all sorts of new things on the horizon, ready to draw my attention and take up all my free time. In this next week, the number of those things will likely increase.

Which is why today I'm going to talk about really understanding what is shiny about your story.

Sometimes I feel like creative writers can gravitate toward ideas that are presented in a certain way:
There's a sense of newness. Yet a relatability that seems attainable. It's attractive, it's inspiring, and it's just within our grasp if we can just put in enough effort to reach it.

Inspiration comes from just about any giving source. The problem is when we let our inspiration overtake our sense of focus on one project and start gearing up to do another.
It makes it tough to focus on the task at hand. And the luster seems to fade a bit from the project at hand.

This is a classic example of 'grass is greener' syndrome.

Or the snowflakes are prettier?

Hmm... It doesn't really snow where I am, but I do know it's that time of year where everything is sparkly and novel, and if you're anything like someone we know you're can get distracted quite easily. And often.

But, what if we learn to find the shiny thing in our own work?
This will help us to stay focused long enough to finish and It will be a way to guarantee that you'll attract a readership. At least if you follow through on the activity part of this learning.

Experiment

Can you identify the shiny part of your story? The part of the story that makes others go "Ooh, I want to read that!"

That's the thing that you can use to keep going and push through the distractions of everything else to complete your challenge.

This is an experiment to try.

Talk to at least 3 people about your novel ideally, in your target readership. Give them a synopsis and let them ask you a couple of questions about your story.

Note their reactions as you describe your character and the various things the character encounters in your story. Did you notice their eyes light up about any aspect of the character or any aspects of your story?

Ask the person if the story sounds like something they'd be interested in reading? And ask them why.

Note: Before you talk to these people make sure to answer these questions for yourself first. This will give you a hypothesis and let you compare your answers with actual data.

QoTD

Did you try the experiment? What did you learn about your story that others find shiny and how can you add in more of those shiny things? Let me know on social media (and mention Episode 23)

By rediscovering the sense of newness about your story through someone else's eyes, the idea is that you'll be drawn into a feedback loop that will inspire you to want to tell your story to the person who's excited to read it.

I hope all of that sparkle and shine will give you what you need to stay focused and committed to polishing that first draft that you'll have finished by the end of the month.

Thanks for listening! If you find this of value please consider rating and reviewing it in Apple podcasts (A.k.a. iTunes) and sharing it with a friend.

Find "A Mad Vox" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.

If you find this show of value, don’t keep it a secret. Please consider sharing this show with someone you know participating in NaNoWriMo, and leaving a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts to let others know about A Mad Vox. Thank you!

How do you leave a review on Apple Podcasts?

Find the show using search keywords "A Mad Vox" in the App store under the Podcast Category (Arts).

Click on the show page. Find the tab that says "rating and reviews".

Rate the show (Gimme ALL the stars, please! :)) and write a brief review. Then hit submit.

Connect with A Mad Vox on social media! Use #amadvox to join in the conversation.

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Discover the shiny in your story.

Which is why today I'm going to talk about really understanding what is shiny about your story.

This is a classic example of 'grass is greener' syndrome.

Or the snowflakes are prettier?

Experiment

Can you identify the shiny part of your story? The part of the story that makes others go "Ooh, I want to read that!"

That's the thing that you can use to keep going and push through the distractions of everything else to complete your challenge.

This is an experiment to try.

Talk to at least 3 people about your novel ideally, in your target readership. Give them a synopsis and let them ask you a couple of questions about your story.

Ask the person if the story sounds like something they'd be interested in reading? And ask them why.

Note: Before you talk to these people make sure to answer these questions for yourself first. This will give you a hypothesis and let you compare your answers with actual data.

QoTD

Did you try the experiment? What did you learn about your story that others find shiny and how can you add in more of those shiny things? Let me know on social media (and mention Episode 23)

I hope all of that sparkle and shine will give you what you need to stay focused and committed to polishing that first draft that you'll have finished by the end of the month.

Thanks for listening! If you find this of value please consider rating and reviewing it in Apple podcasts (A.k.a. iTunes) and sharing it with a friend.

Find "A Mad Vox" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.

How do you leave a review on Apple Podcasts?

Find the show using search keywords "A Mad Vox" in the App store under the Podcast Category (Arts).

Click on the show page. Find the tab that says "rating and reviews".

Rate the show (Gimme ALL the stars, please! :)) and write a brief review. Then hit submit.

Connect with A Mad Vox on social media! Use #amadvox to join in the conversation.

Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Previous Episode

Take Stock of Your Writing Progress

Take Stock of your Writing Progress.

Hello and welcome back to A Mad Vox NaNoWriMo Edition.

This is the 22nd day of NaNoWriMo. I want to wish everyone in the US a Happy Thanksgiving

Where you are in your journey, what you have and how you can cultivate gratitude in a way that will help you stay grounded.

Today's one of those days that can vary widely for a lot of writers. Either you can sit down and write all of the words or it's a day where you're just not able to get a lot of writing done.

I want to talk about if you are in the latter category and you're feeling some kind of way about feeling behind and anxious about not being able to finish your draft by the 30th.

I want to encourage you to not let that get in the way of living your real life.

This is an endurance challenge and it's meant to cause a certain level of stress but that's a certain level of stress that you can push through and surmount and be able to function in other areas of your life while doing this challenge.

It's not meant for this to be something that's so overwhelming that it stresses you out to the point where you're not able to live your life normally. If you've taken the time to, as I discussed in the previous (Episode 21), to figure out your realistic amount of time that you need to finish your novel then you should be able to recognize that you will have some time in the rest of your month to do certain things that you didn't necessarily think that you would have time to do.

Mainly, because you've named those hours that you actually need to write. And therefore you've probably freed up some time that you thought would need that you don't actually need for writing.

If you're writing per your cadence and you're able to hit your word count in an hour or two, then you're done! There's no point in worrying about the next day and the next daily word count. Plan some time in your day to do something else (non-writing related).

Here's something new to try. See if you can take the worry in your mind and replace it with gratitude. Instead of thinking about what you're most worried about what is one thing that you are grateful for?

Each day is a new opportunity to start fresh.

With the finish line in sight and an attitude of gratitude taking you through the rest of your day, you will be empowered to take on your word count goal as well as your daily life.

I believe you can do this!

Are you ready to move forward through the NaNoWriMo challenge now with gratitude instead of worry? Share your answer using the hashtag #AMadVox on social media

I'm so grateful that you're listening to the show.

Find "A Mad Vox" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.

How do you leave a review on Apple Podcasts?

Find the show using search keywords "A Mad Vox" in the App store under the Podcast Category (Arts).

Click on the show page. Find the tab that says "rating and reviews".

Rate the show (Gimme ALL the stars, please! :)) and write a brief review. Then hit submit.

Connect with A Mad Vox on social media! Use #amadvox to join in the conversation.

Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Next Episode

Write Your Story Like A Black Friday Sale

Write Your Story Like a Black Friday Sale.

This is the 24th day of NaNoWriMo! It's not just any weekend, It's the weekend before NaNoWriMo ends.

Write your novel like it's a Black Friday sale where you can get this exclusive insight. You can plan to discount at least 25% of whatever you write! So hurry and write all weekend long!

Offer valid only after validation or Dec. 1, or whenever the editing process has started. See final first draft for details.

Weekend Writing Tips

It still feels like a holiday but this is the best time to make up your word count if you're behind. If you want to give yourself a boost for the last few days and finish strong I have a few suggestions.

Word Sprints ALL day, e'er'day.

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Word sprints are set periods of time where you write as many words as possible during that time.

As I mentioned before you can find word sprints on the NaNoWriMo website,
on Twitter Nano words sprints account and on

ChatNano.

Throughout this entire weekend, there are Turkzilla sprints through Sunday night every hour on the top of the hour and the 00:30, for 15 minutes.

Advantage: It ties you to a time vs doing ad-hoc sprints.

Allows time (15 minutes) prepare to write again with a prompt, either your outline or something else, instead of simply starting with "ready, set, write!"

Also, there are lots of dinosaurs involved, if you're into that sort of thing.

Attend any NaNoWriMo virtual write-ins? Rewatch them!

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NaNoWriMo virtual write-ins via YouTube
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It's nice to have a chance to try out the prompts you may have ignored the first time through. Again, this is a first draft. Get the words in. You can always edit the prompts out if they don't fit your story later.

Climb that buddy list ladder.

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By now you probably have a few buddies in your list in various stages of having won, having written more than 50K but aren't yet validated and those who are true blue in their word count and climbing. If you fall into the latter category, this is your time to climb.

Find someone slightly ahead of you and do a word sprint or two to catch up to that buddy.

I find 15-minute sprints to be most effective for me but your preference may vary. Do whichever sprint length works best for you. The key here is to repeat the sprints until you catch the person in front of you.

Once you've done that take a well-deserved break, and then repeat as needed.

Use social media check-ins.

If you use social media try posting your current word count as a virtual check-in.

Posting an update every 2K words until you get to 45K can be a great motivator. After 45K, update every 1K to get through that final stretch. Let your friends cheer you on and keep you on task as you boost your word count and blast through to the other side of 50K.

I'm curious to know if you have any weekend word boosting strategies. Let me know in a comment on social media (mention episode 24) and use the hashtag #amadvox.

Thanks for listening!

Find "A Mad Vox" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or almost anywhere you get your podcasts.