There are two thing that I’ve been doing that have helped push me over the 40,000 word mark during NaNoWriMo.
Caution: this is the first time that I’ve ever done this. Other writers and winners of NaNoWriMo may have better advice. This is just what has helped me.
1. Plan wide. The plot of my book is rather sprawling. This provides me a multitude of creative options to explore. As soon as I saw the canvas was wide open, I began to put the brush down and see what the colors looked like on there. This might not be the case for you. And some books are only based on a small world. Stephen King’s Misery really only deals with two characters and most of it takes place in a single room. You still feel like a world has been opened, but when you step into you feel confined, by design.
2. Write deep. Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird offers a great concept. She discusses a one-inch picture frame (I have referenced this before). This means that when writing, I just focus on that particular scene, and that conflict going on in the scene. I become discouraged if while I’m writing a scene I start to think, “Well what about what happened in another scene? What about this character in relationship to that?”
Stop.
Focus on the sensations of that scene and take your reader there. Make them a third and intruding party on a private conversation meant for two.
This is all I have. Keep writing. Put one word down after another and committed to coming back after you’ve produced the clay that will become your sculpture!