NaNoWriMo Nonsense | "Cheat Week"

Word Count: 37,338
Days Left: 5

Okay, so I decided to start making this a blog series. Just because I can.

So, this is the last week of Camp NaNoWriMo and I'm happily going at my own pace. (Haha, just kidding, I procrastinate in the morning, as usual.) I write at a pace of about 5,000 words per day (my parents tell me I can't play Minecraft or the like if I don't write that amount by the time my dad comes home from work). And, of course, I'm doing pretty well until I've missed a day's worth of writing completely. Imagine writing 10,000 words in a day. Yeah, not pretty.

If I didn't write 10,000 words today, I would have to write 15,000 tomorrow. And I had been out with my family the entire day, coming home at about 7:00 at night. And I still wrote the 10,000 words. How, you ask? That's what I'm here to tell you.

I call the last week of any NaNoWriMo event "Cheat Week" because it usually consists of caffeine, desperation, late nights writing, and my friends tempting me to get on Skype for a minute (or sixty) of writing. And of course, that's what usually happens. So I have done my research on the forums of the NaNoWriMo website and have collected a few useful cheats for anyone who is in desperate need of a boost in word count.

Before I continue, use these cheats at your own risk! I only recommend using these if you are seriously desperate and have absolutely no hope for yourself anymore. (Or if you're really lazy, either way works.) I've only used these little cheat tips a few times (including today), but I will leave what you do with them to you.

(Also, these "cheats" aren't against the NaNoWriMo rules. I checked, so don't be too hesitant about them. ^~^)

1. Use flashbacks. Flashbacks save a whole lot of time. Flashbacks can be written originally or copied from an earlier section of your novel. This is one of my favorite and most useful cheats. They can be from 300 words long to 2,000 words long! It's your choice.
2. Use previously written prose in your novel. As long as you have written it, you can have one of your main characters read it aloud or something. Whether it's a Druna fanfiction or a scary story, it doesn't matter! Just put the thing in there and bam! There's another few hundred words (or thousand!) for you.
3. Write dream sequences. My own dreams usually don't make sense, and they sure are fun to write down! The fun thing about dreams is that they are seriously random, which makes it very entertaining to write! When writing this, who knows? Maybe it could lead to a plot twist or two!
4. When in doubt, ex-ter-minate contractions! (Sorry, I know that was pretty cheesy, but I couldn't resist!) This can add (usually) 300-600 words to your novel. Just paste it in Word and use the Replace feature. It's as easy as that!

That's it for now. Expect more blog posts soon! Wish me luck, and if you're writing a novel this August as well, I hope the little tips helped you!

-Zoe