NaNo--NO RULES!

Seriously! There aren't any "rules" when it comes to writing for NaNo.

For those of you who are already discouraged, remember: You don't need brilliant narrative. You don't need in depth characterizations. You barely need any characterizations at this point.(um, names are fine--just make anything up--and throw in a few descriptions to up the word count, lol).

You need Basic Plot. Possibly not even that.

You need an IDEA.

You don't need chapters. You don't need a "flow." Forget spelling. Don't worry about too many adjectives, adverbs, and echos, and certainly don't be anal about punctuation. Heck with formatting and scene transition--I have dozens of scenes with NO transition at all. None, nada, zero. If I can't end a scene, I drop it in the middle and move on to the next.

I'm not even writing these scenes in order, and some of these scenes aren't even true "scenes"--meaning no action, no dialogue. For instance I might write:

(after LeeLee's one-night stand with another woman) Shawna and LeeLee get into a huge fight. LeeLee's pissed and feels Shawna is judging her. Shawna tells LeeLee, "How would you feel if I left you at a bar and went off with a GUY and left you stranded." LeeLee swears it's not the same thing and tells Shawna the rules are different. Shawna knows the rules are NOT different--LeeLee expects people to accept her the way she is and then changes the "rules" for her own benefit.

OK, that's only 87 words. But I have a lot of scenes like this, and yes, these are WORDS. And I still need 42,000 more.

Write what you can write even if it makes no sense. Even if it looks NOTHING the way a "real" novel might look.

Remember: whatever you write this month may look like a load of crap. But nobody will see it. You don't have to share.

Best of all, it's WORKABLE crap. I know at the end of the month I'll go back and rework that paragraph into what will probably end up to be an entire chapter. A slimy lump of clay waiting for me to dig in my hands and start spinning that wheel with my foot.

You want words, people!

Now get back to work. :)