NaNoWriMo is coming up next month. I'm not planning on participating in a traditional way, but I do want to challenge myself to creatively write every day for the month of November. My son is really excited to do it as well.
Can anyone recommend any prompts/challenges/etc. more suited for practicing creative writing in the form of shorter stories as opposed to trying to write a 50k word book in a month? I'm especially interested in anything that might help guide a 9 year old.
On a related note, is anyone else participating this year? Tried it in the past?
I tried it a few years ago. Came up with a finished story, but it was about 28000 words. Too big for a short story and too short to be a novel. I've occasionally tried to figure out if I can expand or shrink it into something more publishable.
I should attempt it this year. Always say I am going to, but I tend to forget and remember about halfway through the month
There's a subreddit for writing prompts if you come up short on ideas...
A lot of them are clearly written by people who can't write themselves, but there is a little bit of wheat amongst the chaff,
https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/
I just browsed through there quickly. There are some decent prompts and also some utter nonsense.
Just take some sort of starting idea and see where it goes. The one I had started with was a time SVRex told me about a drug dealer who bankrolled a drag racer to bet on his winnings. So I wrote a story about a drug dealer who liked to gamble on street racers, and a cop who is infiltrating that scene.
I'm fabricating stories left and right with a hint of realness because research references. Thanks bsn degree bs.
MadScientistMatt said:
Just take some sort of starting idea and see where it goes.
I want to, but I like a little structure when doing something my first time where I am way out of my element. I found this
https://www.savannahgilbo.com/blog/nanowrimo-planning
Which could also help me guide my son a little bit (simplified of course).
