Any tips for lengthening a story?

Ninjas.

When in doubt, bring in the ninjas.

Luckily, my characters are way naughtier than I expected and I am giving them full rein. I keep asking them who, why, what and when - and they tell me, in great detail!

If you feel you can both spare the time and resist the urge to edit, try going back through what you've got so far and see if there is room or opportunity to add a subplot. Not just any old subplot, of course, but one that's really going to add something "extra" to the story and give it more depth.

There's almost always room for that, and it'd give you plenty of extra words, I think.

The easiest way to make a story longer is to add more conflict. The conflict up to this point may have been solved too easily and ergo too quickly. All you have to do is throw and obstacle in your MC's path that is difficult to overcome and you'll have words piling up for you.

Deccydiva said:

Luckily, my characters are way naughtier than I expected and I am giving them full rein. I keep asking them who, why, what and when - and they tell me, in great detail!

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You have the opposite problem from me. I thought it would be a good idea to write an erotiprawn novel for NaNo this year and I'm now just over 8k words into it and my MC hasn't had so much as a sniff at- well, you know - since chapter one.

CK -- I was running into a similar problem with my NaNo, so I:

1. Got my characters arrested by the army
2. Hatched an elobrate escape plan, complete with explosions
3. Got a character shot on the way out
4. Added a scene with the baddies plotting
5. Had my two lovers have a huge, nasty spat, which ended with the female running off and abandoning the group (and of course, she'll get into trouble)
6. And will throw in a couple of scenes to add to the romantic tension when she finally comes back

In other words, more conflict. Of course, the ninja idea has promise; too bad I can't use it in my world (unless I'm changing it to Shanghai Noon).

Hope the gears get turning and the inspiration stars flowing. Happy writing!

Other than filling in information in areas where you may have skimmed before? Possibley adding an additional aspect to a person's life? I tend to try to break my novel into a format where the "main action" is not gotten to until about 75% done. Everything up to that point anticipates it.

Dribbling in the plot very gradually is actually a kind of skill. It is like when you are in a race and you know you need to "bide your time" and not expend all your energy until the final few yards before the finish line. You need to "save" yourself until that point by very gradually giving plot information. If you resist getting to plot points quickly, you get a better pacing situation.

You might not have a reasonable amount of plot points either. You didn't really mention how many plot changes you have. I would think for a 50000 word book you would need at least a few hundred "changes" of action. These would not necessarily be main plot points but things leading up to them. I think in outlining you only write down the main point, not every change in action leading to that point.

My first year at Nano I ran out of story before I ran out of words and ended with around 33,000 words for the month.

This year I’m worrying about the same thing happening so I already have additional scenes floating around in the back of my mind. If all else fails, I’ll just let my characters have more sex and turn my space/adventure/romance into an erotic/space/adventure/romance.

I just threw in some random characters and let them bother my MCs.

It's NaNo

Look at the amount of description you're using. Some people write in a format that's too journalistic (minimal description, almost no adverbs/adjectives); it comes from being told that it's bad, and too many fans of Hemingway's. Something to check out, if nothing else....

FR

scarletpeaches said:

Ninjas.

When in doubt, bring in the ninjas.

Click to expand...

Or robots, monkeys, or pirates. Or all four.

Describe character clothing, fabric and style XD Put in some drinks and let them go wild. Add unrequited love. Just a few ideas.

Don't forget show vs. tell. You probably have a few scenes where you can bump up the visuals.

My story was supposed to be a sci-fi action bloodbath but my damn characters are falling in love! I guess my Regency Romance roots just won't die!

That better not be Jared Leto you've got falling in love there. Unless the female MC is called scarletpeaches.

have two characters get in a fistfight - or break one up - I did. Just trying to buy more time

Or you could finish that story as is and then start another story to complete the NaNo word count? That's not cheating either.

Which combinations of characters haven't yet had scenes together? Bring them together.

In addition to the characters already in your story, what other people in your story world might be affected by the events so far? Bring them into the story.

What's the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist? Do that.

What's the worst thing that could happen to your other important characters?

Dale

Lots of dialog. Even in the middle of a fight. Thoughts, if dialog just doesn't work. (But watch out for POV.)

Or a completely different tactic: backstory such as a description of soapmaking techniques and why they are important to the story (in my military fantasy Nano, they discovered about 25 years ago that soap & water helps the survival rate in hospitals, so my MC's soapmaking business has become important to the plot, which involves lots of casualties . Unfortunately, she's not going to have time to run her soapmaking business soon, so that opens a whole new subplot... ).