Are you feeling a little antsy? Maybe you feel like your word count is just a very little bit on the low side, but you aren't sure what to write. There are a few "last-minute" solutions that wrimos around the world use to help boost their numbers as they come close to the finish line.
1) Get rid of those hyphens. If you're using MS Word, use the "Replace" function and you can quickly replace all your hyphens with spaces.
2) Get rid of those contractions. Especially if you have a lot of dialogue, contractions are a gold mine for word count padding. This website lists the most common contractions in the English language. Once again, if you're using MS Word, it's a simple use of the "replace" function to transform all those contractions that count as one word into their two word forms. I've known people to see 2000 or 3000 word boosts by getting rid of contractions.
Yes, cheap tricks, but when you're focused on word count, sometimes the boost in number is just enough to create a new energy for creativity.
For ten years, National Novel Writing Month has inspired writers around the world to write a novel of 50,000 words over 30 days. This November, you are invited to join the insanity!
What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month's time.
Who: You! We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.
Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.
When: You can sign up at http://www.nanowrimo.org anytime to add your name to the official roster and browse the forums. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners on NaNoWriMo.Org, you must reach the 50,000-word mark by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified, the partying begins.
The NaNoWriMo Club at SheezyArt exists to connect SA Wrimos so that we can support one another, share our successes, and mope at our failures. You don't have to share your novel to join in :)