For this exercise set yourself a time limit. Make it short. Pick something that will give you enough time to write a piece, but not enough to think about it. You hear me? No thinking allowed.

After you’ve chosen your time limit, set a timer.

As soon as you are ready to write, click on the cut below — no peeking before. None. Seriously, don’t even think about it or your Inner Editor will win. You will see two pictures, each one of a different character. Pick one to write about.

Give yourself a couple seconds. Seriously, seconds, not minutes. Give yourself a couple seconds to look at it and think about the story you want to tell with that character in it, then turn your timer on and go.

Start writing and don’t stop until you reach the end of the story or your timer goes off.

Did you tell a whole story?

Did you make it to the end before the buzzer?

If not, don’t worry, you will do better next time. These are a great way to warm up for NaNoWriMo because if you set yourself a time limit you won’t have time to listen to your editor if you want to get the story done, which is what NaNo is all about, isn’t it?

Don’t revise your story. Put it away for a few weeks then, when you’ve put some distance between it and yourself you can go back to it and polish it up. For now though, it’s all about beating your Inner Editor — and quantity over quality.

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One way to make our characters more believable is if they have some bad habits or traits.  Think of different habits you or other people may look down upon.

Make a list of all the habits.  Pick one or two  habits for the next character you create.

Use the above picture, courtesy of IStockPhoto.com to inspire you to write something